filthy rags
Isaiah 64:6
64:6 filthy rags. There is no salvation for one trusting in his own acts of righteousness to commend him to God, for such acts (without repentant faith in Christ’s death for our sins) are like (literally) “menstrous cloths” in the sight of a holy God. “Not by works of righteousness” are we saved, but only by “His mercy” (Titus 3:5).