Isaiah 63:17
in Isaiah 63Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
O Jehovah, why dost thou make us to err from thy ways, and hardenest our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
KJV
O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
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This verse in Isaiah 63
Commentary
13 notes on this verseBehold how a person is hardened if he does not merit to be chastised by the Lord for his correction? Moreover, what is written concerning those whom God's mercy does not even allow to become hardened? "God scourges every child whom he receives"; … and …
This site's exposition
Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways
on Isaiah 63:17-19
The prayer grows bold to ask why the LORD makes them “stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You”. It asks for His return on the ground of belonging, “for the sake of Your servants”. Verse 19 ends raw: “We have become like those You never ruled”.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Your great tolerance encouraged our shamelessness. When you did not punish our sins, we remained transgressors, disregarding your laws. In the same sense, God said to the blessed Moses, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart." He used his great forbearance and tolerance and punishes Pharaoh only …
Is not sin also punishment for sin?… We can recount many other events clearly showing that perversity of heart comes from a hidden judgment of God, with the result that a refusal to hear the truth leads to commission of sin, and this sin is also punishment for preceding sin.
The Medieval Church2 voices
1111. Why have you made us to err? Here he sets out the evils which they met. And first, as to the evils of their fault: you made us to err, permitting, not sending grace and not correcting, from your ways, commands; you hardened, permitted: …
The punishment for previous sins is called "hardening" that comes from the divine righteousness.… While those who are righteous are in no way driven by God to become evil, nevertheless, when they are evil they are hardened so that they become worse, as the apostle …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Now this they complain of, as their great misery and burden, that God had for their sins left them to this, had permitted them to err from his ways and had justly withheld his grace, so that their hearts were hardened from his fear. When they ask, Why hast thou done this? it is not as charging him with wrong, but lamenting it as a sore judgment.
6 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): " Return; change thy way towards us, and proceed not in thy controversy with us; return in mercy, and let us have not only a gracious look towards us, but thy gracious presence with us." God's people dread nothing more than his departures from them and desire nothing more than his returns to them.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Thy fear - The fear of thee. Servants sake - For our sakes, that little remnant that are thy servants. Inheritance - The land of Canaan, which God gave them as an inheritance.
O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear?....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? - Lowth and Noyes render this, ‘Why dost thou suffer us to wander from thy way?’ Calvin remarks on the passage, ‘The prophet uses a common form of speaking, for it is usual in the Scriptures to say that God gives the wicked over to a reprobate mind, and hardens their hearts.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
made us to err--that is, "suffer" us to err and to be hardened in our heart. They do not mean to deny their own blameworthiness, but confess that through their own fault God gave them over to a reprobate mind (Isa 6:9, 10;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
Why hast thou made us to err - A mere Hebraism, for why hast thou permitted us to err. So, Lead us not into temptation; do not suffer us to fall into that to which we are tempted.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָ֣מָּה | lamah | <to> why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| תַתְעֵ֤נוּ | tatenu | do you make wander us | H8582 → | 50 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מִדְּרָכֶ֔יךָ | miderakheikha | from ways your | H1870 → | 707 times |
| תַּקְשִׁ֥יחַ | takshiach | do you harden? | H7188 → | |
| לִבֵּ֖נוּ | libenu | heart our | H3820 → | 595 times |
| מִיִּרְאָתֶ֑ךָ | miyiratekha | from fear of you | H3374 → | 45 times |
| שׁ֚וּב | shuv | return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| לְמַ֣עַן | lemaan | for [the] sake of | H4616 → | 272 times |
| עֲבָדֶ֔יךָ | ʾavadeikha | servants your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| שִׁבְטֵ֖י | shivtei | [the] tribes of | H7626 → | 190 times |
| נַחֲלָתֶֽךָ׃ | nachalatekha | inheritance your | H5159 → | 222 times |
לָ֣מָּה<to> why?
lamahH4100 →752 times
תַתְעֵ֤נוּdo you make wander us
tatenuH8582 →50 times
יְהוָה֙O Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מִדְּרָכֶ֔יךָfrom ways your
miderakheikhaH1870 →707 times
תַּקְשִׁ֥יחַdo you harden?
takshiachH7188 →
לִבֵּ֖נוּheart our
libenuH3820 →595 times
מִיִּרְאָתֶ֑ךָfrom fear of you
miyiratekhaH3374 →45 times
שׁ֚וּבreturn
shuvH7725 →1056 times
לְמַ֣עַןfor [the] sake of
lemaanH4616 →272 times
עֲבָדֶ֔יךָservants your
ʾavadeikhaH5650 →799 times
שִׁבְטֵ֖י[the] tribes of
shivteiH7626 →190 times
נַחֲלָתֶֽךָ׃inheritance your
nachalatekhaH5159 →222 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 29:13Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 12:2
You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.
- Ezekiel 33:31–33
So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest…
- Mark 7:2–13
and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed.
- Matthew 15:2–9
“Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before they eat.”
- Jeremiah 3:10
Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 12:2
Through
Isaiah 6:10Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
it leads to
- Matthew 13:15
For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,…
- Acts 28:27
For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,…
- Jeremiah 5:21
“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
- Matthew 13:15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 13 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); Augustine of Hippo, AGAINST JULIAN 5:3.12; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 101:3; Isidore of Seville, THREE BOOKS OF THOUGHTS 2:19.5-6; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 20:63.17 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.