Isaiah 59:4

"For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness."

Key Reflection

In Isaiah 59:4, the prophet directly confronts the Israelites, highlighting their moral failings and the consequences of their actions. The original audience would have recognized that "hands defiled with blood" referred to violence and murder, while "fingers with iniquity" pointed to smaller but no less serious sins like theft or deceit. The verses also accuse them of lying and spreading wickedness through speech, reflecting a society where hypocrisy and corruption were rampant. This critique underscores the need for spiritual renewal and justice among the people, emphasizing that their actions had alienated them from God's righteousness.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

None calleth for justice -Or rather, there is no one who brings a suit with justice; no one who goes into court for the purpose of obtaining justice. There is a love of litigation; a desire to take all the advantage which the law can give; a desire to appeal to the law, not for the sake of having strict justice done, but for the sake of doing injury to others, and to take some undue advantage. Nor any pleadeth for truth -Or, no one pleadeth with truth. He does not state the cause as it is. He makes use of cunning and falsehood to gain his cause. They trust in vanity -They confide in quirks and evasions rather than in the justice of their cause.

More from Isaiah 59

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