Isaiah

Isaiah 1

31 verses · Major Prophets · Old Testament

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, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me. 3The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know. My people don’t consider.” 4Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward. 5Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, bandaged, or soothed with oil. 7Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city. 9Unless Yahweh of Armies had left to us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom. We would have been like Gomorrah.
10Hear Yahweh’s word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says Yahweh. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. 12When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? 13Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can’t stand evil assemblies. 14My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. 15When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. 16Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. 17Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”
18“Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land; 20but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
21How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now there are murderers. 22Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. 23Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
24Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies. 25I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin. 26I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness, a faithful town.’ 27Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness. 28But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed. 29For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. 30For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water. 31The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them.”

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What others are saying

4 commentators · 95 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17145

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1

Here is, I. The name of the prophet, Isaiah, or Jesahiahu (for so it is in the Hebrew), which, in the New Testament is read Esaias. His name signifies the salvation of the Lord - a proper name for a prophet by whom God gives knowledge of salvation to his…

v. 2–9

We will hope to meet with a brighter and more pleasant scene before we come to the end of this book; but truly here, in the beginning of it, every thing looks very bad, very black, with Judah and Jerusalem. What is the wilderness of the world, if the church…

v. 10–15

Here, I. God calls to them (but calls in vain) to hear his word, Isa 1:10. 1. The title he gives them is very strange; You rulers of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah. This intimates what a righteous thing it would have been with God to make them like Sodom and…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176331

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz,.... This is either the particular title of the prophecy contained in this single chapter, as Jarchi and Abarbinel think; seeing the second chapter Isaiah 2:1 begins with another title, "the word that Isaiah saw", &c. or…

v. 2

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,.... To what the Lord was about to say of his controversy with his people, which was to be managed openly and publicly before them as spectators and witnesses; this designs either strictly and properly the heavens and…

v. 3

The ox knoweth his owner,.... Knows his voice, when he calls him, and follows him where he leads him, whether to plough in the field, or feed in the meadows; and the ass his masters crib, or "manger"; where he is fed, and to which he goes when he wants food…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–187529

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1

Title of the collection, as given in Isa 1:1 : "Seeing of Jesha'-yahu, son of Amoz, which he saw over Judah and Jerusalem in the days of 'Uzziyahu, Jotham, Ahaz, and Yehizkiyahu, the kings of Judah." Isaiah is called the "son of Amoz." There is no force in…

v. 2

The difficult question as to the historical and chronological standpoint of this overture to all the following addresses, can only be brought fully out when the exposition is concluded. But there is one thing which we may learn even from a cursory inspection…

v. 3

Jehovah then complains that the rebellion with which His children have rewarded Him is not only inhuman, but even worse than that of the brutes: "An ox knoweth its owner, and an ass its master's crib: Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." An ox…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187130

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 2

The very words of Moses (Deu 32:1); this implies that the law was the charter and basis of all prophecy (Isa 8:20). Lord--Jehovah; in Hebrew, "the self-existing and promise-fulfilling, unchangeable One." The Jews never pronounced this holy name, but…

v. 3

(Jer 8:7). crib--the stall where it is fed (Pro 14:4). Spiritually the word and ordinances. Israel--The whole nation, Judah as well as Israel, in the restricted sense. God regards His covenant-people in their designed unity. not know--namely, his Owner, as…

v. 4

people--the peculiar designation of God's elect nation (Hos 1:10), that they should be "laden with iniquity" is therefore the more monstrous. Sin is a load (Psa 38:4; Mat 11:28). seed--another appellation of God's elect (Gen 12:7; Jer 2:21), designed to be a…

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