Chronological Plan

¹The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah.

²Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.

³The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s feeding trough, but Israel does not know; my people do not understand.”

⁴Oh sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, brood of evildoers, depraved children! They have abandoned the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they have turned their backs on him.

⁵Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep on rebelling? The whole head is hurt, and the whole heart is sick.

⁶From the sole of the foot even to the head, no spot is uninjured  — wounds, welts, and festering sores not cleansed, bandaged, or soothed with oil.

⁷Your land is desolate, your cities burned down; foreigners devour your fields right in front of you — a desolation, like a place demolished by foreigners.

⁸Daughter Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.

⁹If the LORD of Armies had not left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom, we would resemble Gomorrah.

¹⁰Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

¹¹“What are all your sacrifices to me?” asks the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I have no desire for the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats.

¹²When you come to appear before me, who requires this from you — this trampling of my courts?

¹³Stop bringing useless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons and Sabbaths, and the calling of solemn assemblies  — I cannot stand iniquity with a festival.

¹⁴I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals. They have become a burden to me; I am tired of putting up with them.

¹⁵When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

¹⁶“Wash yourselves. Cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from my sight. Stop doing evil.

¹⁷Learn to do what is good. Pursue justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause.

¹⁸“Come, let us settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are crimson red, they will be like wool.

¹⁹If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land.

²⁰But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

²¹The faithful town — what an adulteress she has become! She was once full of justice. Righteousness once dwelt in her, but now, murderers!

²²Your silver has become dross to be discarded, your beer is diluted with water.

²³Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love graft and chase after bribes. They do not defend the rights of the fatherless, and the widow’s case never comes before them.

²⁴Therefore the Lord GOD of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah, I will get even with my foes; I will take revenge against my enemies.

²⁵I will turn my hand against you and will burn away your dross completely; I will remove all your impurities.

²⁶I will restore your judges to what they were at first, and your advisers to what they were at the start. Afterward you will be called the Righteous City, a Faithful Town.”

²⁷Zion will be redeemed by justice, those who repent, by righteousness.

²⁸At the same time both rebels and sinners will be broken, and those who abandon the LORD will perish.

²⁹Indeed, they will be ashamed of the sacred trees you desired, and you will be embarrassed because of the garden shrines you have chosen.

³⁰For you will become like an oak whose leaves are withered, and like a garden without water.

³¹The strong one will become tinder, and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to extinguish the flames.

¹The vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

²In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it,

³and many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about his ways so that we may walk in his paths.” For instruction will go out of Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

⁴He will settle disputes among the nations and provide arbitration for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nation will not take up the sword against nation, and they will never again train for war.

⁵House of Jacob, come and let us walk in the LORD’s light.

⁶For you have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of divination from the East and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines. They are in league with foreigners.

⁷Their land is full of silver and gold, and there is no limit to their treasures; their land is full of horses, and there is no limit to their chariots.

⁸Their land is full of idols; they worship the work of their hands, what their fingers have made.

⁹So humanity is brought low, and each person is humbled. Do not forgive them!

¹⁰Go into the rocks and hide in the dust from the terror of the LORD and from his majestic splendor.

¹¹The pride of mankind will be humbled, and human loftiness will be brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted on that day.

¹²For a day belonging to the LORD of Armies is coming against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up — it will be humbled —

¹³against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan,

¹⁴against all the high mountains, against all the lofty hills,

¹⁵against every high tower, against every fortified wall,

¹⁶against every ship of Tarshish, and against every splendid sea vessel.

¹⁷The pride of mankind will be brought low, and human loftiness will be humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted on that day.

¹⁸The idols will vanish completely.

¹⁹People will go into caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from his majestic splendor, when he rises to terrify the earth.

²⁰On that day people will throw their silver and gold idols, which they made to worship, to the moles and the bats.

²¹They will go into the caves of the rocks and the crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from his majestic splendor, when he rises to terrify the earth.

²²Put no more trust in a mere human, who has only the breath in his nostrils. What is he really worth?

¹Note this: The Lord GOD of Armies is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah every kind of security: the entire supply of bread and water,

²heroes and warriors, judges and prophets, fortune-tellers and elders,

³commanders of fifty and dignitaries, counselors, cunning magicians, and necromancers.

⁴“I will make youths their leaders, and unstable rulers will govern them.”

⁵The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will act arrogantly toward the old, and the worthless toward the honorable.

⁶A man will even seize his brother in his father’s house, saying: “You have a cloak — you be our leader! This heap of rubble will be under your control.”

⁷On that day he will cry out, saying: “I’m not a healer. I don’t even have food or clothing in my house. Don’t make me the leader of the people!”

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen because they have spoken and acted against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.

⁹The look on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom, they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster on themselves.

¹⁰Tell the righteous that it will go well for them, for they will eat the fruit of their labor.

¹¹Woe to the wicked — it will go badly for them, for what they have done will be done to them.

¹²Youths oppress my people, and women rule over them. My people, your leaders mislead you; they confuse the direction of your paths.

¹³The LORD rises to argue the case and stands to judge the people.

¹⁴The LORD brings this charge against the elders and leaders of his people: “You have devastated the vineyard. The plunder from the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD of Armies.

¹⁶The LORD also says: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, walking with heads held high and seductive eyes, prancing along, jingling their ankle bracelets,

¹⁷the Lord will put scabs on the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will shave their foreheads bare.

¹⁸On that day the Lord will strip their finery: ankle bracelets, headbands, crescents,

¹⁹pendants, bracelets, veils,

²⁰headdresses, ankle jewelry, sashes, perfume bottles, amulets,

²¹signet rings, nose rings,

²²festive robes, capes, cloaks, purses,

²³garments, linen clothes, turbans, and shawls.

²⁴Instead of perfume there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of beautifully styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothes, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding.

²⁵Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle.

²⁶Then her gates will lament and mourn; deserted, she will sit on the ground.

¹On that day seven women will seize one man, saying, “We will eat our own bread and provide our own clothing. Just let us bear your name. Take away our disgrace.”

²On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.

³Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy  — all in Jerusalem written in the book of life  —

⁴when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodguilt from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning.

⁵Then the LORD will create a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night over the entire site of Mount Zion and over its assemblies. For there will be a canopy over all the glory,

⁶and there will be a shelter for shade from heat by day, and a refuge and shelter from storm and rain.