Isaiah 59:15
in Isaiah 59Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil becomes prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Yea, truth is lacking; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And Jehovah saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
KJV
Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
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This verse in Isaiah 59
Commentary
13 notes on this verseAnd truth has been turned into forgetfulness, and those who have turned away from evil have become a prey. LXX: And truth has been taken away, and they have turned their mind so that they do not understand. And truth has been forgotten, as it is written: Truth has sprung up from the earth, and righteousness has looked down from heaven (Psalm 85:12). It should be noted that the truth is frequently mentioned in order to show the person of Christ, whom they abandoned and followed falsehood. And he who departed from evil was exposed to plunder.
This site's exposition
So justice is turned away
on Isaiah 59:14-15
“For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter” pictures the place of judgment, where elders once heard cases, emptied of truth. “So justice is turned away, and righteousness stands at a distance”, and the reward is reversed: “whoever turns from evil becomes prey”.
This site's exposition
whoever turns from evil becomes prey
Barnes gives the Hebrew for missing as adar, the word for what is left behind or lacking in 1 Samuel 30:19. Wesley records another rendering of prey, mocked as mad. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown see in the LORD's displeasure an evil so deep that only God himself could mend it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
He has shown how truth has departed: they did not want to consider their duty, he says, but they have distorted their intelligence so as not to understand what ought to be done and what is useful. "The truth in this has disappeared, and the …
The Medieval Church1 voice
He that departed from evil, lay open to be a prey, for not only did they do wicked deeds, but they plundered those who would not: there is no mercy (Hos 4:1); let us lie in wait for the just, because he is contrary to …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Faileth - All things are amiss, neither judgment or justice, or truth, is to be found among us. A prey - Or, as some render it, is accounted mad, is laughed at.
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
Nay, they themselves are witnesses: Our sins stare us in the face and testify against us, so many have they been and so deeply aggravated." 2. They owned the great evil and malignity of sin, of their sin; it is transgressing and lying against the Lord,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Not for thy righteousness, but for the wickedness of these nations they are driven out. In our redemption by Christ, since we had no righteousness of our own to produce, on which God might proceed in favour to us, he brought in a righteousness by the merit and meditation of his own Son (it is called the righteousness which is of God by faith, Phil. iii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Yea, truth faileth,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Yea, truth faileth - That is, it is not to be found, it is missing. The word used here (from עדר ‛âdar) means “to be left, to remain” 2Sa 17:22; then “to be missing or lacking” 1Sa 30:19; Isa 40:26. Here it means that truth had no existence there.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
faileth--is not to be found. he that departeth . . . prey--He that will not fall in with the prevailing iniquity exposes himself as a prey to the wicked (Ps 10:8, 9). Lord saw it--The iniquity of Israel, so desperate as to require nothing short of Jehovah's interposition to mend it, typifies the same necessity for a Divine Mediator existing in the deep corruption of man;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
And the Lord saw it “And Jehovah saw it” - This third line of the stanza appears manifestly to me to be imperfect by the loss of a phrase. The reader will perhaps more perfectly conceive my idea of the matter if I endeavor to supply the supposed defect, I imagine it might have stood originally in this manner: - לו ויחר יהוה וירא lo veyachar Yehovah vaiyar משפט אין כי בעיניו וירע mishpat ein ki beeyinaiv veyera “And Jehovah saw it, and he was wroth; And it displeased him, that there was no judgment.” We have had already many examples of mistakes of omission; this, if it be such, is very ancient, being prior to all the versions. - L.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And justice has turned away backwards Our revenge from our enemies, which depends upon the Holy One, blessed be He, and His righteousness stands from afar. Why?
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתְּהִ֤י | vatehi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| הָֽאֱמֶת֙ | haemet | <the> truth | H571 → | 127 times |
| נֶעְדֶּ֔רֶת | ne'deret | lacking | H5737 → | 11 times |
| וְסָ֥ר | vesar | and [one who] turned aside | H5493 → | 299 times |
| מֵרָ֖ע | mera' | from evil | H7451 → | 662 times |
| מִשְׁתּוֹלֵ֑ל | mishtolel | [was] plundered | H7997 → | |
| וַיַּ֧רְא | vaiyar' | and he saw | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| יְהוָ֛ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וַיֵּ֥רַע | vaiyera' | and it was displeasing | H7489 → | 107 times |
| בְּעֵינָ֖יו | beeinav | in view his | H5869 → | 887 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֵ֥ין | ʾein | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| מִשְׁפָּֽט׃ | mishpat | [was] justice | H4941 → | 422 times |
וַתְּהִ֤יand it was
vatehiH1961 →3559 times
הָֽאֱמֶת֙<the> truth
haemetH571 →127 times
נֶעְדֶּ֔רֶתlacking
ne'deretH5737 →11 times
וְסָ֥רand [one who] turned aside
vesarH5493 →299 times
מֵרָ֖עfrom evil
mera'H7451 →662 times
מִשְׁתּוֹלֵ֑ל[was] plundered
mishtolelH7997 →
וַיַּ֧רְאand he saw
vaiyar'H7200 →1300 times
יְהוָ֛הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וַיֵּ֥רַעand it was displeasing
vaiyera'H7489 →107 times
בְּעֵינָ֖יוin view his
beeinavH5869 →887 times
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אֵ֥יןthere not
ʾeinH369 →789 times
מִשְׁפָּֽט׃[was] justice
mishpatH4941 →422 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
Romans 8:36As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
it leads to
- Psalms 44:22
Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
- Isaiah 53:7
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not…
- 1 Corinthians 15:30
And why do we endanger ourselves every hour?
- 2 Corinthians 4:10–11
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
- Acts 8:32
The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth.
- Psalms 44:22
Through
Micah 7:2The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
it leads to
- Psalms 12:1
Help, O LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.
- Jeremiah 5:26
For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.
- Isaiah 59:7
Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
- Psalms 12:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 11 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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & 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; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 18:59.15 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.