1:2 Give ear, O heavens, and you, O earth, to the word which the Lord has said: I have taken care of my children till they became men, but their hearts have been turned away from me.
1:3 Even the ox has knowledge of its owner, and the ass of the place where its master puts its food: but Israel has no knowledge, my people give no thought to me.
1:4 O nation full of sin, a people weighted down with crime, a generation of evil-doers, false-hearted children: they have gone away from the Lord, they have no respect for the Holy One of Israel, their hearts are turned back from him.
1:5 Why will you have more and more punishment? why keep on in your evil ways? Every head is tired and every heart is feeble.
1:6 The body, from head to foot, is all diseased; it is a mass of open wounds, marks of blows, and broken flesh: the flow of blood has not been stopped, and no oil has been put on the wounds.
1:7 Your country has become waste; your towns are burned with fire; as for your land, it is overturned before your eyes, made waste and overcome by men from strangelands.
1:11 What use to me is the number of the offerings which you give me? says the Lord; your burned offerings of sheep, and the best parts of fat cattle, are a weariness to me; I take no pleasure in the blood of oxen, or of lambs, or of he- goats.
1:12 At whose request do you come before me, making my houseunclean with your feet?
1:13 Give me no more false offerings; the smoke of burning flesh is disgusting to me, so are your new moons and Sabbaths and your holy meetings.
1:14 Your new moons and your regular feasts are a grief to my soul: they are a weight in my spirit; I am crushed under them.
1:15 And when your hands are stretched out to me, my eyes will be turned away from you: even though you go on making prayers, I will not give ear: your hands are full of blood.
1:16 Be washed, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; let there be an end of sinning;
1:17 Take pleasure in well-doing; let your ways be upright, keep down the cruel, give a right decision for the child who has no father, see to the cause of the widow.
1:18 Come now, and let us have an argument together, says the Lord: how may your sins which are red like blood be white as snow? how may their darkpurple seem like wool?
1:19 If you will give ear to my word and do it, the good things of the land will be yours;
1:20 But if your hearts are turned against me, I will send destruction on you by the sword; so the Lord has said.
1:21 The upright town has become untrue; there was a time when her judges gave right decisions, when righteousness had a resting-place in her, but now she is full of those who take men's lives.
1:22 Your silver is no longer true metal, your wine is mixed with water.
1:23 Your chiefs have gone against the Lord, they have become friends of thieves; every one of them is looking for profit and going after rewards; they do not give right decisions for the child who has no father, and they do not let the cause of the widow come before them.
1:24 For this reason the Lord, the Lord of armies, the Strong One of Israel, has said, I will put an end to my haters, and send punishment on those who are against me;
1:25 And my hand will again be on you, washing away what is unclean as with soap, and taking away all your false metal;
1:26 And I will give you judges again as at the first, and wiseguides as in the past; then you will be named, The Town of Righteousness, the true town.
