Isaiah 1:12

Malice is heart-murder in the account of God; he that hates his brother in his heart has, in effect, his hands full of blood. When sinners are under the judgments of God they will more easily be brought to fly to their devotions than to forsake their sins and reform their lives. Their country was now desolate, and their cities were burnt (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

To appear - Upon the three solemn feasts, or upon other occasions. Who required - The thing I commanded, was not only, nor chiefly, that you should offer external sacrifices, but that you should do it with true repentance, with faith in my promises, and sincere resolutions of devoting yourselves to my service.

When ye come to appear before me,....

When ye come to appear - Instead of לראות leraoth, to appear, one MS. has לראות liroth, to see. See De Rossi. The appearing before God here refers chiefly to the three solemn annual festivals. See Exo 23:14. Tread my courts (no more) - So the Septuagint divide the sentence, joining the end of this verse to the beginning of the next: Πατειν την αυλην μου, ου προσθησεσθε; “To tread my court ye shall not add - ye shall not be again accepted in worship.”

appear before me--in the temple where the Shekinah, resting on the ark, was the symbol of God's presence (Ex 23:15; Ps 42:2). who hath required this--as if you were doing God a service by such hypocritical offerings (Job 35:7). God did require it (Ex 23:17), but not in this spirit (Mic 6:6, 7). courts--areas, in which the worshippers were.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

When you come to appear before me - The temple was in Jerusalem, and was regarded as the habitation, or dwelling-place, of the God of Israel. Particularly, the most holy place of the temple was deemed the place of his sacred abode. The Shekinah - from שׁכן shâkan, to dwell - the visible symbol of his presence, rested on the cover of the ark, and from this place he was accustomed to commune with his people, and to give responses to their requests. Hence, ‘to appear before God,’ Hebrew ‘to be seen before my face,’ פני לראות lerâ'ôth pânāy for פני את 'et pânāy, means to appear in his temple as a worshipper. The phrase occurs in this sense in the following places: Exo 34:23-24; Deu 31:11; 1Sa 1:22; Psa 42:3. Who hath required this - The Jews were required to appear there to worship God Exo 23:17; Deu 16:16; but it was not required that they should appear with that spirit and temper. A similar sentiment is expressed in Psa 50:16. At your hand - From you. The emphasis in this expression is to be laid on your. ‘Who has asked it of you?’ It was indeed the duty of the humble, and the sincere, to tread those courts, but who had required such hypocrites as they were to do it? God sought the offerings of pure worshippers, not those of the hypocritical and the profane. To tread my courts - The courts of the temple were the different areas or open spaces which surrounded it. None entered the temple itself but the priests. The people worshipped God in the courts assigned them around the temple. In one of those courts was the altar of burnt-offerings; and the sacrifices were all made there; see the notes at Mat 21:12. To tread his courts was an expression therefore, equivalent to, to worship. To tread the courts of the Lord here, has the idea of profanation. Who has required you to tread those courts with this hollow, heartless service? […]