(1) The prophecies of Isaiah son of Amoz, who prophesied concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. (2) Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, For the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up— And they have rebelled against Me! (3) An ox knows its owner, An ass its master’s crib: Israel does not know, My people takes no thought.” (4) Ah, sinful nation! People laden with iniquity! Brood of evildoers! Depraved children! They have forsaken the LORD, Spurned the Holy One of Israel, Turned their backs [on Him]. (5) Why do you seek further beatings, That you continue to offend? Every head is ailing, And every heart is sick. (6) From head to foot No spot is sound: All bruises, and welts, And festering sores— Not pressed out, not bound up, Not softened with oil. (7) Your land is a waste, Your cities burnt down; Before your eyes, the yield of your soil Is consumed by strangers— A wasteland as overthrown by strangers! (8) Fair Zion is left Like a booth in a vineyard, Like a hut in a cucumber field, Like a city beleaguered. (9) Had not the LORD of Hosts Left us some survivors, We should be like Sodom, Another Gomorrah. (10) Hear the word of the LORD, You chieftains of Sodom; Give ear to our God’s instruction, You folk of Gomorrah! (11) “What need have I of all your sacrifices?” Says the LORD. “I am sated with burnt offerings of rams, And suet of fatlings, And blood of bulls; And I have no delight In lambs and he-goats. (12) That you come to appear before Me— Who asked that of you? Trample My courts (13) no more; Bringing oblations is futile, Incense is offensive to Me. New moon and sabbath, Proclaiming of solemnities, Assemblies with iniquity, I cannot abide. (14) Your new moons and fixed seasons Fill Me with loathing; They are become a burden to Me, I cannot endure them. (15) And when you lift up your hands, I will turn My eyes away from you; Though you pray at length, I will not listen. Your hands are stained with crime— (16) Wash yourselves clean; Put your evil doings Away from My sight. Cease to do evil; (17) Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow. (18) “Come, let us reach an understanding, —says the LORD. Be your sins like crimson, They can turn snow-white; Be they red as dyed wool, They can become like fleece.” (19) If, then, you agree and give heed, You will eat the good things of the earth; (20) But if you refuse and disobey, You will be devoured [by] the sword.— For it was the LORD who spoke. (21) Alas, she has become a harlot, The faithful city That was filled with justice, Where righteousness dwelt— But now murderers. (22) Your silver has turned to dross; Your wine is cut with water. (23) Your rulers are rogues And cronies of thieves, Every one avid for presents And greedy for gifts; They do not judge the case of the orphan, And the widow’s cause never reaches them. (24) Assuredly, this is the declaration Of the Sovereign, the LORD of Hosts, The Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will get satisfaction from My foes; I will wreak vengeance on My enemies! (25) I will turn My hand against you, And smelt out your dross as with lye, And remove all your slag: (26) I will restore your magistrates as of old, And your counselors as of yore. After that you shall be called City of Righteousness, Faithful City.” (27) Zion shall be saved in the judgment; Her repentant ones, in the retribution.
(1) "His owner." [The owner] guides [the ox] in the plowing during the day, and after he has accustomed the ox to the task, it knows [how to perform it]. But the donkey is impervious; it does not know its master until he has fed it. Israel was not clever enough to know, as an ox does, when I called them, "Israel will be your name," and told them some of My laws, and they left Me, as it says (Ezekiel 20:39) "Each man, his idols..." And even after I brought them out of Egypt and fed them the mann and called them My nation, the children of Israel were not even as wise as a donkey. Another explanation: The ox recognizes its master and is fearful of him; it does not change what I have decreed upon it, saying, "I will not plow today." And the donkey does not say to its master, "I will not carry loads today." These animals, which were created to serve you, and do not receive reward if they behave appropriately, nor are they punished if they sin, do not change their ways which I decreed upon them. And Israel, who receive reward if they are worthy, and if they sin receive punishment...! (2) "Did not know." They did not want to know; they knew and they crushed with their heels; and My nation did not pay attention in order to understand.
(א) ידע שור. זכר הבהמות שהן גדלות עם האדם לעבודתו ואף על פי שאינן בני דעת בכח ההכרה שיש בהם לרחק מן הנזק ולקרב אל התועלת יכירו מי שייטיב להם תמיד והם הבעלים ושבים לביתם ולמקום מאכלם כשבאים ממלאכתם... וישראל שהם עמי שקניתים מבית עבדים הם לא ידעו כי אני המטיב להם ונתתי להם ארץ נחלה וגרשתי גוים מפניהם שאם הכירו זה לא עזבוני ולא עבדו אלהים אחרים במקומי, והם לא התבוננו כי בשמרם את תורתי הם בטובה ובעזבם אותה הם ברעה, איך לא התבוננו זה:
The memory of animals is great in terms of their work. Even though they're not particularly intelligent, they have enough knowledge to distance themselves from damaging things and move toward their purpose. They know who is good for them and always know where their home and places of comfort are...And Israel who are my people who I brought out of slavery, they don't know that I am their provider, that I gave them an inheritance, that I expelled foreign nations before them. If they had remembered this, they wouldn't have abandoned me to foreign Gods. They did not contemplate that if they had guarded my Torah it would have prevented all the evil that befell them...oh how they missed the mark!
(1) If a man was punished and returns to his evil ways, his friend will reprove him and say, "You were punished for this; why don't you pay attention and say, 'I was punished for this evil behavior, I will not go back and do it again'?" Here, too: Why are you stricken? You are still departing from following after God, adding on to your previous departures. Isn't every head already ill? Why do you not gain understanding?
(א) ונותרה, מצייר ירידת ציון מדרגה אחר מדרגה בשלשה זמנים הללו, כי בפעם הראשונה נותרה ירושלים בודדה גלמודה מרבת עם אשר היו מתקבצים אליה תמיד ונדמית כמו הסוכה בכרם שאין נמצא בתוכה רק שומר הכרם לבד, כן לא נמצא בה איש ממקום אחר רק אנשי ירושלים לבד, - אחר שבא לשם בפעם הב' נדמית כמלונה במקשה, סוכה העשויה בשדה קשואים, שגם השומר עצמו אינו יושב שם רק בלילה וביום היא שממה לגמרי (כי את הקשואים שהם קשים א"צ לשמור ביום מן העופות רק בלילה מפני הגנבים), כן אף אנשי ירושלים היו מתחבאים כל היום במערות וצחיחים מפני פחד אויב ולא נמצאו בעיר רק בלילה, ואחר הפעם הג' שצר על ירושלים עצמה עם מחנהו היתה דומה כעיר נצורה במצור:
"left alone"-He is drawing an image of a step by step descent of Zion in 3 time periods. On the first one, Jerusalem was left alone, emptied of the throngs of gatherers. Likened to a vineyard booth where only the guard is found for only Jerusalemites were left. After the 2nd visit, it's similar to a hut in a cucumber field for only the night guard is allowed there and during the day it is void...for even the people of Jerusalem would hide during the day in caves and tunnels for fear of the enemy and only during the night could you find people. On the 3rd visit, Jerusalem was then fully emptied city in dire straits.
(ח) וְזֶה שֶׁכָּתוּב (ישעיהו א׳:י״ז): לִמְדוּ הֵיטֵב, דִּרְשׁוּ מִשְׁפָּט, אַשְּׁרוּ חָמוֹץ. שֶׁהַפָּסוּק מַזְהִיר לַעֲשׂוֹת מִשְׁפָּט וּלְחַזֵּק אֶת הַנִּגְזָל, לְהַצִּיל עָשׁוּק מִיַּד עוֹשְׁקוֹ, כְּדֵי לְהַצִּיל נֶפֶשׁ בָּנָיו וּבְנוֹתָיו כַּנַּ"ל. וְזֶה: לִמְדוּ הֵיטֵב וְכוּ', – שֶׁמַּה שֶּׁתַּעֲשׂוּ מִשְׁפָּט, וְתַצִּילוּ גָּזוּל מִיַּד גּוֹזְלוֹ, עַל־יְדֵי־זֶה תַּעֲשׂוּ טוֹבָה לְהַבָּנִים, שֶׁהֵם בְּחִינַת לִמּוּדֵי ה', כְּמָה שֶׁכָּתוּב (שם נד): וְכָל בָּנַיִךְ לִמּוּדֵי ה'. וְזֶה: לִמְדוּ הֵיטֵב – שֶׁהַהֲטָבָה תִּהְיֶה לְהַבָּנִים, שֶׁהֵם בְּחִינַת לִמּוּדֵי ה'.
(8) This is as it is written (Isaiah 1:17), “Learn to do good, seek justice and vindicate the victim.” The verse counsels exercising justice and strengthening the victim: recovering the defrauded object from the hand of the defrauder, in order to save the souls of his sons and daughters. This is “Learn to do good…”—by your exercising justice and recovering that which was robbed from the hand of the robber, you will be doing “good” to the children. They are the aspect of the “students of God,” as it is written (ibid. 54:13), “And all your children shall be students of God.” This is “LiMDu (Learn) to do good…”—the goodness will be for the children, because they are “the LiMuDei (students of) God.”
(1) Straying from her God. (2) [The city] that was faithful and full of justice, and righteousness dwelt within it -- and now they are murderers. (3) Like "Great with people" (Eichah 1:1) (4) The morning Tamid offering would atone for the sins of the night, and the evening Tamid offering would atone for the sins of the day. Another explanation: They would "rest" capital cases within the city. When they were not able to exonerate the defendant in one day, they wouldn't complete his sentence until the following day, in case an exculpatory argument would arise and they would become murderers [if they had already executed him]. And we have found in Peskita that R' Menachem bar Oshiah said: There were 481 synagogues in Jerusalem, which is the gematria of "מלאתי", and now they are murderers: they killed Uriah and Zecharia.
(1) They stray from the straight path. (2) Payments. Targum Yonaton: One man would say to his friend: Do me a favor in my judgment, and I will pay you back when I judge your case. If a judge was a thief, and the person he stole from would cry out against him before another judge, the thieving judge would say to him: Rule in my favor today, and I will repay your favor when they cry out against you before me. Thus, they chased the repayment of favors. (3) A widow would come to bring a case, and she would meet an orphan coming out. She would ask him, "How did your case go?" and he would say, "All day I have toiled over it and in the end I was not successful." She would turn away and say, "If he, who is a man, was not successful, I will definitely not succeed." Thus: They do not judge the orphan, and the case of the widow does not even appear before them at all.
ציון, אחר שחתם את הנבואה שנבא מתחלת הספר עד הנה על יהודה וירושלים, וכשתשקיף היטב תראה כי רוב התוכחה שהוכיח מתחלת הספר עד (פסוק כ"א), שהיא הנבואה המיוחדת על שבט יהודה היה על מעשים שבינם למקום, אודות הקרבנות והתשובה והתפלה, ורוב התוכחה שהוכיח מפסוק איכה היתה לזונה עד הנה היה על ענינים שבין אדם לחברו מהזיוף ואונאה ונטיית המשפט, כי בין אנשי יהודה אשר ישבו חוץ לירושלים היה רגיל יותר החטאים נגד המקום, ובעיר המלוכה ירושלים היה רגיל יותר החטאים שבין אדם לאדם, מרוב המסחר והמרכולת שמה חתם החוזה עתה דבריו לאמר, כי כל אחד בדבר אשר חטא בו בעצמו יהיה תקנתו, וע"י שיתקן עותתו ישוב על כנ
(1) Zion – This begins a new section now that the prophet has finished the prophecy which he spoke about Yehudah and Jerusalem from the beginning of the book until now. If you look carefully you will see that the rebuke which he delivered from the beginning of the book until the twenty first verse, which is the prophecy that particularly concerns Yehudah, was about acts between the people and God – sacrifices, repentance and prayer. Then most of the rebuke which he gives from the verse “How has she become a harlot…” (Isaiah 1:21) is dealing with matters between people like forgery, fraud and the perversion of justice. This is because sins against God were more common among the people of Yehudah who lived outside of Jerusalem, but in the capitol city of Jerusalem sins between people were more common because of the amount of business and trade done there. Now the seer closed his words by saying that each one will find his reparation through the sin he himself committed, and by fixing his crookedness he will return to his place. (2) Zion – The capitol city which sinned through perverting justice. Shall be redeemed through justice – the moment you repent and do justice, you will be saved and redeemed. (3) And her penitent through righteousness – This is referring to the tribe of Yehudah who returned to Zion from the exile, whose sin was in perverting righteousness between man and God. They will be redeemed through righteousness – by showing the righteousness of their actions before their Maker and Creator.