Isaiah 57:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 57:10
Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved.
properly · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person feminine singular
greatness
בְּרֹ֤בbe.Ro
H7230
abundance (in any respect) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
way
דַּרְכֵּךְ֙dar.keKh
H1870
a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
saidst
אָמַ֖רְתְּ'a.Mart
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person feminine singular
hope
נוֹאָ֑שׁno.'Ash
H2976
to desist · verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
found
מָצָ֔אתma.Tzat
H4672
properly · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person feminine singular
life
חַיַּ֤תchai.Yat
H2416
alive · noun, common feminine singular construct
hand
יָדֵךְ֙ya.deKh
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
grieved
חָלִֽיתcha.Lit
H2470
properly · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person feminine singular
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
Jeremiah 2:25 Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and afte…
Jeremiah 18:12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.
Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refuse…
2 Chronicles 28:22-23 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.
Isaiah 47:13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save…
Jeremiah 2:36 Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
Jeremiah 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be asha…
Jeremiah 9:5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselv…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 57:3-12
We have here a high charge, but a just one no doubt, drawn up against that wicked generation out of which God's righteous ones were removed, because the world was not worthy of them. Observe,
I. The general character here given of them, or the name and title by which they stand indicted, Isa 57:3. They are told to draw near and hear the charge, are set to the bar, and arraigned there as sons of the sorceress, or of a witch, the seed of an adulterer and a whore, that is, they were such themselves, they were strongly inclined to be such, and their ancestors were such before them. Sin is sorcery and adultery, for it is departing from God and dealing with the devil. They were children of disobed…
greatness of . . . way--the length of thy journey in seeking strange gods, or else foreign aid (Jer 2:23-24). Notwithstanding thy deriving no good from these long journeys (so, "send . . . far off," Isa 57:9), thou dost not still give up hope (Jer 2:25; Jer 18:12).
hast found . . . life of . . . hand--for "thou still findest life (that is, vigor) enough in thy hand" to make new idols [MAURER], or to seek new alliance ("hand" being then taken for strength in general).
grieved--rather, "therefore thou art not weak" [MAURER]; inasmuch as having "life in thy hand," thou art still strong in hope.
Adam Clarke on Isaiah 57:10
Yet saidst thou not, There is no hope "Thou hast said, There is hope" - In one of the MSS. at Koningsberg, collated by Lilienthal, the words לא אמרת lo amarta, are left in the text unpointed, as suspected; and in the margin the corrector has written ותאמרי vattomari. Now if we compare Jer 2:25 and Jer 18:12, we shall find that the subject is in both places quite the same with this of Isaiah; and the sentiment expressed, that of a desperate resolution to continue at all hazards in their idolatrous practices; the very thing that in all reason we might expect here. Probably, therefore, the latter is the true reading in this place. - L.
John Gill on Isaiah 57:10
The Church Fathers
But how could it not have been necessary to act as a suppliant and ask God for mercy when you had dared to commit such shameful and foul deeds? For he receives those who wish to repent. He is good by nature, and he knows our substance, as it is written. For he has spoken through one of the holy prophets: "Return, my sons, return and I will heal you from what oppresses you." Therefore this is a sin of their extreme lawlessness and of their total turning away and being fixed in evil things, that they refuse to seek mercy from God by confessing their sins.
(Verse 10) In the multitude of your ways you have labored, and you have not said: I will rest. You have found life in your hands, therefore you did not ask me to be silent (Vulgate: you remain silent). LXX: In many journeys you have labored, and you have not said, I will cease: you have made these strengthen. Therefore, you did not ask me. He who walks in one royal path does not labor, as God commanded through Moses: You shall walk in the royal path and you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left (Deuteronomy 5:32). There is one way of truth, which is said in the Gospel: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). And there are many paths of lies, through which Jerusalem is now accused of having walked, of which paths God, knowing the difference, speaks above to those who stray: Not like my paths, your paths (Isaiah 55:8), which those confessing say to the Lord: You have made our paths turn aside from your paths (Psalm 44:19). Therefore, having known the one royal way, let us see which paths are on the right and on the left, through which we are prohibited from walking. The middle way is temperance, having neither too much nor too little. For example, prudence is the straight and royal way. We deviate to the right if we know more than we should know, and we value cunning for prudence: because the serpent was wiser than all the beasts in paradise (Genesis 3): And the children of darkness are wiser than the children of light (Luke 16). We turn to the left when we are foolish and know less than is necessary. Of which it is said: The fool has said in his heart, there is no God (Ps. XIII, 1). Piety and true religion are also the royal way. He who is superstitious turns to the right and deserves to hear, Do not be overly righteous (Eccles. VII, 17). To the left, is he who neglects the worship of God and is counted among the goats and the rams. Generosity and giving are also the greatest virtues, from which he turns to the right, who is frugal and does not give to others, nor even to himself, what is necessary. On the left, he who consumes his substance with prostitutes and says with Israel: Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die (Isaiah 22:13). Strength and steadfastness are also the royal road, from which the reckless and stubborn turn aside to the right, the fearful and timid to the left. Therefore, the holy man, desiring to walk on the…
Dictionary and topics
Infidelity · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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).
Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way,.... Or, "in the multiplicity of thy ways" (u): which were so many, as were enough to make her weary; the steps which were taken to obtain so much power over kings and kingdoms, which was gradually got with great pains and artifice, and to amass such vast treasures, and to enlarge her interest, and spread her religion in the world; the multitude of stratagems devised, and vast number of men employed, and embassies made to carry her point everywhere. Jarchi's note is,
"to fulfil thy desires, and to enlarge thy substance:''
yet saidst thou not, there is no hope; as men in a good cause are apt to do, upon every difficulty that arises; but here, in…
Thou art wearied. He means that men undertake superfluous and useless labors, when they do not follow God. They vex themselves in vain, as has been already said; for nothing that is attempted in opposition to God can ever be successful. Besides, he wittily ridicules the wicked practices of those who choose rather to waste themselves by incessant toil than to advance calmly wherever God calls them.
And hast not said, There is no hope; that is, "Although thou seest that thy labors are fruitless, yet thou obstinately perseverest and pursuest thy designs; whereas even fools, when they are unsuccessful, commonly repent." Men must therefore be obstinate and desperate, when an unhappy and unsucces…
In the closest reciprocal connection with this God-forgetting, adulterous craving for the favour of heathen gods, stood their coquetting with the heathen power of the world. "And thou wentest to the king with oil, and didst measure copiously thy spices, and didst send thy messengers to a great distance, and didst deeply abase thyself, even to Hades. Thou didst become weary of the greatness of thy way; yet thou saidst not, It is unattainable: thou obtainedst the revival of thy strength: therefore thou wast not pained." The first thing to be noticed here, is one that has been overlooked by nearly all the modern commentators, viz., that we have here a historical retrospect before us. And second…
climbed into bed: The people of Israel had a sickening commitment to the fertility religions, which included sex as part of their rituals.
Rashi on Isaiah 57:10
With the length of your way you became wearied You engaged in your necessities, in the filling of your lust, to increase your wealth.
you did not say, “Despair.” I will despair of these and I will no longer care to engage in them, but I will pay my attention to Torah and precepts.
The power of your hand you found Heb. חַיַּת, the necessity of your hand you have found; you have succeeded in your deeds.
therefore, you were not stricken ill Your heart was not stricken ill to worry about My service, to engage in the Torah. חַיַּת is an Arabic word, meaning necessity.
