Isaiah 59:7 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 59:7
Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
a foot (as used in walking) · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
run
יָרֻ֔צוּya.Ru.tzu
H7323
to run (for whatever reason · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
evil
לָרַ֣עla.Ra'
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · preposition with the article + adjective, masculine singular absolute
haste
וִֽימַהֲר֔וּvi.ma.ha.Ru
H4116
properly · conjunction + verb, piel, 3rd person masculine plural
shed
לִשְׁפֹּ֖ךְlish.Pokh
H8210
to spill forth (blood · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
innocent
נָקִ֑יna.Ki
H5355
innocent · adjective, masculine singular absolute
blood
דָּ֣םdam
H1818
blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or… · noun, common masculine singular absolute
thoughts
מַחְשְׁבֽוֹתֵיהֶם֙mach.she.vo.tei.Hem
H4284
a contrivance · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
thoughts
מַחְשְׁב֣וֹתmach.she.Vot
H4284
a contrivance · noun, common feminine plural construct
iniquity
אָ֔וֶן'A.ven
H205
strictly nothingness · noun, common masculine singular absolute
wasting
שֹׁ֥דshod
H7701
violence · noun, common masculine singular absolute
destruction
וָשֶׁ֖בֶרva.She.ver
H7667
a fracture · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
paths
בִּמְסִלּוֹתָֽםbim.si.lo.Tam
H4546
a thoroughfare (as turnpiked) · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
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
Proverbs 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Proverbs 1:16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Mark 7:21-22 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Proverbs 15:26 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.
Proverbs 24:9 The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.
Isaiah 59:3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
Isaiah 60:18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy ga…
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…
feet--All their members are active in evil; in Isa 59:3, the "hands, fingers, lips, and tongue," are specified.
run . . . haste-- (Rom 3:15). Contrast David's "running and hasting" in the ways of God (Psa 119:32, Psa 119:60).
thoughts--not merely their acts, but their whole thoughts.
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 59:7
Their feet run to evil,.... Make haste to commit all manner of sin, and particularly that which follows, with great eagerness and swiftness, taking delight and pleasure therein, and continuing in it; it is their course of life. The words seem to be taken out of Proverbs 1:16 and are quoted with the following by the Apostle Paul, Romans 3:15 to prove the general corruption of mankind:
and they make haste to shed innocent blood: in wars abroad or at home, in quarrels and riots, or through the heat of persecution; which if it does not directly touch men's lives, yet issues in the death of many that fall under the power of it; and which persecutors are very eager and hasty in the prosecution of…
The Church Fathers
They sin with all parts of the body, through hands, feet, tongue. But it is the life inside their minds that sins before all of these once it has fallen into imprudence, so that it cannot recognize the peace that is at hand.
(V. 7, 8.) Their deeds are useless deeds: and the work of iniquity is in their hands. Their feet run towards evil: and they hasten to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are worthless thoughts: destruction and ruin are in their ways. They have not known the way of peace: and there is no justice in their steps. Their paths are crooked for them: whoever walks on them does not know peace. LXX: For their deeds are the deeds of iniquity: and their feet run towards malice. They are swift to shed innocent blood, and their thoughts are the thoughts of fools. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and they do not know the way of peace. There is no justice in their ways. Their paths are twisted and they do not know peace. Therefore, their deeds are not hidden, for their actions are the works of wickedness, which the Apostle calls unfruitful, that is, having no fruit (Ephesians 5). And their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood (Prov. 1). For they also had the custom of killing the prophets. To whom Stephen was speaking: Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted (Acts 7:52)? And the Lord in the Gospel: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you (Matt. 23:37); and again: On you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar (Ibid., 35). And it is said above to them: Your hands are polluted with blood: and your tongue speaks wickedness (Isaiah 1:15). And through this meditation of cruelty and blasphemy, they came to the death of the Lord. Likewise, Judas came to murder through the path of greed, rather sacrilege coupled with greed. And what follows: Their thoughts are the thoughts of foolish ones: destruction and unhappiness are in their ways, and they have not known the way of peace. And above: Their feet are swift to shed blood, the Apostle placed in Romans (Ch. III): which many ignorant people think is taken from the thirteenth psalm, which verses are added in the Vulgate edition and are not found in Hebrew. We have spoken more fully about this at the beginning of this volume. But those who have refused to accept its author have rightly ignored the way of peace. For he himself is our peace, who speaks to the Apostles: Peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you (John…
Dictionary and topics
Character Of The Wicked · Destructive — Destructive
Homicide · 24:22; — 24:22;
Malice · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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).
Their feet run to evil. In various ways he paints to us the picture of what may be called extreme wickedness; that is, when men, having shaken off and cast away from them the fear of God, throw themselves into every kind of wickedness, and break out into all cruelty, extortion, and outrage. He says that they run, because they are eager and hasten with excessive keenness to evil actions. Having formerly spoken of the "hands" and the "tongues," he likewise adds the feet, in order to show that they are proficients [135] in every kind of villainy, and that there is no part of their body that is entirely free from crime. Some are violent, but restrain their tongues. [136] Others resemble harpies,…
This evil doing of theirs rises even to hatred, the very opposite of that love which is well-pleasing to God. "Their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness; wasting and destruction are in their paths." Paul has interwoven this passage into his description of the universal corruption of morals, in Rom 3:15-17. The comparison of life to a road, and of a man's conduct to walking, is very common in proverbial sayings. The prophet has here taken from them both his simile and his expressions. We may see from Isa 59:7, that during the captivity the true believers were persecuted even to death by their countrymen, who had forgotten God. The…
Paul quotes from these verses in his description of the depravity of all people (Rom 3:15-17). • Misery and destruction: The people lamented being victims of oppression (Isa 51:19), yet they were oppressors themselves.
Rashi on Isaiah 59:5
vipers a species of harmful snake.
hatched Heb. בִּקְּעוּ, eskloterant in O.F. That is to say that they committed ugly deeds, from which they did not benefit.
and...spider webs Irajjne in O.F., spider, and קוּרֵי is ordiojjrs in O.F., warp. קוּרֵי are the implements of the weaver, those upon which the warp is mounted. Menahem (Machbereth Menahem p. 158) classifies it in the class of קוֹרוֹת, beams, since the spider mounts the warp of his weavings on beams.
and what hatches Heb. וְהַזּוּרֶה. Jonathan renders: וּמְשַׁחְנָן, an expression of warming, called in O.F. kover [couve], hatching when one warms them, it emerges from them when he cracks the shell. The original meaning of וְהַזּוּרֶה…
