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| 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. |
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| 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. |
Heavens – The power of spiritual control. - While this prophecy is primarily one concerning Natural Israel, yet it is clear from the overall context that there is a good portion that applies to nominal spiritual Israel.
Earth – Organized society under religious restraint.
Thus this prophecy is directed to the church-nation of natural Israel, and by extension also applies to the church-state systems of Christendom.
I – Jehovah God.
Hath nourished – Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matt. 4:4.
Brought up thy children – During the Gospel Age, the Lord was blessing the children of nominal spiritual Israel because of the Lord's true people who were held captive in her.
They – These children of mystic Babylon, the tares.
Have rebelled against Me – This they have done by rejecting God's Truth, that which reveals His wonderfull character. |
| 3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. |
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| 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. |
Sinful nation .. laden with iniquity – This phrase helps us identify the target of this prophecy. ".. for her sins have reached unto heaven .. come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive of her plagues." Rev. 18:4,5.
Seed of evildoers – "An enemy hath shown them" - tares.
Children that are corrupters – "Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of gehenna than yourselves." Matt. 23:15.
Provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger – The Lord's anger is an expression of His fundamental attribute of Justice. This anger or wrath is expressed in the pouring out of the seven last plagues upon the symbolic earth (Rev. 16:1). |
| 5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. |
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| 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. |
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| 12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? |
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| 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. |
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| 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. |
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| 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. |
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| 16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; |
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| 17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. |
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| 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. |
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| 19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: |
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| 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. |
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| 21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. |
The faithful city – The early true church
Become an harlot – Gradually, beginning with 314 A.D. when the Roman emperor Constantine (civil power) convened a church council (August 1, 314) in Arles, France, beginning the union of church and state in Europe.
It was – Prior to 314 A.D.
Full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it – In the early church.
Now – After 314. |
| 22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: |
Thy silver – The Bible truth given to the early church.
Become dross -- |
| 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. |
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| 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: |
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| 25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: |
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| 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.
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| 27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. |
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| 28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. |
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| 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. |
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| 30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. |
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| 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. |
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