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Isaiah 26:10

in Isaiah 26

Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal wrongfully, and will not behold the majesty of Jehovah.

KJV

Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.

This verse in Isaiah 26

Commentary

14 notes on this verse

A commentator

Athanasius of Alexandria

296–373

FESTAL LETTER 7:2 · Written before 373.

When, by such faith and knowledge, the Lord's people have embraced this true life, they surely receive the joy of heaven. The wicked, on the other hand, since they don't care about the Lord's life, are rightly deprived of its blessings. For, "let the wicked be taken away so that he shall not see the glory of the Lord." In the end they, like everyone else, shall hear the universal proclamation of the promise, "Awake, sleeper, and rise up from the dead." They shall rise and knock on the doors of heaven, saying, "Open to us."

This site's exposition

Though grace is shown to the wicked man

on Isaiah 26:10-11

Verse ten answers verse nine's hope with its limit, favour shown the wicked does not by itself teach him righteousness. Barnes reads this as the case against mere leniency, kindness without judgment leaves the heart unchanged. The lifted hand in verse eleven goes unseen until the moment it falls.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers5 voices

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

SERMON 214:9 · Written before 430.

proposed

In this human form the good will see him in whom they have believed; the wicked, him whom they have despised. But the wicked will not see him in the form of God in which he is equal to the Father, for as the prophet says, "The wicked shall be taken off that he may not see the glory of the Lord," and, on the other hand, "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God."

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

SERMON 255:6 · Written before 430.

proposed

Then, therefore, we shall come and we shall enjoy the one thing; but the one thing will be all things to us. For what was it I said, my brothers, when I began to speak? What is that sufficiency which we shall possess when we shall have no need? What is the sufficiency which we shall possess? I had intended to say, "What will God give to us which he will not give to them?" "Let the wicked be taken away that he may not see the glory of God." Hence God will give his glory to us so that we may enjoy it; and the wicked will be taken away that he may not see the glory of God. God himself will be the entire sufficiency which we shall possess as our own. Greedy one, what did you seek to gain? What does anyone, for whom God is not enough, seek from God?

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

LETTER 27 (177:11) · Written before 430.

proposed

In the resurrection itself it is not easy to see God, except for those who are clean of heart; hence, "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God." From here on he begins to speak of that world where all who rise again will not see God, but only those who rise to eternal life. The unworthy will not see him, for of them it is said, "Let the wicked be taken away lest he behold the brightness of the Lord." But the worthy will see him, and of such the Lord spoke when, though present, he was not seen, saying, "He that loves me keeps my commandments, and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him."

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 10.) When you execute your judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Show mercy to the wicked, who does not learn righteousness; in the land of the saints he acts unjustly and does not see the glory of the Lord. Learn righteousness, you who dwell on the earth. The wicked will cease to exist and will not learn righteousness on the earth; he will not act with truth, let the wicked be taken away so he will not see the glory of the Lord. Let us first speak according to the Hebrew, and if we want to express the meaning of the prophet, then let us turn to the Septuagint Interpreters. As long as you do not exercise your judgments upon the earth, and neither reward the good with good nor the evil with evil, your justice, O Lord God, is ignored on earth. But when on the day of judgment you will render to each according to the quality of their deeds, then your justice will be known throughout the world, which previously seemed unjust among the unbelievers, so that even one of the saints would say: My steps were nearly weakened, my feet were nearly poured out, for I was zealous for the wicked, seeing the peace of the sinners (Ps. LXXII, 2). To which the Lord responded: Let us have mercy on the wicked; for except for the Seventy, all others have also translated it this way. And the meaning is: may the wicked obtain mercy even more, and may he learn my clemency; so that he himself may also be saved. And in response to the Lord speaking, the Prophet, representing human impatience, replied: And he will not learn justice. And the meaning is: and how will he be able to know your justice if he has only experienced your clemency? And the reasons why he wants to learn the justice of God are as follows: because he acted unjustly on the earth of the saints, and continually fought against your saints, he must feel torment. […]

A commentator

John Chrysostom

HOMILIES ON JOHN 12 · Written before 407.

proposed

For our Lord Jesus Christ came, not only that we might behold His glory here, but also that which shall be. For therefore He saith, "I will that these also be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory." Now if the glory here was so bright and splendid, what can one say of that which shall be? for it shall appear not on this corruptible earth, nor while we are in perishable bodies, but in a creation which is imperishable, and waxes not old, and with such brightness as it is not possible even to represent in words. O blessed, thrice blessed, yea many times so, they who are deemed worthy to be beholders of that glory! It is concerning this that the prophet says, "Let the unrighteous be taken away, that he behold not the glory of the Lord." God grant that not one of us be taken away nor excluded ever from beholding it.
7 more voices on this verse

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 13 · Written before 604.

proposed

His coming means his return from the judgment to his kingdom. The Lord comes to us after the judgment, because he lifts us up from his human appearance in the contemplation of his divinity; his coming means that he leads us to the vision of his glory. We see in his divinity after the judgment the one we beheld in his humanity at the judgment. At the judgment he comes in the form of a servant and appears to everyone, since it is written, "They will look on him whom they pierced." When the condemned fall down to their punishment, the righteous are led to the brightness of his glory, as is written: "The wicked is taken away, so that he will [not] see the glory of the Lord."

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 1274.

proposed

604. Let us have pity. Here he excludes mercy, and concerning this, he does two things. First, the Lord proposes mercy interrogatively: let us have pity: the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord (Ps 32[33]:5). Second, the prophet excludes it, because of …

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

In the land - Even in God's church, and among his people, where righteousness is taught and practiced. Will not behold - Tho' God gives such plain discoveries of his majesty and glory, not only in his word, but also in works, and especially in this glorious work of his patience and mercy to wicked men, yet they will not acknowledge it.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. The prophet in these verses looks back upon what God had done with them, both in mercy and judgment, and sings unto God of both, and then looks forward upon what he hoped God would do for them. His reviews and reflections are mixed.

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Let favour be showed to the wicked,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Let favor be showed to the wicked - This is designed as an illustration of the sentiment in the previous verse - that judgments were needful in order that wicked people might be brought to the ways of righteousness. The truth is general, that though wicked people are favored with success in their enterprises, yet the effect will not be to lead them to the ways of virtue and religion. How often is this illustrated in the conduct of wicked people!

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

uprightness--rather, as in Isa 26:7, "prosperity," answering to "favor" in the parallelism, and in antithesis to "judgments in the earth" (Isa 26:9); where prosperity attends the wicked as well as the just, "he will not learn righteousness," therefore judgments must be sent that he may "learn" it [MAURER].

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How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Shall the wicked be favored who did not learn righteousness Should you favor the wicked Esau, who lived between two righteous men and did not learn righteousness?
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Isaiah 26:10:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Thou hast granted unto the wicked continuance, that verily they should return to the law; but they did not return, all the days that they lived;—that they should practise truth in the earth, but they dealt falsely: yea, they will not regard the praise of thy glory, O Lord!
Targum · Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 26:10, via Sefaria, London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871
O Lord, Your hand has been taken away I have seen many Aggadic Midrashim on the verses of the above section and the following, but they are not appropriate, either because of the grammatical forms of the language or because of the context of the verses.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Isaiah 26:11:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

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. 2 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 words

Every 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.

  • יֻחַ֤ןhe is shown favor

    yuchanH2603 →78 times

  • רָשָׁע֙[the] wicked

    rasha'H7563 →263 times

  • בַּל־not

    bal-H1077 →73 times

  • לָמַ֣דhe learns

    lamadH3925 →85 times

  • צֶ֔דֶקrighteousness

    tzedekH6664 →119 times

  • בְּאֶ֥רֶץin a land of

    beeretzH776 →2504 times

  • נְכֹח֖וֹתstraightforwardness<es>

    nekhochotH5229 →4 times

  • יְעַוֵּ֑לhe acts unjustly

    yeavelH5765 →

  • וּבַל־and not

    uval-H1077 →73 times

  • יִרְאֶ֖הhe sees

    yirehH7200 →1300 times

  • גֵּא֥וּת[the] majesty of

    geutH1348 →8 times

  • יְהוָֽה׃ סYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Revelation 2:21

    Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling.

    it leads to

    • 2 Peter 3:9

      The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

    • Romans 2:4–5

      Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?

    • Revelation 9:20–21

      Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze,…

    • Revelation 16:11

      and curse the God of heaven for their pains and sores; yet they did not repent of their deeds.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 2:7

    I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled My land, and made My inheritance detestable.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 8:7–9

      For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills;

    • Jeremiah 16:18

      And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations.”

    • Numbers 13:27

      And they gave this account to Moses: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and indeed, it is flowing with milk and honey. Here is some of its fruit!

  • Through

    Hosea 11:7

    My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 8:5

      Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.

Where this verse is studied

About Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Athanasius of Alexandria, FESTAL LETTER 7:2; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 214:9; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 255:6; Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 27 (177:11); Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 13; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON JOHN 12; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.