Isaiah 65:5

Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
say	הָאֹֽמְרִים֙ ha.'o.me.Rim	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
Stand	קְרַ֣ב ke.Rav	H7126	to approach (causatively · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
near	תִּגַּשׁ ti.gash-	H5066	to be or come (causatively · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
holier	קְדַשְׁתִּ֑יךָ ke.dash.Ti.cha	H6942	to be (causatively · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
smoke	עָשָׁ֣ן 'a.Shan	H6227	smoke · noun, common masculine singular absolute
nose	בְּאַפִּ֔י be.'a.Pi	H639	properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
fire	אֵ֥שׁ 'esh	H784	fire (literally or figuratively) · noun, common both genders singular absolute
burneth	יֹקֶ֖דֶת yo.Ke.det	H3344	to burn · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
day	הַיּֽוֹם hai.Yom	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · definite 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

Luke 18:9-12 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luke 7:39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and…
Proverbs 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
Luke 15:28-30 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
Romans 2:17-29 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
Deuteronomy 29:20 The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are writt…
Luke 5:30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
Deuteronomy 32:20-22 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 65:1-7

The apostle Paul (an expositor we may depend upon) has given us the true sense of these verses, and told us what was the event they pointed at and were fulfilled in, namely, the calling in of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews, by the preaching of the gospel, Rom 10:20, Rom 10:21. And he observes that herein Esaias is very bold, not only in foretelling a thing so improbable ever to be brought about, but in foretelling it to the Jews, who would take it as a gross affront to their nation, and therein Moses's words would be made good (Deu 32:21), I will provoke you to jealousy by those that are no people. I. It is here foretold that the Gentiles, who had been afar off, should be made ni…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 65:5

(Mat 9:11; Luk 5:30; Luk 18:11; Jde 1:19). Applicable to the hypocritical self-justifiers of our Lord's time. smoke--alluding to the smoke of their self-righteous sacrifices; the fire of God's wrath was kindled at the sight, and exhibited itself in the smoke that breathed forth from His nostrils; in Hebrew the nose is the seat of anger; and the nostrils distended in wrath, as it were, breathe forth smoke [ROSENMULLER] (Psa 18:8).

Adam Clarke on Isaiah 65:5

For I am holier than thou - So the Chaldee renders it. קדשתיך kedashticha is the same with קדשתי ממך kadashti mimmecha. In the same manner חזקתני chazaktani, Jer 20:7, is used for חזקת ממני chazacta mimmenni, "thou art stronger than I." - L.

John Gill on Isaiah 65:5

Which say, stand by thyself, &c. According to Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi, these are the unclean persons that did the above things; who say to the righteous, "draw near to thyself" (p); so the words are, go to thine own place, or to thine own company: and come not near to me; keep off at a distance, as unworthy of such company: for I am holier than thou; but this is the language of a self-righteous man, of a Pharisee that strictly observed the rituals of the law; and fitly describes such who lived in the times of Christ; and exactly agrees with the characters of such, who not only would have no dealings with the Samaritans, but washed themselves when they came from market, or any public…

The Church Fathers

Here is the power that avenges. It is said that he, hearing these things, is minded to comfort us in our ignorance. For since the memory is maintained for us from writings of actions in the past that encourage us to remember and almost bring to life in our minds those actions of long ago, this is what he teaches. Now all these things are known to God and before they happened. They were already in his mind.
— Theodore of Heraclea, FRAGMENTS ON ISAIAH

So insofar as they say, "Do not touch me, because I am pure," they are like this Pharisee who had invited the Lord and who thought [the Lord] did not know the woman, just because he had not stopped her touching his feet. But in another respect the Pharisee is better, in that while he thought Christ was only a man, he did not believe that sins could be forgiven by a man. So the Jews appear to have a better understanding than the heretics. What did the Jews say? "Who is this who even forgives sins?" Does a mere man have the audacity to claim this for himself?" What … does the heretic say? "I forgive, I cleanse, I sanctify."
— Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 99:8

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

Cattle — Abounded in the Holy Land. To the rearing and management of them the inhabitants chiefly devoted themselves (Deut. 8:13; 12:21; 1 Sam. 11:5; 12:3; Ps. 144:14; Jer. 3:24). They may be classified as,…
Bigotry · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Condescension Of God · Expostulates with backsliding Israel — Expostulates with backsliding Israel
Contempt · Self-righteous prompts to — Self-righteous prompts to
Fire · Illustrative of: The self-righteous — Illustrative of: The self-righteous
Heathen · Pious people among — Pious people among
Hypocrisy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Hypocrites · Described as: Self-righteous — Described as: Self-righteous
Jews, The · National character of: Self-righteous — National character of: Self-righteous
Presumption · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Self-Righteousness · 2:9; — 2:9;

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 65:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 65:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 65:5

Adam Clarke on Isaiah 65:5

John Gill on Isaiah 65:5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 65:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 65:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 65:5

Adam Clarke on Isaiah 65:5

John Gill on Isaiah 65:5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Isaiah 65:5

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 65:3-5

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 65:5

Rashi on Isaiah 65:5