Isaiah 57:18

I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
seen	רָאִ֖יתִי ra.'I.ti	H7200	to see · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
ways	דְּרָכָ֥יו de.ra.Khav	H1870	a road (as trodden) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
heal	וְאֶרְפָּאֵ֑הוּ ve.'er.pa.'E.hu	H7495	properly · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
lead	וְאַנְחֵ֕הוּ ve.'an.Che.hu	H5148	to guide · conjunction + verb, hiphil, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
restore	וַאֲשַׁלֵּ֧ם va.'a.sha.Lem	H7999	to be safe (in mind · conjunction + verb, piel, 1st person common singular
comforts	נִֽחֻמִ֛ים ni.chu.Mim	H5150	properly · noun, common masculine plural absolute
mourners	וְלַאֲבֵלָֽיו ve.la.'a.ve.Lav	H57	lamenting · conjunction + preposition + adjective, masculine plural 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

Jeremiah 33:6 Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
Revelation 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe aw…
Jeremiah 3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Hosea 14:4-8 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Jeremiah 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn t…
Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up th…
Jeremiah 13:17 But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, becau…
Jeremiah 31:18-20 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn…

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…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 57:18

Rather, "I have seen his ways (in sin), yet will I heal him," that is, restore Israel spiritually and temporally (Jer 33:6; Jer 3:22; Hos 14:4-5) [HORSLEY]. I will . . . restore comforts unto him and to his mourners--However, the phrase, "his mourners," favors English Version; "his ways" will thus be his ways of repentance; and God's pardon on "seeing" them answers to the like promise (Isa 61:2-3; Jer 31:18, Jer 31:20).

Adam Clarke on Isaiah 57:18

I have seen his ways - Probably these verses refer to the restoration of the Jews from captivity.

John Gill on Isaiah 57:18

I have seen his ways, and will heal him,.... Either the ways of such who trust in the Lord, the ways of the humble and contrite, who are brought by repentance and reformation, by the dealings of God with them; these he sees, knows, and approves of, and heals their former backslidings; for though not all, yet some may be reformed hereby; or rather the ways of the froward, their evil ways, which are their own ways in opposition to God's ways, peculiar to themselves, of their own devising and choosing; these the Lord sees, resents, and corrects for, and yet graciously pardons them, which is meant by healing: I will lead him also; out of those evil ways of his into the good and right way in whi…

The Church Fathers

"Creating for his mourners the fruit of the lips," that is, at this stage they will not use anymore their outrages and blasphemies against me, but praises, which are convenient to these facts. Others assert, I made them live in perfect security, and this is the reason why they will be led to holiness.
— Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 57:18-19

For such is the loving-kindness of God; he never turns his face away from a sincere repentance, but if any one has pushed on to the very extremity of wickedness and chooses to return afterwards toward the path of virtue, God accepts and welcomes and does everything so as to restore him to his former position.
— John Chrysostom, LETTER TO THE FALLEN THEODORE 1:6

Some understand this passage specifically about the Savior. And whoever saw the Father's ways, therefore healed him, who was free among the dead: and his flesh did not see corruption, so that he, who was struck on the cross, might be healed in the resurrection. And I consoled him, he said, giving him for the one nation of the Jews, the whole world. And those who mourned him, it is understood, he consoled. There is no doubt that he refers to the Apostles.
— 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

Chastisement · FROM GOD — FROM GOD
Peace, Spiritual · Promised to: Returning backsliders — Promised to: Returning backsliders
Salvation · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO

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 57:18

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 57:17–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 57:18

Adam Clarke on Isaiah 57:18

John Gill on Isaiah 57:18

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 57:18

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 57:17–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 57:18

Adam Clarke on Isaiah 57:18

John Gill on Isaiah 57:18

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Isaiah 57:18

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 57:17-18

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 57:18

Rashi on Isaiah 57:18