For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.
Parallel Translations
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For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.
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For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
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For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of His place to visit upon the inhabitants of the earth their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
Cross-references (21)
Passages linked to Isaiah 26:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 13:11 I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will humble the arrogance of the terrible.
- Jude 1:14-15 About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
- Revelation 6:9-11 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.
- Job 16:18 “Earth, don’t cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest.
- Isaiah 18:4 For Yahweh said to me, “I will be still, and I will see in my dwelling place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
- Micah 1:3-8 For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place. “All this is for the disobedience of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the disobedience of Jacob? Isn’t it Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Aren’t they Jerusalem? Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field, like places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down its stones into the valley, and I will uncover its foundations. All her idols will be beaten to pieces, and all her temple gifts will be burned with fire, and all her images I will destroy; for of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, and to the hire of a prostitute shall they return.” For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls.
- Numbers 35:32-33 “ ‘You shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land before the death of the priest. “ ‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.
- Revelation 16:6 For they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this.”
- Genesis 4:10-11 Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground. Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
- Psalms 50:2-3 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines out. Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him.
- Isaiah 30:12-14 Therefore the Holy One of Israel says, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. He will break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there won’t be found among the broken pieces a piece good enough to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
- Ezekiel 8:6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you will again see yet other great abominations.”
- Ezekiel 9:3-6 The glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house; and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side. Yahweh said to him, “Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” To the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him, and strike. Don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity. Kill utterly the old man, the young man, the virgin, little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” Then they began at the old men who were before the house.
- Ezekiel 24:7-8 “ ‘ “For her blood is in the middle of her. She set it on the bare rock. She didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust. That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered.”
- Luke 11:40 You foolish ones, didn’t he who made the outside make the inside also?
- Luke 11:50 that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
- 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus, who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
- Ezekiel 10:3-5 Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. Yahweh’s glory mounted up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh’s glory. The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
- Ezekiel 10:18-19 Yahweh’s glory went out from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. The cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went out, with the wheels beside them. Then they stood at the door of the east gate of Yahweh’s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
- Hosea 5:14-15 For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver. I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”
- Revelation 18:24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The earth shall vomit and cast out the innocent…
The earth shall vomit and cast out the innocent blood, which it hath drunk, that it may cry for vengeance against the wicked.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 26:21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of…
Isa 26:21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
Ver. 21. For, behold.] This is as a crier to prepare attention.
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The Lord cometh out of his place.] Here God compareth himself to a prince upon his throne, who goeth from his place of state into countries to quiet mutinies and rebellions among his people.
The earth also shall disclose her blood.] Murder shall out; oppression, whether by force or fraud, shall be certainly and severely punished. See Job 16:8. See an instance hereof in leviathan, Isa 27:1. Whether you understand it of the devil, that old man slayer, as many ancients do, or else the kings of the nations, and especially of the Turks, as some Rabbis.
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 Cometh out of his place; cometh down from heaven;…
Cometh out of his place; cometh down from heaven; which God in Scripture is frequently said to do, when he undertaketh any great and glorious work, either of delivering his people, or of destroying their enemies. The speech is borrowed from the manner of princes, who come out of their palaces either to sit in judgment, or to fight against their enemies, which is the case here.
The inhabitants of the earth; all the enemies of God and of his people; for these are here opposed to God’s people. Therefore take heed you be not found in the number of them.
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The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain; the innocent blood which hath been spilled upon the earth shall be brought to light, and shall be severely revenged upon the murderers. For the phrase, see on Gen 4:10; Job 16:18; Eze 24:7.
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 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place,....…
For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place,.... God, as omnipresent, is everywhere, and cannot be properly said to quit one place, and go to another; but as heaven is the seat of his majesty, and where he more manifestly displays his glory, when he is said to do anything remarkable on earth, he is said to come out of his place, and come down thither, Mic 1:3 especially in the exertion of his power and justice, in a way of punishment of sin; which is his act, his strange act; and comes off from his throne of grace and mercy, in which he delights: the allusion is to a king leaving his throne and palace, to go forth against an enemy abroad, or to quell and punish rebellious subjects: some reference may be had to the Lord's dwelling in the temple secretly, in the inward part of it, and coming out from thence in the display of his perfections, as Calvin thinks; with which may be compared Rev 14:15,
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; not the same as in Isa 26:10 for those are distinguished from the Lord's people; but carnal, worldly, and earthly men, particularly the followers of antichrist, called the inhabiters of the earth, who have committed fornication with the whore of Rome, Rev 17:2 these the Lord will punish for their iniquity; for he punishes none but for sin, even for their idolatries, adulteries, sorceries, thefts, and murders, particularly their shedding of innocent blood, as follows; and therefore their punishment will be just, God will remember their iniquities, and retaliate; see Rev 9:20,
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the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain; when God shall make inquisition for blood, the blood of all his saints and prophets will be found in mystical Babylon, and what was hid and covered, or thought to be so, will now be discerned, and brought to light, and just punishment inflicted for it, Rev 18:24 unless this should rather denote the great effusion of blood and carnage that will be made, so that the earth will not be able to drink it in, and the slain will lie unburied on it; see Rev 11:13. The Targum favours the former sense,
"and the earth shall reveal the innocent blood that is shed on it, and shall no more cover her slain.''
Next: Isaiah Chapter 27
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 Cometh - Cometh down from heaven. To punish -…
Cometh - Cometh down from heaven. To punish - All the enemies of God, and of his people. Her slain - The innocent blood which hath been spilled upon the earth shall be brought to light, and severely revenged upon the murderers.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. The earth also shall disclose her blood]…
Verse 21. The earth also shall disclose her blood] Crimes of cruelty and oppression, which have passed away from the eyes of men, God will bring into judgment, and exact punishment for them. O what a reckoning will the kingdoms of the earth have with God, for the torrents of blood which they have shed for the gratification of the lust of power and ambition! Who shall live when he doeth this?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place…
For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place - That is, from heaven, which is the dwelling-place or residence of God Psa 115:3; Eze 3:12; Mic 1:3. When God executes vengeance, he is represented as coming from his abode, his dwelling-place, his capitol, as a monarch goes forth to war to destroy his foes.
To punish the inhabitants of the earth - The land of Chaldea, or of Babylon.
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The earth also shall disclose her blood - Blood, in the Scriptures, often denotes “guilt.” The sense here is, that the land of Chaldea would reveal its guilt; that is, the punishment which God would inflict would be a revelation of the crimes of the nation. There is a resemblance here to the language which was used respecting the blood of Abel, Gen 4:10 : ‘The voice of thy brother’s blood (Hebrew as here, “bloods”) crieth unto me from the ground.
And shall no more cover her slain - Shall no more be able to conceal its guilt in slaying the people of God. By these hopes, the Jews were to be comforted in their calamity; and no doubt this song was penned by Isaiah long before that captivity, in order that, in the midst of their protracted and severe trials, they might be consoled with the hope of deliverance, and might know what to do when the storms of war should rage around the place of their captivity, and when the proud city was to fall. They were not to mingle in the strife; were to take no part with either their foes or their deliverers; but were to be calm, gentle, peaceful, and to remember that all this was to effect their deliverance. Compare Exo 14:13-14 : ‘Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh; Yahweh shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.’ There are times when the children of God should look calmly on the conflicts of the people of this world. They should mingle with neither party, for they should remember that Yahweh presides over these agitations, and that their ultimate end is to bring deliverance to his church, and to advance the interests of his kingdom on the earth. Then they should be mild, gentle, prayerful; and should look up to God to make all these agitations and strifes the means of advancing the interests of his kingdom.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Shall cover her stain no more. This is said…
Shall cover her stain no more. This is said with relation to the martyrs, and their happy resurrection. (Challoner) --- The blood of the saints shall demand vengeance. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Mic 1:3; Jde 1:14).
(Mic 1:3; Jde 1:14).
disclose . . . blood-- (Gen 4:10-11; Job 16:18; Eze 24:7-8). All the innocent blood shed, and all other wrongs done, so long seemingly with impunity, shall then be avenged (Rev 16:6).
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At the time when Israel shall be delivered, and the ungodly nations punished, God shall punish also the great enemy of the Church.
Next: Isaiah Chapter 27
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 21. Out of his place — The Hebrew idea…
21. Out of his place — The Hebrew idea of God’s residence, namely, the heavens; an idea simple, childlike, unmetaphysical as to the divine infinitude.
Inhabitants of the earth — Such were the people of the lands, belonging to the great world-powers, accounted — the people of Chaldea.
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Blood — Guilt is here meant — guilt for the shedding the blood of the righteous. See Gen_4:10.
Cover her slain — The same idea expanded. They shall no more conceal their guilt for shedding righteous blood.
The people of God are ever avenged for wrongs done them. See Exo_14:13-14. “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah. Jehovah shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21. the Lord is coming forth (fut. instans) out…
21. the Lord is coming forth (fut. instans) out of his place] i.e. heaven. Cf. Mic_1:3.
the earth also … blood] Uncovered blood cries for vengeance (Gen_4:11; Eze_24:7-8); and the earth, by drinking in innocent blood, seems to conspire with the murderer, by concealing his guilt. Comp. Job’s impassioned cry in Job_16:18.
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shall no more cover her slain] The idea here is the same: the earth will expose the dead bodies as evidence against the persecutors. It is at least doubtful if there is any thought of actual resurrection.
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 (21) The earth also shall disclose her blood.—Literally, her…
(21) The earth also shall disclose her blood.—Literally, her bloods (plural of intensity). The prophet has in his thoughts the reckless destruction of life which characterised the great world-powers of Assyria and Babylon. As in the case of Abel’s blood that cried from the ground (Gen_4:16), so here the earth first brings to light the blood of those that have been slain, and then the forms of the murdered ones themselves.
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 The Lord cometh out of his place. (comp. Mic_1:3)…
The Lord cometh out of his place. (comp. Mic_1:3) In the Psalms God is represented as "bowing the heavens and coming down," bringing them, as it were, with him. Here (and in Micah) he quits his place in heaven, as a king quits his own country when he proceeds to take vengeance on rebels in another. The expressions are, both of them, accommodations to human modes of thought. To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; literally, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth upon him. The earth also shall disclose her blood; literally, her bloods; i.e. her bloodsheddings; the many murders committed by man upon her surface. Isaiah denounced "murderers" in his first chapter (ver. 27). Manasseh"s murders were the main cause of the first destruction of Jerusalem. (2Ki_24:4) The second destruction was equally a judgment for the innocent blood that had been shed upon the earth, "from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Bars-chins". (Mat_23:35) Bloodshed "cries to God for vengeance", (Gen_4:10) and will be one of the main causes of the world"s final destruction. (Rev_16:6 Rev_18:20) And shall no more cover her slain. "There is nothing covered that shall not" in the last day "be revealed, and hid that shall not be known". (Mat_10:26) Every murder, however secret, will be brought to light, and every murderer, however unsuspected previously, denounced and punished.
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 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place
Isa_26:21
For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place
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Associations in judgment
1.
Few circumstances of our life are more mysterious and few more important than the influence of associations.
2. The language suggests a subtle sympathy between the earth and the earth born; the earth, it is suggested, has been the reluctant witness of human guilt: within her bosom she holds the memorials of human crime, and in due course, when her Creator summons her to His bar, she will confess her fatal secrets.
3. This notion of the repugnance of nature to human crime underlies the constant association of physical portents and disturbances with exceptional crimes. They strain the tolerance of nature to breaking point; she proclaims her horror. This involuntary association emerges in the record of the Redeemers Passion. The darkest hour that ever dawned on sinful earth was dark naturally, as well as morally.
4. There is something higher than rhetoric, something deeper than poetry, in the prophetic habit of bringing into their moral witness appeals, earnest to the point of passion, to the familiar features of the country. The patriots affection is blended with the mystics sympathy and the seers insight Mic_6:1-2; Jer_22:29; Jos_24:26-27).
5. I have said that there is more in all this than rhetoric and poetry, and my justification lies in the power over men of associations, their origin in human volition, and the witness they are able to bear to mens character and experience. The dramatic language of the prophet conveys, and perhaps, to modern ears, conceals, a truth which we can ill afford to forget. We may express it in this way. Every man is at once the author and the victim of the associations with which he invests material things; so that, if we could know what associations these possess for him, what thoughts they set in motion in his mind, what coercion they exercise upon his will, what appeals they address to his affections, we should be well informed as to his past life, and his present character. In truth, we may judge ourselves, we ought to judge ourselves, by habitual associations. What is the moral furniture of our earthly environment! Be sure it is the faithful reflection of ourselves. To the pure, says St. Paul, all things are pure: but to them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. The prophet suggests that associations will appear as accusing witnesses in the day of the Lord. Here they are written in cipher, and each man keeps his own key; but then the cipher shall be open and manifest. The origin of associations will be confessed. The earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. Before us an lies exposure, inexorable and complete.
6. Associations so potent, so relentless, so minatory in their suggestiveness, may be redeemed, cleansed, transformed. The scenes we desecrated with our sins may be purged by our penitence, and reconsecrated by our sacrifice. History records the reclaiming of associations, the transmutation of the symbols and scenes of evil into the very beacons and homes of goodness. But do not underrate the cost of this great conversion. It is no light task to strip off one set of associations and to invest with another. Yet one final stage. Memories of evil may themselves become transmuted into allies of goodness. Christian history is full of this paradox. The protagonists of virtue are, not the flawless saints, but the great penitents. There are who find in their abandoned sins perpetual incitements to service, as she of whom He said, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. (H. H. Henson, B. D.)
The earth disclosing her blood
In a characteristic passage Lord Macaulay has described the impression made on observers by the rank growth of scarlet poppies on the battlefield of Landen. During many months the ground was strewn with skulls and bones of men and horses, and with fragments of hats and shoes, saddles and holsters. The next summer the soil, fertilised by twenty thousand corpses, broke forth into millions of poppies. The traveller who, on the road from St. Tron to Tirlemont, saw that vast sheet of rich scarlet spreading from Landen to Neerwinden, could hardly help fancying that the figurative prediction of the Hebrew prophet was literally accomplished, that the earth was disclosing her blood, and refusing to cover the slain. (C. H. Spurgeon)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 26:21 The wicked retain power now, but their oppressive…
26:21 The wicked retain power now, but their oppressive rule will end in the day of the Lord’s wrath, when he will punish them for their sins.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.