Comentario sobre Isaías 1:18

"That you shall accept from them": Not donation of grain, wine, and oil, but gold, silver, and bronze. The Blessed, Holy One said: I set up thirteen things for you in Egypt; you, too, should offer thirteen. The thirteen which [God] did in Egypt are written down by Ezekiel: "I clothed you with embroidered garments, and gave you sandals of dolphin leather to wear, and wound fine linen about your head, and dressed you in silks. I decked you out in finery and put bracelets on your arms and a chain around your neck. I put a ring in your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a splendid crown on your head....the choice flour, the oil, and the honey, which I had provided for you to eat" (Ezekiel 16:10-12, 19) -- which come to thirteen. You, too, should offer me thirteen things: gold, silver, bronze; blue, purple, and crimson yarns; fine linen, goats’ hair; tanned ram skins, dolphin skins, and acacia wood, oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the aromatic incense; lapis lazuli and other stones for setting" (Exodus 25:4-7).....

Come now, let us debate together, I and you, and we will know who offended whom, and if you offended Me, I still give you hope to repent.

ונוכחה. Some say that God is now speaking ; Let us—God and Israel—reason together (comp. Mic. 6:2); but I think the words may well be assigned to the prophet; as if he said God told me that we—you, Israel, and I—should submit to His rebuke ; for the prophet himself was not entirely without blame, as he reports, And He reproved me, that I should not walk, etc. (8:11), as I shall explain below (6:5).

If your sins prove to be like crimson Stained before Me like crimson red, I will make them as white as snow.

שנים Scarlet (comp. Exod. 25:4). The idea contained in this verse is the reverse of that conveyed by the words of Jeremiah, Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me (Jerem. 2:22); namely, the iniquity will depart, and you will again be free from all sin. The same is expressed by the words Wash you, etc. (ver. 16).

says the Lord [The verb is in the future form to denote that] He always says this to you, like: (Num. 9:20) “By the word of the Lord they would camp (יַחֲנוּ),” also a future form. Another explanation is: Come now, let us debate. What is written above this? “Cease to do evil; learn to do good.” And after you return to Me, come now, and let us debate together, to notify Me, “We have done what is incumbent upon us; You do what is incumbent upon You;” and I say, “If your sins prove to be like crimson, they will become white as snow...”

Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. A repetition of the same idea.

as crimson dye Heb. תּוֹלָע, lit. a worm. Dye with which they dye fabrics red. They are kernels, each one of which has a worm inside it. Hence the name תּוֹלָע.