³⁰ Even if I were to wash myself with soap
    and clean my hands with lye,

²² No amount of soap or lye can make you clean.
    I still see the stain of your guilt.
    I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!

⁶ I wash my hands to declare my innocence.
    I come to your altar, O Lord,

¹⁴ O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart
    that you may be saved.
How long will you harbor
    your evil thoughts?

¹⁶ Wash yourselves and be clean!
    Get your sins out of my sight.
    Give up your evil ways.
¹⁷ Learn to do good.
    Seek justice.
Help the oppressed.
    Defend the cause of orphans.
    Fight for the rights of widows.

¹⁸ “Come now, let’s settle this,”
    says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
    I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
    I will make them as white as wool.

¹³ People who conceal their sins will not prosper,
    but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

⁷ If I have strayed from his pathway,
    or if my heart has lusted for what my eyes have seen,
    or if I am guilty of any other sin,