Isaiah 1:15
in Isaiah 1When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
KJV
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
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This verse in Isaiah 1
Commentary
14 notes on this verseLet those who do nothing right in life and think they are justified by the length of their prayer listen to these words. For the words of the prayer are not useful by themselves but only when they are offered up with earnest intent. Now the Pharisee also seemed to multiply his supplication. But what does the Scripture say? "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus to himself," not to God, for he turned back toward himself, since at all events he was in the sin of arrogance.
This site's exposition
Bring your worthless offerings no more
on Isaiah 1:13-15
Verse 13 opens a list of rejected worship: incense called detestable, and New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations the LORD cannot endure alongside iniquity. The forms had been commanded through Moses. The fault is the injustice beside them, which verse 15 names in the words "Your hands are covered with blood."
This site's exposition
Your hands are covered with blood
Spread hands were the posture of prayer. The same hands are covered with blood, so the prayers go unheard. The Hebrew is plural, bloods, which Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read as heinous sins of every kind.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
O foolish and wretched person, what are you doing? Why do you burden yourself with the weight of greater sins? Why do you inflict injury on God in addition to your contempt? Why, in order to provoke his wrath more quickly in manifestation of your punishment, do you extend to God your crime stained hands when he who has commanded that only holy and unspotted hands be lifted up to him refuses to look at yours? Why do you beseech God with that mouth by which not long ago you spoke evil? Its prayers, however they be multiplied, are an abomination to him.
(Verse 15) You have become wearisome to me; I will by no means forgive your sins. Regarding this, Aquila interpreted, 'I labored and endured.' Symmachus, feeling sorry, said, 'I have failed in seeking mercy,' in order to show that he will no longer have compassion, because it is one thing for a servant sent to him to be killed, and another for a Son. We read this same meaning in the prophet Hosea: 'Your destruction, Israel; only in me is your help' (Hosea 13:9). This is understood thus: Perish, Israel, not by your merit, but only by my help are you saved. Your hands are full of blood. The reason is clear why God turns His eyes away from you and does not listen to your multiplied prayer: because you have shed the blood of the righteous, and the wicked farmers have killed the heir sent to them. Therefore, the Savior speaks to them: And you, fill up the measure of your fathers (Matth. XXIII, 31). For they have killed the messengers sent to them: you kill the Son of the Master of the house. This testimony should be used against those who, while having their hands full of blood with their daily works, join in prayer day and night.
"What then, if I have been overtaken?" saith one. Cleanse thyself. "How, and in what way?" Weep, groan, give alms, apologize to him that is affronted, reconcile him to thyself hereby, wipe clean thy tongue, lest thou provoke God more grievously. For so if one had filled his hands with dung, and then should lay hold of thy feet, entreating thee, far from hearing him, thou wouldest rather spurn him with thy foot; how then durst thou in such sort draw nigh to God? Since in truth the tongue is the hand of them that pray, and by it we lay hold on the knees of God. Defile it not therefore, lest to thee also He say, "Though ye make many prayers, I will not hearken."
The Medieval Church2 voices
51. And when you stretch forth. He rejects their prayers. And first, he places the rejection; second, the reason for the rejection, where it says, for your hands are full of blood. Concerning the first, he does two things: first, he rejects their prayers as …
Whenever [those who are lazy] pray to Him, He does not quickly hearken to them, but waits until they grow weary and have learned in no uncertain manner that these things befell them because of their slothfulness and negligence.… Even if this was said of …
6 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
He hides his eyes from their prayers, as that which he has an aversion to and is angry at. All this is to show, [1.] That sin is very hateful to God, so hateful that it makes even men's prayers and their religious services hateful to him. [2.] That dissembled piety is double iniquity.
); they are all rejected, because their hands were full of blood. There are many who are strangers, nay, enemies, to the power of religion, and yet seem very zealous for the show and shadow and form of it.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
And when ye spread forth your hands,.... That is, in prayer, this being a prayer gesture: hence the Targum paraphrases it, "and when the priests spread out their hands to pray for you.'' I will hide mine eyes from you; will not look upon them, nor regard their prayer; see Lam 3:42. yea, when ye make many prayers; as the Scribes and Pharisees did in Christ's time, and thought to be heard for their much speaking, like the Gentiles, Mat 6:
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Ye spread forth your hands - This is an expression denoting the act of supplication. When we ask for help, we naturally stretch out our hands, as if to receive it. The expression therefore is equivalent to ‘when ye pray, or implore mercy.’ Compare Exo 9:29; Exo 17:11-12; 1Ki 8:22. I will hide mine eyes ... - That is, I will not attend to, or regard your supplications. The Chaldee Paraphrase is, ‘When your priests expand their hands to pray for you.’ Your hands ... - This is given as a reason why he would not hear.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
La 3:43, 44). spread . . . hands--in prayer (1Ki 8:22). Hebrew, "bloods," for all heinous sins, persecution of God's servants especially (Mt 23:35). It was the vocation of the prophets to dispel the delusion, so contrary to the law itself (De 10:16), that outward ritualism would satisfy God.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
When ye spread - The Syriac, Septuagint, and a MS., read בפרשכם beparshecem, without the conjunction ו vau. Your hands “For your hands” - Αἱ γαρ χειρες - Sept. Manus enim vestrae-Vulg. They seem to have read כי ידיכם ki yedeychem.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּבְפָרִשְׂכֶ֣ם | uvefariskhem | and when spread out you | H6566 → | 67 times |
| כַּפֵּיכֶ֗ם | kapeikhem | hands your | H3709 → | 192 times |
| אַעְלִ֤ים | ʾa'lim | I will hide | H5956 → | |
| עֵינַי֙ | ʾeinai | eyes my | H5869 → | 887 times |
| מִכֶּ֔ם | mikem | from you | ||
| גַּ֛ם | gam | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תַרְבּ֥וּ | tarbu | you will multiply | H7235 → | 227 times |
| תְפִלָּ֖ה | tefilah | prayer | H8605 → | 72 times |
| אֵינֶ֣נִּי | ʾeineni | not I | H369 → | 789 times |
| שֹׁמֵ֑עַ | shomea' | [will be] hearing | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| יְדֵיכֶ֖ם | yedeikhem | hands your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| דָּמִ֥ים | damim | blood<s> | H1818 → | 360 times |
| מָלֵֽאוּ׃ | maleu | they are full | H4390 → | 249 times |
וּבְפָרִשְׂכֶ֣םand when spread out you
uvefariskhemH6566 →67 times
כַּפֵּיכֶ֗םhands your
kapeikhemH3709 →192 times
אַעְלִ֤יםI will hide
ʾa'limH5956 →
עֵינַי֙eyes my
ʾeinaiH5869 →887 times
מִכֶּ֔םfrom you
mikem
גַּ֛םalso
gamH1571 →769 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
תַרְבּ֥וּyou will multiply
tarbuH7235 →227 times
תְפִלָּ֖הprayer
tefilahH8605 →72 times
אֵינֶ֣נִּיnot I
ʾeineniH369 →789 times
שֹׁמֵ֑עַ[will be] hearing
shomea'H8085 →1159 times
יְדֵיכֶ֖םhands your
yedeikhemH3027 →1618 times
דָּמִ֥יםblood<s>
damimH1818 →360 times
מָלֵֽאוּ׃they are full
maleuH4390 →249 times
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
Proverbs 1:28Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.
it leads to
- Micah 3:4
Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Zechariah 7:13
And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts.
- James 4:3
And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.
- Matthew 25:10–12
But while they were on their way to buy it, the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.
- Micah 3:4
Through
Zechariah 7:13And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 11:11
Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to bring upon them a disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 1:24–28
Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,
- Jeremiah 14:12
Although they may fast, I will not listen to their cry; although they may offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will finish them off by sword and…
- Jeremiah 11:11
Through
Micah 3:4Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.
it leads to
- Proverbs 1:28
Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.
- Proverbs 1:28
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
On this verse
About Isaiah
This page draws on 13 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); Augustine of Hippo, ON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 11; Basil of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 1:36; Isaac of Nineveh, ASCETICAL HOMILIES 5; 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 THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 51:5; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.