perversity · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
covetousness
בִּצְע֛וֹbitz.'O
H1215
plunder · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
wroth
קָצַ֥פְתִּיka.Tzaf.ti
H7107
to crack off · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
smote
וְאַכֵּ֖הוּve.'a.Ke.hu
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · conjunction + verb, hiphil, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
hid
הַסְתֵּ֣רhas.Ter
H5641
to hide (by covering) · verb, hiphil infinitive absolute
wroth
וְאֶקְצֹ֑ףve.'ek.Tzof
H7107
to crack off · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common singular
on
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
frowardly
שׁוֹבָ֖בsho.Vav
H7726
apostate · adjective, masculine singular absolute
way
בְּדֶ֥רֶךְbe.De.rekh
H1870
a road (as trodden) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
heart
לִבּֽוֹli.Bo
H3820
the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine 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
Isaiah 56:11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every…
Jeremiah 6:13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest ever…
Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousnes…
Ephesians 5:3-5 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
2 Peter 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices…
Ecclesiastes 6:9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
Isaiah 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have pr…
Isaiah 5:8-9 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the e…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 57:17–end
The body of the people of Israel, in this account of God's dealings with them, is spoken of as a particular person (Isa 57:17, Isa 57:18), but divided into two sorts, differently dealt with - some who were sons of peace, to whom peace is spoken (Isa 57:19), and others who were not, who have nothing to do with peace, Isa 57:20, Isa 57:21. Observe here,
I. The just rebukes which that people were brought under for their sin: For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth, and smote him. Covetousness was a sin that abounded very much among that people. Jer 6:13, From the least to the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness. Those that did not worship images were yet carried away b…
covetousness--akin to idolatry; and, like it, having drawn off Israel's heart from God (Isa 2:7; Isa 56:11; Isa 58:3; Jer 6:13; Col 3:5).
hid me-- (Isa 8:17; Isa 45:15).
went on frowardly--the result of God's hiding His face (Psa 81:12; Rom 1:24, Rom 1:26).
Adam Clarke on Isaiah 57:17
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth "Because of his iniquity for a short time was I wroth" - For בצעו bitso, I read בצע betsa, a little while, from בצע batsa, he cut of, as the Septuagint read and render it, βραχυ τι, "a certain short space." Propter iniquitatem avaritiae ejus, "because of the iniquity of his avarice," the rendering of the Vulgate, which our translators and I believe all others follow, is surely quite beside the purpose.
John Gill on Isaiah 57:17
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him, .... Not the greedy watchmen of the church of Rome, Isaiah 56:10, but teachers and preachers in the reformed churches, who mind their own things, and not the things of Christ; seek after good benefices and livings, temporalities and pluralities, and to be lord bishops; taking the oversight of the flock for filthy lucre sake; which may easily be observed to be the predominant sin of the preachers and professors of the reformed churches; for which God has a controversy with them, and, resenting it, has smote and rebuked them in a providential way; and has threatened them, as he did the church at Sardis, the emblem of the reformed…
The Church Fathers
Some understand this passage specifically about the Savior, that he was deeply grieved for the sins of the world, saying: My soul is sorrowful even to death (Matthew 26:38). And the Father who speaks through Zacharias says: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered (Zech. XIII, 7); and he himself says of himself in the sixty-eighth psalm: Because it is you who have struck, they have persecuted (Psalm LXVIII, 27). And God turned his face away from him, so that he might assume the appearance of a servant for a short time, walk in sadness, lamenting the sins of the people, mourning and weeping over Jerusalem.
Because of the wickedness of his greed, I became angry and struck him; I hid myself and was indignant, and he went on his way grieving (Vulgate: he went astray). LXX: Because of sin I have afflicted him for a little while, and struck him: and I turned my face away from him, and he was saddened and walked sadly in his ways. After the rejection of the people of Judah and those who refused to believe in the Savior, God had promised those who had confidence in Him a gentle land and a holy mountain, and He commanded the Apostles: Make a way for the people who are returning and remove all stumbling blocks from their path. And lest it seem unbelievable, He reveals His power, that the lofty and great God can easily grant forgiveness to the repentant, and it is just that the Creator should have mercy on His creatures. Therefore, because of those things, He joined together, because He was angry and saddened His people: therefore, He made Himself, because He sinned, and He had greed for iniquity, and He was not satisfied with one iniquity, but He always added sins to sins. And I struck Him for a little while, He says, in order to heal, and I hid, it is understood, My face, so that He would desire Me more, and would say: Show Your face and we shall be saved (Psalm 79:4). And I was indignant; which He sensing, He approached sadly, saying: I walked sad all day long (Psalm 38:7). And he walked in sorrow, whether turned towards the way of his heart, so that he did not act for the appearance of men, but in his heart he performed repentance.
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
Afflictions · Sin visited with — Sin visited with
Afflictions And Adversities · .Sinners corrected by — .Sinners corrected by
Character Of The Wicked · Froward — Froward
Chastisement · FROM GOD — FROM GOD
Covetousness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Punishment Of The Wicked, The · On account of their: Covetousness — On account of their: Covetousness
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).
For the iniquity of his lust. Here he complains of the obstinate wickedness of the people, and shows that the Lord had very good reason for punishing him in this manner; so that there can be no complaint of his immoderate cruelty. vtsv (betzagno) is translated by some "lust," and by others "covetousness." If it be "covetousness," it will then be a figurative mode of expression, in which a part is taken for the whole; for this is the source from which all evils arise. (1 Timothy 6:10) But we may take it generally for every kind of sinful desire; for it was on account of the various and numerous vices by which the Jews were polluted, that the Lord was angry, and inflicted on them severe punish…
This general law of His action is most especially the law of His conduct towards Israel, in which such grievous effects of its well-deserved punishment are apparent, and effects so different from those intended, that the compassion of God feels impelled to put an end to the punishment for the good of all that are susceptible of salvation. "And because of the iniquity of its selfishness, I was wroth, and smote it; hiding myself, and being angry: then it went on, turning away in the way of its own heart. I have seen its ways, and will heal it; and will lead it, and afford consolations to it, and to its mourning ones." The fundamental and chief sin of Israel is here called בּצע, lit., a cut of…
Even though God is the high and lofty one, he promises to dwell with the humble.
Rashi on Isaiah 57:17
For the iniquity of his thievery Heb. בִּצְעוֹ, his thievery.
I became wroth at the beginning and I smote him, always hiding My face from his distress and I was wroth for he went rebelliously in the way of his heart. Transpose the verse and explain it thus: For the iniquity of his thievery and the fact that he went rebelliously in the way of his heart, I became wroth and smote him.
