Isaiah 65:7
in Isaiah 65both for your iniquities and for those of your fathers,” says the LORD. “Because they burned incense on the mountains and scorned Me on the hills, I will measure into their laps full payment for their former deeds.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith Jehovah, that have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom.
KJV
Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
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This verse in Isaiah 65
Commentary
13 notes on this verseFor we should not accept those fathers, whose injustices and sins are now being repaid to us, from whose seed our bodies are born. Otherwise, Moses himself, who said that the sins of the fathers are to be repaid to the third and fourth generation, interprets his own statement, saying: The children shall not die because of the sins of the fathers, but each one shall die in his own sin.
This site's exposition
Behold, it is written before Me
on Isaiah 65:6-7
“Behold, it is written before Me”, so the judgment answers a settled account, and “I will not keep silent, but I will repay”. The iniquities of the fathers and the sons are repaid together, “into their laps”. The measure is their own history: “full payment for their former deeds”.
This site's exposition
both for your iniquities
The verse turns from your fathers to their laps in mid-sentence, and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read the shift as a mark of growing distance. Clarke follows the Septuagint and reads their in both places. Wesley says the sons made the iniquities of their fathers their own by imitation.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 6, 7.) These people will be in my fury, a burning fire all day long. Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but I will repay and recompense into their bosom your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, says the Lord, who sacrificed upon the mountains and upon the hills, reproached me, and I will measure their work first into their bosom. LXX: This is the smoke of my fury: a fire burns in it all the days.
But Abraham, preserved from the fire of the Chaldeans by the integrity of his faith (Genesis 11). In this sense, the words of Jeremiah, spoken from the perspective of the Lord, agree: 'I have found Israel like a warm desert, with those slain by the sword' (Jeremiah 38:2 in the Septuagint; in the Vulgate, Jeremiah 31:2). For when, he says, the whole world lay wounded by idolatry as if slain by the sword, Israel was found to have the warmth of faith in Abraham, like a physician who, after a battle among the dead bodies, where he perceives some vital signs in the pulsing veins, applies care to the wounds in order to restore health. For it is written, ὡς θερμὸν, that is, like something warm, deceived by the ambiguity of the word, the Latin interpreter translated it as "lupinum," in which even many of the Greeks err. And yet it should be known that in Hebrew it is written as 'Thoda', which means grace; namely, that Israel is saved by the grace of God and not by the merit of their own works.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, the multitude of the punishments, because they are for all the sins of their fathers: but I will render: I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children (Exod 20:5). Who have reproached me, by adoring idols in the …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Whatever they were, their worshippers spared no cost to do them honour; they prepared a table for them, and filled out mixed wine for drink-offerings to them; they would pinch their families rather than stint their devotions, which should shame the worshippers of the true God out of their niggardliness. (2.) Infidelity was the sin of the later Jews (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Together - Yea, and when I reckon with them, I will punish them, not only for their personal sins, but for the sins of their parents, which they have made their own, by imitation. Their former - I will not only punish the late sins that they have committed, but the former sins of this kind, which those that went before did commit, and they have continued in.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together (saith the Lord),....
But those who thus take a pride in venturing upon the borders of sin, and the brink of it, are in danger of falling into the depths of it. But, Secondly, The most provoking iniquity of the Jews in our Saviour's time was their pride and hypocrisy, that sin of the scribes and Pharisees against which Christ denounced so many woes,
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Your iniquities - Their idolatry and their forsaking God, and their arts of necromancy. And the iniquities of your fathers together - The consequences of your own sins, and of the long defection of the nation from virtue and pure religion, shall come rushing upon you like accumulated floods. This is in accordance with the Scripture doctrine everywhere, that the consequences of the sins of ancestors pass over and visit their posterity (see Exo 20:5; Exo 34:7; Num 14:18; Job 21:19; Luk 11:50-51; the notes at Rom 5:19).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Their sin had been accumulating from age to age until God at last repaid it in full. mountains-- (Isa 57:7; Ho 4:13). their--"Your" had preceded. From speaking to, He speaks of them; this implies growing alienation from them and greater distance. work--the full recompense of their work (so Isa 49:4).
Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers “Their iniquities, and the iniquities of their fathers” - For the pronoun affixed of the second person חם chem, your, twice, read הם hem, their, in the third person; with the Septuagint and Houbigant. - L.
The words behind it
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֲ֠וֹנֹתֵיכֶם | ʾavonoteikhem | iniquities your | H5771 → | 233 times |
| וַעֲוֹנֹ֨ת | vaavonot | and [the] iniquities of | H5771 → | 233 times |
| אֲבוֹתֵיכֶ֤ם | ʾavoteikhem | ancestors your | H1 → | 1212 times |
| יַחְדָּו֙ | yachdav | together | H3162 → | 141 times |
| אָמַ֣ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֤ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| קִטְּרוּ֙ | kiteru | they made smoke | H6999 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הֶ֣הָרִ֔ים | heharim | the mountains | H2022 → | 546 times |
| וְעַל־ | veal- | and on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַגְּבָע֖וֹת | hagevaot | the hills | H1389 → | 68 times |
| חֵרְפ֑וּנִי | cherefuni | they taunted me | H2778 → | 41 times |
| וּמַדֹּתִ֧י | umadoti | and I will measure | H4058 → | |
| פְעֻלָּתָ֛ם | feulatam | work their | H6468 → | 14 times |
| רִֽאשֹׁנָ֖ה | rishonah | first | H7223 → | 182 times |
| אֶל | ʾal- | into | H413 → | 5510 times |
| חֵיקָֽם׃ ס | cheikam | bosom their | H2436 → | 38 times |
עֲ֠וֹנֹתֵיכֶםiniquities your
ʾavonoteikhemH5771 →233 times
וַעֲוֹנֹ֨תand [the] iniquities of
vaavonotH5771 →233 times
אֲבוֹתֵיכֶ֤םancestors your
ʾavoteikhemH1 →1212 times
יַחְדָּו֙together
yachdavH3162 →141 times
אָמַ֣רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֲשֶׁ֤רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
קִטְּרוּ֙they made smoke
kiteruH6999 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הֶ֣הָרִ֔יםthe mountains
heharimH2022 →546 times
וְעַל־and on
veal-H5921 →5755 times
הַגְּבָע֖וֹתthe hills
hagevaotH1389 →68 times
חֵרְפ֑וּנִיthey taunted me
cherefuniH2778 →41 times
וּמַדֹּתִ֧יand I will measure
umadotiH4058 →
פְעֻלָּתָ֛םwork their
feulatamH6468 →14 times
רִֽאשֹׁנָ֖הfirst
rishonahH7223 →182 times
אֶלinto
ʾal-H413 →5510 times
חֵיקָֽם׃ סbosom their
cheikamH2436 →38 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
Exodus 20:5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 5:9
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
- Numbers 14:18
‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon…
- Deuteronomy 4:24
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
- Exodus 34:14
For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
- Joshua 24:19
But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins.
- Deuteronomy 5:9
Through
Isaiah 22:14The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing: “Until your dying day, this sin of yours will never be atoned for,” says the Lord GOD of Hosts.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 24:13
Because of the indecency of your uncleanness I tried to cleanse you, but you would not be purified from your filthiness. You will not be pure again until My wrath against you has subsided.
- Ezekiel 24:13
Through
Jeremiah 13:25This is your lot, the portion I have measured to you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.
it leads to
- Job 20:29
This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”
- Psalms 9:17
The wicked will return to Sheol— all the nations who forget God.
- Job 20:29
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
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 on the Book of Isaiah; 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; 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.