The Poetry of the Prophets Part 1: Isaiah, Prophet of Hope?

(1) The vision of Isaiah ben Amotz, who saw visions of Judah and Jerusalem during the reign of Uzziah, Yotam, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

(2) Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, For the Eternal has spoken:

“I reared children and brought them up— and they have rebelled against Me!

(3) An ox knows its owner, A donkey its master’s trough:

But Israel knows nothing, My people has no consideration.”

(4) Ah, sinful nation! People laden with iniquity! Brood of evildoers! Depraved children!

They have forsaken the Eternal, Spurned the Holy One of Israel, Turned their backs.

(5) Why do you seek further beatings, That you continue to offend?

Every head is ailing, And every heart is sick.

(6) From the bottom of the foot to the top of the head, no spot is sound: All bruises, and welts, And raw wounds —

Not pressed out, not bound up, not softened with oil.

(7) Your land is a waste, your cities burnt down; Your ground is consumed before you by strangers— A wasteland as overthrown by strangers!

(8) Fair Zion is left like a shack in a vineyard, Like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city beleaguered.

(9) Had not the Eternal of Legions left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, just like another Gomorrah.

(10) Hear the word of the Eternal, You captains of Sodom; Give ear to our God’s instruction, You folk of Gomorrah!

(11) “What need have I of all your sacrifices?” Says the Eternal. “I am sated with burnt offerings of rams, the suet of fatlings, And blood of bulls; And I have no delight in lambs and goats.

(12) That you come to appear before Me— Who asked that of you? Trample My courts

(13) no more; Bringing oblations is futile, Incense is offensive to Me. New moon and sabbath, Proclaiming of solemnities, Assemblies with iniquity, I cannot abide.

(14) Your new moons and fixed seasons Fill Me with loathing; They are become a burden to Me, I cannot endure them.

(15) And when you lift up your hands, I will turn My eyes away from you; Though you pray at length, I will not listen.

Your hands are stained with crime—

(16) Wash yourselves clean; Put your evil doings Away from My sight. Cease to do evil;

(17) Learn to do good. Seek justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow.

(1) The vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw of Judah and Jerusalem:

(2) It will be at the end of days, that the Mount of the House of the Eternal Shall stand firm above the mountains and tower above the hills; And all the nations will flow towards it.

(3) And the many peoples will go and say: “Come, let us go up to the Mount of the Eternal, to the House of the God of Jacob; That God may instruct us in God's ways, And that we may walk in God's paths.” For Torah shall come forth from Zion, The word of the Eternal from Jerusalem.

(4) And God will judge among the nations and arbitrate for the many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: Nation shall not take up sword against nation; and never again shall they study war.

(1) Behold, The Eternal will strip the earth bare, And lay it to waste,

And twist its surface, And scatter its inhabitants.

(2) The people along with the priests, the slave along with his master, the maid along with her mistress, the buyer along with the seller, the lender along with the borrower, the creditor along with the debtor.

(3) The earth shall be bare, bare; It shall be plundered, plundered;

For it is the Eternal who spoke this word.

(4) The earth is withered, seared; the world languishes, it is seared;

The most exalted people of the earth languish.

(5) For the earth was defiled under its inhabitants;

Because they transgressed the teachings, violated laws, broke the ancient covenant.

(6) That is why a curse consumes the earth, and its inhabitants pay the penalty;

That is why earth’s dwellers have dwindled, And but few people are left...

(16) From the far corner of of the earth We hear singing: Glory to the righteous! And I said: I waste away! I waste away! Woe is me! The faithless have acted faithlessly; The faithless have broken faith!

(17) Terror, and pit, and trap

Upon you who dwell on earth!

(18) And the one who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit; And the one who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the trap. For the chambers are opened on high, And earth’s foundations tremble.

(19) The earth is breaking, breaking; The earth is crumbling, crumbling. The earth is tottering, tottering;

(20) The earth is swaying like a drunkard; It is rocking to and fro like a hut. Its crime shall weigh it down,

And it shall fall, to rise no more.

(1) Comfort, oh comfort My people,

Says your God.

(2) Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, And declare to her that her term of service is over, that her iniquity is expiated;

For she has received at the hand of the Eternal double for all her sins.