Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
Parallel Translations
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Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
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Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
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Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards; they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
Cross-references (27)
Passages linked to Isaiah 1:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Micah 7:3 Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.
- Exodus 23:8 “You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.
- Zechariah 7:10 Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’
- Luke 18:2-5 saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man. A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’ He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’ ”
- Acts 4:5-11 In the morning, their rulers, elders, and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and as many as were relatives of the high priest. When they had stood Peter and John in the middle of them, they inquired, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, may it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands here before you whole in him. He is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’
- Isaiah 3:14 Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and their leaders: “It is you who have eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
- Isaiah 10:1-2 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees; to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
- Jeremiah 5:28-29 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy. “Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
- Malachi 3:5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Luke 19:46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”
- Deuteronomy 16:19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.
- 2 Chronicles 24:17-21 Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came, and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them. They abandoned the house of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and the idols, so wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness. Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again to Yahweh, and they testified against them; but they would not listen. The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, “God says, ‘Why do you disobey Yahweh’s commandments, so that you can’t prosper? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you.’ ” They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of Yahweh’s house.
- 2 Chronicles 36:14 Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted Yahweh’s house which he had made holy in Jerusalem.
- Proverbs 17:23 A wicked man receives a bribe in secret, to pervert the ways of justice.
- Proverbs 29:24 Whoever is an accomplice of a thief is an enemy of his own soul. He takes an oath, but dares not testify.
- Isaiah 33:15 He who walks righteously and speaks blamelessly, he who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil—
- Jeremiah 5:5 I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
- Jeremiah 22:17 But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”
- Ezekiel 22:6-12 “ ‘ “Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths. Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood. In you they have eaten on the mountains. They have committed lewdness among you. In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Daniel 9:5-6 we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances. We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
- Hosea 4:18 Their drink has become sour. They play the prostitute continually. Her rulers dearly love their shameful way.
- Hosea 7:3-5 They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. They are all adulterers. They are burning like an oven that the baker stops stirring, from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened. On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine. He joined his hand with mockers.
- Hosea 9:15 “All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house! I will love them no more. All their princes are rebels.
- Micah 3:1-3 I said, “Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn’t it for you to know justice? You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones; who also eat the flesh of my people, and peel their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as meat within the cauldron.
- Matthew 21:13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!”
- Mark 11:17 He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!”
- Micah 3:11 Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, they maintain the wicked and the extortioners:…
That is, they maintain the wicked and the extortioners: and not only do not punish them, but are themselves such.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 1:23 Thy princes [are] rebellious, and companions of…
Isa 1:23 Thy princes [are] rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
Ver. 23. Thy princes are rebellious.] Or, Revolters, apostates. There is an elegance in the original, such as this prophet is full of: Ac si dicas primi sunt pravi vel perversi. So saith Calvin here: Episcopi may be called Aposcopi, Cardinales Carnales vel Carpinales, carpet men; Canonici Cenonici, Praepositi praeposteri, &c. This note A Lapide is very angry at - et lapides loquitur.
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And companions of thieves.] While they not only suffered such to go unpunished, but also shared with them. {as Psa 50:18} Cato complained that in his time some thieves stood at the bar in cold irons, when others, and worse, sat on the bench with gold chains about their necks. The bold pirate told Alexander to his teeth that he was the arch-pirate of the world. And what shall we think of Pope Alexander, who, in 1505 AD, sent a bull of pardons for many, dispensing thereby with such as kept away, or by any fraud had gotten the goods of other men, which they should now retain still, without scruple of conscience, so as they paid a rateable portion thereof to his Holiness’s receivers? {a} And at this day Popish priests will absolve a thief of his wickedness, if they may have half with him of the stolen goods. {b}
Every one loveth gifts.] Not only taketh; although in taking also the Greek proverb saith, ουτε παντα, ουτε παντη, ουτε παρα παντων, great care and caution should be used. Olim didici quid sint munera, said a grave man. See Deu 16:19.
And followeth after rewards.] As a hunter his game, or a merchant his gain, or a martialist his enemy. Sectantur retributiones - i.e., Collidunt inter se indices, saith the Chaldee paraphrast: The judges conspire, saying one to another, Help thou me in judging against the poor, and I will do as much for thee another time.
They judge not the fatherless.] Because friendless, penniless. Sed pupillos laedere, est pupillam oculi Dei contingere.
Neither doth the cause of the widow come before them.] The widow cannot speak for herself (in the original she hath her name from dumbness), and hath no money to make room for her. Hence her cause is slighted.
{a} Speed, 992.
{b} Scultet. in loc.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Thy princes are rebellious against me, their sovereign Lord;…
Thy princes are rebellious against me, their sovereign Lord; they cast off my yoke, and make their own wills and lusts the rule of their life and government.
Companions of thieves; partly by giving them connivance and countenance, and receiving a recompence from them for it; and partly by practising the same violence, and cruelty, and injustice that thieves use.
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Loveth gifts, i.e. bribes given to pervert justice, which are severely forbidden, Deu 10:17; 27:25.
Followeth after rewards; pursuing them with all eagerness, and by all means possible.
They judge not the fatherless, & c.; they are so far from doing them justice, that they will not so much as give them a fair hearing of their cause, because they cannot make their way to them by gifts.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thy princes are rebellious,.... Stubborn and obstinate, refused to…
Thy princes are rebellious,.... Stubborn and obstinate, refused to receive and acknowledge the Messiah; such were the Jewish rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, in the times of Christ.
And companions of thieves: who devoured widows' houses; made the temple, which was a house of prayer, a den of thieves; and took away the key of knowledge from the people, and would not suffer them to attend the ministry of the Gospel, Mat 21:13.
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everyone loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards. The Targum paraphrases it,
"everyone says to his neighbour, do me a favour in my cause, I will return "it" to thee in thy cause;''
and so justice was perverted:
they judge not the fatherless; that is, either they do not take their cause in hand at all, or, if they do, do not do them justice, but wrong them of their goods and estates, which, of right, belong to them:
neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them; there being no money to be got by undertaking it; see the case of the unjust judge, a picture of judges in those times, Luk 18:2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Rebellious - Against me their sovereign Lord. Companions of…
Rebellious - Against me their sovereign Lord. Companions of thieves - Partly by giving them connivance and countenance, and partly by practicing the same violence, and cruelty, and injustice that thieves used to do. Gifts - That is, bribes given to pervert justice.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 23. Companions of thieves - "Associates"] The Septuagint,…
Verse 23. Companions of thieves - "Associates"] The Septuagint, Vulgate, and four MSS., read חברי chabrey without the conjunction ו vau.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Thy princes ... - This is an explanation of…
Thy princes ... - This is an explanation of the previous verse. Princes mean here those attached to the royal family; those who by rank, or office, had an influence over the people.
Rebellious - Against God. The corruption of a nation commonly begins with the rulers.
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Companions of thieves - That is, they connive at the doings of robbers; they do not bring them to justice; they are their accomplices, and are easily bribed to acquit them.
Every one loveth gifts - Every magistrate can be bribed.
Followeth afar rewards - רדף rodēph. This word denotes the act of pursuing after in order to obtain something; and means here that they made it an object to obtain rewards by selling or betraying justice They sell justice to the highest bidder. No more distressing condition of a people can be conceived than this, where justice could not be secured between man and man, and where the wicked could oppress the poor, the widow, and the orphan, as much as they pleased, because they knew they could bribe the judge.
They judge not - They do not render justice to; Isa 1:17. The Chaldee has well expressed the sense of a part of this verse: ‘They say, each one to his neighbor, Favour me in my judgment, or do me good in it, and I will recompense you in your cause.’
The cause of the widow come unto them - Or, rather, come before them. They would not take up her cause, but rather the cause of those who were esteemed able to offer a bribe, and from whom a gift might be expected, if a decision was made in their favor.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain companions of thieves--by connivance (Pro 29:24).
companions of thieves--by connivance (Pro 29:24).
gifts-- (Eze 22:12). A nation's corruption begins with its rulers.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 23. Thy princes are rebellious] In the Heb. a…
23. Thy princes are rebellious] In the Heb. a paronomasia, borrowed from Hos_9:15. The “princes” (sârîm) are the civil and military officials of the monarchical constitution, as distinguished from the zìqçnîm (sheikhs or elders) of the old tribal system. The charge brought against them is that as a class they are corrupted by systematic bribery. They are companions of thieves, conniving at extortion and receiving in return a share of the spoil. Hence the fatherless and widows, having no bribes to offer, can obtain no redress; they cannot even find access to the seat of judgment.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (23) Thy princes are rebellious.—The Hebrew words present an…
(23) Thy princes are rebellious.—The Hebrew words present an alliterative paronomasia (sârim, sôrerîm), which may be represented by “Thy rulers are rebels.” Here, as before, we note the “influence of Hosea (Hos_9:15), from whom the words are cited.
Companions of thieves.—We seem almost to be reading a report of the state of police in a provincial city under the government of Turkey as it is, or of Naples or Sicily as they were. The kadi himself is in secret partnership with the brigands who infest the highways. Nothing can be done without baksheesh, and the robbers who have the plunder can bribe more heavily than the man whom they have robbed. (Comp. Mic_7:3.) To the complaints of the widow and the orphan the judges turned a deaf ear, and put off the hearing of their cause with indefinite procrastination. There is, perhaps, a touch of irony in the word for “bribes” (shalmônîm, as if “peace gifts”), which were sought after, instead of shalôm, the true peace itself.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Thy princes are rebellious; i.e. "rebels against their true…
Thy princes are rebellious; i.e. "rebels against their true King, Jehovah." Companions of thieves. Leagued with those who are engaged in filching away the inheritance of the widow and the orphan by chicane in the law courts (see above, vers. 15-17; and compare the Homiletics on vers. 16-20). Gifts... rewards; i.e. "bribes, "given and taken on the condition of their perverting justice. (comp. Jer_22:17 Eze_22:12 Mic_3:11 Mic_7:3) They judge not the fatherless, etc. They dismiss the orphan"s complaint without hearing it, and are so noted for perversion of justice that the widow does not even bring her cause before them.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Thy princes are rebellious . . . everyone loveth…
Isa_1:23
Thy princes are rebellious . . . everyone loveth gifts
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Rebellious princes
Instead of suppressing rebellion, they were rebels themselves.
(J. A. Alexander.)
The rebellious princes
I. THE PROFIT OF THEIR PLACES IS ALL THEIR AIM. They love gifts, and follow after rewards; they set their hearts upon their salary, the fees and perquisites of their offices, and are greedy of them, and never think they can get enough. Presents and gratuities will blind their eyes at any time, and make them pervert judgment (Hos_4:18).
II. THE DUTY OF THEM PLACES IS NONE OF THEIR CARE. They ought to protect those that are injured, and take cognisance of the appeals made to them; why else were they preferred? But they judge not the fatherless, take no care to guard the orphans, nor doth the cause of the widow come unto them, because the poor widow has no bribe to give. Those will have a great deal to answer for, who when they should be the patrons of the oppressed are their greatest oppressors. (M. Henry.)
Audacious corruption
Catiline, being prosecuted for some great offence, corrupted the judges. When they had given their verdict, though he was acquitted only by a majority of two, he said he had put himself to a needless expense in bribing one of those judges, for it would have been sufficient to have had a majority of one. (Plutarch.)
Political corruption in England
The machinery of both sides [Whig and Tory] was unlimited bribery. The degradation of the briber was as great as that of the bribed. Berkeley writes in 1721:--This corruption has become a national crime, having infected the lowest as well as the highest amongst us. (Knights England.)
Francis Bacon
He was charged by the Commons before the Lords, with twenty-two acts of bribery and corruption. He attempted no defence. He made a distinct confession in writing of the charges brought against him. And when a deputation of peers asked if that confession was his own voluntary act, he replied: It is my act, my hand, my heart. O my lords, spare a broken reed. (Knights England.)
Corruption in the reign of James I.
It was an age of universal abuses. Local magistrates were influenced by the pettiest gifts, and were called basket justices. (Knights England.)
Corruption checked by Act of Parliament
[In 1275 Parliament enacted] that no kings officer should take any reward to do his office, such enactment being one of the many proofs of the inefficiency of law to restrain corruption; for within fourteen years there were only two judges out of fifteen who were not found guilty of the grossest extortions. (Knights England.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Isaiah speaks Yahweh's words to the people of Judah in the form of a poem. (See: Parallelism)
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Your princes are rebels
"Your leaders rebel against God"
companions of thieves
"they are friends with people who steal from others"
bribes ... payoffs
People give "bribes" as gifts to dishonest rulers so the rulers will then act unjustly. Rulers receive "payoffs" as gifts from those who make profits from unjust laws that the ruler has passed.
runs after payoffs
A person eagerly desiring for someone to give him a bribe is spoken of as if the payoff were running away and the person were running after it. AT: "everyone desires for someone to pay money to them to make dishonest decisions" (See: Metaphor)
They do not defend the fatherless
"they do not protect those who do not have fathers"
nor does the widow's legal plea come before them
"nor do they listen when widows go to them for help against those who break the law" or "and they do not help widows who go to them for help against those who break the law"
translationWords
prince
rebel
bribe
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.