NRSV

[10] Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom!

Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

[11] What to me is the multitude of your sacrifice? Says the LORD;

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

And the fat of fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.

[12] When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand?

Trample my courts no more;

[13] Bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me.

New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation–

I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.

[14] Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates;

They have become a burden to me,

I am weary of bearing them. 

[15] When you stretch out your hands, 

I will hide my eyes from you;

Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen;

Your hands are full of blood.

[16] Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes;

Cease to do evil.

[17] Learn to do good; seek justice,

Rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, 

plead for the widow.

[18] Come now, let us argue it out, say the LORD:

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow;

Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. 

[19] If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;

[20] But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword;

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

LXX

[10] Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom;

Heed the law of God, people of Gomorrah.

[11] What is it to me, your multitude of offerings, says the Lord.

I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of lambs

And I do not wish the blood of bulls and goats,

[12 Neither would you come to see me.

For who sought these things from your hand?

[13] Do not continue to walk my court. 

You would carry fine flour in vain

Incense is an abomination to me;

Your new moon and sabbath and great days I do not tolerate;

Fasting and holidays

[14] and your incense and feasts my spirit hates;

You became unto fullness to me, no longer shall I tolerate your sins.

[15] Whenever you stretch forth hands towards me,

I shall turn my eyes from you;

And should you multiply the entreaty, I shall not hear you;

For your hands are full of blood. 

[16] Wash, become clean, 

Remove the wickedness from your spirit 

Before my eyes 

desist from your wickedness.

[17] Learn to do good, seek judgment,

Rescue those who have been treated unjustly, give preference to the orphan and be just to the widow

[18] and come hither and we would debate, says the Lord, 

And your sins would be as purple, as white as snow,

They would be as crimson, as white as wool.

[19] And should you wish and listen to me,

You shall eat the good things of the earth.

[2] But should you not wish and not listen to me, 

A sword shall devour you;

The mouth of the Lord said these things. 

Notes on Text

As we saw in the last post, the repetition of the verb ἐγκαταλείπω egkataleipō, which means to forsake, leave behind, or abandon, leaves us in vv. 9 with an interesting tension.  In that verse it makes sense to translate ἐγκαταλείπω egkataleipō as ‘leave behind’, so that it reads:

And lest the Lord of the Sabbath should not leave behind our seeds

We would have been become as Sodom

And we have been made like Gomorrah.

The tension is created because earlier in vv. 1-8 this same verb is used to describe how God has forsaken Israel, and so while he has left behind Judah, should he forsake Judah they will become like Sodom and Gomorrah.  Verse 10 immediately continues this train of thought by referring to the rulers of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah.  This implication that the rulers of Judah are equivalent to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah is a particularly interesting comparison, because vv. 11-14 proceed to describe Judah as being religiously observant insomuch as they make the prescribed offering and celebrate the prescribed festivals.  

The importance of the criticism is not to be taken lightly. Sacrifice in particular was the primary means by which sins were absolved, so the argument that God is uninterested in these sacrifices is a criticism of the basic paradigm of absolution.  In the New Testament there is quite a big of discussion of “the law and the prophets,” and this is an instance in which the law is rebuked by the prophets in pursuit of a higher form of justice than Judah’s legal observance had achieved.  

The crux of this argument, occurs in vv. 17, which reads (LXX is italicized):

Learn to do good; seek justice,

Rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, 

plead for the widow.

Learn to do good, seek judgment,

Rescue those who have been treated unjustly, give preference to the orphan and be just to the widow

It is worthwhile to dig into the word choice in the LXX text, because there is some subtlety there that is lost in translation.  In particular, this verse repeats words related to the verb κρίνω krinō and δίκη dikē in ways that are quite delicate.  

Starting with κρίνω krinō, this is a verb that is commonly translated something along the lines of “to judge” or “to be questioned at trial” or “to condemn,” but it also has the sense of “to pick out”, “to choose”, “to distinguish between” or “to prefer.” Presumably its meaning as judgment is descended from its meaning as separation or distinction, in the sense that to judge someone is to separate guilt from innocence.  In vv. 17, the phrase “seek judgment” uses a noun that is descended from this verb (κρίσις krisis), which has a similar meaning (a separating, picking, choosing on the one had; a judgment, sentence, trial, standard or test on the other).  The verb κρίνω krinō itself is used in the phrase “give preference to the orphan.” Here I have translated the verb as “give preference” rather than “judge” because it makes more sense contextually, but actually I think both translations obscure what seems like is actually intended to be communicated here. My reading of this verse is that κρίνω krinō/κρίσις krisis actually are intended in the sense of “good judgment” or “the ability to separate justice and injustice accurately,” with the implication that orphans are commonly on the receiving end of injustice.  

This sense is heightened by the usage of a couple of words descended from the word δίκη dikē.  This word has a variety of meanings including, “order”, “law”, “right”; but also can mean “a lawsuit”, “a trial”, or “the penalty awarded by a judge.” It has many cognate words including the Greek words for justice, righteousness, uprightness, etc.  In vv. 17, two verbs that are cognate to δίκη dikē are used.  One of these occurs in the phrase “Rescue those who have been treated unjustly,” in which a form of the verb ἀδικέω adikeō is used.  This is what is called an “alpha privative,” and the letter “a” (or alpha) at the beginning of this word performs the same function that it does in the word “amoral,” so that this verb means to be unjust, unlawful, to do wrong (or in the passive sense, which is how it occurs here, to be on the receiving end of unjust or unlawful conduct). The second cogate verb is δικαιόω dikaioō.  This word can mean to judge or condemn, but can also mean “to justify” (which is how it is used by Paul in Romans 3:28 in the phrase “justified by faith alone), “to make righteous,” “to consider righteous,” “to make right,” or “to be right.”

So what we overall see in vv. 17 is a very delicate pairing of the concepts of judgment and justice or righteousness that is explicitly contrasted against legal observance in the sense of offering sacrifices or celebrating religious festivals.  This pairing of justice and judgment is also to be directed against the vulnerable in the sense of the people who have received injustice, widows, and orphans.  So here we see this idea that justice is the preeminent goal of the law, more so than sacrifice.  This is a radical argument inasmuch as what Isaiah is claiming here is that just conduct expiates sins to a greater extent than sacrifice, whereas the common conception of sacrifice is that their purpose is to atone for the sins of individuals and the community.  
Finally, let us consider the phrase “and come hither and we would debate” in vv.18, and particularly the “we would debate” piece of things.  The verb here is διαλέγω dialegō, which is related to the word “dialogue.” Its meaning can be “to pick out” or “to choose,” but it can also be “to discourse” or “to argue.” Here there is a double meaning, in the sense that depending on how the argument with God goes, they are either saved or condemned (thus they are both debating and choosing).  This framework is also an interesting one, since it gives people quite a bit of agency in their salvation or condemnation. It is also interesting inasmuch as the salvation implied by by this framework is essentially a blank check: so long as Judah should submit to the demands of justice all of its sins shall be absolved.