Isaiah 1:17 (YLT)

Passage

Seek judgment, make happy the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, strive <FI>for<Fi> the widow.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 1:15 And in your spreading forth your hands, I hide mine eyes from you, Also when ye increase prayer, I do not hear, Your hands of blood have been full.

Isaiah 1:16 Wash ye, make ye pure, Turn aside the evil of your doings, from before Mine eyes, Cease to do evil, learn to do good.

Isaiah 1:17 Seek judgment, make happy the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, strive <FI>for<Fi> the widow.

Isaiah 1:18 Come, I pray you, and we reason, saith Jehovah, If your sins are as scarlet, as snow they shall be white, If they are red as crimson, as wool they shall be!

Isaiah 1:19 If ye are willing, and have hearkened, The good of the land ye consume,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "seek", "judgment", "make", "happy", "oppressed", "judge", "fatherless", and "strive". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "seek" and "judgment", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "Wash ye make ye pure Turn aside..." into verse 18's "Come I pray you and we reason...", so "seek" and "judgment" 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 "seek" and "judgment" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.