Isaiah 59:4
in Isaiah 59No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
None sueth in righteousness, and none pleadeth in truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
KJV
None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
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This verse in Isaiah 59
Commentary
12 notes on this verseNow those who meditate evil, we say, do not [think] truth but falsehood, and not righteousness but iniquity, for their tongue learns to speak lies. They have done evil and have not ceased that they might repent. For, persevering with delight in wicked actions, they hasten thereto without turning back, even treading under foot the commandment with regard to neighbors, and instead of loving them, they devise evil against them, as the saint testifies, saying, "And those who seek my evil have spoken vanity and imagined deceit all the day."
This site's exposition
For your hands are stained with blood
on Isaiah 59:3-4
The charge runs through the body given to sin: “your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters injustice”. Verse 4 widens it to the courts: “No one calls for justice”. A system meant to correct wrong does the opposite, for “they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity”.
This site's exposition
No one calls for justice
Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read calls for justice as the bringing of a lawsuit, and Barnes finds suits filed to injure a neighbour. Clarke explains the closing image as a mischief conceived in the mind and given birth in word or deed. Henry sets it beside James 1:15.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(V. 3, 4.) For your hands are polluted with blood, and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wickedness. There is no one who calls for justice, nor is there anyone who truly judges: but they trust in nothingness, and speak vanities. LXX: For your hands are polluted with blood, and your fingers with sins. Your lips are polluted with iniquity, and your tongue meditates injustice. No one speaks the truth: there is no fair judgment. They trust in empty things, and speak worthless words, injustices and sins.
The Medieval Church1 voice
And as to omission of justice: there is none that judges, as to superiors, to whom it belongs to judge: seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man that executes judgment (Jer 5:1). 1039. Second, he touches upon the cunning by …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Though it is in pain perhaps that the iniquity is brought forth, through the oppositions of Providences and the checks of their own consciences, yet, when they have compassed their wicked purpose, they look upon it with as much pride and pleasure as if it were a man-child born into the world; thus, when lust has conceived, it bringeth forth sin, Jam. i.
It is here charged upon them that they had themselves procured the judgments of God upon them, and they are told both what the judgments were which they had brought upon their own heads (
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Backbiters are called whisperers. (3.) Their actions were all of a piece with their thoughts and words. They were guilty of shedding innocent blood, a crime of the most heinous nature: Your hands are defiled with blood (
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4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
None calleth for justice,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity - There is a curious propriety in this mode of expression; a thought or purpose is compared to conception; a word or act, which is the consequence of it, to the birth of a child. From the third to the fifteenth verse inclusive may be considered a true statement of the then moral state of the Jewish people; and that they were, in the most proper sense of the word, guilty of the iniquities with which they are charged.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Rather, "No one calleth an adversary into court with justice," that is, None bringeth a just suit: "No one pleadeth with truth." they trust . . . iniquity--(So Job 15:35;
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A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
None calleth for justice - Or rather, there is no one who brings a suit with justice; no one who goes into court for the purpose of obtaining justice. There is a love of litigation; a desire to take all the advantage which the law can give; a desire to appeal to the law, not for the sake of having strict justice done, but for the sake of doing injury to others, and to take some undue advantage. Nor any pleadeth for truth - Or, no one pleadeth with truth. He does not state the cause as it is. He makes use of cunning and falsehood to gain his cause. They trust in vanity - They confide in quirks and evasions rather than in the justice of their cause. They conceive mischief - They form plans of evil, and they execute them when they are fully ripe. Compare Job 15:35, where the same phrase occurs. The sense is, that they form plans to injure others, and that they expect to execute them by fraud and deceit.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵין־ | ʾein- | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| קֹרֵ֣א | kore' | [is one who] calls | H7121 → | 733 times |
| בְצֶ֔דֶק | vetzedek | in righteousness | H6664 → | 119 times |
| וְאֵ֥ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| נִשְׁפָּ֖ט | nishpat | [is one who] enters into judgment | H8199 → | 202 times |
| בֶּאֱמוּנָ֑ה | beemunah | in truth | H530 → | 49 times |
| בָּט֤וֹחַ | batoach | [they are] trusting | H982 → | 120 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| תֹּ֙הוּ֙ | tohu | emptiness | H8414 → | 20 times |
| וְדַבֶּר־ | vedaber- | and they speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| שָׁ֔וְא | shav' | worthlessness | H7723 → | 53 times |
| הָר֥וֹ | haro | they conceive | H2029 → | 43 times |
| עָמָ֖ל | ʾamal | mischief | H5999 → | 55 times |
| וְהוֹלֵ֥יד | veholeid | and they bring forth | H3205 → | 496 times |
| אָֽוֶן׃ | ʾaven | wickedness | H205 → | 77 times |
אֵין־there not
ʾein-H369 →789 times
קֹרֵ֣א[is one who] calls
kore'H7121 →733 times
בְצֶ֔דֶקin righteousness
vetzedekH6664 →119 times
וְאֵ֥יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
נִשְׁפָּ֖ט[is one who] enters into judgment
nishpatH8199 →202 times
בֶּאֱמוּנָ֑הin truth
beemunahH530 →49 times
בָּט֤וֹחַ[they are] trusting
batoachH982 →120 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
תֹּ֙הוּ֙emptiness
tohuH8414 →20 times
וְדַבֶּר־and they speak
vedaber-H1696 →1141 times
שָׁ֔וְאworthlessness
shav'H7723 →53 times
הָר֥וֹthey conceive
haroH2029 →43 times
עָמָ֖לmischief
ʾamalH5999 →55 times
וְהוֹלֵ֥ידand they bring forth
veholeidH3205 →496 times
אָֽוֶן׃wickedness
ʾavenH205 →77 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
James 1:15Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
it leads to
- Psalms 7:14
Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 15:35
They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”
- Romans 5:12–21
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.
- Genesis 2:17
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
- Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave…
- Psalms 7:14
Through
Jeremiah 7:4Do not trust in deceptive words, chanting: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’
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…
- Matthew 3:9–10
And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
- Micah 3:11
Through
Job 15:35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”
it leads to
- Hosea 10:13
You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your mighty men,
- Hosea 10:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 10 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); Athanasius of Alexandria, FESTAL LETTERS 11:4; 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.