Isaiah 10:1

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Woe	ה֥וֹי Ho	H1945	oh! · interjection
decree	הַחֹֽקְקִ֖ים ha.cho.ke.Kim	H2710	properly · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
unrighteous	אָ֑וֶן 'A.ven	H205	strictly nothingness · noun, common masculine singular absolute
decrees	חִקְקֵי chi.kei-	H2711	an enactment · noun, common masculine plural construct
write	וּֽמְכַתְּבִ֥ים u.me.kha.te.Vim	H3789	to grave · conjunction + verb, piel active participle, masculine plural absolute
grievousness	עָמָ֖ל 'a.Mal	H5999	toil · noun, common both genders singular absolute
prescribed	כִּתֵּֽבוּ ki.Te.vu	H3789	to grave · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person common plural

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Luke 11:52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered…
Micah 3:1-4 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
Psalms 94:20-21 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of th…
Habakkuk 2:6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not…
Luke 11:42-44 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye t…
John 9:22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ…
John 19:6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 10:1-4

Whether they were the princes and judges of Israel of Judah, or both, that the prophet denounced this woe against, is not certain: if those of Israel, these verses are to be joined with the close of the foregoing chapter, which is probable enough, because the burden of that prophecy (for all this his anger is not turned away) is repeated here (Isa 10:4); if those of Judah, they then show what was the particular design with which God brought the Assyrian army upon them - to punish their magistrates for mal-administration, which they could not legally be called to account for. To them he speaks woes before he speaks comfort to God's own people. Here is, I. The indictment drawn up against these…

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John Gill on Isaiah 10:1

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,.... Or, "O ye that decree", &c. being a sign of the vocative case, and an interjection of calling, as Aben Ezra observes; though the Targum and other versions understand it of a threatening denounced; and is to be understood as lying against lawgivers and judges, political rulers and governors of the people, that made unrighteous laws; laws which were not agreeable to the law of God, nor right reason; and were injurious to the persons and properties of men; and which were calculated for the oppression of good men, especially the poor, and for the protection of wicked men, who made no conscience of spoiling them: and that write grievousness whic…

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John Calvin on Isaiah 10:1

Woe to them that decree. He now attacks the people more closely, as he did in the first and second chapters, to make them feel that they are justly afflicted; for men never acknowledge that they are justly punished till they have been manifestly convicted and constrained. Though they were sufficiently convicted by former proofs, still he found it necessary to come to particulars, that by means of them their hypocrisy might be exposed; for men are so brazen-faced as to think that any excuse shields them, and openly to accuse God. When they had become so shameless, it was impossible for him to rebuke them too sharply, or to carry his accusations beyond proper limits, so as to shut their mouths…

The Church Fathers

"Woe to those who establish unjust laws and write injustice." Most people still believe that these things are said against the ten tribes who lived in Samaria, because they too joined in the previous crimes. But to us it seems that the prophetic word is crying out against the judges of the tribe of Judah and Jerusalem, namely the Scribes and the Pharisees, because they have written unjust laws against God's law and have undermined the truth of justice with their traditions. For God says: Honor your father and mother (Exodus XX, 12); but they, on the contrary, advised children to say to their parents: Whatever gift you might have received from me, it will be helpful to you, so that they would not honor (Al. honor) their father and mother (Matthew XV, 5, 6; Mark VII, 11), and similar things. According to the allegory, every heretic writes injustice.
— Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Court · CORRUPT — CORRUPT
Courts Of Justice · Corruption and bribery often practised in — Corruption and bribery often practised in
Fatherless · God will: Punish those who oppress — God will: Punish those who oppress
Orphan · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Poor, The · Punishment for: Acting unjustly towards — Punishment for: Acting unjustly towards
Widow · 10:18;14:28,29;16:11-14;24:17,19-21;25:5-10;27:19; — 10:18;14:28,29;16:11-14;24:17,19-21;25:5-10;27:19;
Widows · Woe to those who oppress — Woe to those who oppress

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Isaiah 10:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 10:1-4

John Gill on Isaiah 10:1

John Calvin on Isaiah 10:1

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 10:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 10:1-4

John Gill on Isaiah 10:1

John Calvin on Isaiah 10:1

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 10:1-4

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 10:1-4

Rashi on Isaiah 10:1