Isaiah 59:11
in Isaiah 59We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
We roar all like bears, and moan sore like doves: we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
KJV
We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
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This verse in Isaiah 59
Commentary
13 notes on this verseAnd, like doves, we groan, without sense and understanding of the Scriptures, only meditating on words that we recite from memory. But just as the doves, of which it is written: Ephraim is like a dove without sense (Hosea 7:11); and just as in the Gospel, simplicity is set against the malice of serpents (Matthew 10): so in the present place, simplicity without prudence, which is close to foolishness, is shown in the meditation on words alone.
This site's exposition
Therefore justice is far from us
on Isaiah 59:9-11
The charge becomes confession: “We hope for light, but there is darkness”. The pictures turn to bodily helplessness: “Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall”. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown mark the shift from you to we as the point where the oracle becomes a shared confession.
This site's exposition
We all growl like bears
Barnes gives the Hebrew verb for growl as hamah, used of a snarling dog, cooing doves and roaring waves. Henry and Gill hear loud grief and silent grief. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown call the far-off salvation retribution in kind for the destruction in their paths in verse 7.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
We roar like bears, all of us: and we moan like doves, meditating. We waited for judgment, and it does not come: for salvation, and it is far from us. LXX: They shall be like a bear and a dove walking together. We hoped for judgment, but there is none; salvation has far from us. He says, let us roar like bears, and let us moan like doves; that they may be equally cruel and miserable: fierce and savage towards the humble and submissive: fearful and trembling before those who are stronger, whom they dread like hawks. We also read in another place: Like a bear robbed of her cubs. And in Daniel, a bloody kingdom compared to the fiercest bears (2 Kings 17:8; Dan. 7). And, like doves, we groan, without sense and understanding of the Scriptures, only meditating on words that we recite from memory. But just as the doves, of which it is written: Ephraim is like a dove without sense (Hosea VII, 11); and just as in the Gospel, simplicity is set against the malice of serpents (Matthew X): so in the present place, simplicity without prudence, which is close to foolishness, is shown in the meditation on words alone. They will await judgment, and it will not come. Salvation is implied: they will wait and it will not come, because she has migrated far away to the nations. In this, it should be noted that everything is said in the future tense, so that what the Jews are now enduring is indicated.
The Medieval Church1 voice
1044. They also confess their misery as to sadness of heart: we shall roar all of us like bears, on account of their cruelty; as mournful doves, on account of their lewdness: mourning as doves (Nah 2:7); and as to the absence of salvation: we …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Salvation only of God, ver. 16-19. The covenant of the redeemer, ver. 20, 21 Commentary on Chapter LIX 3. Perverseness - Perverse words are such as are contrary to God's word.
quarantine:anchor (2026-07-29) — cites-ver-20-anchored-9-15
They were in distress, trampled upon and oppressed by their enemies, unjustly dealt with, and ruled with rigour; and God did not appear for them, to plead their just and injured cause: " Judgment is far from us, neither does justice overtake us,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
); neither God nor man appears for our succour; we look for salvation, because God (we think) has promised it, and we have prayed for it with fasting; we look for it as for brightness, but it is far off from us, as far off as ever for aught we can perceive, and still we walk in darkness; and the higher our expectations have been raised the sorer is the disappointment." 3.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
) explains this text: Our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. In this despair the sorrow and anguish of some were loud and noisy: We roar like bears; the sorrow of others was silent, and preyed more upon their spirits: " We mourn sore like doves, like doves of the valleys; we mourn both for our iniquities ( Ezek. vii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+odd-straight-quotes
We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves,.... Some in a more noisy and clamorous, others in a stiller way, yet all in private: for the bear, when robbed of its whelps, goes to its den and roars; and the dove, when it has lost its mate, mourns in solitude: this expresses the secret groanings of the saints under a sense of sin, and the forlorn state of religion.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
We roar all like bears - This is designed still further to describe the heavy judgments which had come upon them for their sins. The word rendered here ‘roar’ (from המה hâmâh, like English, to hum, German, hummen, spoken of bees), is applied to any murmuring, or confused noise or sound. It sometimes means to snarl, as a dog Psa 59:7, Psa 59:15; to coo, as a dove Eze 7:16; it is also applied to waves that roar Psa 46:4; Isa 51:15; to a crowd or tumultuous assemblage Psa 46:7; and to music Isa 16:11; Jer 48:
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Eze 7:16). salvation--retribution in kind: because not salvation, but "destruction" was "in their paths" (Isa 59:7).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
But it is far off from us “And it is far distant from us” - The conjunction ו vau must necessarily be prefixed to the verb, as the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate found it in their copies; ורחקה verachakah, “and far off.”
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נֶהֱמֶ֤ה | nehemeh | we growl | H1993 → | 34 times |
| כַדֻּבִּים֙ | khadubim | like <the> bears | H1677 → | |
| כֻּלָּ֔נוּ | kulanu | all of us | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| וְכַיּוֹנִ֖ים | vekhaiyonim | and like <the> doves | H3123 → | 31 times |
| הָגֹ֣ה | hagoh | certainly <to moan> | H1897 → | 25 times |
| נֶהְגֶּ֑ה | nehgeh | we moan | H1897 → | 25 times |
| נְקַוֶּ֤ה | nekaveh | we wait eagerly | H6960 → | 49 times |
| לַמִּשְׁפָּט֙ | lamishpat | for <the> justice | H4941 → | 422 times |
| וָאַ֔יִן | vaayin | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| לִֽישׁוּעָ֖ה | lishuah | for deliverance | H3444 → | 78 times |
| רָחֲקָ֥ה | rachakah | it is far | H7368 → | 57 times |
| מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃ | mimenu | from us | H4480 → | 1188 times |
נֶהֱמֶ֤הwe growl
nehemehH1993 →34 times
כַדֻּבִּים֙like <the> bears
khadubimH1677 →
כֻּלָּ֔נוּall of us
kulanuH3605 →5413 times
וְכַיּוֹנִ֖יםand like <the> doves
vekhaiyonimH3123 →31 times
הָגֹ֣הcertainly <to moan>
hagohH1897 →25 times
נֶהְגֶּ֑הwe moan
nehgehH1897 →25 times
נְקַוֶּ֤הwe wait eagerly
nekavehH6960 →49 times
לַמִּשְׁפָּט֙for <the> justice
lamishpatH4941 →422 times
וָאַ֔יִןand there not
vaayinH369 →789 times
לִֽישׁוּעָ֖הfor deliverance
lishuahH3444 →78 times
רָחֲקָ֥הit is far
rachakahH7368 →57 times
מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃from us
mimenuH4480 →1188 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
Jeremiah 9:1Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 13:17
But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
- Isaiah 22:4
Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
- Jeremiah 13:17
Through
Isaiah 38:14I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”
it leads to
- Psalms 69:3
I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
- Ezekiel 7:16
The survivors will escape and live in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity.
- Psalms 119:122–123
Ensure Your servant’s well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me.
- Psalms 123:1–4
I lift up my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.
- Job 30:29
I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.
- Psalms 69:3
Through
Hosea 7:14They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.
it leads to
- Job 35:9–10
Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
- Job 35:9–10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.