Isaiah 1:4

Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who act corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Isaiah addresses Judah in a pronouncement of judgment, positioned between the comparison to domestic animals (1:3) and the warning of further wounds (1:5).

The words — זֶרַע מְרֵעִים (zera' mere'im), literally "seed/offspring of evildoers," rendered "brood of evildoers" in the BSB; the image is of corruption as lineage, not a single act.

The thread — Jeremiah 2:17 and 2:13 echo the same charge of forsaking the LORD, framing that forsaking as the root cause of the nation's ruin.

Why it lands — The verse names the act (forsaking, despising, turning back) and the consequence (judgment) without softening either; it asks the reader to identify which side of that turning they are on.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

ה֣וֹי׀Howoe to!גּ֣וֹיGoya nation חֹטֵ֗אcho.Te'[which] sins עַ֚ם'ama people כֶּ֣בֶדKe.vedheavy of עָוֹ֔ן'a.Voniniquity of זֶ֣רַעZe.ra'spring מְרֵעִ֔יםme.re.'Im[who] do evil בָּנִ֖יםba.Nimchildren מַשְׁחִיתִ֑יםmash.chi.Tim[who] behave corruptly עָזְב֣וּ'a.ze.Vuthey have forsaken אֶת־'et-<obj.>יְהוָ֗הYah.wehYahweh נִֽאֲצ֛וּni.'a.Tzuthey have spurned אֶת־'et-<obj.>קְד֥וֹשׁke.Do.osh[the] holy [one] of יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לYis.ra.'ElIsrael נָזֹ֥רוּna.Zo.ruthey have become estranged אָחֽוֹר׃'a.Chorback part

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Isaiah 5:24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Jeremiah 2:17 Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way?
Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Romans 8:7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
Isaiah 5:19 to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!”
Jeremiah 2:19 Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
Jeremiah 7:19 But am I the One they are provoking? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?
Matthew 3:7 But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Acts 7:51 You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
Genesis 13:13 But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.