Isaiah 59:4

None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
calleth	קֹרֵ֣א ko.Re'	H7121	to call out to (i.e. properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
justice	בְצֶ֔דֶק ve.Tze.dek	H6664	the right (natural · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
pleadeth	נִשְׁפָּ֖ט nish.Pat	H8199	to judge · verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
truth	בֶּאֱמוּנָ֑ה be.'e.mu.Nah	H530	literally firmness · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
trust	בָּט֤וֹחַ ba.To.ach	H982	figuratively · verb, qal infinitive absolute
vanity	תֹּ֙הוּ֙ to.hu	H8414	a desolation (of surface) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
speak	וְדַבֶּר ve.da.ber-	H1696	perhaps properly · conjunction + verb, piel infinitive construct
lies	שָׁ֔וְא Shav'	H7723	evil (as destructive) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
conceive	הָר֥וֹ ha.Ro	H2029	to be (or become) pregnant · verb, qal infinitive absolute
mischief	עָמָ֖ל 'a.Mal	H5999	toil · noun, common both genders singular absolute
forth	וְהוֹלֵ֥יד ve.ho.Leid	H3205	to bear young · conjunction + verb, hiphil infinitive absolute
iniquity	אָֽוֶן 'A.ven	H205	strictly nothingness · 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

Job 15:35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
Micah 7:2-5 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brot…
James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Jeremiah 7:4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
Jeremiah 7:8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Proverbs 4:16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
Isaiah 30:12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
Isaiah 59:16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteou…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 59:1-8

The prophet here rectifies the mistake of those who had been quarrelling with God because they had not the deliverances wrought for them which they had been often fasting and praying for, Isa 58:3. Now here he shows, I. That it was not owing to God. They had no reason to lay the fault upon him that they were not saved out of the hands of their enemies; for, 1. He was still as able to help as ever: His hand is not shortened, his power is not at all lessened, straitened, or abridged. Whether we consider the extent of his power or the efficacy of it, God can reach as far as ever and with as strong a hand as ever. Note, The church's salvation comes from the hand of God, and that has not waxed we…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 59:4

Rather, "No one calleth an adversary into court with justice," that is, None bringeth a just suit: "No one pleadeth with truth." they trust . . . iniquity--(So Job 15:35; Psa 7:14).

Adam Clarke on Isaiah 59:4

They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity - There is a curious propriety in this mode of expression; a thought or purpose is compared to conception; a word or act, which is the consequence of it, to the birth of a child. From the third to the fifteenth verse inclusive may be considered a true statement of the then moral state of the Jewish people; and that they were, in the most proper sense of the word, guilty of the iniquities with which they are charged.

John Gill on Isaiah 59:4

None calleth for justice,.... Or, "righteousness"; not for civil justice in courts of judicature, as if there were no advocates for it there; or that put those in mind of it, to whom the administration of it belongs; or that see to put the laws against sin in execution, and to relieve those that are oppressed; though of this there may be just cause of complaint in some places: but there are none or few that call for evangelical righteousness, either that preach it, proclaim and publish it to others; even the righteousness of Christ, the grand doctrine of the Gospel, which is therein revealed from faith to faith; so the Syriac version, "there is none that preacheth righteously"; or "in", or "…

The Church Fathers

Now those who meditate evil, we say, do not [think] truth but falsehood, and not righteousness but iniquity, for their tongue learns to speak lies. They have done evil and have not ceased that they might repent. For, persevering with delight in wicked actions, they hasten thereto without turning back, even treading under foot the commandment with regard to neighbors, and instead of loving them, they devise evil against them, as the saint testifies, saying, "And those who seek my evil have spoken vanity and imagined deceit all the day." But that the cause of such meditation is none other than the lack of instruction the divine proverb has already declared: "The son who forsakes the commandment of his father meditates evil words." But such meditation, because it is evil, the Holy Spirit blames in these words and reproves too in other terms, saying, "Your hands are polluted with blood, your fingers with sins, your lips have spoken lawlessness, and your tongue imagines iniquity: no one speaks right things, nor is there true judgment." But what the end is of such perverse imagining, he immediately declares, saying, "They trust in vanities and speak falsehood, for they conceive mischief and bring forth lawlessness."
— Athanasius of Alexandria, FESTAL LETTERS 11:4

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

Character Of The Wicked · Lying — Lying
Falsehood · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Justice · The wicked: Call not for — The wicked: Call not for
Malice · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Truth · .Plead not for — .Plead not for

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 59:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 59:1-8

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 59:4

Adam Clarke on Isaiah 59:4

John Gill on Isaiah 59:4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 59:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 59:1-8

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 59:4

Adam Clarke on Isaiah 59:4

John Gill on Isaiah 59:4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Isaiah 59:4

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 59:4-6

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 59:4

Rashi on Isaiah 59:3