Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has fallen in the street, and uprightness can’t enter.
Parallel Translations
-
Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has fallen in the street, and uprightness can’t enter.
-
And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
-
And justice is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth hath stumbled in the broad place, and uprightness cannot enter.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Isaiah 59:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ecclesiastes 3:16 Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.
- Habakkuk 1:4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.
- Isaiah 1:21 How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now there are murderers.
- Isaiah 5:23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!
- 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 5:27-28 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich. 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.
- Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
- Amos 5:11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
- Micah 3:9-11 Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 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.”
- Isaiah 59:4 No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and give birth to iniquity.
- Amos 5:7 You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth:
- Zephaniah 3:1-3 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city! She didn’t obey the voice. She didn’t receive correction. She didn’t trust in Yahweh. She didn’t draw near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day.
- Psalms 82:2-5 “How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?” “Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy. Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.” They don’t know, neither do they understand. They walk back and forth in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
- Micah 7:3-5 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. The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now is the time of their confusion. Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain There is neither justice nor uprightness among men.
There is neither justice nor uprightness among men.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 59:14 And judgment is turned away backward, and…
Isa 59:14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
Ver. 14. And judgment is turned away backward.] Nihil amplius ex aequo et bono agitur; all is out of order, causes are carried the contrary way.
Read full note →
Truth is fallen in the streets.] When the disputation at Oxford with Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, martyrs, was finished, Weston, the prolocutor, triumphed with Vicit veritas, whereas he should rather have said, Vicit potestas - not truth, but force, hath carried it. In the convocation at Paul’s about the same time, when Philpot and other good men argued for the truth against the Popish prelates, it was said that those distressed ministers had the Word for them, but the prelates had the sword on their side, and would therefore get the better. {a}
{a} Acts and Mon., 1300.
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 Judgment is turned away backward: he speaks here of…
Judgment is turned away backward: he speaks here of the sentences and decrees in courts of judicature, which are carried quite contrary to right and justice. God denies you justice, as you have denied help to others.
Justice standeth afar off: it notes the same thing with the former, to show that justice and judges are far asunder.
Read full note →
Truth is fallen; a metaphor taken from a feeble person that wants support, without which he falls; thus truth hath none to support or patronize it: the same, only otherwise expressed, with Isa 59:16. Truth is cast upon the ground, and justice trampled under foot.
In the street, i.e. in public.
Equity cannot enter; no such thing will be admitted in their courts; all corrupt, so that all equity and justice is violently kept off by the authority of the great ones.
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 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth…
And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off,.... Jarchi interprets this of the vengeance of God, and his righteousness in his judgments, not immediately executed; but it is to be understood of the want of judgment and justice being done among men; and therefore are represented as persons turned back, and standing afar off, rejected, neglected, and discouraged. The Targum renders it,
"they that do judgment are turned back, and they that do justice stand afar off;''
Read full note →
having none to take their parts, but everyone opposing them: this may respect both the want of judgment and justice in courts of judicature; no regard being had to right and wrong; no true judgment being given, or justice done, in any cause; but both banished from the bench: and also in the churches of Christ, or, however, under a profession of his name, where there is no judgment in doctrines, or discerning between truth and error; and no justice inflicted on delinquents according to the rules of Christ; no order nor discipline observed in his house; these are dismissed and discarded:
for truth is fallen in the street; where it used to be preached, exalted, established, and confirmed; but now thrown down and trampled upon, and few or none to help it up, and stand by it; and though it may have some secret well wishers, yet very few, if any, public advocates for it:
and equity cannot enter; either into civil courts, or Christian congregations; the doing of that which is just and right between man and man in things civil; and between Christian and Christian in things religious; or that which is right according to the word of God; can find no place, or cannot be admitted into assemblies that are called by his name. The Targum is,
"they that do truth stumble in the street; and they that exercise faith cannot be made manifest;''
such as are on the side of truth, in the service of it, cannot stand their ground through the violence of their opposers; and those that are faithful, and abide by the doctrine of faith, are forced to hide themselves, and cannot appear in the vindication of it.
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 Judgment - He speaks here of the sentences in…
Judgment - He speaks here of the sentences in courts of judicature. Truth - Truth is cast to the ground, and justice trampled under foot, even in publick. Equity - No such thing will be admitted in their courts.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 14. Justice standeth afar off] צדקה tsedakah, righteousness,…
Verse 14. Justice standeth afar off] צדקה tsedakah, righteousness, put here, says Kimchi, for alms to the poor. This casts some light on Mt 6:1: "Take heed that you do not your alms," ελεημοσυνην. But the best copies have δικαιοσυνην, righteousness; the former having been inserted in the text at first merely as the explanation of the genuine and original word.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 59:14-15. And judgment is turned away backward —…
Isa 59:14-15. And judgment is turned away backward — He speaks here of the sentences in courts of judicature, which were contrary to right and justice; as if he had said, God denies you justice, as you have denied it to others. And justice standeth afar off — Justice and judges are at a great distance from each other; for truth is fallen — Truth is cast to the ground, and justice trampled under foot; in the street — Even in public. And equity cannot enter — No such thing will be admitted in the courts. Yea, truth faileth — Truth is more than fallen, which he had said in the last verse; it faileth. If it had been only fallen, it might have recovered itself again: but its failing denotes the loss of its very vitals; as being everywhere neglected, in the court, in the city, in the country; in inferior as well as superior ranks; in the streets, in the gates, in the markets, in the fairs; in all public places of commerce: as if he had said, All things are amiss; neither judgment, nor justice, nor truth is to be found among us; but fraud and deceit; yet none are troubled on account of it. And he that departeth from evil — That separateth himself from evil things and evil persons, that will not be as vile as others; maketh himself a prey — Or, as משׁתוללis rendered in the margin, is accounted mad; is laughed at. Josephus tells us, that immediately before the destruction of Jerusalem, it was a matter of scorn to be religious. The translators reach the meaning of the word by prey: the wicked, like wild beasts, endeavouring to devour such as are not as bad as themselves: where wickedness rules, innocence is oppressed. For they that are simple and innocent are outwitted by the crafty and fraudulent, as not being willing, or rather, not daring to oppose fraud with fraud, but doing all things in sincerity. And the Lord saw it — Took notice of it; it was not hid from him. It is spoken of God after the manner of men. And it displeased him, &c. — As if he had said, If you would know why God is so angry with you, it is for such things as these; the Lord observes them, and they are great evils in his eyes.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And judgment is turned away backward - The word…
And judgment is turned away backward - The word ‘judgment’ is not used, as in Isa 59:9, to denote the divine interposition to avenge and deliver them, but it is used in the sense of justice, or lust decisions between man and man. The verse contains a further confession of the evil of their course of life; and, among other things, they acknowledged that they had been unjust in their legal decisions. They had been influenced by partiality and by bribes; they had condemned the innocent, they had acquitted the guilty. Judgment had thus been lumped back by their sins when it seemed to be approaching and entering the city.
And justice standeth afar off - This is a beautiful figure. justice is represented as standing at a distance from the city. Deterred by their sins, it would not enter. They prevented its approach, and it was unknown among them.
Read full note →
For truth is fallen in the street - Or rather, perhaps, in the gate - the place where justice was administered. The language here is all taken from courts of justice, and the idea is, that there was no justice in their decisions, but that their courts were unprincipled and corrupt.
And equity cannot enter - It stood at a distance, and the impenetrable mass of guilt effectually prevented its approach to the capital.
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 In. Where truth is disregarded, there can be no…
CHAPTER LIX.
In. Where truth is disregarded, there can be no justice.
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 Justice and righteousness are put away from our legal…
Justice and righteousness are put away from our legal courts.
in the street--in the forum, the place of judicature, usually at the gate of the city (Zac 8:16).
Read full note →
cannot enter--is shut out from the forum, or courts of justice.
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 14, 15. The section from Isa_59:9-14, including first part…
14, 15. The section from Isa_59:9-14, including first part of Isa_59:15, culminates in a confession of a state of things fearfully bad in Jewish society at several periods of its history, but especially in the days of John the Baptist, of our Saviour Christ, and onward to the final breaking up of the nation, A.D. 70.
Judgment — Equity set at naught. No magistrate could really avail.
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 14. The confession, following the same order as the…
14. The confession, following the same order as the indictment in Isa_59:3-4, proceeds from personal sins to public injustice.
judgment and justice (righteousness) are not the divine vindication of Israel’s right (as in Isa_59:9), but the fundamental civic virtues. These, by a bold personification, are conceived as eager to take their rightful place in the administration of justice, but as kept at a distance by the prevailing social corruption. For truth (the essential basis of righteousness) stumbleth in the broad place, and uprightness (R.V.) cannot enter. The “broad place” is probably the open space at the city gate where cases were decided by the judges (Jer_5:1 &c.).
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 (14) Truth is fallen in the street—i.e., the broad…
(14) Truth is fallen in the street—i.e., the broad open place, or agora, of the city. The words point naturally to Jerusalem. If they refer to Babylon, we must assume, unless we deal with the language as altogether figurative, that the exiles had a quarter of their own, in which they had an agora for business and judicial proceedings.
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 Judgment is turned away backward. In conclusion, the crying…
Judgment is turned away backward. In conclusion, the crying sin of perversion of justice is admitted with much amplification.
(1) Right judgment is exactly inverted the innocent are condemned, the guilty acquitted.
Read full note →
(2) Justice standeth afar off too far off to be able to hear those who make appeal to it.
(3) Truth is fallen in the street; i.e. false witness prevails over true in the courts of justice.
(4) Equity cannot enter is not admitted inside the courts, but waits without.
Vers. 14, 15. Truth the foundation of morality.
Surprise is sometimes expressed at there being no distinct prohibition of all lying in the ten commandments. "False witness" alone is forbidden. But the reason may be that truth is assumed as too fundamentally necessary for any one to suppose that it could possibly be dispensed with. Similarly, piety is assumed as a duty in the commandments, where men are not bidden to worship God, but warned against worshipping more than one God, and against worshipping him in an improper way. Truth throughout Scripture appears as a quality assumed to be possessed by men, rather than as a virtue which they are to be exhorted to "put on." It lies, in fact, at the root of all real goodness.
I TRUTH LIES AT THE ROOT OF JUSTICE. The administration of justice consists primarily in a series of efforts to find out the truth. There is always a question before the court, and the first question is one of fact, "Has the thing charged been done or no?" What is the truth of the matter? When this has been decided, if decided on the affirmative side, then a second question arises, "What is the degree of the guilt?" It is essential for the judge to have the most earnest desire to discover the truth, and the highest power of eliciting the truth. Nor is this all. To every one concerned in a cause whether prosecutor, defendant, witness, counsel, or attorney the sole object ought to be the discovery of the truth. The importance of veracity in the witnesses is universally admitted; but veracity is really incumbent on all concerned. A prisoner who knows himself guilty would do best to confess his guilt. It is no real benefit to him to be acquitted unless he is innocent. Truth ought to govern all the utterances of counsel, who are not entitled to make any suggestions but such as they think may be true. Chicanery, quibbles, special pleading, are unworthy of those who take part in the administration of justice and exercise what is really a sacred function. The first requisite of all those who bear part in the solemn work of "doing justice" is that they should be "men of truth". (Exo_18:21)
II TRUTH LIES AT THE ROOT OF KINDNESS. The desire to be kind is independent of truth; but the moment that the desire has to pass into action, considerations of truth come in. Am I prompted to praise a person? But if I praise him when he is deserving of blame, I am doing him the greatest unkindness. If I even overpraise him when he deserves praise, I am doing him an unkindness to a certain extent an unkindness and a wrong. I am helping him to content himself with a low standard of goodness. Again, suppose that I am prompted to relieve a person who appears to me poor and distressed. To decide aright whether I ought to relieve him at all, and, if so, to what extent, I require a true knowledge of his circumstances. I do him an injury if I allow him to impose upon me. I do him an injury if I repress efforts that he would otherwise have made to help himself. In all the kindly acts that we seek to do to others there is always room for, and generally much need of, careful consideration of facts, discovery of the exactly true state of the case, before we allow ourselves to follow our impulses. Otherwise we may make great blunders, and, while striving to be kind, be guilty of many an unkindness.
III TRUTH LIES AT THE ROOT OF PIETY. Piety is a feeling of love and reverence towards some being, or beings, whom we feel to be superior to ourselves, and believe to afford us help and protection. It is impossible to say that many of the heathen, many even of the grossest idolaters, were not, in a certain sense, pious. But for piety to attain its full proportions, and to be the virtue that it was intended to be, it needs to rest upon a basis of truth. We need to have true conceptions of the nature of that which is the object of our love and reverence. Until we conceive of that "eternal something outside us that makes for righteousness" as One, as a Person, as the Creator of all things, as omnipotent, as omniscient, as beneficent, and as perfectly good, we cannot have the feelings towards him that we ought to have, or worship him acceptably. True piety is the worship of the true God. The votaries of false religions possess only a semblance of piety a dwarfed and cramped, sometimes a distorted, imitation of it.
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 And judgment is turned away backward
Isa_59:14-15
And judgment is turned away backward
Read full note →
National sin
The sin of a nation becomes national, and brings public judgments, when it is not restrained by public justice.
(M. Henry.)
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 continues speaking.
Read full note →
Justice is driven back
This can be stated in active form. AT: "The people drive justice back" (See: Active or Passive)
Justice ... righteousness ... truth ... right ... Trustworthiness
These are ideas that Isaiah describes as acting like persons. (See: Personification and Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
just
righteous
true
stumble
trust
evil
Yahweh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.