Isaiah 1:21

Bible in Basic English (1941)

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.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

אֵיכָה֙ הָיְתָ֣ה לְזוֹנָ֔ה קִרְיָ֖ה נֶאֱמָנָ֑ה מְלֵאֲתִ֣י מִשְׁפָּ֗ט צֶ֛דֶק יָלִ֥ין בָּ֖הּ וְעַתָּ֥ה מְרַצְּחִֽים׃

Transliteration

ʾêkâ hāyᵉtâ lᵉzônâ qiryâ neʾĕmānâ mᵉlēʾătî mišpāṭ ṣedeq yālîn bāh wᵉ'attâ mᵉraṣṣᵉḥîm

Grammar Details

• *ʾêkâ*: interrogative adverb - how
• *hāyᵉtâ*: verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular - has become
• *lᵉzônâ*: preposition lᵉ- + noun, feminine singular - a harlot
• *qiryâ*: noun, feminine singular - city
• *neʾĕmānâ*: adjective, niphal participle, feminine singular - faithful
• *mᵉlēʾătî*: adjective, feminine singular - full of
• *mišpāṭ*: noun, masculine singular - justice
• *ṣedeq*: noun, masculine singular - righteousness
• *yālîn*: verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular - would lodge
• *bāh*: preposition bᵉ- + 3rd person feminine singular suffix - in her
• *wᵉ'attâ*: conjunction wə- + adverb - and now
• *mᵉraṣṣᵉḥîm*: piel participle, masculine plural - murderers

Word Meanings

• *ʾêkâ*: how/alas/what a tragedy
• *hāyᵉtâ*: has become/has turned into
• *lᵉzônâ*: a harlot/prostitute
• *qiryâ*: city/town
• *neʾĕmānâ*: faithful/trustworthy/loyal
• *mᵉlēʾătî*: full of/filled with
• *mišpāṭ*: justice/judgment/what is right
• *ṣedeq*: righteousness/justice/rightness
• *yālîn*: would lodge/dwell/remain overnight
• *mᵉraṣṣᵉḥîm*: murderers/assassins/those who kill

Referenced Verses

• 2 Sam 8:15 : 15 And David was king over all Israel, judging and giving right decisions for all his people.
• 2 Chr 19:9 : 9 And he gave them their orders, saying, You are to do your work in the fear of the Lord, in good faith and with a true heart.
• Neh 11:1 : 1 And the rulers of the people were living in Jerusalem: the rest of the people made selection, by the decision of chance, of one out of every ten to be living in Jerusalem, the holy town; the other nine to go to the other towns.
• Ps 46:4 : 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the resting-place of God, the holy place of the tents of the Most High.
• Ps 48:1 : 1 <A Song. A Psalm. Of the sons of Korah.> Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, in the town of our God, in his holy mountain.
• Ps 48:8 : 8 As it came to our ears so have we seen it, in the town of the Lord of armies, in the town of our God; God will keep it fixed for ever. (Selah.)
• Isa 5:7 : 7 For the vine-garden of the Lord of armies is the people of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of his delight: and he was looking for upright judging, and there was blood; for righteousness, and there was a cry for help.
• Isa 48:2 : 2 For they say that they are of the holy town, and put their faith in the God of Israel: the Lord of armies is his name.
• Isa 57:3-9 : 3 But come near, you sons of her who is wise in secret arts, the seed of her who is false to her husband, and of the loose woman. 4 Of whom do you make sport? against whom is your mouth open wide and your tongue put out? are you not uncontrolled children, a false seed, 5 You who are burning with evil desire among the oaks, under every green tree; putting children to death in the valleys, under the cracks of the rocks? 6 Among the smooth stones of the valley is your heritage; they, even they, are your part: even to them have you made a drink offering and a meal offering. Is it possible for such things to be overlooked by me? 7 You have put your bed on a high mountain: there you went up to make your offering. 8 And on the back of the doors and on the pillars you have put your sign: for you have been false to me with another; you have made your bed wide, and made an agreement with them; you had a desire for their bed where you saw it 9 And you went to Melech with oil and much perfume, and you sent your representatives far off, and went as low as the underworld.
• Jer 2:20-21 : 20 For in the past, your yoke was broken by your hands and your cords parted; and you said, I will not be your servant; for on every high hill and under every branching tree, your behaviour was like that of a loose woman 21 But when you were planted by me, you were a noble vine, in every way a true seed: how then have you been changed into the branching plant of a strange vine?
• Jer 3:1 : 1 They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's, will he go back to her again? will not that land have been made unclean? but though you have been acting like a loose woman with a number of lovers, will you now come back to me? says the Lord.
• Lam 1:8-9 : 8 Great is the sin of Jerusalem; for this cause she has become an unclean thing: all those who gave her honour are looking down on her, because they have seen her shame: now truly, breathing out grief, she is turned back. 9 In her skirts were her unclean ways; she gave no thought to her end; and her fall has been a wonder; she has no comforter: see her sorrow, O Lord; for the attacker is lifted up.
• Ezek 16:1-9 : 1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, make clear to Jerusalem her disgusting ways, 3 And say, This is what the Lord has said to Jerusalem: Your start and your birth was from the land of the Canaanite; an Amorite was your father and your mother was a Hittite. 4 As for your birth, on the day of your birth your cord was not cut and you were not washed in water to make you clean; you were not salted or folded in linen bands. 5 No eye had pity on you to do any of these things to you or to be kind to you; but you were put out into the open country, because your life was hated at the time of your birth. 6 And when I went past you and saw you stretched out in your blood, I said to you, Though you are stretched out in your blood, have life; 7 And be increased in number like the buds of the field; and you were increased and became great, and you came to the time of love: your breasts were formed and your hair was long; but you were uncovered and without clothing. 8 Now when I went past you, looking at you, I saw that your time was the time of love; and I put my skirts over you, covering your unclothed body: and I gave you my oath and made an agreement with you, says the Lord, and you became mine. 9 Then I had you washed with water, washing away all your blood and rubbing you with oil. 10 And I had you clothed with needlework, and put leather shoes on your feet, folding fair linen about you and covering you with silk. 11 And I made you fair with ornaments and put jewels on your hands and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a ring in your nose and ear-rings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were made beautiful with gold and silver; and your clothing was of the best linen and silk and needlework; your food was the best meal and honey and oil: and you were very beautiful. 14 You were so beautiful that the story of you went out into all nations; you were completely beautiful because of my glory which I had put on you, says the Lord. 15 But you put your faith in the fact that you were beautiful, acting like a loose woman because you were widely talked of, and offering your cheap love to everyone who went by, whoever it might be. 16 And you took your robes and made high places for yourself ornamented with every colour, acting like a loose woman on them, without shame or fear. 17 And you took the fair jewels, my silver and gold which I had given to you, and made for yourself male images, acting like a loose woman with them; 18 And you took your robes of needlework for their clothing, and put my oil and my perfume before them. 19 And my bread which I gave you, the best meal and oil and honey which I gave you for your food, you put it before them for a sweet smell, says the Lord. 20 And you took your sons and your daughters whom I had by you, offering even these to them to be their food. Was your loose behaviour so small a thing, 21 That you put my children to death and gave them up to go through the fire to them? 22 And in all your disgusting and false behaviour you had no memory of your early days, when you were uncovered and without clothing, stretched out in your blood. 23 And it came about, after all your evil-doing, says the Lord, 24 That you made for yourself an arched room in every open place. 25 You put up your high places at the top of every street, and made the grace of your form a disgusting thing, opening your feet to everyone who went by, increasing your loose ways. 26 And you went with the Egyptians, your neighbours, great of flesh; increasing your loose ways, moving me to wrath. 27 Now, then, my hand is stretched out against you, cutting down your fixed amount, and I have given you up to the desire of your haters, the daughters of the Philistines who are shamed by your loose ways. 28 And you went with the Assyrians, because of your desire which was without measure; you were acting like a loose woman with them, and still you had not enough. 29 And you went on in your loose ways, even as far as the land of Chaldaea, and still you had not enough. 30 How feeble is your heart, says the Lord, seeing that you do all these things, the work of a loose and overruling woman; 31 For you have made your arched room at the top of every street, and your high place in every open place; though you were not like a loose woman in getting together your payment. 32 The untrue wife who takes strange lovers in place of her husband! 33 They give payment to all loose women: but you give rewards to your lovers, offering them payment so that they may come to you on every side for your cheap love. 34 And in your loose behaviour you are different from other women, for no one goes after you to make love to you: and because you give payment and no payment is given to you, in this you are different from them. 35 For this cause, O loose woman, give ear to the voice of the Lord: 36 This is what the Lord has said: Because your unclean behaviour was let loose and your body uncovered in your loose ways with your lovers and with your disgusting images, and for the blood of your children which you gave to them; 37 For this cause I will get together all your lovers with whom you have taken your pleasure, and all those to whom you have given your love, with all those who were hated by you; I will even make them come together against you on every side, and I will have you uncovered before them so that they may see your shame. 38 And you will be judged by me as women are judged who have been untrue to their husbands and have taken life; and I will let loose against you passion and bitter feeling. 39 I will give you into their hands, and your arched room will be overturned and your high places broken down; they will take your clothing off you and take away your fair jewels: and when they have done, you will be uncovered and shamed. 40 And they will get together a meeting against you, stoning you with stones and wounding you with their swords. 41 And they will have you burned with fire, sending punishments on you before the eyes of great numbers of women; and I will put an end to your loose ways, and you will no longer give payment. 42 And the heat of my wrath against you will have an end, and my bitter feeling will be turned away from you, and I will be quiet and will be angry no longer. 43 Because you have not kept in mind the days when you were young, but have been troubling me with all these things; for this reason I will make the punishment of your ways come on your head, says the Lord, because you have done this evil thing in addition to all your disgusting acts. 44 See, in every common saying about you it will be said, As the mother is, so is her daughter. 45 You are the daughter of your mother whose soul is turned in disgust from her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters who were turned in disgust from their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46 Your older sister is Samaria, living at your left hand, she and her daughters: and your younger sister, living at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 Still you have not gone in their ways or done the disgusting things which they have done; but, as if that was only a little thing, you have gone deeper in evil than they in all your ways. 48 By my life, says the Lord, Sodom your sister never did, she or her daughters, what you and your daughters have done. 49 Truly, this was the sin of your sister Sodom: pride, a full measure of food, and the comforts of wealth in peace, were seen in her and her daughters, and she gave no help to the poor or to those in need. 50 They were full of pride and did what was disgusting to me: and so I took them away as you have seen. 51 And Samaria has not done half your sins; but you have made the number of your disgusting acts greater than theirs, making your sisters seem more upright than you by all the disgusting things which you have done. 52 And you yourself will be put to shame, in that you have given the decision for your sisters; through your sins, which are more disgusting than theirs, they are more upright than you: truly, you will be shamed and made low, for you have made your sisters seem upright. 53 And I will let their fate be changed, the fate of Sodom and her daughters, and the fate of Samaria and her daughters, and your fate with theirs. 54 So that you will be shamed and made low because of all you have done, when I have mercy on you. 55 And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will go back to their first condition, and Samaria and her daughters will go back to their first condition, and you and your daughters will go back to your first condition. 56 Was not your sister Sodom an oath in your mouth in the day of your pride, 57 Before your shame was uncovered? Now you have become like her a word of shame to the daughters of Edom and all who are round about you, the daughters of the Philistines who put shame on you round about. 58 The reward of your evil designs and your disgusting ways has come on you, says the Lord. 59 For this is what the Lord has said: I will do to you as you have done, you who, putting the oath on one side, have let the agreement be broken. 60 But still I will keep in mind the agreement made with you in the days when you were young, and I will make with you an eternal agreement. 61 Then at the memory of your ways you will be overcome with shame, when I take your sisters, the older and the younger, and give them to you for daughters, but not by your agreement. 62 And I will make my agreement with you; and you will be certain that I am the Lord: 63 So that, at the memory of these things, you may be at a loss, never opening your mouth because of your shame; when you have my forgiveness for all you have done, says the Lord.
• Ezek 22:1-9 : 1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 And you, son of man, will you be a judge, will you be a judge of the town of blood? then make clear to her all her disgusting ways. 3 And you are to say, This is what the Lord has said: A town causing blood to be drained out in her streets so that her time may come, and making images in her to make her unclean! 4 You are responsible for the blood drained out by you, and you are unclean through the images which you have made; and you have made your day come near, and the time of your judging has come; for this cause I have made you a name of shame to the nations and a cause of laughing to all countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will make sport of you; your name is unclean, you are full of sounds of fear. 6 See, the rulers of Israel, every one in his family, have been causing death in you. 7 In you they have had no respect for father and mother; in you they have been cruel to the man from a strange land; in you they have done wrong to the child without a father and to the widow. 8 You have made little of my holy things, and have made my Sabbaths unclean. 9 In you there are men who say evil of others, causing death; in you they have taken the flesh with the blood for food; in your streets they have put evil designs into effect. 10 In you they have let the shame of their fathers be seen; in you they have done wrong to a woman at the time when she was unclean. 11 And in you one man has done what was disgusting with his neighbour's wife; and another has made his daughter-in-law unclean; and another has done wrong to his sister, his father's daughter. 12 In you they have taken rewards as the price of blood; you have taken interest and great profits, and you have taken away your neighbours' goods by force, and have not kept me in mind, says the Lord. 13 See, then, I have made my hands come together in wrath against your taking of goods by force and against the blood which has been flowing in you. 14 Will your heart be high or your hands strong in the days when I take you in hand? I the Lord have said it and will do it. 15 And I will send you in flight among the nations and wandering among the countries; and I will completely take away out of you everything which is unclean. 16 And you will be made low before the eyes of the nations; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord. 17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 Son of man, the children of Israel have become like the poorest sort of waste metal to me: they are all silver and brass and tin and iron and lead mixed with waste. 19 For this cause the Lord has said: Because you have all become waste metal, see, I will get you together inside Jerusalem. 20 As they put silver and brass and iron and lead and tin together inside the oven, heating up the fire on it to make it soft; so will I get you together in my wrath and in my passion, and, heating the fire with my breath, will make you soft. 21 Yes, I will take you, breathing on you the fire of my wrath, and you will become soft in it. 22 As silver becomes soft in the oven, so you will become soft in it; and you will be certain that I the Lord have let loose my passion on you. 23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
• Mic 3:2-3 : 2 You who are haters of good and lovers of evil, pulling off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones; 3 Like meat they take the flesh of my people for their food, skinning them and crushing their bones, yes, cutting them up as if for the pot, like flesh inside the cooking-pot.
• Zeph 3:1-3 : 1 Sorrow to her who is uncontrolled and unclean, the cruel town! 2 She gave no attention to the voice, she had no use for teaching, she put no faith in the Lord, she did not come near to her God. 3 Her rulers are like loud-voiced lions in her; her judges are wolves of the evening, crushing up the bones before the morning.
• Zech 8:3 : 3 This is what the Lord has said: I have come back to Zion, and will make my living-place in Jerusalem: and Jerusalem will be named The town of good faith; and the mountain of the Lord of armies The holy mountain.
• Luke 13:34 : 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, putting to death the prophets, and stoning those who were sent to her! again and again would I have taken your children to myself, as a bird takes her young ones under her wings, but you would not!
• Acts 7:52 : 52 Which of the prophets was not cruelly attacked by your fathers? and they put to death those who gave them the news of the coming of the Upright One; whom you have now given up and put to death;
• Heb 12:22 : 22 But you have come to the mountain of Zion, to the place of the living God, to the Jerusalem which is in heaven, and to an army of angels which may not be numbered,
• Rev 11:2 : 2 But do not take the measure of the space outside the house; because it has been given to the nations: and the holy town will be under their feet for forty-two months.
• Rev 11:8 : 8 And their dead bodies will be in the open street of the great town, which in the spirit is named Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was put to death on the cross.