Isaiah 1:11 (DRB)

Passage

To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 1:9 Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha.

Isaiah 1:10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.

Isaiah 1:11 To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats.

Isaiah 1:12 When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts?

Isaiah 1:13 Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, and the sabbaths and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "purpose", "offer", "multitude", "victims", "saith", "lord", "full", and "desire". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "purpose" and "offer", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "Hear the word of the Lord ye..." into verse 12's "When you came to appear before me...", so "purpose" and "offer" 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 "purpose" and "offer" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.