NRSV

[21] How the faithful city has become a whore!

She that was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her–but now murderers!

[22] Your silver has become dross, your wine is mixed with water.

[23] Your princes are rebels, and companions of thieves.

Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts.

They do not defend the orphan, 

And the widow’s cause does not come before them.

[24] Therefore says the Sovereign, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel;

Ah, I will pour out my wrath on my enemies,

And avenge myself on my foes!

[25] I will turn my hand against you;

I will smelt away your dross as with lye

And remove all your alloy.

[26] And I will restore your judges as the first,

And your counselors as at the beginning.

Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness,

The faithful city.

[27] Zion shall be redeemed by justice,

And those in her who repent, by righteousness.

[28] But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together,

And those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

[29] For you shall be ashamed of the oaks in which you delighted;

And you shall blush for the gardens you have chosen.

[30] For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water.

[31] The strong shall become like tinder, and their work like a sparkl

They and their work shall burn together, with no one to quench them.

LXX

[21] How the faithful city Zion has become a prostitute,

In it righteousness has slept, but now it is a murderer.

[22] Your silver is without value; your innkeepers mix wine and water.

[23] Your rulers are disobedient, companions of thieves,

Loving gifts, pursuing rewards,

For orphans they are not judges and the judgment of widows they do not attend.

[24] Because of this, this is what the despot, Lord of the Sabbath says

Woe, the strong ones of Israel

For my wrath shall not cease against the ones who oppose 

And I shall make a judgment from my enemies. 

[25] And I shall bring my hands upon you and I shall burn you into purity,

But the disobedient I shall destroy

And I shall remove all the lawless from you

And all the arrogant I shall humble.

[26] And I shall appoint judges for you as at the first,

And counselors for you as from the beginning.

And with these it shall be called

A city of righteousness, a metropolis of faith, Zion.

[27] For with judgment her captives shall be saved, and with mercy;

[28] And the lawless shall be shattered and at the same time the sinners,

And the ones who forsake shall be finished by the Lord.

[29] Since they are dishonored by their idols, which they choose

And they are ashamed by their gardens, which they long for.

[30] For they shall be as a terebinth tree shedding its leaves 

And as a garden not having water. 

[31] And their strength shall be as a stalk of flax

And their works as a spark of fire,

And the lawless shall be burned up at the same time as the sinners, 

And there shall not be anyone to extinguish them. 

Notes on Text

In vv. 21-23, we we see this pairing of justice and judgment continue, framed explicitly in terms of economic justice, with injustice explicitly tied to the ruling class.  In vv 21 we see a word that is cognate to δίκη dikē  used.  The Greek for “righteousness” in the phrase “In it righteousness has slept” is δικαιοσύνη dikaiosynē. This is then paired vv. 23 with κρίνω krinō and κρίσις krisis, in a similar context as the last passage that we discussed.  

There is an interesting elaboration on this line of reasoning in vv. 26, wherein God promises to establish “judges” as from the first.  The word here is κριτής kritēs, which again is cognate to κρίνω krinō.  What this is specifically referring to is the pre-monarchical form of government described in the book of Judges, wherein political power was exercised by tribal leaders like Samson.  The book of Judges mostly tells stories of individual judges, whereas here they are described as governing as part of a counsel.  The other thing that is interesting to note is that elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, the authors seems quite skeptical of monarchical power and this seems to be an extension of that viewpoint, which is perhaps best exemplified in 1 Samuel 8:1-18.  This passage is worth quoting at length, and I think just in the interest of keeping this post to a manageable size, I am going to split my discussion of the passage into its own post, before returning some of the other imagery that remains in Isaiah 1:21-31.