to make a loud sound (like English 'hum') · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural
bears
כַדֻּבִּים֙kha.du.Bim
H1677
the bear (as slow) · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders plural absolute
mourn
הָגֹ֣הha.Goh
H1897
to murmur (in pleasure or anger) · verb, qal infinitive absolute
sore
נֶהְגֶּ֑הneh.Geh
H1897
to murmur (in pleasure or anger) · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural
doves
וְכַיּוֹנִ֖יםve.khai.yo.Nim
H3123
a dove (apparently from the warmth of their mating) · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
look
נְקַוֶּ֤הne.ka.Veh
H6960
to bind together (perhaps by twisting) · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common plural
judgment
לַמִּשְׁפָּט֙la.mish.Pat
H4941
properly · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
salvation
לִֽישׁוּעָ֖הli.shu.'Ah
H3444
something saved · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
off
רָחֲקָ֥הra.cha.Kah
H7368
to widen (in any direction) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd 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
Isaiah 38:14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake fo…
Ezekiel 7:16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his…
Job 30:28-29 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
Psalms 32:3-4 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
Psalms 38:8 I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
Psalms 85:9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
Psalms 119:155 Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.
Isaiah 51:20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke o…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 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 br…
roar--moan plaintively, like a hungry bear which growls for food.
doves-- (Isa 38:14; Eze 7:16).
salvation--retribution in kind: because not salvation, but "destruction" was "in their paths" (Isa 59:7).
Adam Clarke on Isaiah 59:11
But it is far off from us "And it is far distant from us" - The conjunction ו vau must necessarily be prefixed to the verb, as the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate found it in their copies; ורחקה verachakah, "and far off."
John Gill on Isaiah 59:11
We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves,.... Some in a more noisy and clamorous, others in a stiller way, yet all in private: for the bear, when robbed of its whelps, goes to its den and roars; and the dove, when it has lost its mate, mourns in solitude: this expresses the secret groanings of the saints under a sense of sin, and the forlorn state of religion. The Targum paraphrases it thus,
"we roar because of our enemies, who are gathered against us as bears; all of us indeed mourn sore as doves:''
we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us; we expect that God will take vengeance on our enemies, and save us; look for judgment on antichrist, and…
And, like doves, we groan, without sense and understanding of the Scriptures, only meditating on words that we recite from memory. But just as the doves, of which it is written: Ephraim is like a dove without sense (Hosea 7:11); and just as in the Gospel, simplicity is set against the malice of serpents (Matthew 10): so in the present place, simplicity without prudence, which is close to foolishness, is shown in the meditation on words alone.
We roar like bears, all of us: and we moan like doves, meditating. We waited for judgment, and it does not come: for salvation, and it is far from us. LXX: They shall be like a bear and a dove walking together. We hoped for judgment, but there is none; salvation has far from us. He says, let us roar like bears, and let us moan like doves; that they may be equally cruel and miserable: fierce and savage towards the humble and submissive: fearful and trembling before those who are stronger, whom they dread like hawks. We also read in another place: Like a bear robbed of her cubs. And in Daniel, a bloody kingdom compared to the fiercest bears (2 Kings 17:8; Dan. 7). And, like doves, we groan, without sense and understanding of the Scriptures, only meditating on words that we recite from memory. But just as the doves, of which it is written: Ephraim is like a dove without sense (Hosea VII, 11); and just as in the Gospel, simplicity is set against the malice of serpents (Matthew X): so in the present place, simplicity without prudence, which is close to foolishness, is shown in the meditation on words alone. They will await judgment, and it will not come. Salvation is implied: they will wait and it will not come, because she has migrated far away to the nations. In this, it should be noted that everything is said in the future tense, so that what the Jews are now enduring is indicated.
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
Bear — A native of the mountain regions of Western Asia, frequently mentioned in Scripture. David defended his flocks against the attacks of a bear (1 Sam. 17:34-37). Bears came out of the wood and…
Dove — In their wild state doves generally build their nests in the clefts of rocks, but when domesticated “dove-cots” are prepared for them (Cant. 2:14; Jer. 48:28; Isa. 60:8). The dove was placed on the…
Backsliding · Guilt and consequences of — Guilt and consequences of
Bear · Ferocity of — Ferocity of
Bear, The · Growls when annoyed — Growls when annoyed
Conscience · GUILTY — GUILTY
Dove, The · Illustrative: Of mourners — Illustrative: Of mourners
Salvation · Is far off from the wicked — Is far off from the wicked
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).
John Calvin on Isaiah 59:11
We all roar like bears. He describes two classes of those who cannot silently endure their afflictions without making them known by external signs; for some howl fiercely, and others moan like doves. This latter metaphor was employed by him in describing the groans of Hezekiah, (Isaiah 38:14;) and this happens when we endeavor to restrain our grief, and yet cannot prevent the outward signs of grief from breaking out in spite of us. The meaning is, that sometimes the violence of their grief constrained them to utter loud cries, and sometimes they complained in low and murmuring sounds, but in both cases without avail, because their condition was not changed for the better.
We looked for judg…
In the second strophe the prophet includes himself when speaking of the people. They now mourn over that state of exhaustion into which they have been brought through the perpetual straining and disappointment of expectation, and confess those sins on account of which the righteousness and salvation of Jehovah have been withheld. The prophet is speaking communicatively here; for even the better portion of the nation was involved in the guilt and consequences of the corruption which prevailed among the exiles, inasmuch as a nation forms an organized whole, and the delay of redemption really affected them. "Therefore right remains far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope fo…
