Isaiah 1:21-23

AN EXCLAMATION AGAINST THE CITY, Isaiah 1:21-31.

21-23. By a Hebrew character called Piskah, after Isaiah 1:20 a long pause is indicated. Though invited to repent, the people, it seems, make no promise, not even a response, and the prophet’s tone now becomes elegiac.

How is the faithful city The once faithful. Lamentations 1:3. Reading it thus, the rhythm is better seen: “How is she become a harlot the faithful citadel. She that was full of judgment, wherein righteousness did lodge, and now murderers.” The “city,” or citadel, is Zion. Isaiah 1:27. (Just this was the case with Jerusalem when destroyed by the Chaldaeans, and afterward by the Romans.)

Thy silver is… dross, thy wine mixed with water These are symbols of great moral deterioration. So far, figures; but in the next verse, plain, bluntly-literal predicates occur.

Princes… rebellious Are utterly corrupt and lawless.

Companions of thieves In public responsibilities they are confederate with plunderers. No justice done without bribery; no hearing given to the fatherless and widow, because the latter are too poor to give bribes.