Isaiah 1

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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, 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. ✦ ³The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. ✦ ⁴Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. ✦ ⁵Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. ✦ ⁶From the sole of the foot even unto 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. ✦ ⁷Your 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. ✦ ⁸And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. ✦ ⁹Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. ✦ ¹⁰Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. ✦ ¹¹To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto 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. ✦ ¹²When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? ✦ ¹³Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. ✦ ¹⁴Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. ✦ ¹⁵And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. ✦ ¹⁶Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; ✦ ¹⁷Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. ✦ ¹⁸Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. ✦ ¹⁹If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: ✦ ²⁰But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. ✦ ²¹How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. ✦ ²²Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: ✦ ²³Thy 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 unto them. ✦ ²⁴Therefore saith the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: ✦ ²⁵And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: ✦ ²⁶And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. ✦ ²⁷Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. ✦ ²⁸And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. ✦ ²⁹For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. ✦ ³⁰For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. ✦ ³¹And 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. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

Jer 2 ·12 Isa 5 ·11 Isa 30 ·8 Mic 3 ·7 Jer 6 ·7 Ezek 16 ·7 Isa 3 ·6 Isa 41 ·5

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

★ Start hereCommentaryThe Book of Isaiah (NICOT)John N. Oswalt · Paid · evangelical
The standard evangelical commentary on Isaiah — thorough and devotionally warm.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 1YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Isaiah 1David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Isaiah 1Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

Isaiah 2 →