Isaiah 1:16-24

¹⁶Be washed, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; let there be an end of sinning;

¹⁷Take pleasure in well-doing; let your ways be upright, keep down the cruel, give a right decision for the child who has no father, see to the cause of the widow.

¹⁸Come now, and let us have an argument together, says the Lord: how may your sins which are red like blood be white as snow? how may their dark purple seem like wool?

¹⁹If you will give ear to my word and do it, the good things of the land will be yours;

²⁰But if your hearts are turned against me, I will send destruction on you by the sword; so the Lord has said.

²¹The upright town has become untrue; there was a time when her judges gave right decisions, when righteousness had a resting-place in her, but now she is full of those who take men's lives.

²²Your silver is no longer true metal, your wine is mixed with water.

²³Your chiefs have gone against the Lord, they have become friends of thieves; every one of them is looking for profit and going after rewards; they do not give right decisions for the child who has no father, and they do not let the cause of the widow come before them.

²⁴For this reason the Lord, the Lord of armies, the Strong One of Israel, has said, I will put an end to my haters, and send punishment on those who are against me;