Isaiah 1:21

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Purifying Judgment How tragic that the once-faithful city has become a prostitute! She was once a center of justice, fairness resided in her, but now only murderers.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • 2 Sam 8:15 : 15 David reigned over all Israel; he guaranteed justice for all his people.
  • 2 Chr 19:9 : 9 He commanded them:“Carry out your duties with respect for the LORD, with honesty, and with pure motives.
  • Neh 11:1 : 1 The Population of Jerusalem So the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, while the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten to settle in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the other nine remained in other cities.
  • Ps 46:4 : 4 The river’s channels bring joy to the city of God, the special, holy dwelling place of the Most High.
  • Ps 48:1 : 1 A song, a psalm by the Korahites. The LORD is great and certainly worthy of praise in the city of our God, his holy hill.
  • Ps 48:8 : 8 We heard about God’s mighty deeds, now we have seen them, in the city of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, in the city of our God. God makes it permanently secure.(Selah)
  • Isa 5:7 : 7 Indeed Israel is the vineyard of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the people of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got– disobedience! He waited for fairness, but look what he got– cries for help!
  • Isa 48:2 : 2 Indeed, they live in the holy city; they trust in the God of Israel, whose name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
  • Isa 57:3-9 : 3 But approach, you sons of omen readers, you offspring of adulteresses and prostitutes! 4 At whom are you laughing? At whom are you opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue? You are the children of rebels, the offspring of liars, 5 you who inflame your lusts among the oaks and under every green tree, who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs. 6 Among the smooth stones of the stream are the idols you love; they, they are the object of your devotion. You pour out liquid offerings to them, you make an offering. Because of these things how can I relent from judgment? 7 On every high, elevated hill you prepare your bed; you go up there to offer sacrifices. 8 Behind the door and doorpost you put your symbols. Indeed, you depart from me and go up and invite them into bed with you. You purchase favors from them, you love their bed, and gaze longingly on their naked bodies. 9 You take olive oil as tribute to your king, along with many perfumes. You send your messengers to a distant place; you go all the way to Sheol.
  • Jer 2:20-21 : 20 The Lord Expresses His Exasperation at Judah’s Persistent Idolatry“Indeed, long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. You said,‘I will not serve you.’ Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. 21 I planted you in the land like a special vine of the very best stock. Why in the world have you turned into something like a wild vine that produces rotten, foul-smelling grapes?
  • Jer 3:1 : 1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife, he may not take her back again. Doing that would utterly defile the land. But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. So what makes you think you can return to me?” says the LORD.
  • Lam 1:8-9 : 8 ח(Khet) Jerusalem committed terrible sin; therefore she became an object of scorn. All who admired her have despised her because they have seen her nakedness. She groans aloud and turns away in shame. 9 ט(Tet) Her menstrual flow has soiled her clothing; she did not consider the consequences of her sin. Her demise was astonishing, and there was no one to comfort her. She cried,“Look, O LORD, on my affliction because my enemy boasts!”
  • Ezek 16:1-9 : 1 God’s Unfaithful Bride The LORD’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her abominable practices 3 and say,‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water; you were certainly not rubbed down with salt, nor wrapped with blankets. 5 No eye took pity on you to do even one of these things for you to spare you; you were thrown out into the open field because you were detested on the day you were born. 6 “‘I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood,“Live!” I said to you as you lay there in your blood,“Live!” 7 I made you plentiful like sprouts in a field; you grew tall and came of age so that you could wear jewelry. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and bare. 8 “‘Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing that you had reached the age for love. I spread my cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine. 9 “‘Then I bathed you in water, washed the blood off you, and anointed you with fragrant oil. 10 I dressed you in embroidered clothing and put fine leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You ate the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. You became extremely beautiful and attained the position of royalty. 14 Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty; your beauty was perfect because of the splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the Sovereign LORD. 15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his. 17 You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution with them. 18 You took your embroidered clothing and used it to cover them; you offered my olive oil and my incense to them. 19 As for my food that I gave you– the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you– you placed it before them as a soothing aroma. That is exactly what happened, declares the Sovereign LORD. 20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution was not enough, 21 you slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. 22 And with all your abominable practices and prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, kicking around in your blood. 23 “‘After all of your evil–“Woe! Woe to you!” declares the Sovereign LORD– 24 you built yourself a chamber and put up a pavilion in every public square. 25 At the head of every street you erected your pavilion and you disgraced your beauty when you spread your legs to every passerby and multiplied your promiscuity. 26 You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your promiscuity and provoking me to anger. 27 So see here, I have stretched out my hand against you and cut off your rations. I have delivered you into the power of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your obscene conduct. 28 You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians because your desires were insatiable; you prostituted yourself with them and yet you were still not satisfied. 29 Then you multiplied your promiscuity to the land of merchants, Babylonia, but you were not satisfied there either. 30 “‘How sick is your heart, declares the Sovereign LORD, when you perform all of these acts, the deeds of a bold prostitute. 31 When you built your chamber at the head of every street and put up your pavilion in every public square, you were not like a prostitute, because you scoffed at payment. 32 “‘Adulterous wife, who prefers strangers instead of her own husband! 33 All prostitutes receive payment, but instead you give gifts to every one of your lovers. You bribe them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors! 34 You were different from other prostitutes because no one solicited you. When you gave payment and no payment was given to you, you became the opposite! 35 “‘Therefore O prostitute, Listen to the LORD’s message: 36 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness was uncovered in your prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children you have given to them, 37 therefore, take note: I am about to gather all your lovers whom you enjoyed, both all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around, and I will expose your nakedness to them, and they will see all your nakedness. 38 I will punish you as an adulteress and murderer deserves. I will avenge your bloody deeds with furious rage. 39 I will give you into their hands and they will destroy your chambers and tear down your pavilions. They will strip you of your clothing and take your beautiful jewelry and leave you naked and bare. 40 They will summon a mob who will stone you and hack you in pieces with their swords. 41 They will burn down your houses and execute judgments on you in front of many women. Thus I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer give gifts to your clients. 42 I will exhaust my rage on you, and then my fury will turn from you. I will calm down and no longer be angry. 43 “‘Because you did not remember the days of your youth and have enraged me with all these deeds, I hereby repay you for what you have done, declares the Sovereign LORD. Have you not engaged in prostitution on top of all your other abominable practices? 44 “‘Observe– everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you:“Like mother, like daughter.” 45 You are the daughter of your mother, who detested her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who detested their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46 Your older sister was Samaria, who lived north of you with her daughters, and your younger sister, who lived south of you, was Sodom with her daughters. 47 Have you not copied their behavior and practiced their abominable deeds? In a short time you became even more depraved in all your conduct than they were! 48 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never behaved as wickedly as you and your daughters have behaved. 49 “‘See here– this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and practiced abominable deeds before me. Therefore when I saw it I removed them. 51 Samaria has not committed half the sins you have; you have done more abominable deeds than they did. You have made your sisters appear righteous with all the abominable things you have done. 52 So now, bear your disgrace, because you have given your sisters reason to justify their behavior. Because the sins you have committed were more abominable than those of your sisters; they have become more righteous than you. So now, be ashamed and bear the disgrace of making your sisters appear righteous. 53 “‘I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters(along with your fortunes among them), 54 so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in consoling them. 55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status, Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status, and you and your daughters will be restored to your former status. 56 In your days of majesty, was not Sodom your sister a byword in your mouth, 57 before your evil was exposed? Now you have become an object of scorn to the daughters of Aram and all those around her and to the daughters of the Philistines– those all around you who despise you. 58 You must bear your punishment for your obscene conduct and your abominable practices, declares the LORD. 59 “‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will deal with you according to what you have done when you despised your oath by breaking your covenant. 60 Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish a lasting covenant with you. 61 Then you will remember your conduct, and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant with you, and then you will know that I am the LORD. 63 Then you will remember, be ashamed, and remain silent because of your disgrace when I make atonement for all you have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.’”
  • Ezek 22:1-9 : 1 The Sins of Jerusalem The LORD’s message came to me: 2 “As for you, son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment, are you willing to pronounce judgment on the bloody city? Then confront her with all her abominable deeds! 3 Then say,‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O city, who spills blood within herself(which brings on her doom), and who makes herself idols(which results in impurity), 4 you are guilty because of the blood you shed and defiled by the idols you made. You have hastened the day of your doom; the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations, an object to be mocked by all lands. 5 Those both near and far from you will mock you, you with your bad reputation, full of turmoil. 6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. 7 They have treated father and mother with contempt within you; they have oppressed the resident foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow within you. 8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths! 9 Slanderous men shed blood within you. Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; they commit obscene acts among you. 10 They have sexual relations with their father’s wife within you; they violate women during their menstrual period within you. 11 One commits an abominable act with his neighbor’s wife; another obscenely defiles his daughter-in-law; another violates his sister– his father’s daughter– within you. 12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD. 13 “‘See, I strike my hands together at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed they have done among you. 14 Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong when I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it! 15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among various countries; I will remove your impurity from you. 16 You will be profaned within yourself in the sight of the nations; then you will know that I am the LORD.’” 17 The LORD’s message came to me: 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; they are the worthless slag of silver. 19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says:‘Because all of you have become slag, look out!– I am about to gather you in the middle of Jerusalem. 20 As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can blow on them to melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there and melt you. 21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in it. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted in it, and you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out my anger on you.’” 23 The LORD’s message came to me:
  • Hos 11:12 : 12 God’s Lawsuit against Israel: Breach of Covenant(12:1) Ephraim has surrounded me with lies; the house of Israel has surrounded me with deceit. But Judah still roams about with God; he remains faithful to the Holy One.
  • Mic 3:2-3 : 2 yet you hate what is good, and love what is evil. You flay my people’s skin and rip the flesh from their bones. 3 You devour my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and crush their bones. You chop them up like flesh in a pot– like meat in a kettle.
  • Zeph 3:1-3 : 1 Jerusalem is Corrupt Beware to the filthy, stained city; the city filled with oppressors! 2 She is disobedient; she has refused correction. She does not trust the LORD; she has not sought the advice of her God. 3 Her princes are as fierce as roaring lions; her rulers are as hungry as wolves in the desert, who completely devour their prey by morning.
  • Zech 8:3 : 3 The LORD says,‘I have returned to Zion and will live within Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem will be called“truthful city,”“mountain of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,”“holy mountain.”’
  • Luke 13:34 : 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!
  • Acts 7:52 : 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become!
  • Heb 12:22 : 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly
  • Rev 11:2 : 2 But do not measure the outer courtyard of the temple; leave it out, because it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will trample on the holy city for forty-two months.
  • Rev 11:8 : 8 Their corpses will lie in the street of the great city that is symbolically called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was also crucified.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Isa 1:22
    78%

    22Your silver has become scum, your beer is diluted with water.

  • Nah 3:1
    78%

    1Reason for Judgment: Sins of Nineveh Woe to the city guilty of bloodshed! She is full of lies; she is filled with plunder; she has hoarded her spoil!

  • Ps 55:10-11
    2 verses
    76%

    10Day and night they walk around on its walls, while wickedness and destruction are within it.

    11Disaster is within it; violence and deceit do not depart from its public square.

  • Zeph 3:1
    75%

    1Jerusalem is Corrupt Beware to the filthy, stained city; the city filled with oppressors!

  • Lam 4:13
    75%

    13מ(Mem) But it happened due to the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who poured out in her midst the blood of the righteous.

  • Zeph 3:3-4
    2 verses
    75%

    3Her princes are as fierce as roaring lions; her rulers are as hungry as wolves in the desert, who completely devour their prey by morning.

    4Her prophets are proud; they are deceitful men. Her priests have defiled what is holy; they have broken God’s laws.

  • Ezek 11:6
    75%

    6You have killed many people in this city; you have filled its streets with corpses.’

  • Lam 1:8-9
    2 verses
    74%

    8ח(Khet) Jerusalem committed terrible sin; therefore she became an object of scorn. All who admired her have despised her because they have seen her nakedness. She groans aloud and turns away in shame.

    9ט(Tet) Her menstrual flow has soiled her clothing; she did not consider the consequences of her sin. Her demise was astonishing, and there was no one to comfort her. She cried,“Look, O LORD, on my affliction because my enemy boasts!”

  • Mic 3:10
    74%

    10You build Zion through bloody crimes, Jerusalem through unjust violence.

  • Ezek 24:6-7
    2 verses
    74%

    6“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the city of bloodshed, the pot whose rot is in it, whose rot has not been removed from it! Empty it piece by piece. No lot has fallen on it.

    7For her blood was in it; she poured it on an exposed rock; she did not pour it on the ground to cover it up with dust.

  • Ezek 16:35
    74%

    35“‘Therefore O prostitute, Listen to the LORD’s message:

  • Zeph 2:15
    74%

    15This is how the once-proud city will end up– the city that was so secure. She thought to herself,“I am unique! No one can compare to me!” What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live! Everyone who passes by her taunts her and shakes his fist.

  • Isa 22:2
    74%

    2The noisy city is full of raucous sounds; the town is filled with revelry. Your slain were not cut down by the sword; they did not die in battle.

  • Jer 6:6-7
    2 verses
    73%

    6All of this is because the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has said:‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem and build up a siege ramp against its walls. This is the city which is to be punished. Nothing but oppression happens in it.

    7As a well continually pours out fresh water so it continually pours out wicked deeds. Sounds of violence and destruction echo throughout it. All I see are sick and wounded people.’

  • Ezek 22:27
    73%

    27Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey– shedding blood and destroying lives– so they can get dishonest profit.

  • Isa 59:14
    73%

    14Justice is driven back; godliness stands far off. Indeed, honesty stumbles in the city square and morality is not even able to enter.

  • Isa 1:20
    73%

    20But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” Know for certain that the LORD has spoken.

  • Jer 11:15
    73%

    15The LORD says to the people of Judah,“What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people? Many of you have done wicked things. Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them?

  • Hos 6:8
    73%

    8Gilead is a city full of evildoers; its streets are stained with bloody footprints!

  • Ezek 7:23
    73%

    23(Make the chain, because the land is full of murder and the city is full of violence.)

  • Mic 6:12
    73%

    12The city’s wealthy people readily resort to violence; her inhabitants tell lies, their tongues speak deceptive words.

  • Ezek 23:45
    73%

    45But upright men will punish them appropriately for their adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

  • Hab 2:12
    73%

    12Woe to the one who builds a city by bloodshed– he who starts a town by unjust deeds.

  • Ezek 22:1-3
    3 verses
    72%

    1The Sins of Jerusalem The LORD’s message came to me:

    2“As for you, son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment, are you willing to pronounce judgment on the bloody city? Then confront her with all her abominable deeds!

    3Then say,‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O city, who spills blood within herself(which brings on her doom), and who makes herself idols(which results in impurity),

  • Isa 3:8-9
    2 verses
    72%

    8Jerusalem certainly stumbles, Judah falls, for their words and their actions offend the LORD; they rebel against his royal authority.

    9The look on their faces testifies to their guilt; like the people of Sodom they openly boast of their sin. Woe to them! For they bring disaster on themselves.

  • Hos 4:2
    72%

    2There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery. They resort to violence and bloodshed.

  • Ezek 9:9
    72%

    9He said to me,“The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of murder, and the city is full of corruption, for they say,‘The LORD has abandoned the land, and the LORD does not see!’

  • Ezek 16:31
    72%

    31When you built your chamber at the head of every street and put up your pavilion in every public square, you were not like a prostitute, because you scoffed at payment.

  • Mic 3:12
    72%

    12Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed up like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the Temple Mount will become a hill overgrown with brush!

  • Jer 5:1
    72%

    1Judah is Justly Deserving of Coming Judgment The LORD said,“Go up and down through the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and see for yourselves. Search through its public squares. See if any of you can find a single person who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. If you can, then I will not punish this city.

  • Isa 1:26-27
    2 verses
    72%

    26I will reestablish honest judges as in former times, wise advisers as in earlier days. Then you will be called,‘The Just City, Faithful Town.’”

    27Zion will be freed by justice, and her returnees by righteousness.

  • Jer 5:11
    72%

    11For the nations of Israel and Judah have been very unfaithful to me,”says the LORD.

  • Lam 1:1
    72%

    1¶ The Prophet Speaks:א(Alef) Alas! The city once full of people now sits all alone! The prominent lady among the nations has become a widow! The princess who once ruled the provinces has become a forced laborer!

  • Jer 23:10
    71%

    10For the land is full of people unfaithful to him. They live wicked lives and they misuse their power. So the land is dried up because it is under his curse. The pastures in the wilderness are withered.

  • Lam 1:5
    71%

    5ה(He) Her foes subjugated her; her enemies are at ease. For the LORD afflicted her because of her many acts of rebellion. Her children went away captive before the enemy.

  • Ezek 22:9
    71%

    9Slanderous men shed blood within you. Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; they commit obscene acts among you.

  • Jer 3:9
    71%

    9Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone.

  • Ezek 5:6
    71%

    6Then she defied my regulations and my statutes, becoming more wicked than the nations and the countries around her. Indeed, they have rejected my regulations, and they do not follow my statutes.

  • Mic 1:7
    71%

    7All her carved idols will be smashed to pieces; all her metal cult statues will be destroyed by fire. I will make a waste heap of all her images. Since she gathered the metal as a prostitute collects her wages, the idols will become a prostitute’s wages again.”

  • Jer 5:7
    71%

    7The LORD asked,“How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes.

  • Rev 19:2
    71%

    2because his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants poured out by her own hands!”