Isaiah 1:10

10 Jerusalem, your rulers are like those of Sodom, and your people are like those of Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord; listen to the teaching of our God!

Isaiah 1:10 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 1:10

Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom
Not literally, but mystically, meaning the governors of Judea; they and their people having sinned in like manner, and as openly, as the rulers of Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof; see ( Isaiah 3:9 ) and so the Targum paraphrases the words,

``receive the word of the Lord, ye governors, whose works are evil like the governors of Sodom.''
These are called to attend to the word of the Lord; either the Scriptures, which should be the rule of faith and practice, from which they had swerved; or to the word which now came to them by the prophet, and is contained in the following verses; or rather to the Gospel preached to them by John the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles, see ( Isaiah 2:3 ) which being rejected by them as it was, it is declared that it would be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for them, ( Matthew 11:24 ) give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah;
the inhabitants of Judea; for as were both the civil and ecclesiastical rulers, so were the people both in Isaiah's time, and in the times of Christ and his apostles. The Targum is,
``hearken to the law of our God, ye people whose works are like to the people of Gomorrah.''
And by "the law of our God" is meant, not so much the law of Moses, which these people had not hearkened to, but had broken it, and cast it away from them, as the doctrine of the grace of God, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our God; which was first sent and preached to this wicked people, for the sake of the small remnant, according to the election of grace left among them; see ( Isaiah 2:3 ) .

Isaiah 1:10 In-Context

8 Jerusalem is left alone like an empty shelter in a vineyard, like a hut left in a field of melons, like a city surrounded by enemies.
9 The Lord All-Powerful allowed a few of our people to live. Otherwise we would have been completely destroyed like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
10 Jerusalem, your rulers are like those of Sodom, and your people are like those of Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord; listen to the teaching of our God!
11 The Lord says, "I do not want all these sacrifices. I have had enough of your burnt sacrifices of male sheep and fat from fine animals. I am not pleased by the blood of bulls, lambs, and goats.
12 You come to meet with me, but who asked you to do all this running in and out of my Temple's rooms?
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.