Isaiah 3
21their signet rings and nose rings;
22their festive robes, capes, cloaks, and purses;
23and their mirrors, linen garments, tiaras, and shawls.
24Instead of fragrance
there will be a stench;
instead of a belt, a rope;
instead of styled hair, baldness;
instead of fine clothing, sackcloth;
instead of beauty, shame.
25Your men will fall by the sword,
and your warriors in battle.
26And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn;
destitute, she will sit on the ground.
Isaiah 4
A Remnant in Zion
1In that day seven women
will take hold of one man and say,
“We will eat our own bread
and provide our own clothes.
Just let us be called by 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 who are recorded among the living—
4when the Lord has washed away
the filth of the daughters of Zion
and cleansed the bloodstains from the heart of Jerusalem
by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.
5Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion
and over her assemblies
a cloud of smoke by day
and a glowing flame of fire by night.
For over all the glory
there will be a canopy,
6a shelter to give shade
from the heat by day,
and a refuge and hiding place
from the storm and the rain.
Isaiah 5
The Song of the Vineyard
1I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2He dug it up and cleared the stones
and planted the finest vines.
He built a watchtower in the middle
and dug out a winepress as well.
He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes,
but the fruit it produced was sour!
3“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
I exhort you to judge
between Me and My vineyard.
4What more could I have done for My vineyard
than I already did for it?
Why, when I expected sweet grapes,
did it bring forth sour fruit?
5Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be consumed;
I will tear down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and thorns and briers will grow up.
I will command the clouds
that rain shall not fall on it.”
7For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are the plant of His delight.
He looked for justice,
but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but heard a cry of distress.
Woes to the Wicked
8Woe to you who add house to house
and join field to field
until no place is left
and you live alone in the land.
9I heard the LORD of Hosts declare:
“Surely many houses will become desolate,
great mansions left unoccupied.
10For ten acres of vineyard
will yield but a bath of wine,
and a homer of seed
only an ephah of grain.”
11Woe to those who rise early in the morning
in pursuit of strong drink,
who linger into the evening,
to be inflamed by wine.
12At their feasts are the lyre and harp,
tambourines and flutes and wine.
They disregard the actions of the LORD
and fail to see the work of His hands.
13Therefore My people will go into exile
for their lack of understanding;
their dignitaries are starving
and their masses are parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat
and opens wide its enormous jaws,
and down go Zion’s nobles and masses,
her revelers and carousers!
15So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled;
the arrogant will lower their eyes.
16But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice,
and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.
17Lambs will graze as in their own pastures,
and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.
18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit
and pull sin along with cart ropes,
19to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work
so that we may see it!
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come
so that we may know it!”
20Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who turn darkness to light
and light to darkness,
who replace bitter with sweet
and sweet with bitter.
21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight.
22Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine
and champions in mixing beer,
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe
and deprive the innocent of justice.
24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw,
and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will decay
and their blossoms will blow away like dust;
for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people;
His hand is raised against them to strike them down.
The mountains quake,
and the corpses lay like refuse in the streets.
Despite all this, His anger is not turned away;
His hand is still upraised.
26He lifts a banner for the distant nations
and whistles for those at the ends of the earth.
Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come!
27None of them grows weary or stumbles;
no one slumbers or sleeps.
No belt is loose
and no sandal strap is broken.
28Their arrows are sharpened,
and all their bows are strung.
The hooves of their horses are like flint;
their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
29Their roaring is like that of a lion;
they roar like young lions.
They growl and seize their prey;
they carry it away from deliverance.
30In that day they will roar over it,
like the roaring of the sea.
If one looks over the land,
he will see darkness and distress;
even the light will be obscured by clouds.
Isaiah 6
Isaiah’s Commission
1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple.2Above Him stood seraphim, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3And they were calling out to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts;
all the earth is full of His glory.”
4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.
5Then I said:
“Woe is me,
for I am ruined,
because I am a man of unclean lips
dwelling among a people of unclean lips;
for my eyes have seen the King,
the LORD of Hosts.”
6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
7And with it he touched my mouth and said:
“Now that this has touched your lips,
your iniquity is removed
and your sin is atoned for.”
8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:
“Whom shall I send?
Who will go for Us?”
And I said:
“Here am I. Send me!”
9And He replied:
“Go and tell this people,
‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10Make the hearts of this people calloused;
deafen their ears and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11Then I asked:
“How long, O Lord?”
And He replied:
“Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left unoccupied
and the land is desolate and ravaged,
12until the LORD has driven men far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will be burned again.
As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled,
so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.”
Isaiah 7
A Message to Ahaz
1Now in the days that Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, Rezin king of Aram marched up to wage war against Jerusalem. He was accompanied by Pekah son of Remaliah the king of Israel, but he could not overpower the city.2When it was reported to the house of David that Aram was in league with Ephraim, the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled like trees in the forest shaken by the wind.
3Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct that feeds the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field,4and say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Do not be afraid or disheartened over these two smoldering stubs of firewood—over the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.5For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted your ruin, saying:6‘Let us invade Judah, terrorize it, and divide it among ourselves. Then we can install the son of Tabeal over it as king.’
7But this is what the Lord GOD says:
‘It will not arise;
it will not happen.
8For the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be shattered as a people.
9The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
then you will not stand at all.’”
The Sign of Immanuel
10Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying,11“Ask for a sign from the LORD your God, whether from the depths of Sheol or the heights of heaven.”
12But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask; I will not test the LORD.”
13Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well?14Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.15By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey.16For before the boy knows enough to reject evil and choose good, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.
Judgment to Come
17The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since the day Ephraim separated from Judah—He will bring the king of Assyria.”
18On that day the LORD will whistle to the flies at the farthest streams of the Nile and to the bees in the land of Assyria.
19And they will all come and settle
in the steep ravines and clefts of the rocks,
in all the thornbushes and watering holes.