Isaiah 1:2-4

The Voice

In the time of Isaiah, prophets are known to be astute observers of their particular times and places. They speak what they understand to be God’s words to the people about how their thoughts and actions, especially their actions, relate to God’s expectations for them. When the people fall short of such expectations, prophets tell them what God thinks and what the consequences might be.

²Listen and take note,
    from the farthest reaches to the nearest!
Listen up heaven and earth,
    for the Eternal One has spoken.
    He is not happy with the children He raised.

Eternal One: Despite all I’ve done,
        My children have rebelled against Me.
³    Oxen know their owners;
        even donkeys know where their master feeds them,
    But Israel is ignorant.
        My very own, they ignore Me.

⁴Truly this is a wicked nation,
    a people fat with wrongdoing,
Like a litter of miscreants,
    a pack of wilding adolescents.
They’ve rejected the Eternal,
    despised the Holy One of Israel;
    they’ve turned their backs on Him.