Isaiah 63:17 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 63:17
O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
to vacillate · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
ways
מִדְּרָכֶ֔יךָmi.de.ra.Khei.kha
H1870
a road (as trodden) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
hardened
תַּקְשִׁ֥יחַtak.Shi.ach
H7188
to be (causatively · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
heart
לִבֵּ֖נוּli.Be.nu
H3820
the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
fear
מִיִּרְאָתֶ֑ךָmi.yir.'a.Te.kha
H3374
fear (also used as infinitive) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Return
שׁ֚וּבShuv
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
servants’
עֲבָדֶ֔יךָ'a.va.Dei.kha
H5650
a servant · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
tribes
שִׁבְטֵ֖יshiv.Tei
H7626
a scion · noun, common masculine plural construct
inheritance
נַחֲלָתֶֽךָna.cha.la.Te.kha
H5159
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd 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
Isaiah 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,…
Joshua 11:20 For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that…
Ezekiel 14:7-9 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his ido…
Deuteronomy 2:30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he migh…
Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their he…
Numbers 10:36 And when it rested, he said, Return, O LORD, unto the many thousands of Israel.
Psalms 90:13 Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
John 12:40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be conv…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 63:15–end
The foregoing praises were intended as an introduction to this prayer, which is continued to the end of the next chapter, and it is an affectionate, importunate, pleading prayer. It is calculated for the time of the captivity. As they had promises, so they had prayers, prepared for them against that time of need, that they might take with them words in turning to the Lord, and say unto him what he himself taught them to say, in which they might the better hope to prevail, the words being of God's own inditing. Some good interpreters think this prayer looks further, and that it expresses the complaints of the Jews under their last and final rejection from God and destruction by the Romans; fo…
made us to err--that is, "suffer" us to err and to be hardened in our heart. They do not mean to deny their own blameworthiness, but confess that through their own fault God gave them over to a reprobate mind (Isa 6:9-10; Psa 119:10; Rom 1:28).
Return-- (Num 10:36; Psa 90:13).
Adam Clarke on Isaiah 63:17
Why hast thou made us to err - A mere Hebraism, for why hast thou permitted us to err. So, Lead us not into temptation; do not suffer us to fall into that to which we are tempted.
John Gill on Isaiah 63:17
O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear?.... These are the words, not of wicked men among the Jews, charging all their errors, hardness of heart, and wickedness they were guilty of, upon the Lord, as if he was the author and occasion of them, and led them into them; but of the truly godly, lamenting and confessing their wandering from the ways, commands, and ordinances of God, the hardness of their hearts; their want of devotion and affection for God; and their neglect of his worship; not blaming him for these things, or complaining of him as having done anything amiss or wrong; but expostulating with him, and wondering at it, that he, who was…
The Church Fathers
Is not sin also punishment for sin?… We can recount many other events clearly showing that perversity of heart comes from a hidden judgment of God, with the result that a refusal to hear the truth leads to commission of sin, and this sin is also punishment for preceding sin.
Behold how a person is hardened if he does not merit to be chastised by the Lord for his correction? Moreover, what is written concerning those whom God's mercy does not even allow to become hardened? "God scourges every child whom he receives"; … and again, "For whom God loves he reproves." Concerning this hardening the prophet also exclaims to the Lord in the person of the people, "Why do you harden our hearts that we fear you not?" Surely this is nothing else than, You have abandoned our heart, that we should be converted to you.
Your great tolerance encouraged our shamelessness. When you did not punish our sins, we remained transgressors, disregarding your laws. In the same sense, God said to the blessed Moses, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart." He used his great forbearance and tolerance and punishes Pharaoh only with frogs and locusts and flies to begin with, and Pharaoh thought that God could not increase the level of punishment.… You have been patient for a long time; you have not disciplined us, seeing us transgressing without a care; we have accordingly hardened our hearts and as a consequence left the straight path.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Why didst thou cause as to wander, O Jehovah, from thy ways? Because these modes of expression appear to be rough and harsh, some think that unbelievers are here introduced as murmuring against God and uttering blasphemies, with the rage and obstinacy of men who are in a state of despair. But the connection in which these words occur does not at all admit of that interpretation; for the Prophet points out the fruit that would result from the calamities and afflictions of the Jews, because, having been subdued and tamed, they no longer are fierce or indulge in their vices. They are therefore ashamed that in time past they departed so far from the right way, and they acknowledge their own faul…
But the in the existing state of things there was a contrast which put their faith to a severe test. "O Jehovah, why leadest Thou us astray from Thy ways, hardenest our heart, so as not to fear Thee? Return for Thy servants' sake, the tribes of Thine inheritance." When men have scornfully and obstinately rejected the grace of God, God withdraws it from them judicially, gives them up to their wanderings, and makes their heart incapable of faith (hiqshı̄ăch, which only occurs again in Job 39:16, is here equivalent to hiqshâh in Psa 95:8; Deu 2:30). The history of Israel from Isa 6:1-13 onwards has been the history of such a gradual judgment of hardening, and such a curse, eating deeper and d…
The prophet understands that God has the power to keep his people faithful, so he asks, why have you allowed us to turn from your path? • Return and help us: God likewise has the power to call his people back to himself (Ezek 36:25-27) and to defeat all their enemies.
Rashi on Isaiah 63:17
Why do You lead us astray Since You have the power to remove the evil inclination, as it is said (Jer. 18:6): “Like clay in the potter’s hand.” Scripture states elsewhere (Ezekiel 36:26): “And I will remove the heart of stone, etc.”
You harden Heb. תַּקְשִׁיחַ, an expression of hardening the heart.
