At the second level a more profound issue is addressed. This, too, is introduced (though more obliquely) in chapter 1, for there for the first time we meet Isaiah’s characteristic description of God as ‘the Holy One of Israel’ (1:4).43 It is this Holy One who has been spurned by the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and the unspoken question at this point is: how can he forgive them (or any sinner for that matter) without compromising his holiness? Failure to see it as an issue is simply an indication