Isaiah 1:3
1 Here is the message about Judah and Jerusalem that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz during the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah reigned over Judah. 2 Listen, O heavens, pay attention, O earth! For the Lord speaks: “I raised children, I brought them up, but they have rebelled against me! 3 An ox recognizes its owner, a donkey recognizes where its owner puts its food; but Israel does not recognize me, my people do not understand.” 4 Beware sinful nation, the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. They are alienated from him.
Jeremiah 8:7
5 Why, then, do these people of Jerusalem continually turn away from me in apostasy? They hold fast to their deception. They refuse to turn back to me. 6 I have listened to them very carefully, but they do not speak honestly. None of them regrets the evil he has done. None of them says, “I have done wrong!” All of them persist in their own wayward course like a horse charging recklessly into battle. 7 Even the stork knows when it is time to move on. The turtledove, swallow, and crane recognize the normal times for their migration. But my people pay no attention to what I, the Lord, require of them. 8 How can you say, “We are wise! We have the law of the Lord”?The truth is, those who teach it have used their writings to make it say what it does not really mean. 9 Your wise men will be put to shame. They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. Since they have rejected the Lord’s message, what wisdom do they really have?
Notes and References
"... The biblical authors’ interest in nature can be seen in their care in observing and cataloging species (e.g., the detailed food laws in Leviticus 11, King Solomon in 1 Kings 4:33) and the frequent use of metaphors of nature to describe God (e.g., Psalm 18:2; Hosea 5:13, 13:7–8) or humanity (e.g., Psalm 32:9; Proverbs 6:5; Song of Solomon 6:5–6). In addition, numerous extended metaphors of nature in the prophetic and poetic books of the Old Testament testify to the importance of the natural world in the biblical authors’ thinking and imagination. First Isaiah is particularly rich in imagery of vines and vineyards (e.g., the parables of the vineyard in 5:1–7 and 27:2–5), and the books of Ezekiel and Joel include extended metaphors featuring nature (trees in Ezekiel 31:1–18, locusts in Joel 1:4, 2:1–11). In several instances, the animal kingdom is held up as a model against which human diligence and understanding can be judged (Proverbs 6:6– 11; Isaiah 1:2– 3; Jeremiah 8:7) ..."
Marlow, Hilary "The Human Condition" in Barton, John (ed.) The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Companion (pp. 293-312) Princeton University Press, 2016