Discovery BoxIsaiah 1:11 
Context1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” 1
says the Lord.
“I am stuffed with 2 burnt sacrifices
of rams and the fat from steers.
The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats
I do not want. 3
Isaiah 1:15
Context1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I look the other way; 4
when you offer your many prayers,
I do not listen,
because your hands are covered with blood. 5
Isaiah 15:9
Context15:9 Indeed, the waters of Dimon 6 are full of blood!
Indeed, I will heap even more trouble on Dimon. 7
A lion will attack 8 the Moabite fugitives
and the people left in the land.
Isaiah 58:7
Context58:7 I want you 9 to share your food with the hungry
and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. 10
When you see someone naked, clothe him!
Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood! 11
1 tn Heb “Why to me the multitude of your sacrifices?” The sarcastic rhetorical question suggests that their many sacrifices are of no importance to the Lord. This phrase answers the possible objection that an Israelite could raise in response to God’s indictment: “But we are offering the sacrifices you commanded!”
sn In this section the Lord refutes a potential objection that his sinful people might offer in their defense. He has charged them with rebellion (vv. 2-3), but they might respond that they have brought him many sacrifices. So he points out that he requires social justice first and foremost, not empty ritual.
2 tn The verb שָׂבַע (sava’, “be satisfied, full”) is often used of eating and/or drinking one’s fill. See BDB 959 s.v. שָׂבַע. Here sacrifices are viewed, in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion, as food for the deity. God here declares that he has eaten and drunk, as it were, his fill.
3 sn In the chiastic structure of the verse, the verbs at the beginning and end highlight God’s displeasure, while the heaping up of references to animals, fat, and blood in the middle lines hints at why God wants no more of their sacrifices. They have, as it were, piled the food on his table and he needs no more.
4 tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”
5 sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.
6 tc The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa reads “Dibon” instead of “Dimon” in this verse.
7 tn Heb “Indeed I will place on Dimon added things.” Apparently the Lord is speaking.
8 tn The words “will attack” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
9 tn Heb “Is it not?” The rhetorical question here expects a positive answer, “It is!”
10 tn Heb “and afflicted [ones], homeless [ones] you should bring [into] a house.” On the meaning of מְרוּדִים (mÿrudim, “homeless”) see HALOT 633 s.v. *מָרוּד.
11 tn Heb “and from your flesh do not hide yourself.”
