16  ^wWash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;

cease to do evil,

17  learn to do good;

seek justice,

correct oppression;

bring justice to the ^xfatherless,

plead the widow’s cause.

18  “Come now, let us reason¹ together, says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as ^ywhite as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool.

7  let the wicked forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.