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¶ THE 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:
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Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the LORD has spoken, I have reared and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
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The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master’s crib;
but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.
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Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, an offspring of evildoers, children that are corrupt;
you have forsaken the LORD, you have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, you have gone away backward.
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Why should you be stricken any more, and be chastised?
The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
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From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it;
but wounds and bruises, and swelling sores;
they have not been closed, neither bound up, nor softened with oil.
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Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire;
your land, strangers devour in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
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And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
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Except the LORD of hosts had left to us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and we should have been like Gomorrah.
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Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom;
give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah.
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Of what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me?
says the LORD;
I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts;
and I do not delight in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats.
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When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
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Bring no more vain offerings to me;
their savour is an abomination to me;
in the new moons and sabbaths, you call an assembly;
I do not eat that which is obtained wrongfully, and taken by force.
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Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates;
they are a burden to me;
I am weary to bear them.
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And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers, I will not hear;
your hands are full of blood.
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Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes;
cease to do evil;
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Learn to do good;
seek justice, do good to the oppressed, plead for the fatherless, plead for the widows.
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Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be like wool.
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If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
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But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
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¶ How is the faithful city become a harlot!
For once it was full of justice;
and righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.
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Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.
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Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves;
every one of them loves a bribe and runs after rewards;
they plead not the cause of the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come before them.
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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I will avenge myself of my adversaries, I will take vengeance upon my enemies;
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And I will turn my hand against you, and purge away your rebellious men, and remove all your iniquities;
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And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning;
afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.
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Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her captivity with righteousness.
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And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and those who have forsaken the LORD shill perish.
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For they shall be ashamed of the idols which they have desired, and they shall be confounded by the witchcraft which they have chosen.
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For they shall be like an oak whose leaves have fallen, and like a garden that has no water.
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And their strength shall be like cotton, and their works like a spark, and they shall both burn together, and there shall be none to quench them.