According to their deeds, he will repay as appropriate, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; he will repay the islands their due.
Parallel Translations
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According to their deeds, he will repay as appropriate, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; he will repay the islands their due.
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According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.
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According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompense.
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to Isaiah 59:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 17:10 “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
- Isaiah 63:6 I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath. I poured their lifeblood out on the earth.”
- Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
- Romans 2:6 who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:”
- Nahum 1:2 Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies.
- Job 34:11 For the work of a man he will render to him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.
- Psalms 18:24-26 Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect. With the pure, you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.
- Psalms 21:8-9 Your hand will find out all of your enemies. Your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.
- Psalms 62:12 Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness, for you reward every man according to his work.
- Isaiah 1:24 Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies.
- Isaiah 49:25-26 But Yahweh says, “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the plunder retrieved from the fierce, for I will contend with him who contends with you and I will save your children. I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine. Then all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
- Isaiah 63:3 “I have trodden the wine press alone. Of the peoples, no one was with me. Yes, I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath. Their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing.
- Isaiah 66:15 For, behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and his chariots will be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
- Lamentations 4:11 Yahweh has accomplished his wrath. He has poured out his fierce anger. He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations.
- Luke 21:22 For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
- Jeremiah 50:29 “Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her all around. Let none of it escape. Pay her back according to her work. According to all that she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against Yahweh, against the Holy One of Israel.
- Ezekiel 5:13 “ ‘Thus my anger will be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I will be comforted. They will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on them.
- Ezekiel 6:12 He who is far off will die of the pestilence. He who is near will fall by the sword. He who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus I will accomplish my wrath on them.
- Ezekiel 38:18 It will happen in that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that my wrath will come up into my nostrils.
- Luke 19:27 But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’ ”
- Revelation 16:19 The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
- Revelation 19:15 Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty.
- Revelation 20:12-13 I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain To wit, your enemies, which dwell in divers places,…
To wit, your enemies, which dwell in divers places, and beyond the sea.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 59:18 According to [their] deeds, accordingly he will…
Isa 59:18 According to [their] deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.
Ver. 18. Fury to his adversaries,] viz., The devil and his agents, his people’s adversaries.
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 Deeds, Heb. recompences or deserts, i.e. he will recompense…
Deeds, Heb. recompences or deserts, i.e. he will recompense his adversaries with those effects of his fury that they have deserved.
Fury; a metonymy of the efficient, for the effects of his fury.
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Islands; or, islanders; a metonymy of the containing for the contained; either Mesopotamia, and other adjacent islands, encompassed by Tigris and Euphrates; or those remoter nations (for the Hebrews call nations remote from Judea islands, Gen 10:5; Isa 41:1. See Poole "Isa 20:6", and the reason of it) under the king of Babylon, that thought themselves secure.
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 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay,.... As…
According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay,.... As the enemies of his people have treated them, so will the Lord deal with them; as they have shed their blood, he will, according to the laws of retribution and retaliation, give them blood to drink, as they deserve. The whore of Rome shall be rewarded as the followers of Christ have been rewarded by her, and double shall be rendered to her double, according to her works, Rev 16:6,
fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies: the church's adversaries and enemies are Christ's, and so he esteems them; and therefore his wrath and fury is poured out by way of recompence to them, for all the ill they have done them, even the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath, Rev 16:19,
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to the islands he will repay recompence; even to those who dwell in the more distant and remote parts of the antichristian jurisdiction; for when the cup of wrath shall be given to Babylon every island will flee away, Rev 16:20.
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 Deeds - Hebrew. recompences or deserts. That is, he…
Deeds - Hebrew. recompences or deserts. That is, he will recompence his adversaries with those effects of his fury that they have deserved. Islands - To those remoter nations under the king of Babylon, that thought themselves secure.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 18. According to their deeds, accordingly he will…
Verse 18. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay - "He is mighty to recompense; he that is mighty to recompense will requite"] The former part of this verse, as it stands at present in the Hebrew text, seems to me to be very imperfect, and absolutely unintelligible. The learned Vitringa has taken a great deal of pains upon it after Cocceius, who he says is the only one of all the interpreters, ancient or modern, who has at all understood it, and has opened the way for him. He thinks that both of them together have clearly made out the sense; I do not expect that any third person will ever be of that opinion. He says, Videtur sententia ad verbum sonare: quasi propter facta [adversariorum] quasi propter rependet; excandescentiam, c., et sic reddidit Pagnimus. "According to the height of their demerits, he will repay them to the height: fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies," c. - Waterland. This he converts, by a process which will not much edify my reader, into Secundum summe merita, secundum summe (merita) rependet which is his translation. They that hold the present Hebrew text to be absolutely infallible must make their way through it as they can but they ought surely to give us somewhat that has at least the appearance of sense. However, I hope the case here is not quite desperate; the Chaldee leads us very fairly to the correction of the text, which is both corrupted and defective. The paraphrase runs thus: מרי גמליא הוא גמלא ישלם marey gumlaiya hu gimla yeshallem, "The Lord of retribution, he will render recompense." He manifestly read בעל baal instead of כעל keal. מרי גמליא marey gumlaiya is בעל גמלות baal gemuloth; as מרי מרירותא marey merirutha is בעל אף baal aph. Pr 22:24. And so in the Chaldee paraphrase on Isa 35:4: מרי גמליא יי הוא יתגלי marey gamlaiya yeya hu yithgeley, "The Lord of retribution, Jehovah himself, shall be revealed;" words very near to those of the prophet in this place.
The second כעל keal, which the Chaldee has omitted, must be read בעל baal likewise. With this only addition to the Chaldee, which the Hebrew text justifies, we are supplied with the following clear reading of the passage: -
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הוא גמלות בעל
hu gemuloth baal
ישלם גמלות בעל
yeshallem gemuloth baal
The Lord of retributions he
The Lord of retributions, shall repay.
The כ caph in כעל keal twice seems to have been at first ב beth, in MS. This verse in the Septuagint is very imperfect. In the first part of it they give us no assistance: the latter part is wholly omitted in the printed copies; but it is thus supplied by MSS. Pachom. and I. D. II: Τοις ὑπεναντιοις αυτου· αμυναν τοις εχθροις αυτου· ταις νησοις αποδομα αποτισει. - L.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain According to their deeds - The general sentiment of…
According to their deeds - The general sentiment of this verse is plain, though there is not a little difficulty in the construction of the Hebrew. Lowth pronounces the former part of the verse, as it stands in the Hebrew text, to be ‘absolutely unintelligible. By a slight change in the Hebrew as it now stands (reading בעל ba‛al, “lord,” instead of כעל ke‛al “as according to”), Lowth supposes that he has obtained the true sense, and accordingly translates it:
He is mighty to recompense;
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He that is mighty to recompense shall requite.
This translation is substantially according to the Chaldee, but there is no authority from manuscripts to change the text in this place. Nor is it necessary. The particle כעל ke‛al occurs as a preposition in Isa 63:7, in the sense of ‘as according to,’ or ‘according to,’ and is similar in its form to the word מעל mē‛al, which often occurs in the sense of from above, or from upon Gen 24:64; Gen 40:19; Isa 34:16; Jer 36:11; Amo 7:11. The sense of the verse before us is, that God would inflict just punishment on his enemies. It is a general sentiment, applicable alike to the deliverance from Babylon and the redemption of his church and people at all times. In order to effect the deliverance of his people it was necessary to take vengeance on those who had oppressed and enslaved them. So in order to redeem his church, it is often necessary to inflict punishment on the nations that oppose it, or to remove by death the adversaries that stand in his way. This punishment is inflicted strictly according to their deeds. The principal thought here is, undoubtedly, that as they had opposed and oppressed the people of God, so he would take vengeance on them. He would remove his enemies, and prepare the way in this manner for the coming of his kingdom.
To the islands - On the use of the word ‘islands’ in Isaiah, see the notes at Isa 41:1. The idea here is, that he would ‘repay recompence’ or take vengeance on the foreign nations which had oppressed them.
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 deeds--Hebrew, "recompenses"; "according as their deeds demand" [MAURER]. This…
deeds--Hebrew, "recompenses"; "according as their deeds demand" [MAURER]. This verse predicts the judgments at the Lord's second coming, which shall precede the final redemption of His people (Isa 66:18, Isa 66:15-16).
islands--(See on Isa 41:1). Distant countries.
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 18. According… deeds… he will repay — Dealing fury,…
18. According… deeds… he will repay — Dealing fury, terrible retribution, but only to the incorrigible.
To the islands — See chap. Isa_41:1. To the western heathen world-power, Rome, embracing the world now or soon to be in complicity with apostate Israel in throwing down all righteous equity and judgment.
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He — The Eternal Jehovah. Review the course of thought thus far in the chapter. The points are: Keen self-reproach on account of sins; dark descriptions of characters on this head, followed by sorrowful confession and admissions of apostasy on the part of the great mass of Israel; the crucible of judgment is employed; worthless dross is rejected; genuine material is preserved.
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 18. According to their deeds] Or deserts. The word…
18. According to their deeds] Or deserts. The word means simply an accomplished deed, either in a good or bad sense; but it is chiefly used in expressions which imply a reference to reward or retribution. In the next line it denotes the recompence itself (cf. ch. Isa_35:4).
According to … accordingly] The form of the comparative sentence is hardly grammatical. The compound preposition which introduces both protasis and apodosis has in the second case no noun to govern, and it cannot be treated either as a conjunction or as an adverb. We must either (with Dillmann) omit “accordingly” as dittography, or (with Duhm) change “he will repay” into a noun; rendering, “as the deserts so the retribution.” The sentence, however, would read awkwardly without a verb.
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to the islands he will repay recompence] The clause seems to identify the “adversaries” and “enemies” of Jehovah with the “islands” (cf. Isa_41:1), i.e. the heathen world; but that is almost certainly a misinterpretation of the sense of the passage. If there is any connexion with the earlier part of the discourse, the “adversaries” spoken of must be the apostate Jews,—those who by their sins hindered the coming of salvation. The prophet cannot mean that because Israel’s sin has separated it from Jehovah, therefore judgement will descend on the heathen. Apart from this clause, indeed, there is nothing in the context to suggest the thought of a world-judgement, although of course the conception of a judgement beginning with Israel and extending to the nations is possible (see on ch. Isa_3:13). The words, however, are wanting in the LXX., and the verse would be greatly simplified by their removal. Their insertion is easily accounted for through a misunderstanding of Isa_59:19.
18–20. The consequences of Jehovah’s interposition.
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 (18) To his adversaries . . .—The judgment is…
(18) To his adversaries . . .—The judgment is generally against all, in Israel or outside it, who come under this description. The word “islands” is used, as elsewhere, for far-off lands. The words point to every such judgment, from that of Cyrus to the great final day.
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 According to their deeds; rather, according to their deserts.…
According to their deeds; rather, according to their deserts. (Psa_28:4, ad fin. ) He will repay. The ordinary future here, and in the remainder of the prophecy, replaces the "perfect of prophetic certitude," which has been employed in vers. 16, 17. Fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. God"s "adversaries" are those of his own household his people, the ungodly Israelites; his "enemies" are the heathen that oppress his people. (comp. Isa_1:24, which is very similar) To the islands; i.e. the maritime lands, which, under Assyria, and afterwards under Babylon, took part in the oppression of his people.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 59:18 repay his enemies: The Lord will dole out…
59:18 repay his enemies: The Lord will dole out righteous retribution on the whole earth. His justice requires people to be judged for the evil they have done (see also 3:9-11; 13:9).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.