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16 Wash yourselves clean!
    I hate your filthy deeds.
Stop doing wrong
17     and learn to live right.
See that justice is done.
Defend widows and orphans
    and help the oppressed.”[a]

An Invitation from the Lord

18 I, the Lord, invite you
    to come and talk it over.
Your sins are scarlet red,
but they will be whiter
    than snow or wool.
19 If you willingly obey me,
the best crops in the land
    will be yours.
20 But if you turn against me,
your enemies will kill you.
    I, the Lord, have spoken.

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Footnotes

  1. 1.17 and help the oppressed: Or “and punish cruel people.”

16 Wash and make yourselves clean.
    Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
    stop doing wrong.
17 Learn to do right; seek justice.
    Defend the oppressed.[a]
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
    plead the case of the widow.

18 ‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’
    says the Lord.
‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
    they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
    you will eat the good things of the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel,
    you will be devoured by the sword.’
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 1:17 Or justice. / Correct the oppressor