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When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?
Isaiah 1:12 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
  • BSB When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts?
  • NKJV “When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts?
  • NASB “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courtyards?
  • NLT When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony?

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

God asks who required their empty temple visits, calling their worship a mere 'trampling' of His courts. Their outward devotion has become offensive.

Overview

The people assumed attendance at the temple secured God's favor, but He exposes their presence as meaningless without righteousness. 'Trampling' suggests irreverence rather than true worship. Acceptable worship comes only through a cleansed heart, ultimately made possible in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 8

  • Exod 34:23Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.
  • Exod 23:17Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.
  • Eccl 5:1Guard your steps when you go to God’s house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don’t know that they do evil.
  • Ps 40:6Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
  • Isa 58:1–2“Cry aloud, don’t spare. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
  • Mic 6:8He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
  • Matt 23:5But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the fringes of their garments,
  • Deut 16:16Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he chooses: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tents. They shall not appear before Yahweh empty.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 1:12YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 1:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.