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Isaiah
1:1 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.
A Rebellious Nation
1:2 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.
1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's
crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
1:4 Ah 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.
1:5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more
and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
1:6 From 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.
1:7 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.
1:8 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.
1:9 Except 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.
1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give
ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
1:11 To 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.
1:12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required
this at your hand, to tread my courts?
1:13 Bring 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.
1:14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul
hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
1:15 And 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.
1:16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your
doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
1:17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
1:18 Come 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.
1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good
of the land:
1:20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with
the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full
of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
1:22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
1:23 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 unto them.
1:24 Therefore 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:
1:25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge
away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:
1:26 And 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.
1:27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts
with righteousness.
1:28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the
sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD
shall be consumed.
1:29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have
desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye
have chosen.
1:30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a
garden that hath no water.
1:31 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. |
Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?
