Verse of the Day for April 6

The chapter before this verse is brutal. God says he is weary of their sacrifices, that their hands are full of blood, and that he will hide his eyes when they pray.

Then, without transition, an invitation.

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Let us reason together is a legal phrase — it means let us argue this out, settle the case. God invites the guilty party to the table rather than sentencing them from the bench.

Scarlet in the ancient world was a fast dye. It was chosen as the image precisely because it did not come out, and everyone hearing it knew that.

So the claim is not that the stain is small. It is that a permanent dye is being removed, which is the whole point of using that colour.

The invitation arrives immediately after the harshest paragraph, from the offended party, unprompted.

Nothing in the chapter suggests they had improved. Come now.