Isaiah 1:18 (DRB)

Passage

And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.

Nearby Context

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.

Isaiah 1:18 And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.

Isaiah 1:19 If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land.

Isaiah 1:20 But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "come", "accuse", "saith", "lord", "sins", "scarlet", "shall", and "white". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "come" and "accuse", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Learn to do well seek judgment relieve..." into verse 19's "If you be willing and will hearken...", so "come" and "accuse" 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 "come" and "accuse" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.