Isaiah 57:4
in Isaiah 57Whom are you mocking? At whom do you snarl and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, offspring of deceit,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and put out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,
KJV
Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,
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This verse in Isaiah 57
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Vers. 3, 4.) But you come here, sons of a fortune teller: whose seed have you played with? Whose mouth have you opened wide, and whose tongue have you cast out? LXX: But you come here, wicked sons, seed of adulterers and prostitutes, with whom have you played? Whose mouth have you opened: and whose tongue have you cast out? By removing the just one, whose burial is in peace, indeed by removing from the midst, you who are sons of wickedness, come to me, and hear what I say (John 8).
This site's exposition
you sons of a sorceress
on Isaiah 57:3-5
The address turns sharply: “come here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!” The names describe covenant unfaithfulness, Israel cast as a wife. The charge “who slaughter your children in the valleys” names child sacrifice, and Gill places it in the valley of Hinnom.
This site's exposition
Whom are you mocking
Barnes notes that the Hebrew verb for mocking first means to live delicately, and here to deride. Matthew Henry and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read the mocking as aimed at the righteous prophets of verse 1 (2 Chr 36:16). Wesley reads offspring of deceit as liars to God and men.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 4, 5.) Are you not wicked children, a deceitful seed, who console yourselves in gods beneath every leafy tree, sacrificing little ones in the torrents under threatening ((Vulg. lofty)) rocks? LXX: Are you not sons of perdition: an unjust seed, who call upon idols beneath leafy trees, sacrificing your sons in the valleys amidst the rocks? You, he says, have done these things that the preceding discourse narrated. Who are you, wicked sons of perdition, like Judas the betrayer, who is called the son of perdition (Jn. 17): and offspring of wickedness or deceit and falsehood, who delight in gods under every leafy tree, and sacrifice your children in the rivers (Acts 8). This is also recounted in the history of the Kings and Chronicles, that they sacrificed their sons to the gods, and consecrated them in fire (2 Kings 16 and 17). Indeed, it is without a doubt that both Achab, the king of Israel, and Manasseh, the king of Judah, committed, who went from the murder of their own children to the blood of the Prophets, as also mentioned in Hosea: 'Sacrifice,' he says, 'men, for the calves have failed' (Hosea 13:2).' Or, as it is written in Hebrew: 'Sacrificing men, you worship calves.' And in the Psalms it is written more fully: 'They were mingled with the nations, and they learned their works, and they served their idols, and it became a stumbling block to them.' And they sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, and sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. And the land was contaminated with blood, and was defiled in its works (Psalm 105, 35 et seqq.). […]
(Verse 4, 5.) Are you not wicked children, a deceitful seed, who console yourselves in gods beneath every leafy tree, sacrificing little ones in the torrents under threatening ((Vulg. lofty)) rocks? LXX: Are you not sons of perdition: an unjust seed, who call upon idols beneath leafy trees, sacrificing your sons in the valleys amidst the rocks? You, he says, have done these things that the preceding discourse narrated.
The Medieval Church1 voice
First, he accuses them of blasphemy, setting out the custom of sin, inasmuch as they imitate their fathers in this: you sons of the sorceress, who tended to auguries against my commandment, the seed of the adulterer, inasmuch as they abandoned me and adhered to …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Against whom do ye sport yourselves?.... Is it against the ministers of the Gospel, the prophets of the Lord, the true and faithful witnesses, over whose dead bodies you triumph? know that it is not so much against them, as against the Lord himself, whose ministers, prophets, and witnesses they are; see 1Th 4:8, "against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue?" gestures used by way of scorn and derision; see Psa 22:
): " Against whom do you sport yourselves? You think it is only against the poor prophets whom you trample upon as contemptible men, but really it is against God himself, who sends them, and whose message they deliver." Mocking the messengers of the Lord was Jerusalem's measure-filling sin, for what was done to them God took as done to himself.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Against whom - Consider whom it is that you mock and scoff, when you deride God's prophets. A seed - A generation of liars, whose practices contradict your professions, who deal deceitfully both with God and men.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Against whom do ye sport yourselves? - The word here rendered ‘sport’ (ענג ‛ānag) means properly “to live delicately and tenderly”; then “to rejoice, to take pleasure or delight.” Here, however, it is evidently used in the sense of to sport oneself over anyone, that is, to deride; and the idea is, probably, that they made a sport or mockery of God, and of the institutions of religion. The prophet asks, with deep indignation and emotion, against whom they did this. Were they aware of the majesty and glory of that Being whom they thus derided?
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
sport yourselves--make a mock (Isa 66:5). Are ye aware of the glory of Him whom you mock, by mocking His servants ("the righteous," Isa 57:1)? (2Ch 36:16). make . . . wide mouth-- (Ps 22:7, 13;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מִי֙ | mi | whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| תִּתְעַנָּ֔גוּ | titanagu | are you making fun | H6026 → | 10 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מִ֛י | mi | whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| תַּרְחִ֥יבוּ | tarchivu | do you make wide | H7337 → | 25 times |
| פֶ֖ה | feh | a mouth | H6310 → | 498 times |
| תַּאֲרִ֣יכוּ | taarikhu | do you make long? | H748 → | 34 times |
| לָשׁ֑וֹן | lashon | a tongue | H3956 → | 117 times |
| הֲלֽוֹא־ | halo'- | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אַתֶּ֥ם | ʾatem | [are] you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| יִלְדֵי־ | yildei- | children of | H3206 → | 89 times |
| פֶ֖שַׁע | fesha' | transgression of | H6588 → | 93 times |
| זֶ֥רַע | zera' | spring of | H2233 → | 229 times |
| שָֽׁקֶר׃ | shaker | deception | H8267 → | 113 times |
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
מִי֙whom?
miH4310 →423 times
תִּתְעַנָּ֔גוּare you making fun
titanaguH6026 →10 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
מִ֛יwhom?
miH4310 →423 times
תַּרְחִ֥יבוּdo you make wide
tarchivuH7337 →25 times
פֶ֖הa mouth
fehH6310 →498 times
תַּאֲרִ֣יכוּdo you make long?
taarikhuH748 →34 times
לָשׁ֑וֹןa tongue
lashonH3956 →117 times
הֲלֽוֹא־¿ not
halo'-H3808 →5168 times
אַתֶּ֥ם[are] you
ʾatemH859 →1094 times
יִלְדֵי־children of
yildei-H3206 →89 times
פֶ֖שַׁעtransgression of
fesha'H6588 →93 times
זֶ֥רַעspring of
zera'H2233 →229 times
שָֽׁקֶר׃deception
shakerH8267 →113 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
Isaiah 10:15Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or…
it leads to
- Romans 9:20–21
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”
- Isaiah 45:9
Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
- Isaiah 10:5
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
- Romans 9:20–21
Through
2 Peter 2:13The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with…
it leads to
- Romans 13:13
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
- Romans 2:8–9
But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.
- Hebrews 2:2–3
For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment,
- Romans 13:13
Through
Isaiah 1:4Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on…
it leads to
- Isaiah 5:24
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected…
- Jeremiah 2:17
Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way?
- Isaiah 5:24
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Isaiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; 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.