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16     Wash yourselves clean!
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
    cease doing evil;
17     learn to do good.
Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,
    hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.(A)

18 Come now, let us set things right,[a]
    says the Lord:
Though your sins be like scarlet,
    they may become white as snow;
Though they be red like crimson,
    they may become white as wool.(B)
19 If you are willing, and obey,
    you shall eat the good things of the land;
20 But if you refuse and resist,
    you shall be eaten by the sword:
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken!

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Footnotes

  1. 1:18–20 Let us set things right: the Hebrew word refers to the arbitration of legal disputes (Jb 23:7). God offers to settle his case with Israel on the basis of the change of behavior demanded above. For Israel it is a life or death choice; life in conformity with God’s will or death for continued disobedience.