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Isaiah 1

Isaiah exposes Judah’s worship amid violence and corruption, declaring that YHWH demands repentance and will restore Zion through justice.

Judah’s cities are burned, its land is being devoured by strangers, and Jerusalem stands exposed. Isaiah records YHWH’s charge against the people he raised as children: they have rebelled against him. Their sacrifices and prayers continue while their hands are full of blood and their rulers take bribes. The vision concerns Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of four named kings, and moves from accusation toward a promise of cleansing alongside warnings of destruction.

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1The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for the LORD has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me.
3The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know. My people don’t consider.”
4Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.
5Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, bandaged, or soothed with oil.
7Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city.
9Unless the LORD of Armies had left to us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom. We would have been like Gomorrah.
10Hear the LORD’s word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
11“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says the LORD. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats.
12When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?
13Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations— I can’t stand evil assemblies.
14My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them.
15When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
16Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.
17Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”
18“Come now, and let’s reason together,” says the LORD: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land;
20but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword; for the LORD’s mouth has spoken it.”
21How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now there are murderers.
22Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.
23Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
24Therefore the Lord, GOD of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies.
25I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin.
26I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness, a faithful town.’
27Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness.
28But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
29For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.
30For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.
31The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Isaiah 1:18The promise of scarlet sins becoming white stands between commands to repent and the stark alternatives of obedience and rebellion.
Isaiah 1:16The command to wash makes repentance concrete: Judah must stop the evil that has made its worship offensive to God.
Isaiah 1:11God’s rejection of abundant sacrifices exposes the breach between Judah’s religious observance and its bloodstained conduct.
Where this chapter reaches

Deuteronomy shares the appeal to heaven and earth as witnesses and the contrast between blessing for obedience and judgment for rebellion. Jeremiah and Micah share Isaiah’s condemnation of worship joined to injustice, while Zechariah shares the command to defend vulnerable people.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What connection does Isaiah draw between worship and the treatment of people without power?

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How does the promise of cleansing in verse 18 read alongside the warnings that surround it?

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Questions people ask about Isaiah 1

Why does God reject sacrifices in Isaiah 1?

God identifies the problem in verse 15: the worshipers’ hands are full of blood. Their offerings and festivals accompany ongoing evil, while rulers take bribes and neglect the fatherless and widows. His commands in verses 16–17 require them to cease doing evil and seek justice.

What does “Though your sins are as scarlet” mean in Isaiah 1:18?

Scarlet and crimson picture the vivid stain of Judah’s sins; snow and wool picture cleansing. The promise follows commands to put away evil and defend the oppressed. It is followed by a choice between obedience and rebellion, so the surrounding passage holds cleansing together with a demand for repentance.

Why is Jerusalem called a prostitute in Isaiah 1:21?

The image describes Jerusalem’s betrayal of its former faithfulness. Isaiah explains it through the city’s loss of justice: murderers live there, rulers associate with thieves, and bribes displace the claims of widows and the fatherless. The following images of impure silver and diluted wine reinforce the picture of corruption.

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Isaiah · 66 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).