Isaiah 1:4 (WEB)

Passage

Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 1:2 Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

Isaiah 1:3 The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know, my people don’t consider.”

Isaiah 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.

Isaiah 1:5 Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Isaiah 1:6 From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, neither bandaged, neither soothed with oil.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "sinful", "nation", "people", "loaded", "iniquity", "offspring", "evildoers", and "children". 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 knows his owner and the..." into verse 5's "Why should you be beaten more that...", 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.