Isaiah 1:21

How is the faithful city become an harlot— Though the Lord, in the preceding part of the chapter, had suggested to the wicked and the hypocrites a method of returning to his favour, yet he foresaw that they would not hearken. He begins, therefore, afresh, (as if he repented of having indulged them so much, speaking after the manner of men,) to deplore their calamitous state, and to shew what this corrupt people were hereafter to expect. The first part of this new discourse contains a preface, from the 21st to the 24th verse, and a prediction of future events, from the 24th to the end of the chapter. In the preface the prophet complains, first, of the corruption of the whole city in general; which was become a harlot, violating her covenant, revolting from God by idolatry, or, what seems principally intended here, transgressing the laws of the covenant made with God; for, to violate the faith of the covenant, is, in the style of Scripture, to commence harlot. The 22nd verse expresses metaphorically, what is expressed plainly at the latter end of the 21st and in the 23rd verse; namely, that the princes, the judges, and chief men of the Jews, had declined from the paths of purity and integrity. See Vitringa.