World English Bible · Under Assyria
Isaiah 1
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The of the son of , which he saw concerning Judah and , in the days of , , , and , kings of Judah. Hear, , and listen, earth; for has spoken: "I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib; but Israel doesn't know. My people don't consider." Ah nation, a people loaded with , of , children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken . They have despised the One of Israel. They are estranged and backward. Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven't been closed, bandaged, or soothed with oil. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with . Strangers devour your land in your and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. The daughter of is left like a shelter in a , like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city. Unless of Armies had left to us a very small , we would have been as . We would have been like . Hear word, you of ! Listen to of our , you people of ! "What are of your to me?", . "I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and fed animals. I don't delight in of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more . is an to me. New moons, , and convocations— I can't stand evil assemblies. hates your New Moons and your . They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of . Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek . Relieve the oppressed. Defend . Plead for the ." "Come now, and let's reason together," : "Though your are as 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 will eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with ; for has spoken it." How the city has become a ! She was full of . lodged in her, but now there are . Your silver has become dross, your mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don't defend , neither does the cause of the come to them. Therefore , of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: "Ah, I will get relief from my , and myself on . I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin. I will restore your judges as at the first, and your as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called 'The city of , a town.' shall be with , and her converts with . But the of transgressors and shall be together, and those who forsake shall be consumed. For they shall be of the oaks which you have , and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water. The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them."
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Assyria, 745 BC to 612 BC ›
Assyria at full stretch, deporting whole populations as policy. The northern kingdom is destroyed in 722 BC and Judah survives as a tribute-paying vassal.
- Assyria
- The first empire to run mass deportation as ordinary administration: move the leadership somewhere else, settle strangers in their place, and the province stops being a nation. It worked. Samaria fell in 722 BC and the northern tribes did not come back. Assyria also advertised its cruelty deliberately, carving flayings and impalements on palace walls where envoys would see them, because terror is cheaper than garrisons.
- Judah
- Survives by paying. Hezekiah rebels, Sennacherib takes forty-six Judean towns and besieges Jerusalem in 701 BC, and the city holds. The Assyrian account boasts of shutting Hezekiah up like a bird in a cage and pointedly does not claim to have taken the city, which is one of the more interesting silences in ancient records.
- Egypt
- The splintered reed of a staff that Assyria's field commander mocks Judah for leaning on. It promises help and cannot deliver, and Isaiah spends decades saying so. Assyria eventually invades and sacks Thebes.
- Further afield
- Greece is in its archaic period, founding colonies from Spain to the Black Sea. Rome is under kings. Assyria's own libraries are collecting the literature of Mesopotamia, which is how Gilgamesh survived to be read again in the nineteenth century.
All of Isaiah