Isaiah 57:17
in Isaiah 57I was enraged by his sinful greed, so I struck him and hid My face in anger; yet he kept turning back to the desires of his heart.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him; I hid my face and was wroth; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.
KJV
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.
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This verse in Isaiah 57
Commentary
11 notes on this verseSome understand this passage specifically about the Savior, that he was deeply grieved for the sins of the world, saying: My soul is sorrowful even to death (Matthew 26:38). And the Father who speaks through Zacharias says: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered (Zech. XIII, 7); and he himself says of himself in the sixty-eighth psalm: Because it is you who have struck, they have persecuted (Psalm LXVIII, 27).
This site's exposition
I was enraged by his sinful greed
on Isaiah 57:17-18
The LORD names greed as the sin behind the estrangement, “I was enraged by his sinful greed”. Verse 18 turns to grace: “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him”. The healing reaches past the sinner, for the LORD will “restore comfort to him and his mourners”.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Because of the wickedness of his greed, I became angry and struck him; I hid myself and was indignant, and he went on his way grieving (Vulgate: he went astray). LXX: Because of sin I have afflicted him for a little while, and struck him: and I turned my face away from him, and he was saddened and walked sadly in his ways. After the rejection of the people of Judah and those who refused to believe in the Savior, God had promised those who had confidence in Him a gentle land and a holy mountain, and He commanded the Apostles: Make a way for the people who are returning and remove all stumbling blocks from their path. And lest it seem unbelievable, He reveals His power, that the lofty and great God can easily grant forgiveness to the repentant, and it is just that the Creator should have mercy on His creatures. Therefore, because of those things, He joined together, because He was angry and saddened His people: therefore, He made Himself, because He sinned, and He had greed for iniquity, and He was not satisfied with one iniquity, but He always added sins to sins. And I struck Him for a little while, He says, in order to heal, and I hid, it is understood, My face, so that He would desire Me more, and would say: Show Your face and we shall be saved (Psalm 79:4). And I was indignant; which He sensing, He approached sadly, saying: I walked sad all day long (Psalm 38:7). And he walked in sorrow, whether turned towards the way of his heart, so that he did not act for the appearance of men, but in his heart he performed repentance.
The Medieval Church1 voice
And he adds the reason, setting out justice fulfilled in punishing: for the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, and I struck him: I hid my face, that I might not give help, and he went away wandering, like a sheep without a shepherd: …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The just rebukes which that people were brought under for their sin: For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth, and smote him. Covetousness was a sin that abounded very much among that people. 13 , From the least to the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness.
Covetousness - Of which sin the Jews were eminently guilty. But this comprehends all those sins for which God contended with them. He went - Yet he was not reformed, but trespassed more and more.
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him, ....
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For the iniquity of his covetousness - The guilt of his avarice; that is, of the Jewish people. The word rendered here ‘covetousness’ (בצע betsa‛) means “plunder, rapine, prey”; then unjust gains, or lucre from bribes 1Sa 7:3; Isa 33:15; or by any other means. Here the sense is, that one of the prevailing sins of the Jewish people which drew upon them the divine vengeance, was avarice, or the love of gain. Probably this was especially manifest in the readiness with which those who dispensed justice received bribes (compare Isa 2:7).
The high and holy One that inhabits eternity is here speaking with Himself concerning Israel. The Lord is holding high soliloquy. He is not so much addressing the sons of men, bidding them do this or that, as speaking to Himself of what He intends to do among them. He allows His Prophet to stand where he can hear the sacred soliloquy of the great Supreme. And he hears it and then, under the dictate of the Divine Spirit, he records it in the Inspired Book where it remains to this day for our instruction. Hear, then, these words of the living God and let your hearts be satisfied concerning the secret purposes of Jehovah! Although the Lord may say many things to Himself which we do not hear and which it were not well that we should hear, yet He never retracts in secret what He has spoken in public! So we may rest assured that He never speaks in the dark places of the earth concerning the house of Jacob, "Seek you My face in vain." No decree of God is contrary to the Gospel—we may always be sure of that. Whenever He unveils before us His private thoughts, we never find them to be less gracious than His published Words. The same love which spoke itself through Prophets and Seers dwells in the silent heart of God and abides forever at the fullest even when it finds no voice. In the verses before us we find words of exceedingly great mercy and special tenderness. And we see moving before our adoring eyes the eternal Wisdom, the infinite Patience and the immutable Love of the great Father. May it please the Lord, in very truth, to restore comforts unto His mourners by the subject which shall now engage our attention, for under the blessing of the Holy Spirit it is in every way calculated to cheer the contrite heart. I. The first Truth of God to which I call your attention is that God contends with men and that THE DIVINE CONTENTION IS WELL DESERVED on their part.
The high and holy One that inhabits eternity is here speaking with Himself concerning Israel. The Lord is holding high soliloquy. He is not so much addressing the sons of men, bidding them do this or that, as speaking to Himself of what He intends to do among them. He allows His Prophet to stand where he can hear the sacred soliloquy of the great Supreme. And he hears it and then, under the dictate of the Divine Spirit, he records it in the Inspired Book where it remains to this day for our instruction.
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth “Because of his iniquity for a short time was I wroth” - For בצעו bitso, I read בצע betsa, a little while, from בצע batsa, he cut of, as the Septuagint read and render it, βραχυ τι, “a certain short space.” Propter iniquitatem avaritiae ejus, “because of the iniquity of his avarice,” the rendering of the Vulgate, which our translators and I believe all others follow, is surely quite beside the purpose.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בַּעֲוֹ֥ן | baavon | in [the] iniquity of | H5771 → | 233 times |
| בִּצְע֛וֹ | bitzo | unjust gain his | H1215 → | 23 times |
| קָצַ֥פְתִּי | katzafti | I was angry | H7107 → | 34 times |
| וְאַכֵּ֖הוּ | veakehu | and I struck him | H5221 → | 499 times |
| הַסְתֵּ֣ר | haster | I hid | H5641 → | 80 times |
| וְאֶקְצֹ֑ף | veektzof | and I may be angry | H7107 → | 34 times |
| וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ | vaiyelekh | and he walked | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| שׁוֹבָ֖ב | shovav | apostate | H7726 → | |
| בְּדֶ֥רֶךְ | bederekh | in [the] way of | H1870 → | 707 times |
| לִבּֽוֹ׃ | libo | own heart his | H3820 → | 595 times |
בַּעֲוֹ֥ןin [the] iniquity of
baavonH5771 →233 times
בִּצְע֛וֹunjust gain his
bitzoH1215 →23 times
קָצַ֥פְתִּיI was angry
katzaftiH7107 →34 times
וְאַכֵּ֖הוּand I struck him
veakehuH5221 →499 times
הַסְתֵּ֣רI hid
hasterH5641 →80 times
וְאֶקְצֹ֑ףand I may be angry
veektzofH7107 →34 times
וַיֵּ֥לֶךְand he walked
vaiyelekhH1980 →1546 times
שׁוֹבָ֖בapostate
shovavH7726 →
בְּדֶ֥רֶךְin [the] way of
bederekhH1870 →707 times
לִבּֽוֹ׃own heart his
liboH3820 →595 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
Colossians 3:5Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
it leads to
- Romans 8:13
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
- Galatians 5:19–21
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- Galatians 5:24
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
- 1 Peter 2:11
Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
- Romans 6:13
Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of…
- Romans 8:13
Through
Isaiah 56:11Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:
it leads to
- Micah 3:11
Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Micah 3:11
Through
2 Peter 2:14Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.
it leads to
- 2 Peter 2:3
In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
- 2 Peter 2:18
With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
- 2 Peter 2:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 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); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1490: “Contention Ended and Grace Reigning” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; 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.