Bible Strands
Isaiah 1:12
When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel through Isaiah, questioning their motive for approaching His presence during the appointed festivals. The words — The Hebrew תָבֹאוּ (taVo'u) means "you come," paired with בִקֵּשׁ (viKesh) meaning "did he require," framing the rhetorical question about who authorized their ritual approach. The thread — The mandate to appear before the Lord at appointed times originates in Exodus 23:17 and Exodus 34:23, while Psalm 40:6 contrasts divine desire for obedience over ritual sacrifice. Why it lands — The text demands that worshippers examine whether their external attendance aligns with God's actual commands rather than mere habit.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
Cross-references
- Exodus 34:23 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
- Exodus 23:17 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.
- Psalms 40:6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.
- Ecclesiastes 5:1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
- Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.
- Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Matthew 23:5 All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
- Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed.