Isaiah 1:17 (ASV)

Passage

learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 1:15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

Isaiah 1:16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

Isaiah 1:17 learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Isaiah 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "learn", "well", "seek", "justice", "relieve", "oppressed", "judge", and "fatherless". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "learn" and "well", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "Wash you make you clean put away..." into verse 18's "Come now and let us reason together...", so "learn" and "well" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "learn" and "well" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.