Chapter 1

  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 hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.  

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  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.  

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  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they are gone away backward.  

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  Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: 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 putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.  

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  Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.  

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  And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, 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 very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom; we should have been like Gomorrah.  

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  Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.  

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  To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats.  

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  When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?  

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  Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination to me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.  

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  Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them.  

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  And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you: yes, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.  

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  Wash ye, 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 well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.  

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  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.  

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  If ye are willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:  

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  But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.  

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  How is the faithful city become a harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.  

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  Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:  

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  Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come to them.  

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  Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of my adversaries, and avenge me of my enemies:  

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  And I will turn my hand upon thee, and thoroughly purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:  

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  And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.  

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  Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.  

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  And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.  

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  For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.  

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  For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.  

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  And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.  

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