24-31 This Decree, therefore, of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    the Strong One of Israel:
“This is it! I’ll get my oppressors off my back.
    I’ll get back at my enemies.
I’ll give you the back of my hand,
    purge the junk from your life, clean you up.
I’ll set honest judges and wise counselors among you
    just like it was back in the beginning.
Then you’ll be renamed
    City-That-Treats-People-Right, the True-Blue City.”
God’s right ways will put Zion right again.
    God’s right actions will restore her prodigals.
But it’s curtains for rebels and God-traitors,
    a dead end for those who walk out on God.
“Your dalliances in those oak grove shrines
    will leave you looking mighty foolish,
All that fooling around in god and goddess gardens
    that you thought was the latest thing.
You’ll end up like an oak tree
    with all its leaves falling off,
Like an unwatered garden,
    withered and brown.
‘The Strong Man’ will turn out to be dead bark and twigs,
    and his ‘work,’ the spark that starts the fire
That exposes man and work both
    as nothing but cinders and smoke.”

Read full chapter

25 I will turn my hand against you;[a](A)
    I will thoroughly purge(B) away your dross(C)
    and remove all your impurities.(D)
26 I will restore your leaders as in days of old,(E)
    your rulers as at the beginning.
Afterward you will be called(F)
    the City of Righteousness,(G)
    the Faithful City.(H)

27 Zion will be delivered with justice,
    her penitent(I) ones with righteousness.(J)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 1:25 That is, against Jerusalem