15 Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Yahweh saw it, and it displeased him who there was no justice.
The godly man has perished out of the earth, And there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; Every man hunts his brother with a net.
For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his works were evil, and his brother's righteous.
Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.
For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you.
Even as it is written, "For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
When many days were fulfilled, the Jews conspired together to kill him,
But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
Then the Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, 'If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.'
When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him: for they said, "He is insane."
You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he, and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
The thing which he did was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and he killed him also.
The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, And the man who is inspired to be insane, Because of the abundance of your sins, And because your hostility is great.
Hear the word of Yahweh, you children of Israel; For Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: "Indeed there is no truth, Nor goodness, Nor knowledge of God in the land. There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; They break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.
Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of Yahweh, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.
You shall tell them, This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of Yahweh their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
Run you back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her. Though they say, As Yahweh lives; surely they swear falsely.
Hear you this, house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Yahweh, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness
> Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men. Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
However Yahweh would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a lamp to him and to his children always.
Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said to him, Is all well? why came this mad fellow to you? He said to them, You know the man and what his talk was.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 59
Commentary on Isaiah 59 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 59
In this chapter we have sin appearing exceedingly sinful, and grace appearing exceedingly gracious; and, as what is here said of the sinner's sin (v. 7, 8) is applied to the general corruption of mankind (Rom. 3:15), so what is here said of a Redeemer (v. 20) is applied to Christ, Rom. 11:26.
Isa 59:1-8
The prophet here rectifies the mistake of those who had been quarrelling with God because they had not the deliverances wrought for them which they had been often fasting and praying for, ch. 58:3. Now here he shows,
Isa 59:9-15
The scope of this paragraph is the same with that of the last, to show that sin is the great mischief-maker; as it is that which keeps good things from us, so it is that which brings evil things upon us. But as there it is spoken by the prophet, in God's name, to the people, for their conviction and humiliation, and that God might be justified when he speaks and clear when he judges, so here it seems to be spoken by the people to God, as an acknowledgment of that which was there told them and an expression of their humble submission and subscription to the justice and equity of God's proceedings against them. Their uncircumcised hearts here seem to be humbled in some measure, and they are brought to confess (the confession is at least extorted from them), that God had justly walked contrary to them, because they had walked contrary to him.
Isa 59:16-21
How sin abounded we have read, to our great amazement, in the former part of the chapter; how grace does much more abound we read in these verses. And, as sin took occasion from the commandment to become more exceedingly sinful, so grace took occasion from the transgression of the commandment to appear more exceedingly gracious. Observe,