Passage

Isaiah 1.2

Book: Isaiah · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah."

"2. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me."

"3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly! they have forsaken Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged and gone backward." (Isaiah 1:1-4, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah."

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

"3. The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know, my people don’t consider.” 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 1:1-4, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah."

"2. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me."

"3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. ^{laden: Heb. of heaviness} ^{gone: Heb. alienated, or, separated}" (Isaiah 1:1-4, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. The Visions of Isaiah son of Amoz, that he hath seen concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah."

"2. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, For Jehovah hath spoken: Sons I have nourished and brought up, And they, they transgressed against Me."

"3. An ox hath known its owner, And an ass the crib of its master, Israel hath not known, My people hath not understood. 4. Ah, sinning nation, a people heavy [with] iniquity, A seed of evil doers, sons, corrupters! They have forsaken Jehovah, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have gone away backward." (Isaiah 1:1-4, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Isaiah of Jerusalem, transmitting YHWH's first-person voice
Audience: Judah and Jerusalem; cosmically, the heavens and the earth as covenant-witnesses
Location: Jerusalem
Time period: 8th century BC, during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah

Theological reading

The verse opens Isaiah as a covenant-lawsuit (rîb). The summons-to-hear (shimu shamayim) addresses the heavens and the earth as witnesses, echoing Deut 32:1 ("Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; and let the earth hear"), the witnesses called at Sinai (Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28) to attest the covenant are now summoned to attest the indictment. The pairing of shama ("hear") with ha'azin ("give ear") is the formal poetic-couplet of covenantal-lawsuit-opening; the same pair runs at Deut 32:1; Jdg 5:3 (Deborah's song); Job 33:1; Ps 49:1; Ps 78:1; Isa 28:23; 32:9; 51:4. The cosmic-witness summons frames Israel's rebellion as breach-of-covenant requiring judicial-response. The verse anchors the lawsuit-form (rîb-genre) developed across Isa 1; Mic 6:1-8; Jer 2; Hos 4, YHWH brings legal-charge against His covenant-people, with the heavens-and-earth as witnesses to the covenant-stipulations now violated.

Key words

H8085 - shama, shimu, the imperative opening the covenant-lawsuit; the cosmic summons-to-hear.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.