Isaiah 1:16-31 - Purification Of Jerusalem
16 Thus saith the LORD God: Wash and be clean; put away the wickedness of your imaginations out of my sight. Cease to do evil and learn to do well. 17 Study to do righteously, and help the oppressed. Avenge the fatherless and defend the cause of widows. Come, let us show each his grief to other and make an atonement, saith the LORD.
18 And so though your sins be like to purple, they shall be made as white as snow; and though they be as red as scarlet, they shall be made like white wool. 19 If ye will agree and hearken, ye shall eat the best of the land, saith the LORD God. 20 But if ye be obstinate and rebellious, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for thus the LORD hath promised with his own mouth.
21 How happeneth it then that the righteous city, which was full of equity, is become unfaithful as an whore? Righteousness dwelt in it, but now murder. 22 Thy silver is turned to dross, and thy wine mixed with water. 23 Thy princes are traitors and companions of thieves. They love gifts altogether, and gape for rewards. As for the fatherless, they help him not to his right, neither will they let the widows causes come before them.
24 Therefore saith the LORD God of Hosts, the mighty one of Israel: Ah, I must ease me of mine enemies, and avenge me upon them. 25 And therefore shall I lay my hand upon thee, and burn out thy dross from the finest and purest, and put out all thy lead, 26 and set thy judges again as they were sometime, and thy Senators as they were from the beginning. Then shalt thou be called the righteous city, the faithful city.
27 But Zion shall be redeemed with equity, and they shall turn again unto her in righteousness. 28 For the transgressors and ungodly, and such as are become unfaithful unto the LORD, must altogether be utterly destroyed. 29 For they shall be ashamed of the gods that you longed for. And you shall be put to shame for the idols and grove gardens that ye have chosen. 30 Ye shall be as an oak whose leaves are fallen away, and as a garden that hath no moistness. 31 And as for the glory of your graven images, it shall be turned to dry straw, and he that made them to a spark. And they shall both burn together, so that no man shall be able to quench them.