Isaiah 61:8
in Isaiah 61For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity; in My faithfulness I will give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For I, Jehovah, love justice, I hate robbery with iniquity; and I will give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
KJV
For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
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This verse in Isaiah 61
Commentary
12 notes on this verse(Vers. 8, 9.) And I will give their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed will be known among the nations, and their offspring in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them, that they are the offspring whom the Lord has blessed. LXX: And I will give their labor to the righteous, and I will establish an eternal covenant with them. And their seed will be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples.
This site's exposition
For I, the LORD, love justice
on Isaiah 61:8-9
“For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity” states what God prizes. The verse joins it to a promise, “make an everlasting covenant with them”. Verse 9 gives the covenant its evidence, for all who see them will know “a people the LORD has blessed”.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"If you offer rightly, but do not reason rightly, have you not sinned?" For those offerings of fasts, which we extort without thought by violently wrenching our stomachs and fancy that we rightly offer to the Lord, he who "loves mercy and judgment" denounces, saying: "I the Lord love judgment, but I hate robbery in a burnt offering." Similarly, those also who take the main part of their offerings, that is, their offices and actions, to benefit the flesh for their own use, but leave the remains as a tiny portion for the Lord, are also condemned as fraudulent workers by the Divine Word, saying: "Cursed is the one who does the work of the Lord fraudulently."
The Medieval Church2 voices
And he assigns the reason: for I am the Lord. And this is the sense: because the Lord loves justice, he will grant to you that you will be just, that thus you may be pleasing to him, and he will make a covenant with …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistThe Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 21 · Written before 604.
proposed
But it is one thing to show mercy for sins, another to sin for the sake of showing mercy, which cannot really be called mercy since it does not issue in sweet fruit, since it is embittered through the influence of a diseased root. For here the Lord rebukes such sacrifices through the prophet, saying, "I, the Lord, love justice and hate robbery with whole burnt offerings." … Such people also often withdraw from the poor what they give to God. But the Lord shows how strongly he disowns and censures such conduct.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Robbery - All things gotten by injustice, though it be for sacrifice. Direct - I will lead them so, that they shall do all things in sincerity. Everlasting covenant - Though you have broken covenant with me, yet I will renew my ancient covenant made with your fathers, confirmed with the blood of Christ, and it shall be everlasting, never to be abrogated.
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to do justly and love mercy better than thousands of rams; nay, that robbery is most of all hateful to God which is covered with this pretence, for it makes the righteous God to be the patron of unrighteousness.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
For I the Lord love judgment,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
I hate robbery for burnt-offering “Who hate rapine and iniquity” - The Syriac, and Chaldee prefix the conjunction ו vau, instead of the preposition ב beth, to עולה olah, which they render iniquity or oppression; and so the Septuagint, αδικιας. The difference lies in the punctuation; בעולה beolah, in a burnt-offering בעולה beavelah, in iniquity. The letters are the same in both words. Five of De Rossi’s MSS. confirm this reading.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
judgment--justice, which requires that I should restore My people, and give them double in compensation for their sufferings. robbery for burnt offering--rather, from a different Hebrew root, the spoil of iniquity [HORSLEY].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For I the Lord love judgment - That is, ‘I shall delight in rendering to my people what is right. It is right that they should enjoy my protection, and be favored with the tokens of my kindness. Loving justice and right, therefore, I will confer on them the privileges and blessings which they ought to enjoy, and which will be a public expression of my favor and love.’ I hate robbery for burnt-offering - There has been great variety in the interpretation of this phrase. Lowth renders it, ‘Who hate rapine and iniquity.’ Noyes, ‘I hate rapine and iniquity.’ Jerome, as in our translation, Et odio habens rapinam in holocausto. The Septuagint, Μισῶν ἁρπάγματα ἐξ ἀδικίας Misōn harpagmata ech adikias - ‘Hating the spoils of injustice.’ The Chaldee, ‘Far from before me be deceit and violence.’ The Syriac, ‘I hate rapine and iniquity.’ This variety of interpretation has arisen from the different views taken of the Hebrew בעולה be‛ôlâh. The Syriac evidently prefixed the conjunction, ו (v), “and,” instead of the preposition, ב (b), “with” or “for”; and, perhaps, also the Septuagint so read it. But this change, though slight, is not necessary in order to give a consistent rendering to the passage. The connection does not necessarily lead us to suppose that any reference would be made to ‘burnt-offering,’ and to the improper manner in which such offerings were made; but the idea is rather, that God hated rapine and sin; he hateth such acts as those by which his people had been removed from their land, and subjected to the evils of a long and painful captivity. And this is undoubtedly the sense of the passage. The Hebrew word עולה ‛ôlâh, usually without the ,ו means properly “a holocaust,” or “what is made to ascend” (from עלה ‛âlâh, to ascend) from an altar. […]
Modern Voices1 voice
What a magnificent promise from our loving Heavenly Father! Notice what the Lord does not say. He does not simply promise to give back what was lost.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֲנִ֤י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֹהֵ֣ב | ʾohev | [am] loving | H157 → | 211 times |
| מִשְׁפָּ֔ט | mishpat | justice | H4941 → | 422 times |
| שֹׂנֵ֥א | sone' | [I am] hating | H8130 → | 146 times |
| גָזֵ֖ל | gazel | robbery | H1498 → | |
| בְּעוֹלָ֑ה | beolah | with injustice | H5766 → | |
| וְנָתַתִּ֤י | venatati | and I will give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| פְעֻלָּתָם֙ | feulatam | recompense their | H6468 → | 14 times |
| בֶּאֱמֶ֔ת | beemet | in faithfulness | H571 → | 127 times |
| וּבְרִ֥ית | uverit | and a covenant of | H1285 → | 284 times |
| עוֹלָ֖ם | olam | perpetuity | H5769 → | 438 times |
| אֶכְר֥וֹת | ʾekhrot | I will make | H3772 → | 288 times |
| לָהֶֽם׃ | lahem | to them |
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אֲנִ֤יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֹהֵ֣ב[am] loving
ʾohevH157 →211 times
מִשְׁפָּ֔טjustice
mishpatH4941 →422 times
שֹׂנֵ֥א[I am] hating
sone'H8130 →146 times
גָזֵ֖לrobbery
gazelH1498 →
בְּעוֹלָ֑הwith injustice
beolahH5766 →
וְנָתַתִּ֤יand I will give
venatatiH5414 →2011 times
פְעֻלָּתָם֙recompense their
feulatamH6468 →14 times
בֶּאֱמֶ֔תin faithfulness
beemetH571 →127 times
וּבְרִ֥יתand a covenant of
uveritH1285 →284 times
עוֹלָ֖םperpetuity
olamH5769 →438 times
אֶכְר֥וֹתI will make
ʾekhrotH3772 →288 times
לָהֶֽם׃to them
lahem
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 9:24But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,”…
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 10:17
Rather, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
- Galatians 6:14
But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
- 1 Corinthians 1:31
Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
- Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Micah 7:18
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- 2 Corinthians 10:17
Through
Isaiah 55:3Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 32:40
I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away…
- Jeremiah 32:40
Through
Psalms 11:7For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.
it leads to
- Revelation 22:4
They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
- Revelation 22:4
Through
Genesis 17:7I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
it leads to
- Romans 9:7–9
Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”
- Romans 9:7–9
Where this verse is studied
By subject
Justice34 verses
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 12 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); Benny Hinn, God Is the God of Restoration (bennyhinn.org devotional); Gregory the Dialogist, The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 21; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 21:22; 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.