Isaiah 59:6
in Isaiah 59Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
KJV
Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
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This verse in Isaiah 59
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 5, 6.) They conceived labor and gave birth to iniquity: they broke the eggs of vipers and wove spider webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and what is hatched will break out into a viper. Their webs will not be turned into clothing, nor will they be covered with their works. LXX: For they bring forth pain and generate iniquity. They broke the eggs of vipers and wove spider webs.
This site's exposition
They hatch the eggs of vipers and weave a spider’s web
on Isaiah 59:5-6
“They hatch the eggs of vipers and weave a spider’s web” pairs two works that look purposeful and yield only harm. Verse 6 draws the lesson: “Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works”. Work built on iniquity gives no covering.
This site's exposition
Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing
Henry reads the verse as a ledger of profit and loss, their deeds wounding the innocent and bringing nothing to the doers. Barnes likens their vain formality and false opinions to a spider's web, as useless for salvation as cobwebs for clothing. Aquinas makes the webs their counsels.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
And as to the second: their webs shall not be for clothing; that is, as spider webs do not avail for clothing, so their counsels avail nothing for them, if they gain no advantage, above: they shall be confounded that wrought in flax, combing and …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
It is here charged upon them that they had themselves procured the judgments of God upon them, and they are told both what the judgments were which they had brought upon their own heads (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
They may do hurt to others with their projects, but can never do any real service or kindness to themselves by them. There is nothing to be got by sin, and so it will appear when profit and loss come to be compared. Those paths of iniquity are crooked paths (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Their webs shall not become garments - The spider’s web is unfit for clothing; and the idea here is, that their works are as unfit to secure salvation as the attenuated web of a spider is for raiment. The sense is, says Vitringa, that their artificial sophisms avail nothing in producing true wisdom, piety, virtue, and religion, or the true righteousness and salvation of people, but are airy speculations. The works of the self-righteous and the wicked; their vain formality, their false opinions, their subtle reasonings, and their traditions, are like the web of the spider.
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| קֽוּרֵיהֶם֙ | kureihem | webs their | H6980 → | |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִהְי֣וּ | yihyu | they will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לְבֶ֔גֶד | leveged | <into> clothing | H899 → | 217 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִתְכַּסּ֖וּ | yitkasu | people will cover themselves | H3680 → | 152 times |
| בְּמַֽעֲשֵׂיהֶ֑ם | bemaaseihem | with products their | H4639 → | 236 times |
| מַֽעֲשֵׂיהֶם֙ | maaseihem | products their | H4639 → | 236 times |
| מַֽעֲשֵׂי־ | maasei- | [are] products of | H4639 → | 236 times |
| אָ֔וֶן | ʾaven | wickedness | H205 → | 77 times |
| וּפֹ֥עַל | ufoal | and deed[s] of | H6467 → | 37 times |
| חָמָ֖ס | chamas | violence | H2555 → | 60 times |
| בְּכַפֵּיהֶֽם׃ | bekhapeihem | [is] in hands their | H3709 → | 192 times |
קֽוּרֵיהֶם֙webs their
kureihemH6980 →
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יִהְי֣וּthey will become
yihyuH1961 →3559 times
לְבֶ֔גֶד<into> clothing
levegedH899 →217 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יִתְכַּסּ֖וּpeople will cover themselves
yitkasuH3680 →152 times
בְּמַֽעֲשֵׂיהֶ֑םwith products their
bemaaseihemH4639 →236 times
מַֽעֲשֵׂיהֶם֙products their
maaseihemH4639 →236 times
מַֽעֲשֵׂי־[are] products of
maasei-H4639 →236 times
אָ֔וֶןwickedness
ʾavenH205 →77 times
וּפֹ֥עַלand deed[s] of
ufoalH6467 →37 times
חָמָ֖סviolence
chamasH2555 →60 times
בְּכַפֵּיהֶֽם׃[is] in hands their
bekhapeihemH3709 →192 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
Jeremiah 6:7As a well gushes its water, so she pours out her evil. Violence and destruction resound in her; sickness and wounds are ever before Me.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 7:23
Forge the chain, for the land is full of crimes of bloodshed, and the city is full of violence.
- Ezekiel 7:11
Their violence has grown into a rod to punish their wickedness. None of them will remain: none of their multitude, none of their wealth, and nothing of value.
- Jeremiah 20:8
For whenever I speak, I cry out; I proclaim violence and destruction. For the word of the LORD has become to me a reproach and derision all day long.
- Ezekiel 7:23
Through
Zephaniah 1:9On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill the house of their master with violence and deceit.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 5:5
That is why, to this day, the priests of Dagon and all who enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod do not step on the threshold.
- Amos 3:10
“For they know not how to do right,” declares the LORD. “They store up violence and destruction in their citadels.”
- 1 Samuel 5:5
Through
Isaiah 57:12I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not profit you.
it leads to
- Micah 3:2–4
You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones.
- Isaiah 1:11–15
“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood…
- Romans 3:10–20
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.
- Micah 3:2–4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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 Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet 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.