What Does Isaiah 1:13 Mean in the King James?

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.

Isaiah 1:13 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The offering is called empty when sacred form is held together with crookedness.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks to the reader now: offerings, appointed days, and gatherings do not become true simply because their forms are sacred. The LORD cannot bear them when they stand alongside crookedness and emptiness.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that religious attendance and repetition can make crookedness acceptable to God.

THE ROOT

שָׁוְא

shav

GROWS FROM

שוא

shav

emptiness, falsehood, worthlessness

⁨שָׁוְא⁩ (shav, emptiness or falsehood) reaches beyond an offering that simply fails to achieve its purpose: it can be hollow or false in relation to the reality it claims. Exodus 20:7 uses the same word for bearing the LORD’s name “in vain,” linking empty devotion with empty speech about God.

ALSO GROWS

shav: emptiness, falsehood, or worthlessness

שָׁוְא

This is the word Isaiah uses for the offering, exposing its hollow quality.

lashav: in vain, falsely, or to no purpose

לַשָּׁוְא

This form appears in the command about taking the LORD’s name in vain, connecting empty ritual with empty claims about God.

מִקְרָא

miqra

GROWS FROM

קרא

qara

call, proclaim, read aloud

“assemblies” in this verse is miqra. ⁨מִקְרָא⁩ (miqra, convocation or reading) carries the root of calling and reading aloud. The phrase holds together the public gathering and what is called or recited there; the verse rejects this full observance when it is joined to crookedness.

ALSO GROWS

qara: to call, proclaim, or read aloud

קָרָא

The assembly is a gathering summoned through a call.

qeri'ah: a calling or reading aloud

קְרִיאָה

This related form makes the public, spoken character of the assembly audible within the word.

THE PATTERN

Sacred observance cannot stand in for a life aligned with justice.

Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Isaiah 1:17 · KJVThe next verse gives the living shape of devotion in justice toward the oppressed, the fatherless, and the widow.

I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

Amos 5:21 · KJVThe LORD rejects feast days and assemblies when their sacred form is separated from justice.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Micah 6:8 · KJVThe verse joins justice, mercy, and walking with God as one expression of what is good.

THE THREAD

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Exodus 20:7 · KJV

The same word ⁨שָׁוְא⁩ (shav, emptiness or falsehood) appears in the command against taking the LORD’s name “in vain.” Isaiah applies that emptiness to offerings and gatherings: sacred forms ring hollow when held together with crookedness.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us