Scriptures/The Bible/The Old Testament/Isaiah/1

Isaiah 1 at churchofjesuschrist.org

1 The 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.

2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

4 Ah 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 unto anger, they are gone away backward.

5 ¶ Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

7 Your 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.

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

The daughter of Zion: Commonly a reference to Jerusalem, the mount Zion, or the temple of Jerusalem, in Isaiah's day. In reference to latter-day fulfillment, it is easy to conclude that Jerusalem will be left without allies and will be besieged again. However, as I have elsewhere understood Isaiah to be using a similar phrase to refer to actual women in the the latter day region of Zion (North America), and as such a reading here would be consistent with what has been suggested elsewhere, it is worth consideration that this is really a double entendre, and that the women of North America may find themselves alone, or perhaps, empty/barren. Both interpretations would be supported by what I understand to be expected. The use of the singular, here, suggests to me that the more traditional interpretation may be preferred.

as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers: References indicate that it was a common agricultural practice to have a small hut built in vineyards, cucumber fields, and some other fields, for the purpose of having a keeper lodge there during the growing season to prevent theft from animals or people. During the growing season, it is a very lonely place. After the harvest, the hut would be left completely empty.

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

Sodom and Gomorrah were completely destroyed.

10 ¶ Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith 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.

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

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

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble 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 prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

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 well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

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

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

20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

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

In the latter days, is this Jerusalem, or Salt Lake, or Jackson County, or DC?

22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:

23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

24 Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:

25 ¶ And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:

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

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

The word "Zion" suggests to me a North American location in the latter days.

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

of the transgressors and of the sinners: References indicate that a better rendering of "transgressors" might be "rebels" or "apostates". These would seem to be individuals who have made and broken covenants, appearing to be treated separately from individuals who are simply wicked.

29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.

30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

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

the maker of it: This is described as a mistranslation. The sense should be more like "the strong shall be as tow, and his works as a spark", suggesting that his own works will be his undoing.