When ye come to appear before me. — Literally, before my face. This is the meaning given by the present Hebrew text, and it is, of course, adequate. The Syriac version and some modern scholars (e.g., Cheyne) adopt a reading which gives to see my face. In either case the implied thought is that the worshippers believed they came into the more immediate presence of Jehovah when, they entered the Temple courts. To “appear before God” was the normal phrase for visiting the Temple at the three great Feasts and other solemn occasions (Exodus 34:23; Psalms 42:3; Psalms 84:7).
Related Commentaries of Isaiah 1:12
Isaiah 1:12
12 When ye come to appearf before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?