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16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
    remove your evil deeds
    from before my eyes;
cease to do evil;(A)
17     learn to do good;
seek justice;
    rescue the oppressed;
defend the orphan;
    plead for the widow.(B)

18 Come now, let us argue it out,
    says the Lord:
If your sins are like scarlet,
    will they become like snow?
If they are red like crimson,
    will they become like wool?(C)
19 If you are willing and obedient,
    you shall eat the good of the land,(D)
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
    you shall be devoured by the sword,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.(E)

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16     Wash yourselves, clean up your lives;
        remove every speck of evil in what you do before Me.
    Put an end to all your evil.
17     Learn to do good;
        commit yourselves to seeking justice.
    Make right for the world’s most vulnerable—
        the oppressed, the orphaned, the widow.

18     Come on now, let’s walk and talk; let’s work this out.
        Your wrongdoings are bloodred,
    But they can turn as white as snow.
        Your sins are red like crimson,
    But they can be made clean again like new wool.
19     If you pay attention now and change your ways,
        you can eat good things from a healthy earth.
20     But if you refuse to listen and stubbornly persist,
        then, by violence and war, you will be the one devoured.

These things were spoken by the very mouth of the Eternal.

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