Mention of Zion, the religious centre of the nation (1:8), has opened up the way for Isaiah to move the focus of his review of the state of the land from its military and economic plight to its religious decadence. However, the problem to be faced was not an absence of religious activity in the temple, rather an unhealthy surfeit. Hezekiah had repaired the sacred structure and cleansed the public worship of heathen practices (2 Chr. 29:3–36). But the people had lapsed