Isaiah 30:9
in Isaiah 30These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of Jehovah;
KJV
That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:
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This verse in Isaiah 30
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(v. 9 et seq.) For the people provoke to anger, and the sons are liars, sons unwilling to listen to the law of God. They say to the seers, "Do not see"; and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us pleasant words; see us errors. Depart from me the way; turn aside from me the path; let the Holy One of Israel cease from before us." It is clear that they have provoked the Lord to anger, not wanting to hear the words of Jeremiah (Jer. 43).
This site's exposition
write it before them in a table
on Isaiah 30:8-9
The word is now ordered set down permanently, written in a table and noted in a book so that it stands for the time to come for ever and ever, a witness the nation cannot later deny hearing. The reason given is blunt, this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord. Gill reads the permanence of the record as aimed at a later generation, so that when the judgment arrives no one can say the warning was never given.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
673. For it is a people. Here he sets out the contempt of the people, and first, the contempt by which they despised God: that provokes to wrath, as to sin of transgression: do not you provoke me, as the house of Israel provokes me …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
They rebelled against their own convictions and covenants: "They are lying children, that will not stand to what they say, that promise fair, but perform nothing;" when he took them into covenant with himself he said of them, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie ( ch. lxiii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A gracious promise to those who trusted in God, that they should not only see through the trouble, but should see happy days after it, times of joy and reformation, plenty of the means of grace, and therewith plenty of outward good things and increasing joys and triumphs (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
That this is a rebellious people,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
That this is a rebellious people - (see the note at Isa 1:2). Lying children - They had promised in solemn covenant to take Yahweh as their God, but they had been unfaithful to their vows.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Who say to the prophets, Prophesy ye not: and as for doctrines, teach us not the doctrine of the law: speak ye with us with signs, relate unto us various things:
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 7 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| עַ֤ם | ʾam | [is] a people of | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| מְרִי֙ | meri | rebellion | H4805 → | |
| ה֔וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| בָּנִ֖ים | banim | children | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| כֶּחָשִׁ֑ים | kechashim | lying | H3586 → | |
| בָּנִ֕ים | banim | children | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | [who] not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אָב֥וּ | ʾavu | they have been willing | H14 → | 54 times |
| שְׁמ֖וֹעַ | shemoa' | to hear | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| תּוֹרַ֥ת | torat | [the] law of | H8451 → | 219 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
עַ֤ם[is] a people of
ʾamH5971 →1873 times
מְרִי֙rebellion
meriH4805 →
ה֔וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
בָּנִ֖יםchildren
banimH1121 →4930 times
כֶּחָשִׁ֑יםlying
kechashimH3586 →
בָּנִ֕יםchildren
banimH1121 →4930 times
לֹֽא־[who] not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
אָב֥וּthey have been willing
ʾavuH14 →54 times
שְׁמ֖וֹעַto hear
shemoa'H8085 →1159 times
תּוֹרַ֥ת[the] law of
toratH8451 →219 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 7:51You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
it leads to
- Isaiah 63:10
But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 10:16
Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks no more.
- Jeremiah 4:4
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to…
- Ephesians 4:30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
- Leviticus 26:41
and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity,
- Isaiah 63:10
Through
Isaiah 30:1“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
it leads to
- Isaiah 65:2
All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people who walk in the wrong path, who follow their own imaginations,
- Isaiah 1:2
Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
- Hosea 7:13
Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against Me! Though I would redeem them, they speak lies against Me.
- Isaiah 65:2
About Isaiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.