Isaiah 1:16 (WEB)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

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.”

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "wash", "yourselves", "make", "yourself", "clean", "away", "evil", and "doings". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "wash" and "yourselves", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 15's "When you spread out your hands I..." into verse 17's "Learn to do well Seek justice Relieve...", so "wash" and "yourselves" 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 "wash" and "yourselves" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.