Isaiah 61:8
in Isaiah 61For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity; in My faithfulness I will give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For I, Jehovah, love justice, I hate robbery with iniquity; and I will give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
KJV
For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
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This verse in Isaiah 61
Commentary
5 notes on this verseon Isaiah 61:8-9
(Vers. 8, 9.) And I will give their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed will be known among the nations, and their offspring in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them, that they are the offspring whom the Lord has blessed. LXX: And I will give their labor to the righteous, and I will establish an eternal covenant with them. And their seed will be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples.
This site's exposition
I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering
on Isaiah 61:8-9
I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering states God's own preference plainly, worship offered from stolen or unjust gain rejected even when the ritual form is correct. The everlasting covenant promised in the same verse is carried into verse 9 by its evidence, their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people, a nation visibly marked out as the seed which the Lord hath blessed. Henry reads I hate robbery for burnt offering as a standing principle reaching back to the earlier prophets' complaints about worship divorced from justice, and Barnes notes the covenant named here as everlasting links this promise to the same word used of the covenant with Noah and with David.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Robbery - All things gotten by injustice, though it be for sacrifice. Direct - I will lead them so, that they shall do all things in sincerity. Everlasting covenant - Though you have broken covenant with me, yet I will renew my ancient covenant made with your fathers, confirmed with the blood of Christ, and it shall be everlasting, never to be abrogated.
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to do justly and love mercy better than thousands of rams; nay, that robbery is most of all hateful to God which is covered with this pretence, for it makes the righteous God to be the patron of unrighteousness.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
I hate robbery for burnt-offering “Who hate rapine and iniquity” - The Syriac, and Chaldee prefix the conjunction ו vau, instead of the preposition ב beth, to עולה olah, which they render iniquity or oppression; and so the Septuagint, αδικιας. The difference lies in the punctuation; בעולה beolah, in a burnt-offering בעולה beavelah, in iniquity. The letters are the same in both words. Five of De Rossi’s MSS. confirm this reading.
The words behind it
15 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 |
| אֲנִ֤י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֹהֵ֣ב | ʾohev | [am] loving | H157 → | 211 times |
| מִשְׁפָּ֔ט | mishpat | justice | H4941 → | 422 times |
| שֹׂנֵ֥א | sone' | [I am] hating | H8130 → | 146 times |
| גָזֵ֖ל | gazel | robbery | H1498 → | |
| בְּעוֹלָ֑ה | beolah | with injustice | H5766 → | |
| וְנָתַתִּ֤י | venatati | and I will give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| פְעֻלָּתָם֙ | feulatam | recompense their | H6468 → | 14 times |
| בֶּאֱמֶ֔ת | beemet | in faithfulness | H571 → | 127 times |
| וּבְרִ֥ית | uverit | and a covenant of | H1285 → | 284 times |
| עוֹלָ֖ם | olam | perpetuity | H5769 → | 438 times |
| אֶכְר֥וֹת | ʾekhrot | I will make | H3772 → | 288 times |
| לָהֶֽם׃ | lahem | to them |
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אֲנִ֤יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֹהֵ֣ב[am] loving
ʾohevH157 →211 times
מִשְׁפָּ֔טjustice
mishpatH4941 →422 times
שֹׂנֵ֥א[I am] hating
sone'H8130 →146 times
גָזֵ֖לrobbery
gazelH1498 →
בְּעוֹלָ֑הwith injustice
beolahH5766 →
וְנָתַתִּ֤יand I will give
venatatiH5414 →2011 times
פְעֻלָּתָם֙recompense their
feulatamH6468 →14 times
בֶּאֱמֶ֔תin faithfulness
beemetH571 →127 times
וּבְרִ֥יתand a covenant of
uveritH1285 →284 times
עוֹלָ֖םperpetuity
olamH5769 →438 times
אֶכְר֥וֹתI will make
ʾekhrotH3772 →288 times
לָהֶֽם׃to them
lahem
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 9:24But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,”…
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 10:17
Rather, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
- Galatians 6:14
But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
- 1 Corinthians 1:31
Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
- Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Micah 7:18
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- 2 Corinthians 10:17
Through
Isaiah 55:3Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 32:40
I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away…
- Jeremiah 32:40
Through
Psalms 11:7For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.
it leads to
- Revelation 22:4
They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
- Revelation 22:4
Through
Genesis 17:7I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
it leads to
- Romans 9:7–9
Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”
- Romans 9:7–9
Where this verse is studied
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The subjects this verse belongs to
About Isaiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.