Isaiah 1:7 - Printer Friendly

ESV: 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.

NIV: Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.

NASB: Your land is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire; As for your fields, strangers are devouring them in front of you; It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers.

CSB: Your land is desolate, your cities burned down; foreigners devour your fields right in front of you— a desolation, like a place demolished by foreigners.

NLT: Your country lies in ruins, and your towns are burned. Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes and destroy everything they see.

KJV: Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

NKJV: Your country is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire; Strangers devour your land in your presence; And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

The Lord has described Israel's spiritual condition (Isaiah 1:4) using the metaphor of a human body (Isaiah 1:5–6). Her sinful rebellion has made her sick from top to bottom. She walks around as everything is fine despite being wounded and bleeding.

Now God uses a different metaphor to describe Israel's physical condition. Spiritually speaking, the country is desolate, as if destroyed by foreign invaders. The cities are burned, the crops are devoured, and the battles are already lost. This is Israel's spiritual condition because of the great and ongoing sin of the people.

In the physical world, this ruin of foreign invasion had not yet come to Judah. The cities thrived, and the fields were full. The people of Israel could not see past their current circumstances to the spiritual sickness all around them and the destruction that would come from it.

The picture painted by the Lord would become physical reality: Israel was later utterly defeated by her enemies (2 Kings 23—25).

Isaiah 1:2–20 begins a presentation somewhat like a lawsuit against the people of Judah in Israel. The Lord will show many of the ways they have broken their covenant with Him. The people are saturated with sin. They have forsaken Him. Isaiah describes a spiritual sickness Israel refuses to treat. It will lead to their physical destruction by enemy invaders. Their offerings are meaningless because of their sinful rebellion. God calls them to stop sinning and to do good. He offers to make their sins white as snow if they repent and to consume them if they rebel.

After identifying himself as the son of Amoz, Isaiah begins his vision from the Lord with the introduction of God's lawsuit against the people of Israel. His children are living in rebellion against Him. They are saturated in sin and have forsaken the Lord. Their spiritual sickness will lead to their destruction, though a few will be saved. Their offerings are meaningless because of their sinful lifestyles. If they repent now, they will be redeemed. If not, they will be destroyed. The Lord will restore justice to once righteous Jerusalem. All who do not repent will be consumed.

Isaiah 1 begins Isaiah's massive book of prophecy with the Lord presenting a lawsuit against His people Israel in Judah for breach of covenant. They live in rebellion against Him and are saturated in sin. They refuse to treat their spiritual illness and will be decimated by their enemies. Their offerings are meaningless. They must stop doing evil and start doing what is good. The Lord will burn off the corrupt from Jerusalem and return it to a place of justice and righteousness. Those who refuse to repent will be broken and destroyed.

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).