Isaiah 1:13
in Isaiah 1Bring your worthless offerings no more; your incense is detestable to Me— your New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations. I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies,—I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meeting.
KJV
Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
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This verse in Isaiah 1
Commentary
15 notes on this verseBring no more vain oblations,.... As all such were, which were offered up without faith in Christ, in hypocrisy, and with dependence on them for pardon and atonement, and particularly when put an end to by the sacrifice of Christ; see Mat 15:9. The Targum renders it, "an oblation of robbery"; see Isa 60:8. incense is an abomination to me; instead of being of a sweet smell.
This site's exposition
Bring no more vain oblations
on Isaiah 1:13-15
Bring no more vain oblations opens a catalogue of rejected worship, incense called an abomination, new moons and sabbaths and solemn assemblies called iniquity, feasts God says his own soul hates and is weary to bear. The catalogue does not condemn the forms themselves, which the Lord had commanded through Moses, but the worship offered alongside injustice, and verse fifteen names the reason outright, your hands are full of blood. Prayers multiplied by hands stained with wrong are prayers God says he will not hear, and the eyes hidden are his own, turned from a people he refuses to watch pray.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
For actions not done lawfully and piously are not of advantage, though they may be reputed to be so, but they rather argue hypocrisy in those who venture upon them. Therefore, although such persons feign to offer sacrifices, yet they hear from the Father, "Your whole burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices do not please me"; and although you bring fine flour, it is vanity; incense also is an abomination to me."
When, from the teaching of ancient doctrine, dearly beloved, we undertake the fast of September to purify our souls and bodies, we are not subjecting ourselves to legal burdens. We are embracing the good use of self-restraint that serves the gospel of Christ. In this too, Christian virtue can "exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees," not by making void the law but by rejecting worldly wisdom.
(Ver. 13.) You will not trample on my courtyard. Note that after the devastation of Babylon, the Temple was built again by Zerubbabel: and for many years sacrifices have been offered in the Temple (1 Esdras, 5). Therefore, it indicates the final destruction of the Temple under Vespasian and Titus, which will persist until the end of the world.
Further, He says to them, "Your new moons and your Sabbath I cannot endure." Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, [namely this,] when, giving rest to all things, I shall make …
Listen to the words of the inspired writer: "Incense is an abomination to me"—as if to suggest the bad intention of the one offering the sacrifice. You see, just as in the present case the good person's virtue transformed the smoke and stench into an odor of fragrance, so in their case the malice of the one making the offering caused the fragrant incense to smell like an abomination. Consequently, let us earnestly take every opportunity, I beseech you, to demonstrate a sound attitude. This, after all, proves responsible for all our good things. You see, the good Lord is accustomed to heed not so much what is done from our own resources as the intention within, on which we depend for our first move in doing these things, and he looks to that in either approving what is done by us or disapproving it. So whether we pray, or fast, or practice almsgiving (these, after all, being our spiritual sacrifices) or perform any other spiritual work, let us begin with a pure intention in performing it so that we may procure a reward worthy of our efforts.
8 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers2 voices
How, tell me, can festivals that God hates be intended for continual and uninterrupted observance? Are we to say that God changed his mind, and that ordinances God originally said to be good, when he established them through Moses, are ridiculed by the prophets, so that we must conclude he who enjoined them made a mistake, and that he is subject to the same infirmities that afflict us?… He was in favor of the good for the ancients, but he wished, rather, that by passing from symbols and shadows into the beauty of the truth, they should commend the worship most well pleasing to him, and it is clear that such worship is intellectual and in spirit.
Tell me, you who come to church only on festal days, are the other days not festal days? Are they not the Lord's days? It belongs to the Jews to observe religious ceremonies on fixed and infrequent days.… God hates, therefore, those who think that the festal day of the Lord is on one day.
The Medieval Church1 voice
46. Third, he rejects the sacrifices which were owed to God and the priest, saying: offer sacrifice no more. Shall the holy flesh take away from you your crimes, in which you have boasted? (Jer 11:15); and: what shall I offer to the Lord that …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
In vain do they worship me, Matt. xv. Their attention to God's institutions was all lost labour, and served not to answer any good intention; for, [1.] It was not looked upon as any act of duty or obedience to God: Who has required these things at your hands?
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Bring no more - God does not intend absolutely to forbid this kind of worship, but he expresses his strong abhorrence of the manner in which it was done. He desired a better state of mind; he preferred purity of heart to all this external homage. Vain - Hebrew “offering of vanity” - שׁוא shâv' - offerings which were hollow, false, deceitful, and hypocritical. Oblations - מנחת minchath. This word properly denotes a gift, or present, of any kind Gen 32:13, and then especially a present or offering to the Deity, Gen 4:3-
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
oblations--unbloody; "meat (old English sense, not flesh) offerings," that is, of flour, fruits, oil, &c. Hebrew, mincha. incense--put upon the sacrifices, and burnt on the altar of incense. Type of prayer (Ps 141:2;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
The new moons and Sabbaths “The fast and the day of restraint” - און ועצרה aven vaatsarah. These words are rendered in many different manners by different interpreters, to a good and probable sense by all; but I think by none in such a sense as can arise from the phrase itself, agreeably to the idiom of the Hebrew language. Instead of און aven, the Septuagint manifestly read צום tsom, νηστειαν, “the fast.” This Houbigant has adopted. The prophet could not well have omitted the fast in the enumeration of their solemnities, nor the abuse of it among the instances of their hypocrisy, which he has treated at large with such force and elegance in his fifty-eighth chapter. Observe, also, that the prophet Joel, (Joe 1:14, and Joe 2:15), twice joins together the fast and the day of restraint: - עצרה קראו צום קדשו atsarah kiru tsom kaddeshu “Sanctify a fast; proclaim a day of restraint:” which shows how properly they are here joined together. עצרה atsarah, “the restraint,” is rendered, both here and in other places of our English translation, “the solemn assembly.” Certain holy days ordained by the law were distinguished by a particular charge that “no servile work should be done therein;” Lev 23:36; Num 29:35; Deu 16:8. This circumstance clearly explains the reason of the name, the restraint, or the day of restraint, given to those days. If I could approve of any translation of these two words which I have met with, it should be that of the Spanish version of the Old Testament, made for the use of the Spanish Jews: Tortura y detenimento, “it is a pain and a constraint unto me.” But I still think that the reading of the Septuagint is more probably the truth.
Modern Voices1 voice
I should have some sympathy with the Jewish Sabbath, if it were a Jewish Sabbath... But the absurdity of the modern English convention is that it does not let a man sit still; it only perpetually trips him up when it has forced him to …
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
You shall bring no more vain meal-offerings I warn you, you shall not bring Me your vain meal- offering, for the smoke that rises from it is smoke of abomination to Me, and not for My satisfaction.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
who requested this of you, to trample My courts to trample [the preposition is absent in the Hebrew] My courts, since your heart is not whole with Me.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תוֹסִ֗יפוּ | tosifu | you must repeat | H3254 → | 212 times |
| הָבִיא֙ | havi' | to bring | H935 → | 2568 times |
| מִנְחַת־ | minchat- | an offering of | H4503 → | 211 times |
| שָׁ֔וְא | shav' | worthlessness | H7723 → | 53 times |
| קְטֹ֧רֶת | ketoret | incense | H7004 → | |
| תּוֹעֵבָ֛ה | toevah | [is] an abomination | H8441 → | 117 times |
| הִ֖יא | hi' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| לִ֑י | li | to <the> me | ||
| חֹ֤דֶשׁ | chodesh | new moon | H2320 → | 284 times |
| וְשַׁבָּת֙ | veshabat | and sabbath | H7676 → | 110 times |
| קְרֹ֣א | kero' | [the] calling of | H7121 → | 733 times |
| מִקְרָ֔א | mikra' | convocation[s] | H4744 → | |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אוּכַ֥ל | ʾukhal | I am able to endure | H3201 → | 194 times |
| אָ֖וֶן | ʾaven | wickedness | H205 → | 77 times |
| וַעֲצָרָֽה׃ | vaatzarah | and solemn assembli[es] | H6116 → |
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תוֹסִ֗יפוּyou must repeat
tosifuH3254 →212 times
הָבִיא֙to bring
havi'H935 →2568 times
מִנְחַת־an offering of
minchat-H4503 →211 times
שָׁ֔וְאworthlessness
shav'H7723 →53 times
קְטֹ֧רֶתincense
ketoretH7004 →
תּוֹעֵבָ֛ה[is] an abomination
toevahH8441 →117 times
הִ֖יאit
hi'H1931 →1879 times
לִ֑יto <the> me
li
חֹ֤דֶשׁnew moon
chodeshH2320 →284 times
וְשַׁבָּת֙and sabbath
veshabatH7676 →110 times
קְרֹ֣א[the] calling of
kero'H7121 →733 times
מִקְרָ֔אconvocation[s]
mikra'H4744 →
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
אוּכַ֥לI am able to endure
ʾukhalH3201 →194 times
אָ֖וֶןwickedness
ʾavenH205 →77 times
וַעֲצָרָֽה׃and solemn assembli[es]
vaatzarahH6116 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 15:9They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’”
it leads to
- Isaiah 29:13
Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught…
- Mark 7:7
They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’
- 1 Timothy 1:4
or devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculation rather than the stewardship of God’s work, which is by faith.
- Titus 1:14
and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of men who have rejected the truth.
- Colossians 2:18–22
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual…
- Isaiah 29:13
Through
Isaiah 66:3Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who slays a man; whoever sacrifices a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever presents a grain offering is like one who offers pig’s…
it leads to
- Proverbs 15:8
The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
- Amos 5:21–22
“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.
- Isaiah 1:11–15
“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood…
- Proverbs 15:8
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
This page draws on 16 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Athanasius of Alexandria, Letter 19.2; Cyril of Alexandria, AGAINST JULIAN 9; Epistle of Barnabas, The Epistle of Barnabas, Chapter XV; GK Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles, A Cab Ride Across Country (1909); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 27:8; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Leo the Great, SERMON 92:2; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 10:3 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.