Judah's Rebellion

(2 Chronicles 28:5-15)

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, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD has spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

3The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel does not know, my people does not consider.

4Ah 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 to anger, they are gone away backward.

5Why should you be stricken any more? you will 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; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

7Your 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.

8And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

9Except the LORD of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrah.

Meaningless Offerings

10Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah.

11To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? said 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.

12When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

13Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination to me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

14Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them.

15And when you spread forth 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 you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil;

17Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18Come now, and let us reason together, said 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.

19If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land:

20But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.

Zion Corrupted

21How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

22Your silver is become dross, your wine mixed with water:

23Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loves gifts, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

24Therefore said the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of my adversaries, and avenge me of my enemies:

25And I will turn my hand on you, and purely purge away your dross, and take away all your tin:

26And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning: afterward you shall be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.

27Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.

28And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD 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.

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