Isaiah 1:15 (WEB)

Passage

When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 1:13 Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can’t stand evil assemblies.

Isaiah 1:14 My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them.

Isaiah 1:15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

Isaiah 1:16 Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "spread", "hands", "hide", "eyes", "make", "prayers", and "hear". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "spread" and "hands", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "My soul hates your New Moons and..." into verse 16's "Wash yourselves make yourself clean Put away...", so "spread" and "hands" 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 "spread" and "hands" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.