Isaiah 1:15 (DRB)

Passage

And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.

Nearby Context

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.

Isaiah 1:14 My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them.

Isaiah 1:15 And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.

Isaiah 1:16 Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes, cease to do perversely,

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "stretch", "forth", "hands", "turn", "away", "eyes", "multiply", and "prayer". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "stretch" and "forth", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "My soul hateth your new moons and..." into verse 16's "Wash yourselves be clean take away the...", so "stretch" and "forth" 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 "stretch" and "forth" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.