Bible Strands
Isaiah 1:13
Bring your worthless offerings no more; your incense is detestable to Me. New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations—I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks through the prophet Isaiah to the people of Judah when they approach the temple with ritual observance while persisting in wickedness. The address occurs during a period of hollow religious performance that has replaced genuine covenant faithfulness.
The words — שׁוֹא (shav') = worthlessness and תּוֹעֵבָה (to'evah) = abomination. The text commands the people to cease bringing offerings of worthlessness because their incense has become an abomination to God.
The thread — The rejection of empty ritual recurs in Isaiah 66:3, where slaughter and sacrifice are equated with murder and idolatry. Malachi 1:10 and Matthew 15:9 similarly condemn worship that relies on human tradition rather than divine command.
Why it lands — The verse demands immediate cessation of religious acts that mask ongoing injustice. It requires the reader to examine whether outward devotion aligns with inward obedience before approaching God.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 66:3 Whoever 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 blood; whoever offers frankincense is like one who blesses an idol. Indeed, they have chosen their own ways and delighted in their abominations.
- Malachi 1:10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! I take no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.
- Matthew 15:9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’”
- Ezekiel 20:39 And as for you, O house of Israel, this is what the Lord GOD says: Go and serve your idols, every one of you. But afterward, you will surely listen to Me, and you will no longer defile My holy name with your gifts and idols.
- Lamentations 2:6 He has laid waste His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has destroyed His place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and Sabbaths. In His fierce anger He has despised both king and priest.
- Exodus 12:16 On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do.
- Deuteronomy 16:1 Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.
- 1 Chronicles 23:31 Whenever burnt offerings were presented to the LORD on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and appointed feasts, they were to serve regularly before the LORD in the numbers prescribed for them.
- Joel 2:15 Blow the ram’s horn in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a sacred assembly.
- 1 Corinthians 11:17 In the following instructions I have no praise to offer, because your gatherings do more harm than good.