1:3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood. 1:4. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards. 1:5. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad. 1:6. From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil. 1:7. Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies. 1:8. And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste. 1:9. Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha. 1:10. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha. 1:11. To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats. 1:12. When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts? 1:13. Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, and the sabbaths and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked. 1:14. My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them. 1:15. And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood. 1:16. Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes, cease to do perversely, 1:17. Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. 1:18. And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool. 1:19. If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land. 1:20. But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. 1:21. How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? justice dwelt in it, but now murderers. 1:22. Thy silver is turned into dross: thy wine is mingled with water. 1:23. Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, they run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow's cause cometh not in to them.