[1:2] Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.
[1:3] The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”
[1:4] Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.
[1:5] Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
[1:6] From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.
[1:7] Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
[1:8] And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
[1:9] If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.
[1:10] Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
[1:11] “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
[1:12] “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?
[1:13] Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
[1:14] Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
[1:15] When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
[1:16] Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
[1:17] learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
[1:18] “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
[1:19] If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
[1:20] but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”