NRSV

[1] The vision of Isaiah 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 listen, O earth; for the LORD has spoken:

I reared up children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.

[3] The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib;

But Israel does not know, my people do not understand.

[4] Ah, sinful nation, people laden with iniquity,

Offspring who do evil, children who deal corruptly,

Who have forsaken the LORD,

Who have despised the Holy One of Israel,

Who are utterly estranged!

[5] Why do you seek further beatings?

Why do you continue to rebel?

The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint.

[6] From the sole of the foot even to the head

There is no soundness in it,

But bruises and sores and bleeding wounds;

They have not been drained, or bound up, 

Or softened with oil.

[7] Your country lies desolate,

Your cities are burned with fire;

In you very presence aliens devour your land;

It is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.

[8] And daughter Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, 

Like a shelter in a cucumber field,

Like a besieged city.

[9] If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, 

We would have been like Sodom 

And become like Gomorrah.

LXX

[1] A vision, which Isaiah son of Amos saw, which he saw about Judea and Jerusalem in the kingship of Ozziah and Iotham and Achaz and Hezekiah, who were kings of Judah.

[2]Hear, heaven, and exalt, earth, because the Lord has spoken:

Sons I begat and exalted, but these have rejected me. 

[3] The ox knows the owner and the donkey the manger of its lord;

But Israel does not know me, and the people do not understand me. 

[4] Woe sinful nation, the people full of sins,

Wicked seeds, lawless sons

You have forsaken the Lord and provoked the wrath of the Holy One of Israel.

[5] Why should you yet be beaten, when you add to lawlessness?

Every head unto grief and every heart unto sorrow.

[6] From feet until head whether trauma or bruise or blow is inflamed

There is not emollient to place upon it nor oil nor bandages

[7] Your earth is a desert, your cities burned with fire

Your countryside, it is consumed by foreigners before you

And it has been desolated, having been laid waste by foreign peoples.

[8] Daughter Zion has been forsaken as a tent in the vineyard,

As a gardener’s hut in the cucumber bed, 

As a city besieged.

[9] And lest the Lord of the Sabbath should not leave our seeds

We would have been become as Sodom

And we have been made like Gomorrah.

Notes on Text

Verse one establishes some dates for Isaiah, with the reigns of Uzziah through Hezekiah occurring roughly from the late 8th century BCE until the late 7th century BCE.  It should be noted that it is quite unlikely that a single prophet was alive and prophesying for a full century, and although if we assume a single prophet from late in the reign of Uzziah through the early reign of Hezekiah, it is more plausible. These reigns correspond to a period of Assyrian menace.  The northern kingdom of Israel paid tribute to the Assyrian empire and was ultimately conquered, and its aristocracy resettled.  This conquest and resettlement took place from 740-722 BCE and the growth of neighboring imperial powers would have been quite obvious and seemed quite inexorable.  

It should also be noted that by paying tribute, Judah was explicitly acknowledging its status of a client of the Assyrian empire. Israel was conquered because it had rebelled by ceasing to pay tribute, and Judah was eventually conquered for doing the same.  By paying tribute, the kings of Israel and Judah acknowledged Assyria as their suzerains.  I’ve mentioned this elsewhere several times, but because a great deal of the Hebrew Bible was composed or edited in time periods in which Israel/Judah were subject to imperial suzerainty, a lot of the language surrounding the relationship between the faithful and God places god in the suzerain position (for examples of this, here are a couple essays).

The division between Judah and Israel is also an important division to keep in mind, particularly in this passage, where Judah is mentioned in vv. 1 but vv. 3-4 refer instead to Israel.  For example, consider this passage from vv. 2-3:

I reared up children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.

[3] The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib;

But Israel does not know, my people do not understand.

My initial impression, upon first reading it, was that this passage and the following are a prophet’s lament that Israel (read as the whole community of the faithful) have transgressed, and are thus subject to divine punishment. This is the sort of reading of prophetic literature that is very much in keeping with contemporary Christianity, inasmuch as it severs the text from historical context to a more universal message.  Israel, rather than a specific place, serves in the abstract to describe a community of the faithful, and the punishments assigned to Israel are read as future punishments and also abstract.  

There isn’t anything wrong with that sort of reading, necessarily, but rereading this passage it seems to me that this tendency has caused me to miss important context.  First of all, it seems likely that the intended audience for this passage is Judah and its aristocracy, who perhaps would not identify so closely with Israel.  It is also the case that what is being described here is probably actual, specific problems that Israel had with literal foreigners invading it.  Finally, vv. 8 makes much more sense if we read the aforementioned passages as describing the separate Kingdom of Israel as having been besieged, laid to waste, etc. which leaves Zion in the Kingdom of Judah abandoned and besieged. Rather than being a vague lamentation of sinfulness and promise of punishment, Isaiah 1:1-9 explains Israel’s misfortunes in terms of its rebellion against God. Verse 9 then describes Judah as wholly dependent on God’s mercy for preservation.

In the Greek text, there is also an interesting repetition of the verb ἐγκαταλείπω egkataleipō.  This verb often means to forsake or abandon, and that is how it is used in vv. 4 (“you have forsaken the Lord”) and vv. 8 (“Daughter Zion has been forsaken”). Interestingly, this verb is also used in vv. 9, which could be translated:

And lest the Lord of the Sabbath should not forsake our seeds

We would have been become as Sodom

And we have been made like Gomorrah.

Given the larger meaning of that first clause, it probably makes better sense to translate ἐγκαταλείπω egkataleipō as “leave” or “leave behind,” but this word choice leaves an interesting tension in this passage.  Israel has forsaken the Lord and has been punished, and although Judah has not yet been punished in the same way, the use of ἐγκαταλείπω egkataleipō leaves the threat of punishment looming over Judah.  As we shall see in the next post, this choice helps to strengthen the argument being made in the next passage.