Isaiah 10:2
in Isaiah 10to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
to turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
KJV
To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
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This verse in Isaiah 10
Commentary
11 notes on this verseMy people - Instead of עמי ammi, my people, many MSS., and one of my own, ancient, read עמו ammo, his people. But this is manifestly a corruption.
This site's exposition
Woe to those who enact
on Isaiah 10:1-4
The woe turns to Judah's courts, those who "enact unjust statutes," making "widows their prey and orphans their plunder" under color of law. The judges are asked what they will do "on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar," a courtroom question turned on themselves.
This site's exposition
to make widows their prey
The unjust decrees of verse 1 are written law, so the robbery here is done through the courts. Barnes compared 29:21, which names the same abuse at the city gate. Widows and orphans become the judges' plunder.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"in order to oppress the poor in judgment and to do violence to the cause of the humble people of my nation, so that widows may be their prey and they may plunder the orphans." Therefore, they wrote wicked laws in order to oppress the poor and lowly people, to plunder widows, and to prey upon orphans. According to the allegory, every heretic writes injustice in order to deceive the poor and humble people, and to plunder widows and orphans.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Second, as to the intention of oppressing those who are powerless, either because of poverty: the poor, or because of low rank: humble: they crush as the dust (Amos 2:7); or because of weakness of sex: widows; or because of age: orphans. Above: they judge …
The Reformation1 voice
This is the iniquity and oppression which he had mentioned in the former verse, that the poor are deprived of their rights, and are robbed for the sake of the rich, and go away mocked from the judgment-seat, while everything is laid open to plunder.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
To turn aside the needy from judgment,....
No people had statutes and judgments to righteous as they had, and yet corrupt judges found ways to turn aside the needy from judgment, to hinder them from coming at their right and recovering what was their due, because they were needy and poor, and such as they could get nothing by nor expect any bribes from.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
To turn aside, &c.--The effect of their conduct is to pervert the cause of the needy [HORSLEY]. In English Version "from judgment" means "from obtaining justice." take away the right--"make plunder of the right" (rightful claim) [HORSLEY].
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
To turn aside - Their sentences have the effect, and are designed to have, to pervert justice, and to oppress the poor, or to deprive them of their rights and just claims; compare Isa 29:21; Pro 27:5. The needy - daliym - דלים dalı̂ym. Those of humble rank and circumstances; who have no powerful friends and defenders. “From judgment.” From obtaining justice. And to take away - To take away by violence and oppression. The word גזל gāzal, is commonly applied to robbery, and to oppression; to the taking away of spoils in battle, etc. That widows may be their prey - That they may rob widows, or obtain their property. This crime has always been one particularly offensive in the sight of God; see the note at Isa 1:23. The widow and the orphan are without protectors. Judges, by their office, are particularly bound to preserve their rights; and it, therefore, evinces special iniquity when they who should be their protectors become, in fact, their oppressors, and do injustice to them without the possibility of redress. Yet this was the character of the Jewish judges; and for this the vengeance of heaven was about to come upon the land.
Modern Voices1 voice
A commentator
GK ChestertonAlarms and Discursions, The Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds (1910) (1910)
proposed
For the robbers have not vanished from the old high forests to the west of the great city. The thieves have not vanished; they have grown so large that they are invisible. You do not see the word "Asia" written across a map of that …
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Woe unto them that sign oppressive decrees, and to those who write a grievous enactment.
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. 5 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְהַטּ֤וֹת | lehatot | to turn aside | H5186 → | 214 times |
| מִדִּין֙ | midin | from judgment | H1779 → | |
| דַּלִּ֔ים | dalim | poor [people] | H1800 → | 47 times |
| וְלִגְזֹ֕ל | veligzol | and to take away | H1497 → | |
| מִשְׁפַּ֖ט | mishpat | [the] justice of | H4941 → | 422 times |
| עֲנִיֵּ֣י | ʾaniyei | [the] poor [people] of | H6041 → | 73 times |
| עַמִּ֑י | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| לִהְי֤וֹת | lihyot | to be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| אַלְמָנוֹת֙ | ʾalmanot | widows | H490 → | 56 times |
| שְׁלָלָ֔ם | shelalam | prey their | H7998 → | 73 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יְתוֹמִ֖ים | yetomim | fatherless ones | H3490 → | 42 times |
| יָבֹֽזּוּ׃ | yavozu | they will plunder | H962 → | 43 times |
לְהַטּ֤וֹתto turn aside
lehatotH5186 →214 times
מִדִּין֙from judgment
midinH1779 →
דַּלִּ֔יםpoor [people]
dalimH1800 →47 times
וְלִגְזֹ֕לand to take away
veligzolH1497 →
מִשְׁפַּ֖ט[the] justice of
mishpatH4941 →422 times
עֲנִיֵּ֣י[the] poor [people] of
ʾaniyeiH6041 →73 times
עַמִּ֑יpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
לִהְי֤וֹתto be
lihyotH1961 →3559 times
אַלְמָנוֹת֙widows
ʾalmanotH490 →56 times
שְׁלָלָ֔םprey their
shelalamH7998 →73 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
יְתוֹמִ֖יםfatherless ones
yetomimH3490 →42 times
יָבֹֽזּוּ׃they will plunder
yavozuH962 →43 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
Malachi 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud…
it leads to
- James 5:8–9
You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.
- Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Deuteronomy 5:11
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.
- James 5:4
Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
- Deuteronomy 27:19
‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- James 5:8–9
Through
Isaiah 5:23who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.
it leads to
- James 5:6
You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- James 5:6
Through
Isaiah 29:21those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.
it leads to
- Amos 5:10–12
There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.
- Amos 5:10–12
Through
Ezekiel 22:7Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 27:16
‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Deuteronomy 27:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); GK Chesterton, Alarms and Discursions, The Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds (1910); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.