Introduction--Jerusalem Judged and Restored: Chapter 1 introduces both the message of Isaiah ben Amoz over three decades and the book as a whole. The people have paid the penalty for abandoning their relationship with Yahweh (vv. 2–9) and need to own the fact that they have perverted their life with Yahweh by practicing religion but not justice (vv. 10–20); judgment can then be a creative purging that restores justice as well as the relationship (vv. 21–31).

1:1 The fact that the word vision always denotes a particular revelation suggests that verse 1 is the introduction to chapter 1 and not the whole book, as the first verse of Ezekiel introduces Ezekiel 1–3. Visions may portend evil or promise good. In this one we move from a focus on the first to a focus on the second before we get to th…