Isaiah 1:17 (GNV)

Passage

Learne to doe well: seeke iudgement, relieue the oppressed: iudge the fatherlesse and defend the widowe.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 1:15 And when you shall stretch out your hands, I wil hide mine eyes from you: and though ye make many prayers, I wil not heare: for your hands are full of blood.

Isaiah 1:16 Wash you, make you cleane: take away the euill of your workes from before mine eyes: cease to doe euill.

Isaiah 1:17 Learne to doe well: seeke iudgement, relieue the oppressed: iudge the fatherlesse and defend the widowe.

Isaiah 1:18 Come nowe, and let vs reason together, sayth the Lord: though your sinnes were as crimsin, they shalbe made white as snowe: though they were red like skarlet, they shalbe as wooll.

Isaiah 1:19 If ye consent and obey, ye shall eate the good things of the land.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "learne", "well", "seeke", "iudgement", "relieue", "oppressed", and "fatherlesse". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "learne" 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 cleane take away..." into verse 18's "Come nowe and let vs reason together...", so "learne" 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 "learne" and "well" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.