Yeshayah 1

1. The chazon (vision) of Yeshayah ben Amotz, which he saw concerning Yehudah and Yerushalayim in the yamim of Uziyahu, Yotam, Achaz, and Yechizkiyahu, melachim of Yehudah.

2. Hear, O Shomayim, and give ear, O Eretz, for Hashem hath spoken; I have nourished and brought up banim, and they have rebelled against Me [i.e., willfully flouted My authority. See Yeshayah 53:5,8].

3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the donkey his master’s manger; but Yisroel doth not know, My people doth not consider.

4. Ah, goy choteh (sinful nation), a people weighed down with avon (guilt, iniquity), zera of evildoers, banim of corruption; they forsook Hashem, they have spurned the Kadosh Yisroel (the Holy One of Yisroel), they have turned their back on Him. [T.N. Here we see it is 'My people’ (Ex 6:6-7) who are stricken, whereas in Yeshayah 53:8 it is Moshiach Ben Dovid who is stricken for My people.]

5. Why, seeing that ye will be stricken again, will ye rebel stubbornly again? The kol rosh is sick, and the kol levav faint.

6. From the sole of the regel even unto the rosh there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither soothed with shemen.

7. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with eish; your land, zarim devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by zarim.

8. And the Bat Tziyon (i.e., Yerushalayim) is left as a sukkah in a kerem (vineyard), as a shack in a cucumber field, as an ir (city) under siege.

9. Except Hashem Tzva’os had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Amora (Gomorrah).

10. Hear the Devar Hashem, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the Torat Eloheinu, ye people of Amora (Gomorrah).

11. To what purpose is the multitude of your zevakhim unto Me? saith Hashem; I am fed up of the olot (burnt offerings) of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the dahm of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.

12. When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample khatzerai (My courts)?

13. Bring no more futile minchot; ketoret is an abomination unto Me; Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) and Shabbos, the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure aven (wickedness) and atzarah (solemn convocation).

14. Your Rosh Chodesh and your Mo’adim My Nefesh hateth; they are a burden unto Me; I am weary to bear them.

15. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many tefillah, I will not hear; your hands are full of dahmim.

16. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil;

17. Learn to do good; seek mishpat, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the almanah.

18. Come now, and let us reason together, saith Hashem; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

19. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of ha’aretz;

20. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the cherev; for the mouth of Hashem hath spoken.

21. How is the Kiryah Ne’emanah (Faithful City, i.e., Yerushalayim) become a zonah (harlot)! It was full of mishpat; tzedek lodged in it; but now murderers.

22. Thy kesef is become dross, thy wine mixed with mayim:

23. Thy sarim (princes) are rebellious, and companions of ganavim: every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards: they give no justice to the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the almanah come unto them.

24. Therefore saith HaAdon, Hashem Tzva’os, Avir Yisroel (the Mighty One of Yisroel), Ah, I will relieve Myself of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies:

25. And I will turn My hand upon thee, and refine away thy impurities, and take away all thy alloy:

26. And I will restore thy shofetim as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The Ir HaTzedek, the Kiryah Ne’emanah.

27. Tziyon shall be redeemed with mishpat, and those in her who make teshuvah with tzedakah.

28. And the destruction of the poshe’im and of the chote’im shall be together, and they that forsake Hashem shall be consumed.

29. For they shall be ashamed of the sacred oaks which ye have delighted in, and ye shall blush for the gannot (gardens) that ye have chosen.

30. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no mayim. [T.N. The unquenchable fire of the apostate in the first chapter points to the unquenchable fire of Gehinnom in the last verse of the last chapter (66:24) and the loathesomeness of those there—Daniel 12:2].

31. And the strong shall be as tinder, and the maker of it [the idol] as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.