Isaiah 59:17 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 59:17
For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
righteousness
צְדָקָה֙tze.da.Kah
H6666
rightness (abstractly) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
breastplate
כַּשִּׁרְיָ֔ןka.shir.Yan
H8302
a corslet (as if twisted) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
helmet
וְכ֥וֹבַעve.Khoa'
H3553
a helmet (as arched) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
salvation
יְשׁוּעָ֖הye.shu.'Ah
H3444
something saved · noun, common feminine singular absolute
head
בְּרֹאשׁ֑וֹbe.ro.Sho
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
on
וַיִּלְבַּ֞שׁvai.yil.Bash
H3847
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
garments
בִּגְדֵ֤יbig.Dei
H899
a covering · noun, common masculine plural construct
vengeance
נָקָם֙na.Kam
H5359
revenge · noun, common masculine singular absolute
clothing
תִּלְבֹּ֔שֶׁתtil.Bo.shet
H8516
a garment · noun, common feminine singular absolute
clad
וַיַּ֥עַטvai.Ya.'at
H5844
to wrap · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
zeal
קִנְאָֽהkin.'Ah
H7068
jealousy or envy · noun, common feminine singular absolute
cloke
כַּמְעִ֖ילkam.'Il
H4598
a robe (i.e. upper and outer garment) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
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
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
1 Thessalonians 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
Romans 13:12-14 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Isaiah 11:5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
Hebrews 10:30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
Job 29:14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.
Isaiah 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Ra…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 59:16–end
How sin abounded we have read, to our great amazement, in the former part of the chapter; how grace does much more abound we read in these verses. And, as sin took occasion from the commandment to become more exceedingly sinful, so grace took occasion from the transgression of the commandment to appear more exceedingly gracious. Observe,
I. Why God wrought salvation for this provoking people, notwithstanding their provocations. It was purely for his own name's sake; because there was nothing in them either to bring it about, or to induce him to bring it about for them, no merit to deserve it, no might to effect it, he would do it himself, would be exalted in his own strength, for his own glo…
Messiah is represented as a warrior armed at all points, going forth to vindicate His people. Owing to the unity of Christ and His people, their armor is like His, except that they have no "garments of vengeance" (which is God's prerogative, Rom 12:19), or "cloak of zeal" (in the sense of judicial fury punishing the wicked; this zeal belongs properly to God, Kg2 10:16; Rom 10:2; Phi 3:6; "zeal," in the sense of anxiety for the Lord's honor, they have, Num 25:11, Num 25:13; Psa 69:9; Co2 7:11; Co2 9:2); and for "salvation," which is of God alone (Psa 3:8), they have as their helmet, "the hope of salvation" (Th1 5:8). The "helmet of salvation" is attributed to them (Eph 6:14, Eph 6:17) in a se…
For clothing "For his clothing" - תלבשת tilbosheth. "I cannot but think that this word, תלבשת tilbosheth, is an interpolation.
1. It is in no one ancient version.
2. It is redundant in the sense, as it is before expressed in בגדי bigdey.
3. It makes the hemistich just so much longer than it ought to be, if it is compared with the others adjoining.
4. It makes a form of construction in this clause less elegant than that in the others.
5. It might probably be in some margin a various reading for בגדי bigdey, and thence taken into the text.
This is more probable, as its form is such as it would be if it were in regimine, as it must be before נקם nakam." - Dr. Jubb. Two sorts of armor are mentio…
The Church Fathers
[Isaiah] says that God shares salvation, which is exchanged for repentance and understanding with those deserving, who put on righteousness just as if it were their garment. He says nothing less than that God is girded with the righteous deeds of human beings, just like body and head armor. Such things are said with reference to God to enthuse the listeners and to raise up their thoughts as being those capable of becoming the garment of God and so sharing his righteousness.
But God has strengthened him with his arm and righteousness, and confirmed him with mercy, so that those who desire to turn from error may be saved not by their own merit, but by God's mercy. Finally, he has put on the armor of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation, and the garments of vengeance, and has wrapped himself in the cloak of zeal. Thus, armed, he has gone forth to battle, to exact vengeance upon his enemies. Without a doubt, this signifies the Jews, who persist in blasphemies, and the Roman army surrounding their enemies. When they are conquered, the Lord is shown to have fought. Paul used this testimony when writing to the Ephesians, and wanting us to put on the armor of Christ, by which we may be able to resist the fiery darts of the devil. And this is not found in the Septuagint: He will repay the islands, that is, he means the cities of Judea, which the Roman army devastated. For also above, the Lord speaks to the inhabitants of the island, that is, to Jerusalem, through the Prophet.
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
Armour — Is employed in the English Bible to denote military equipment, both offensive and defensive. (1.) The offensive weapons were different at different periods of history. The “rod of iron” (Ps. 2:9) is…
Breastplate — (1.) That piece of ancient armour that protected the breast. This word is used figuratively in Eph. 6:14 and Isa. 59:17. (See ARMOUR.) (2.) An ornament covering the breast of the high priest, first…
Cloak — An upper garment, “an exterior tunic, wide and long, reaching to the ankles, but without sleeves” (Isa. 59:17). The word so rendered is elsewhere rendered “robe” or “mantle.” It was worn by the high…
Coat of mail — The rendering of a Hebrew word meaning “glittering” (1 Sam. 17:5, 38). The same word in the plural form is translated “habergeons” in 2 Chr. 26:14 and Neh. 4:16. The “harness” (1 Kings 22:34),…
Harness — (1.) Heb. ‘asar, “to bind;” hence the act of fastening animals to a cart (1 Sam. 6:7, 10; Jer. 46:4, etc.). (2.) An Old English word for “armour;” Heb. neshek (2 Chr. 9:24). (3.) Heb. shiryan, a coat…
Breastplate · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Helmet · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Righteousness · Christ: Put on, as breast-plate — Christ: Put on, as breast-plate
Salvation · .A helmet — .A helmet
Soldiers · .Of the divine protection — .Of the divine protection
Zeal, Religious · EXEMPLIFIE — EXEMPLIFIE
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 he put on righteousness as a breastplate,.... Here the Lord is represented as a warrior clothed with armour, and as Christ is, and as he will appear in the latter day on the behalf of his people, and against their enemies, who is called faithful and true, and in righteousness will make war, Revelation 19:11, he will proceed according to justice and equity in righting the wrongs and avenging the injuries of his people; and both in saving them, and destroying their enemies, he will secure the honour of his faithfulness and justice, and the credit of his name and character; which will be preserved by his conduct, as the breast and inward parts are by the breastplate:
and an helmet of salva…
And he put on righteousness as a coat of mail. Here he equips God with his armor, for the purpose both of confirming more and more the confidence of believers, and of stripping all men of all confidence in their own strength. The meaning of the verse amounts to this, that God is in want of nothing for discomfiting his enemies and gaining the victory; because from his righteousness, power, and grace, and from his ardent love of his people, he will make for himself panoplian complete armor. And this is again worthy of remark; for, although we acknowledge that God is sufficiently powerful, yet we are not satisfied with it, but at. the same time seek other help. Thus our minds are always incline…
The confession of personal sins is followed by that of the sinful state of society. "And right is forced back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth has fallen in the market-place, and honesty finds no admission. And truth became missing, and he who avoids evil is outlawed." In connection with mishpât and tsedâqâh here, we have not to think of the manifestation of divine judgment and justice which is prevented from being realized; but the people are here continuing the confession of their own moral depravity. Right has been forced back from the place which it ought to occupy (hissı̄g is the word applied in the law to the removal of boundaries), and righteousness has to look from af…
