Why does God say sins that are red like crimson will be white as snow? (Isaiah 1:18)
"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isa 1:18). The word for "crimson" there is tola'ath, the crushed-worm dye, one of the most colorfast, hardest-to-remove colors the ancient world knew. The one stain no work of man could wash out is lifted by the blood of the crushed Lamb.
What the text states
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isa 1:18). The picture is dyed cloth. The "crimson" is tola'ath, the crimson worm itself; the "scarlet" is shani, a separate word for the color its dye produced. Both were among the most colorfast, hardest-to-remove dyes of the ancient world, and that is the point: this was the one stain you could not wash out. It was dyed into the thread, not sitting on the surface. Yet God says it will be made "white as snow." The color no work of man could lift is lifted by Him, "he was bruised for our iniquities" (Isa 53:5). The worm's crushed body gave the stain. The crushed Lamb takes it away.
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Verified. Every scripture quotation on this page has been checked word-for-word against the King James text. Last reviewed 2026-10-07.
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