Isaiah 1:15

When ye spread forth your hands. When the Hebrews prayed they frequently stretched out their hands toward God (see Ex. 9:29, 33; 17:11; 1 Kings 8:22; Ezra 9:5; Job 11:13; Ps. 88:9; 143:6).

I will not hear. Compare Ps. 66:18; James 4:3. To be heard, prayer must be sincere. The prayers of hypocrites will not be heard (Matt. 6:5; Luke 18:14). Prayers may be long and frequent, yet be of no avail (Matt. 6:7). The prayers of evildoers whose hands are stained with blood and who persist in their evil ways will not reach the throne of grace. The Hebrews in the days of Isaiah appeared outwardly to be a very religious people who made much of prayer, but they refused to forsake their sins. Their prayers came from the lips but not from the heart. Such prayers, God made it clear, He refused to hear.

Full of blood. The recently discovered Dead Sea scroll 1QIs (see Vol. I, p. 31; Vol. IV, p. 86) adds, “and your fingers, of guilt,” thus making a couplet whose first member is, “your hands are full of blood.”