" Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.

"For You said, 'I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.' "

Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man [pleads] for his neighbor!

Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, [That] I might come to His seat!

I would know the words [which] He would answer me, And understand what He would say to me.

"Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth.

Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further."

Let my prayer be set before You [as] incense, The lifting up of my hands [as] the evening sacrifice.

Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me Into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?

"How can you say, 'I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals'? See your way in the valley; Know what you have done: [You are] a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways,

Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'There is no hope. No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.'

Saying to a tree, 'You [are] my father,' And to a stone, 'You gave birth to me.' For they have turned [their] back to Me, and not [their] face. But in the time of their trouble They will say, 'Arise and save us.'

" Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me," says the LORD.

"O generation, see the word of the LORD! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, Or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, 'We are lords; We will come no more to You'?

"Why do you beautify your way to seek love? Therefore you have also taught The wicked women your ways.

Yet you say, 'Because I am innocent, Surely His anger shall turn from me.' Behold, I will plead My case against you, Because you say, 'I have not sinned.'

' Thus says the Lord GOD: "I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will increase their men like a flock.

"Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?"

Let all the nations be gathered together, And let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this, And show us former things? Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified; Or let them hear and say, "[It is] truth."

"Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me:

"Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.

"And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise [his] eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'

Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? [It is] God who justifies.

For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.