Isa 1:25-26 | NETfull | STEP | I will attack you; I will purify your metal with flux. I will remove all your slag.

Isaiah 1:25-26

25 I will attack you; ^{▼▼ Heb “turn my hand against you.” The second person pronouns in vv. 25–26 are feminine singular. Personified Jerusalem is addressed. The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack,” in Ps 81:15 HT (81:14 ET); Ezek 38:12; Am 1:8; Zech 13:7. In Jer 6:9 it is used of gleaning grapes.}
I will purify your metal with flux. ^{▼▼ Heb “I will purify your dross as [with] flux.” “Flux” refers here to minerals added to the metals in a furnace to prevent oxides from forming. For this interpretation of II בֹּר (bor), see HALOT 153 s.v. II בֹּר and 750 s.v. סִיג.}
I will remove all your slag. ^{▼▼ The metaphor comes from metallurgy; slag is the substance left over after the metallic ore has been refined.}
26 I will reestablish honest judges as in former times,
wise advisers as in earlier days. ^{▼▼ Heb “I will restore your judges as in the beginning; and your counselors as in the beginning.” In this context, where social injustice and legal corruption are denounced (see v. 23), the “judges” are probably government officials responsible for making legal decisions, while the “advisers” are probably officials who helped the king establish policies. Both offices are also mentioned in 3:2.}
Then you will be called, ‘The Just City,
Faithful Town.’”