Isaiah 1:14 kjv

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

Isaiah 1:14 nkjv

Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.

Isaiah 1:14 niv

Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

Isaiah 1:14 esv

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

Isaiah 1:14 nlt

I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals.
They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!

Isaiah 1 verses

Isaiah 1 14 Meaning

Isaiah 1:14 conveys God's profound displeasure and outright rejection of the Israelites' religious festivals and sacrifices due to their hypocrisy and lack of genuine devotion. While these rituals were divinely commanded, they had become empty outward observances, devoid of inner righteousness, justice, and repentance. God declares that these acts, meant for worship, are instead a heavy burden and source of weariness to Him because the people's hearts and actions were far from Him. This verse strongly emphasizes that God desires genuine obedience and spiritual integrity over mere ritualistic conformity.

Isaiah 1 14 Context

Isaiah chapter 1 serves as an opening indictment against the nation of Judah and Jerusalem, presenting God's "controversy" with His rebellious people. The prophet begins by calling heaven and earth to witness Judah's unfaithfulness, likening them to a sick body covered in wounds (Isa 1:5-6). Despite abundant sacrifices and religious observances—including new moons, Sabbaths, and appointed feasts—God views their worship as hypocritical and detestable. Verse 14 specifically targets these very festivals, expressing God's visceral reaction to their mechanical practice divorced from inward devotion, moral rectitude, and justice. This strong rebuke prepares the reader for God's call to repentance (Isa 1:16-20) and His ultimate promise of restoration for a righteous remnant. Historically, this prophecy was delivered during a period (ca. 740-701 BCE) when Judah experienced a facade of religious adherence while moral corruption and social injustice pervaded society, creating a stark contrast between outward ritual and inward spiritual decay.

Isaiah 1 14 Word analysis

• Your New Moons (חָדְשֵׁיכֶם - ḥādšēykem): Refers to the monthly observance beginning with the appearance of the new moon. These were statutory days of special offerings and solemn assembly (Num 28:11-15, 1 Sam 20:5, 18). While divinely instituted for the Israelites' communion with God, the term here highlights how a sacred institution became a profane burden when observed with impure motives. The possessive "your" (כֶם - kām) implies a man-made distortion of God's holy institution.
• and your appointed feasts (וּמוֹעֲדֵיכֶם - ūmōʿăḏêkem): This encompasses all solemn religious festivals or set times of assembly (Lev 23; Exod 23:14-17). This includes major pilgrimages like Passover, Pentecost, and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Like the New Moons, these were meant to be joyous occasions for worshipping God and remembering His works, but Judah's sin turned them into an abomination. The inclusion emphasizes that the entire calendar of religious observance was polluted.
• My soul hates (שָׂנְאָה נַפְשִׁי - śāṅʾāh nap̄šî): A powerful anthropopathic expression, conveying deep, emotional aversion and disgust on God's part. "Nefesh" (soul) signifies the very essence or being. It's not a light distaste, but an intense revulsion at hypocrisy, revealing the severity of their religious offense. God's holiness cannot endure such profanation.
• They are a trouble to Me (הָיוּ עָלַי לָטֹרַח - hāyū ʿālay lāṭōraḥ): The Hebrew word ṭōraḥ denotes a heavy burden, weariness, or an annoying hindrance. The rituals had become a cause of great inconvenience and distress for God, signifying that they actively resisted His gracious purposes instead of facilitating relationship.
• I am weary of bearing them (נִלְאֵיתִי נְשֹׂא - nilʾēṯî nśōʾ): nilʾēṯî derives from a root meaning "to be weary, to be tired," often to the point of exhaustion or inability to continue. "Neso" means "to bear, to carry." This powerful anthropomorphic language depicts God as literally exhausted by the empty, burdensome rituals. It conveys His immense displeasure and frustration with Judah's stubborn unfaithfulness, implying a divine breaking point where patience wears thin.

Words-group analysis:

• "Your New Moons and your appointed feasts": This phrase groups the entire spectrum of prescribed Jewish religious observances. The use of the possessive "your" underlines that the Israelites had appropriated these divinely instituted practices and distorted them by their godless conduct, turning them from acts of holy devotion into monuments of their own self-righteousness. It is not the rituals themselves that God condemns, but their perversion by hypocritical hearts and hands.
• "My soul hates...They are a trouble to Me; I am weary of bearing them": This triple declaration functions as a crescendo of divine emotion. It begins with "hate," intensifies to a "burden," and culminates in utter "weariness." This progressive layering of strong anthropomorphic language emphasizes the profound depth of God's rejection and His absolute intolerance for external religion devoid of internal truth and righteousness. It's a forceful polemic against the contemporary belief that mere performance of religious duties guarantees God's favor, regardless of one's moral conduct or inner state.

Isaiah 1 14 Bonus section

The passage of Isaiah 1:10-17, containing verse 14, provides an ancient testament against formalistic religion, a critique echoed repeatedly throughout the prophetic tradition (e.g., Amos, Micah, Hosea) and later by Jesus in the New Testament (e.g., Matt 23). This challenges the popular ancient Near Eastern religious belief that merely appeasing deities through rituals, offerings, or specific actions was sufficient to secure favor, regardless of personal morality. Yahweh, the God of Israel, uniquely demands heart transformation and ethical conduct as inseparable components of true worship. This concept formed a crucial distinction between Israel's covenant relationship with God and the transactional religious systems of surrounding nations. The depth of God's expressed weariness also signifies His patience extended over a long period before reaching a point of open declaration of His abhorrence.

Isaiah 1 14 Commentary

Isaiah 1:14 stands as a stark declaration of God's unwavering ethical demands, sharply rebuking the hollow ritualism of Judah. It underscores the profound truth that God's primary desire is for righteousness, justice, and sincere devotion, not merely the outward performance of religious rites. The problem was not with the Mosaic Law or the feasts themselves, which were ordained by God, but with the people's sinful hearts that rendered their worship detestable. Their assemblies, sacrifices, and festivals had become a convenient substitute for genuine repentance, moral transformation, and social justice. This verse reveals that divine commands are given for the purpose of fostering a relationship and expressing true adoration, not for mechanical execution. When human sin corrupted the intent, the acts became a burden, signifying God's repulsion at religious actions that served only to mask deep-seated disobedience and injustice. God’s weary groan is a profound indictment of a worship that becomes offensive due to unholy lives.

Examples:

• Attending church services regularly while actively engaging in gossip and slander outside of church.
• Tithing faithfully but consistently exploiting employees or practicing dishonest business.
• Praying devoutly and fasting, yet neglecting the needs of the poor and oppressed in one's community.