ISAIAH VERSE BY VERSE

CHAPTER 1

The first chapter is like a court scene with Israel being the defendant and Jehovah acting as both the plaintiff and the judge.

1:1
This first verse is essentially a heading for the book.

Amoz – the name means ‘strong’. Nothing else is known about this man. Talmudic tradition says that he was also a prophet.

Uzziah – meaning God is my strength. Also known as Azariah. He was the tenth king of the Judah and one of Amaziah’s sons. (2 Chronicles 26:1) Uzziah was 16 when he became king of Judah and reigned for 52 years. The first 24 years of his reign were as co-regent with his father, Amaziah. Matthew lists Uzziah in the genealogy of Jesus.

Jotham – Jotham or Yotam was the eleventh king of Judah, and son of King Uzziah and Jerusha, daughter of Zadok. Jotham was 25 when he began his reign, and reigned for 16 years.

Ahaz – was twenty years old when he succeeded his father Jotham to the throne of Judea. He was a weak and idolatrous king.

Hezekiah -Hezekiah was a son of a godless father, King Ahaz (2 Kings 16:2-4). Yet we are told that Hezekiah did “right in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 18:3). 

Many scholars believe that Isaiah ministered between the years 740 and 700 BC.

Verses 2-6 – The accusation. The Lord charges Israel of being guilty of sin and spiritual sickness.

1:2
God is introduced as pleading before the whole world, against his rebellious children. The prophet calls upon all created beings, celestial and terrestrial, to attend and bear witness to the truth of his plea and the justice of his cause. Jehovah had nourished and brought the Israelites up as children (in Egypt and the wilderness), and now in their adulthood (in the promised land) they had turned against the Lord.

1:3
Even animals are grateful for what their masters do for them, but the people of Judah show no gratitude to their heavenly Father. 

Crib = stall or manger

1:4
Israel is a sinful nation. They’re not going forward towards God but going backwards from God , ie walking away from their covenant.. Isaiah sets out four types of wickedness – sin, iniquity, evildoing, corruption. Even the children are being taught to do evil.

1:5
Sin overpowers good thinking and sound judgement of the heart. Isaiah compares Israel to a sick and diseased body, all overspread with leprosy. The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint. The sickness goes through every level of society.

Faint = diseased

1.6
The sickness, or wickedness goes from head to foot, that is, in every part of the body. The implication is that it extends from the lowest to the highest among the people. The sores represent unchecked open rebellion. Israel has not given attention to the wounds.

Closed = squeezed out.

Mollified = softened.

Verses 7-15 – Immediate judgements. Physical and spiritual consequences are coming upon Israel because the people have not obeyed the Lord.

1.7
Isaiah prophesies what will be the result of the rebellion. Assyria attacked and left Israel destroyed and desolate.

1.8
Daughter points to the future ie a prophecy.

When the vineyard and the cucumber crops were ready to harvest, small booths, or huts, were built in the fields so the owner or his servants could watch over the harvest and protect it from thieves or animals. These huts were generally crudely made and hastily erected. After the harvest, they were abandoned and quickly became dilapidated and forlorn relics of the harvest. Jerusalem was to be like that—once proud and useful, but now, through her own spiritual neglect, an empty and forlorn relic. (See Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, 1:55–56.) (Old Testament Institute Manual)

Lodge = a watchman’s hut.

1.9
The prophetic declaration promises the preservation of the lineage of Judah for future time. (Old Testament Institute Manual).

Israel would have been destroyed long ago, had not God shown mercy on account of the few faithful believers scattered throughout the nation.

1.10
They are compared to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

1.11
These verses do not mean that the Lord rejected the law of Moses, particularly the performances and ordinances of the law. The condemnation here is of the hypocritical fulfillment of the Mosaic offerings and feasts. Israel misused these religious activities because they fulfilled only the outward requirements and did not worship with full purpose of heart, turning their worship toward the Savior. (See Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 58–59; Young, Book of Isaiah, 1:61–62). (Old Testament Institute Manual).

Full of = weary of

1.12
Israel is treating the temple grounds like some animal tromping through with no respect.

1.13
Vain oblations = offerings when the spirit and meaning of the offering and ordinance has been lost.

Away with = endure.

1.14
God does not want our outward religious observance if our heart is not in it.

1.15
Even their prayers would be ineffective if their attitude to God was not right.

Blood = bloodshed.

Verses 16-20 – promise of pardon.

1.16
President Joseph Fielding Smith suggested that the washing mentioned in verse 16 could be baptism. (Institute Old Testament Manual)

1.17
The people must turn from their selfishness and treachery, and begin to show love and honesty in their everyday dealings if they want to be pleasing to God. The things that God was really concerned about is that they would really seek an honest judgment, that they would relieve the oppressed people, that they would give a true judgment to the fatherless and to the widow. 

Judgement = justice.

Judge the fatherless = give a just verdict to the fatherless.

1.18
The word scarlet has as its background, double-died, soaked in the dye so long, dried and soaked again until the dye has permeated the very fibres of the fabric and it is impossible to remove. And some people are so steeped in sin that it has penetrated the very fibres of their being and sin has become second nature to them. 

When we repent, we have the Lord’s assurance that our sins, including our acts and desires, will be cleansed and our merciful final judge will “remember them no more”

‘On occasion, I have met with good Saints who have had trouble forgiving themselves, who have innocently but incorrectly placed limits on the Savior’s redemptive powers. Unwittingly, they have converted an infinite Atonement to a finite one that somehow falls short of their particular sin or weakness. But it is an infinite Atonement because it encompasses and circumscribes every sin and weakness, as well as every abuse or pain caused by others.’ Tad Callister, General Conference, April 2019.

Scarlet = bright red, symbolic of easily noticed sins. Crimson = dark red, symbolic of hidden sins.

1:19
If you’re willing, if you’ll be obedient, you can have the best. See D&C 64:34-35.

1:20
The Lord warns that unrepented rebellion will bring punishment.

Verses 21-31 Final sentencing. The Lord will purge the wicked and redeem the righteous through apostasy, restoration and judgement.

1:21
Jerusalem is so morally filthy that it is likened to a prostitute. The city that was once pure is now unclean.

1:22
It is like silver that has become covered with dirt, like wine that has been watered down.

1:23
The rulers and judges are corrupt, favouring the rich in return for bribes, but ignoring the poor and denying them justice.

Gifts = a bribe.

1:24
They had been a trouble to God, and had wearied Him with their sins, and now He will ease himself removing them. 

Ah = Alas!

1:25
Rather than throw away the dross, God is going to purify it. He is going to purify not destroy. Tin looks like silver but is less valuable – a reference to the self-righteousness of the Jews.

Turn = repeatedly chastise.

1:26
Corrupt rulers and judges will be replaced by those who are just. Jerusalem, instead of being like a prostitute, will be like a faithful wife.

1:27
God will redeem Israel. Those who return will come back in righteousness.

1:28
The punishment of those who rebel against God shall come at the same time as the redemption of Israel. They that forsake the Lord shall perish.

1:29
The oaks and the gardens represent the different false religions that they had embraced in Jerusalem. The oaks and gardens were objects and places of idolatry.

Oaks = terebinth trees and gardens used in idol worship.

1:30
They will wither and dry up.

1:31
Tow = a tuft of inflammable fibres. Nothing can stop this destruction