Bible ReadingIsaiah 1:1–311. The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
[45:31]2. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.”
[55:35]3. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.
[01:00:03]4. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.
[01:04:06]5. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
[01:06:32]6. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.
[01:06:32]7. Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
[01:06:32]8. And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
[01:06:32]9. If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.
[01:06:32]10. Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
[01:10:06]11. “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.”
[01:10:06]12. “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?”
[01:10:06]13. “Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.”
[01:10:06]14. “Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.”
[01:10:06]15. “When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.”
[01:10:06]16. “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,”
[01:12:52]17. “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
[01:12:52]18. “Come now, 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 become like wool.”
[01:16:32]19. “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;”
[01:16:32]20. “But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
[01:16:32]21. How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
[01:16:32]22. Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water.
[01:16:32]23. Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.
[01:16:32]24. Therefore the Lord declares, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes.”
[01:16:32]25. “I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.”
[01:16:32]26. “And 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.”
[01:16:32]27. Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
[01:16:32]28. But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
[01:16:32]29. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen.
[01:16:32]30. For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water.
[01:16:32]31. And the strong shall become tinder, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them.
[01:16:32]Isaiah 6:1–131. In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
[48:23]2. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
[48:23]3. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
[48:46]4. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
[48:46]5. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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!”
[48:46]6. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
[48:46]7. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
[48:46]8. And 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.”
[48:46]9. And he said, “Go, and say to this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’”
[48:46]10. “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
[48:46]11. Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste,”
[48:46]12. “And the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.”
[48:46]13. “And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.
[48:46]Isaiah 53:1–121. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
[01:03:22]2. For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
[01:03:22]3. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
[01:03:22]4. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
[01:15:38]5. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
[01:15:38]6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
[01:15:38]7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
[01:15:38]8. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
[01:15:38]9. And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
[01:15:38]10. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
[01:15:38]11. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
[01:15:38]12. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
[01:15:38]Observation questions- In Isaiah 1:2–4, what words describe God’s relationship to Judah, and what words describe Judah’s response to Him? [55:35]
- What pictures does Isaiah use in verses 5–9 to show both the damage caused by sin and the small remaining hope for Judah? [01:06:32]
- In Isaiah 1:11–15, which religious activities does God reject, and what heart problem is exposed by His response? [01:10:06]
- What actions does God specifically command in Isaiah 1:16–17, especially toward people who are weak or easily overlooked? [01:12:52]
Interpretation questions- Why is Judah’s rebellion described as worse than an ox or donkey failing to recognize its master? What does this show about the seriousness of receiving God’s blessings while refusing to know Him? [01:00:03]
- Isaiah calls God “the Holy One of Israel.” How does God’s complete moral purity change the way people should think about their own sin rather than comparing themselves with other flawed people? [01:00:55]
- Isaiah 1:18 promises that scarlet sins can become white as snow, while Isaiah 53 says that the Servant bears the iniquity of others. How do these passages explain how God can forgive guilty people without treating sin as unimportant? [01:15:38]
- Isaiah 1:27 says that Zion will be redeemed “by justice.” Why is it important that redemption includes both God’s mercy toward repentant sinners and God’s justice against rebellion? [01:19:54]
Application questions- It is easy to compare personal sin with the failures of other people and conclude, “I’m not that bad.” Where are you most tempted to excuse sin by comparison, and what would it look like to bring that area honestly before the Holy One of Israel? [01:01:05]
- Religious habits such as attending worship, giving, praying, and reading Scripture are good gifts, but they become empty when the heart is far from God. Which spiritual habits are most likely to become routine for you, and how can you pursue a heart of love, gratitude, and devotion in them? [01:23:45]
- God connects repentance with ceasing evil, learning good, seeking justice, correcting oppression, defending the fatherless, and pleading for the widow. Who are vulnerable people in your everyday circles, and what is one practical way you or your group could care for them? [01:11:22]
- Sin promises freedom but leaves wounds, weakness, and desolation. Can you identify a pattern of sin that has brought harm into your relationship with God or others? What would repentance and seeking help look like this week? [01:04:06]
- Scarlet sins are not cleansed by better religious performance but through Jesus, the suffering Servant, who was pierced for transgressors. When guilt rises up, do you tend to hide, defend yourself, or trust Christ’s finished work? Why? [01:14:35]
- God preserved a remnant when Judah deserved judgment, showing that judgment is not His last word for His people. Where do you need to remember God’s mercy and refuse hopelessness in your own life or in prayer for someone else? [01:24:32]
- Every person will receive either redemption or justice before God. How should the reality of final judgment shape the way you pray for unbelieving friends, speak about Christ, and set priorities this week? [01:27:58]
