Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today we'll be starting the book of
Isaiah, chapters 1 through 6. Chapter 1. The
vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw
concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of
Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of
Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,
for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and
brought up children, and they have rebelled against
me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its
master's crib. But Israel does not know, my people
do not consider. Alas, sinful nation, a people
laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children
who are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord.
They have provoked the anger, the Holy One of
Israel. They have turned the way backward. Why
should you be stricken again? You will revolt
more and more. The whole head is sick. The whole
heart faints. From the sole of the foot even
to the head there is no soundness in it, but
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They
have not been closed or bound up or soothed with
ointment. Your country is desolate. Your cities
are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land
in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown
by strangers. So the daughter of Zion is left
as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden
of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Unless the
Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant,
we would have become like Sodom, we would have
been made like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the
Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law
of our God, you people of Gomorrah. To what purpose
is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? Says
the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings
of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight
in the blood of bulls or of lambs or goats. When
you come to appear before me, Who has required
this from your hand, to trample my courts? Bring
no more futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination
to me, the new moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling
of assemblies. I cannot endure iniquity and a
sacred meeting. Your new moons and your appointed
feasts my soul hates. They are a trouble to me.
I am wary of bearing them. When you spread out
your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even
though you make many prayers, I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves,
make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your
doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil,
learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor,
defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come
now and 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 be as wool. If you are willing
and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.
But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured
by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
How the faithful city has become a harlot. It
was full of justice, righteousness lodged in
it, but now murderers. Your silver has become
dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes
are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone
loves bribes and follows after rewards. They
do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause
of the widow come before them. Therefore the
Lord says, The Lord of hosts, the Mighty One
of Israel, Ah, I will rid myself of my adversaries,
and take vengeance on my enemies. I will turn
my hand against you, and thoroughly purge away
your dross, and take away all your alloy. I will
restore your judges as at the first, and your
counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you
shall be called the city of righteousness, the
faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with justice,
and her penitents with righteousness. The destruction
of transgressors and of sinners shall be together,
and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
For they shall be ashamed of the turbaned trees
which you have desired, and you shall be embarrassed
because of the gardens which you have chosen.
For you shall be as a turban whose leaf fades,
and as a garden that has no water. The strong
shall be as tinder, and the work of it as a spark.
Both will burn together, and no one shall quench
them. The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw
concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it shall
come to pass in the latter days that the mountain
of the Lord's house shall be established on the
top of the mountains and shall be exalted above
the hills and all nations shall flow to it. Many
people shall come and say, Come and let us go
up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house
of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways
and we shall walk in his path. For out of Zion
shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations
and rebuke many people. They shall beat their
swords into plowshares and their spears into
pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war
anymore. O house of Jacob, come and let us walk
in the light of the Lord. For you have forsaken
your people, the house of Jacob, because they
are filled with eastern ways. They are soothsayers
like the Philistines, and they are pleased with
the children of foreigners. Their land is also
full of silver and gold, and there is no end
to their treasures. Their land is also full of
horses, and there is no end to their chariots.
Their land is also full of idols. They worship
the work of their own hands, that which their
own fingers have made. People bow down, and each
man humbles himself, therefore do not forgive
them. Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust,
from the terror of the Lord, and the glory of
his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be
humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be
bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted
in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts
shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon
everything lifted up, and it shall be brought
low, upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are
high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of
Bashan. upon all the high mountains and upon
all the hills that are lifted up upon every high
tower and upon every fortified wall upon all
the ships of tarshish and upon all the beautiful
sloops the loftiness of men shall be bowed down
and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low
the lord alone will be exalted in that day but
the idols he shall utterly abolish They shall
go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves
of the earth, from the terror of the Lord and
the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake
the earth mightily. In that day a man will cast
away his idols of silver and his idols of gold,
which they made each for himself to worship,
to the moles and bats, to go into the clefts
of the rocks and into the crags of the rugged
rocks, from the terror of the Lord and the glory
of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth
mightily. Sever yourselves from such a man, whose
breath is in his nostrils, for of what account
is he? Chapter 3 For behold, the Lord, the Lord
of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from
Judah the stock and the store, the whole supply
of bread and the whole supply of water, the mighty
man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet,
and the diviner and the elder, the captain of
fifty and the honorable man, the counselor and
the skillful artisan, and the expert enchanter.
I will give children to be their princes, and
babes shall rule over them. The people will be
oppressed, every one by another, and every one
by his neighbor. The child will be insolent toward
the elder, and abase toward the honorable. When
a man takes hold of his brother in the house
of his father, saying, You have clothing, you
be our ruler, and let these ruins be under your
power. In that day he will protest, saying, I
cannot cure your ills, for in my house is neither
food nor clothing. Do not make me a ruler of
the people. For Jerusalem stumbled, and Judah
is fallen, because their tongue and their doings
are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of
his glory. The look on their countenance witnesses
against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom.
They do not hide it, woe to their soul, for they
have brought evil upon themselves. Say to the
righteous that it shall be well with them, for
they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe
to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for
the reward of his hands shall be given him. As
for my people, children are their oppressors,
and women rule over them. O my people, those
who lead you cause you to err and destroy the
way of your path. The Lord stands up to plead
and stands to judge the people. The Lord will
enter into judgment with the elders of his people
and his princes. For you have eaten up the vineyard,
the plunder of the poor is in your houses. What
do you mean by crushing my people and grinding
the faces of the poor? Says the Lord, God of
hosts. Moreover, the Lord says, because the daughters
of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched
necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as
they go, making a jingling with their feet. Therefore,
the Lord will strike with a scab. the crown of
the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord
will uncover their secret parts. In that day
the Lord will take away the finery, the jingling
anklets, the scarves and the crescents, the pendants,
the bracelets and the veils, the headdresses,
the leg ornaments and the headbands, the perfume
boxes, the charms and the rings, the nose jewels,
the festal apparel and the mantles, the outer
garments, the purses and the mirrors, the fine
linen, the turbans and the robes. And so it shall
be. Instead of a sweet smell, there will be a
stench. Instead of a sash, a rope. Instead of
well -set hair, baldness. Instead of a rich robe,
a girding of sackcloth. And branding, instead
of beauty, your men shall fall away by the sword,
and your mighty in the war. Her gates shall lament
and mourn, and she being desolate shall sit on
the ground. Chapter 4 And in that day seven women
shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat
our own food and wear our own apparel. Only let
us be called by your name to take away our reproach.
In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful
and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall
be excellent and appealing for those of Israel
who have escaped. And it shall come to pass that
he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem
will be called holy, everyone who is recorded
among the living in Jerusalem. When the Lord
has washed away the filth of the daughters of
Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from
her midst by the spirit of judgment and by the
spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create
above every dwelling place of Mount Zion and
above her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day
and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For
over all the glory there will be a covering,
and there will be a tabernacle for shade in the
daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge,
and for a shelter from storm and rain. Now let
me sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved
regarding his vineyard. My well beloved has a
vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up
and cleared out its stones and planted it with
the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst
and also made a winepress in it. So he expected
it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought
forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of
Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between
me and my vineyard. What more could have been
done to my vineyard that I have not done in it?
Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good
grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? And now,
please let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned,
and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled
down. I will lay it waste, it shall not be pruned
or dug. But there shall come up briars and thorns.
I will also command the clouds, that they rain
no rain on it. For the vineyard of the Lord of
hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of
Judah are his pleasant plant. He looked for justice,
but behold, oppression. For righteousness, but
behold, a cry for help. Woe to those who join
house to house. They add field to field, till
there is no place where they may dwell alone
in the midst of the land. In my hearing the Lord
of hosts said, Truly many houses shall be desolate,
great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield one effa. Woe
to those who rise early in the morning, that
they may follow intoxicating drink, who continue
until night, till wine inflames them. The harp
and the strings, the tambourine and flute, and
wine are in their feasts, but they do not regard
the work of the Lord, nor consider the operation
of his hands. Therefore my people have gone into
captivity, because they have no knowledge. Their
honorable men are famished, and their multitude
dried up with thirst. Therefore Sheol has enlarged
itself, and opened its mouth beyond measure.
Their glory and their multitude and their pomp,
and he who is jubilant shall descend into it.
People shall be brought down, each man shall
be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be
humbled. But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted
in judgment, and God who is holy shall be hallowed
in righteousness. Then the lambs shall feed in
their pasture, and in the waste places of the
fat ones strangers shall eat. Woe to those who
draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as
if with a cart -rope, that say, Let him make
speed and hasten his work, that we may see it.
and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel
draw near and come, that we may know it. Woe
to those who call evil good and good evil, who
put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and
prudent in their own sight. Woe to men mighty
at drinking wine. Woe to men valiant for mixing
intoxicating drink, who justify the wicked for
a bribe and take away justice from the righteous
man. therefore as the fire devours the stubble
and the flame consumes the chaff so their root
will be as rottenness and their blossom will
ascend like dust because they have rejected the
law of the lord of hosts and despised the word
of the holy one of israel therefore the anger
of the lord is aroused against his people he
has stretched out his hand against them and stricken
them and the hills trembled their carcasses were
as refuse in the midst of the streets for all
this his anger is not turned away but his hand
is stretched out still he will lift up a banner
to the nations from afar and will whistle to
them from the end of the earth surely they shall
come with speed swiftly no one will be weary
or stumble among them no one will slumber or
sleep nor will the belt on their loins be loosed
nor the strap of their sandals be broken whose
arrows are sharp and all their bows bent. Their
horses' hoofs will seem like flint, and their
wheels like a whirlwind. Their roaring will be
like a lion. They will roar like young lions.
Yes, they will roar and lay hold of the prey.
They will carry it away safely, and no one will
deliver. In that day they will roar against them,
like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks
to the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and
the light is darkened by the clouds. Chapter
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the
Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up,
and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphim. Each one had six
wings, with two he covered his face, with two
he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And
one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full
of his glory. and the posts of the door were
shaken by the voice of him who cried out and
the house was filled with smoke so i said woe
is me for i am undone because i am a man of unclean
lips and i dwell in the midst of a people of
unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king the
lord of hosts then one of the seraphim flew to
me having in his hand a live coal which he had
taken with the tongs from the altar and he touched
my mouth with it and said behold This has touched
your lips. Your iniquity is taken away, and your
sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord
saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for
us? Then I said, Here I am, send me. And he said,
Go and tell this people. Keep on hearing, but
do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not
perceive. Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy. and shut their eyes, lest
they see with their eyes, and hear with their
ears, and understand with their heart, and return,
and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And
he answered, Until the cities are laid waste
and without inhabitant. The houses are without
a man, the land is utterly desolate. The Lord
has removed men far away, and the forsaken places
are many in the midst of the land. But yet a
tenth will be in it, and will return and be for
consuming. as a terebinth tree or as an oak,
whose stump remains when it is cut down, so the
holy seed shall be its stump. I hope you enjoyed
today's reading as much as I did, and I look
forward to seeing you again tomorrow to continue
on our journey. God bless you and have a great
day.