Discovery BoxIsaiah 1:13 
Context1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless 1 offerings;
I consider your incense detestable! 2
You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,
but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! 3
Isaiah 5:18
Context5:18 Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, 4
who pull sin as with cart ropes. 5
Isaiah 6:7
Context6:7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven.” 6
Isaiah 58:1
Context58:1 “Shout loudly! Don’t be quiet!
Yell as loud as a trumpet!
Confront my people with their rebellious deeds; 7
confront Jacob’s family with their sin! 8
Isaiah 59:3
Context59:3 For your hands are stained with blood
and your fingers with sin;
your lips speak lies,
your tongue utters malicious words.
Isaiah 61:8
Context61:8 For I, the Lord, love justice
and hate robbery and sin.
I will repay them because of my faithfulness; 9
I will make a permanent covenant with them.
1 tn Or “worthless” (NASB, NCV, CEV); KJV, ASV “vain.”
2 sn Notice some of the other practices that Yahweh regards as “detestable”: homosexuality (Lev 18:22-30; 20:13), idolatry (Deut 7:25; 13:15), human sacrifice (Deut 12:31), eating ritually unclean animals (Deut 14:3-8), sacrificing defective animals (Deut 17:1), engaging in occult activities (Deut 18:9-14), and practicing ritual prostitution (1 Kgs 14:23).
3 tn Heb “sin and assembly” (these two nouns probably represent a hendiadys). The point is that their attempts at worship are unacceptable to God because the people’s everyday actions in the socio-economic realm prove they have no genuine devotion to God (see vv. 16-17).
5 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “Woe to those who pull evil with the ropes of emptiness, and, as [with] ropes of a cart, sin.” Though several textual details are unclear, the basic idea is apparent. The sinners are so attached to their sinful ways (compared here to a heavy load) that they strain to drag them along behind them. If שָׁוְא (shavÿ’, “emptiness”) is retained, it makes a further comment on their lifestyle, denouncing it as one that is devoid of what is right and destined to lead to nothing but destruction. Because “emptiness” does not form a very tight parallel with “cart” in the next line, some emend שָׁוְא to שֶׂה (she, “sheep”) and עֲגָלָה (’agalah, “cart”) to עֵגֶל (’egel, “calf”): “Those who pull evil along with a sheep halter are as good as dead who pull sin with a calf rope” (following the lead of the LXX and improving the internal parallelism of the verse). In this case, the verse pictures the sinners pulling sin along behind them as one pulls an animal with a halter. For a discussion of this view, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:163, n. 1. Nevertheless, this emendation is unnecessary. The above translation emphasizes the folly of the Israelites who hold on to their sin (and its punishment) even while they hope for divine intervention.
6 tn Or “ritually cleansed,” or “atoned for” (NIV).
7 tn Heb “declare to my people their rebellion.”
8 tn Heb “and to the house of Jacob their sin.” The verb “declare” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
9 tn Heb “in faithfulness”; NASB, NRSV, NLT “faithfully.”
