Isaiah 1:4 (DRB)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have despised me.

Isaiah 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.

Isaiah 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.

Isaiah 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.

Isaiah 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.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "sinful", "nation", "people", "laden", "iniquity", "wicked", "seed", and "ungracious". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "sinful" and "nation", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "The ox knoweth his owner and the..." into verse 5's "For what shall I strike you any...", so "sinful" and "nation" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "sinful" and "nation" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.