First light over terraced Judean hills: small villages on the slopes, two thin columns of smoke rising far off from burned villages, and on the horizon Jerusalem's ridge standing alone, under a calm, pale, empty sky.

Zion on trial

Isaiah 1

Have you ever kept up religion while your heart walked away?

31 verses≈ 6 min1 personBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

Tap any post to go deeper

In this chapter

Where we are

1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s songChapter 1
6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

Judah’s Rebellion

This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

God

Evening in a village byre of fieldstone: an ox and a donkey side by side with their muzzles in a stone manger of straw, a farmer's cloak on a peg, lamplight from a clay lamp.

The ox knows its owner,

and the donkey its master’s manger,

but Israel does not know;

My people do not understand.”

Isaiah

Alas, O sinful nation,

a people laden with iniquity,

a brood of evildoers,

children who act corruptly!

They have forsaken the LORD;

they have despised the Holy One of Israel

and turned their backs on Him.

Isaiah

Why do you want more beatings?

Why do you keep rebelling?

Your head has a massive wound,

and your whole heart is afflicted.

From the sole of your foot to the top of your head,

there is no soundness—

only wounds and welts and festering sores

neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.

Isaiah

Late summer in a valley below Jerusalem: a lone watchman's shack of poles and leafy branches stands empty in a field of sprawling cucumber vines; the city's ridge small in the haze beyond.

Your land is desolate;

your cities are burned with fire.

Foreigners devour your fields before you—

a desolation demolished by strangers.

And the Daughter of Zion is abandoned

like a shelter in a vineyard,

like a shack in a cucumber field,

like a city besieged.

Isaiah

Isaiah

Unless the LORD of Hosts

had left us a few survivors,

we would have become like Sodom,

we would have resembled Gomorrah.

Question

Quick question

The book opens like a courtroom. Look again at the first line of verse 2 before you answer.

Whom does the LORD call as witnesses in 1:2?

Meaningless Offerings

Isaiah

Hear the word of the LORD,

you rulers of Sodom;

listen to the instruction of our God,

you people of Gomorrah!

God

Close at ground level on the stone paving of the temple court: many sandaled feet of worshipers and the hooves of rams and fattened cattle passing in the dust, smoke from the great altar behind.

“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?”

says the LORD.

“I am full from the burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of well-fed cattle;

I take no delight in the blood of bulls

and lambs and goats.

When you come to appear before Me,

who has required this of you—

this trampling of My courts?

God

Bring your worthless offerings no more;

your incense is detestable to Me.

New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations—

I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly.

I hate your New Moons

and your appointed feasts.

They have become a burden to Me;

I am weary of bearing them.

God

When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I will hide My eyes from you;

even though you multiply your prayers,

I will not listen.

Your hands are covered with blood.

God

God

Wash and cleanse yourselves.

Remove your evil deeds from My sight.

Stop doing evil!

Learn to do right;

seek justice and correct the oppressor.

Defend the fatherless

and plead the case of the widow.”

God

“Come now, let us reason together,”

says the LORD.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

they will be as white as snow;

though they are as red as crimson,

they will become like wool.

God

If you are willing and obedient,

you will eat the best of the land.

But if you resist and rebel,

you will be devoured by the sword.”

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

The LORD’s case

Whiteboard

A courtroom where the Judge Himself offers the way to be clean.

The Corruption of Zion

Isaiah

See how the faithful city has become a harlot!

She once was full of justice;

righteousness resided within her,

but now only murderers!

Isaiah

Isaiah

Your silver has become dross;

your fine wine is diluted with water.

Isaiah

Dusk in a Jerusalem gateway: a rich man in fine fringed wool presses a small leather pouch into the hand of a seated official, half hidden by his cloak; behind them, out of focus, a poor woman waits on the bench.

Your rulers are rebels,

friends of thieves.

They all love bribes

and chasing after rewards.

They do not defend the fatherless,

and the plea of the widow never comes before them.

God

Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts,

the Mighty One of Israel, declares:

“Ah, I will be relieved of My foes

and avenge Myself on My enemies.

I will turn My hand against you;

I will thoroughly purge your dross;

I will remove all your impurities.

God

I will restore your judges as at first,

and your counselors as at the beginning.

After that you will be called the City of Righteousness,

the Faithful City.”

Isaiah

Afternoon on a bare hilltop: a stone shrine under a great spreading oak and a terebinth, cool shade on its stones, a thin line of smoke from the altar, the hills falling away below.

Zion will be redeemed with justice,

her repentant ones with righteousness.

But rebels and sinners will together be shattered,

and those who forsake the LORD will perish.

Surely you will be ashamed of the sacred oaks

in which you have delighted;

you will be embarrassed by the gardens

that you have chosen.

Isaiah

Late summer on a hilltop: a great oak with its leaves withered brown, below it a walled garden plot gone to cracked earth and a dry stone channel, a thin wisp of smoke from dry brush nearby, pale sky above.

For you will become like an oak whose leaves are withered,

like a garden without water.

The strong man will become tinder

and his work will be a spark;

both will burn together,

with no one to quench the flames.

0:15

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Holy One of Israel, You raised us and we turned our backs. Wash us, though our sins are scarlet. Teach us to do right and to plead for the widow. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 1

0 of 66 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.

Isaiah 1:18

or swipe left