Isaiah 1:16

"Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil."

Key Reflection

This passage commands a moral and spiritual purification, urging the people to repent and cease their sinful behaviors, acknowledging that true righteousness involves more than ritualistic cleansing and must come from within. It reflects God's desire for genuine transformation rather than superficial observance.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Wash you -This is, of course, to be understood in a moral sense; meaning that they should put away their sins. Sin is represented in the Scriptures as defiling or polluting the soulEzekiel 20:31;Ezekiel 23:30;Hosea 5:8;Hosea 9:4; and the removal of it is represented by the act of washing;Psalms 51:2: ‘Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin;’Jeremiah 4:14: ‘O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved;’Job 9:30;1 Corinthians 6:11;Hebrews 10:22;2 Peter 2:22;Revelation 1:5;Revelation 7:14. It is used here in close connection with the previous verse, where the prophet says that their hands were flied with blood.

Related Verses

More from Isaiah 1

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