4No 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.
5They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
6Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands.
7Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.
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.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
6 Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.
KJVKing James Version
4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
4 None sueth in righteousness, and none pleadeth in truth; they trust in vanity, and speak lies, they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch basilisks' eggs, and weave the spider's web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall men cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, desolation and destruction are in their paths.
Job 15:35(v4)They conceive mischief, and produce iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit.”
Micah 7:2-5(v4)The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his…
Proverbs 6:17(v7)arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
Romans 3:15-17(v7)“Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of peace, they haven’t known.”
James 1:15(v4)Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
Show all 62 cross-references
Jeremiah 7:4(v4)Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, are these.’
Jeremiah 7:8(v4)Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit.
Matthew 3:7(v5)But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to…
Proverbs 1:16(v7)for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood.
Proverbs 4:16(v4)For they don’t sleep unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.
Isaiah 14:29(v5)Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adder will emerge, and…
Isaiah 30:12(v4)Therefore the Holy One of Israel says, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it,
Isaiah 59:16(v4)He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him; and his…
Micah 2:1(v4)Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of…
Mark 7:21-22(v7)For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, covetings, wickedness, deceit,…
Isaiah 59:3(vv4, 7)For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness.
Job 8:14(v5)Whose confidence will break apart, Whose trust is a spider’s web.
Psalms 7:13-14(v4)He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death. He makes ready his flaming arrows. Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he…
Psalms 62:10(v4)Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.
Proverbs 23:32(v5)In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper.
Isaiah 59:13-14(v4)transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the…
Jeremiah 5:4-5(v4)Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the Yahweh’s way, nor the law of their God. I will go to the…
Ezekiel 22:29-31(v4)The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery. Yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the…
Matthew 12:34(v5)You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Psalms 62:4(v4)They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.
Isaiah 57:12(v6)I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they will not benefit you.
Jeremiah 5:1(v4)“Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there…
Jeremiah 6:7(v6)As a well produces its waters, so she produces her wickedness. Violence and destruction is heard in her. Sickness and wounds are…
Revelation 3:17-18(v6)Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable,…
Genesis 6:11(v6)The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
Job 8:14-15(v6)Whose confidence will break apart, Whose trust is a spider’s web. He will lean on his house, but it will not stand. He will cling to it,…
Psalms 58:2(v6)No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.
Proverbs 15:26(v7)Yahweh detests the thoughts of the wicked, but the thoughts of the pure are pleasing.
Proverbs 24:9(v7)The schemes of folly are sin. The mocker is detested by men.
Isaiah 5:7(v6)For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but,…
Isaiah 28:18-20(v6)Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through,…
Isaiah 30:1(v6)“Woe to the rebellious children”, says Yahweh, “who take counsel, but not from me; and who make an alliance, but not with my Spirit, that…
Isaiah 30:12-14(v6)Therefore the Holy One of Israel says, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it, therefore…
Isaiah 58:4(v6)Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You don’t fast today so as to make your voice to be…
Isaiah 60:18(v7)Violence shall no more be heard in your land, nor desolation or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation,…
Isaiah 64:6(v6)For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our…
Jeremiah 22:17(v7)But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”
Lamentations 4:13(v7)It is because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, That have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.
Ezekiel 7:11(v6)Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them will remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. There will be…
Ezekiel 7:23(v6)“ ‘Make chains; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
Ezekiel 9:9(v7)Then he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full…
Ezekiel 22:6(v7)“ ‘ “Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood.
Amos 3:10(v6)“Indeed they don’t know to do right,” says Yahweh, “Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces.”
Amos 6:3(v6)Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
Micah 2:1-3(v6)Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of…
Micah 2:8(v6)But lately my people have risen up as an enemy. You strip the robe and clothing from those who pass by without a care, returning from…
Micah 3:1-11(v6)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…
Micah 6:12(v6)Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their speech.
Habakkuk 1:2-4(v6)Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save? Why do you show me iniquity, and…
Zephaniah 1:9(v6)In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.
Zephaniah 3:3-4(v6)Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day. Her prophets are arrogant…
Acts 8:20-22(v7)But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither…
Romans 3:20-22(v6)Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart…
Romans 4:6-8(v6)Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are…
Revelation 17:6(v7)I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great…
Job 15:31(v4)Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness will be his reward.
Matthew 23:31-37(v7)Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You…
62 distinct cross-references across this passage (63 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (20 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv4–5According to their wicked devices, they hurt their neighbors.
According to their wicked devices, they hurt their neighbors.
All men wink at the injuries and oppressions, and none go about to remedy them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv4–7Isa 59:4 None calleth for justice, nor [any] pleadeth…
Isa 59:4 None calleth for justice, nor [any] pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Ver. 4. None calleth for justice.] Mindeth the judges of their duty, but rather connive, collogue, partake, &c. The Chaldee hath it, ‘There is none that delivereth the poor and needy.’
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They trust in vanity.] As those did; {Jer 7:4} making a bridge of their own shadows, they fall into the brook.
They conceive mischief, &c.] This is taken out of Psa 7:14 Job 15:35; {See Trapp on "Psa 7:14"} {See Trapp on "Job 15:35"} Heb., Going great with grievance, and bringing forth vexation.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv4–7None calleth for justice, i.e. none seek to redress…
None calleth for justice, i.e. none seek to redress these wrongs and violences; they commit all rapines and frauds under impunity; either,
1. Because the judges are corrupt. Or,
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2. Because none will warn the judges of their duty. Or,
3. Because none seek to bring offenders to justice. Or,
4. Because none will plead a righteous cause, or plead it righteously, or countenance goodness; and this the next expression favours; and so justice suffers, which the Hebrew word mispat, being in the passive voice, seems to intimate: the sense is the same, and whereas it is said none, it is as much as to say very few, as we say few or none; the like Psa 14:3.
Quest. How could this be charged upon them, when in the time of their captivity they had no courts?
Answ. It is probable they had courts among themselves, to judge between one another, by leave of the Babylonish kings.
They trust in vanity; either,
1. Relating to their lies, which are words empty and void of all consistency; and so it is the same with the next expression,
and speak lies. Or,
2. In their idols, which are stocks and stones, and so oft called vanity and nothing, 1Co 8:4. For even in Babylon they worshipped idols, as appears by Jer 16:11,12,18. Or rather,
3. In their power, and craft, and policy, whereby, laying aside justice, they can oppress others; and so he calls it vanity by a metonymy of the adjunct, because it would prove all vain in the end, and either,
1. Frustrate their ends. Or,
2. Not justify them against God’s proceedings with them. Or,
3. Bring all into emptiness and confusion: the word is tohu, whereby the confusion and mingling of all things is expressed, before the world was brought into order and form, Gen 1:2.
Speak lies: it may refer both to the judges, and to the lawyers and false prophets, that tell them they shall not go into captivity; they speak that which they know to be false.
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity: these two words of conceiving and bringing forth note their whole contrivance, and perfecting their wickedness; the former notes their plotting, the latter their execution of mischief; whatever is in the mind, only out of sight, warmed and formed there by cogitating and meditation, is called conception, which being ripe, and produced to view, is called a birth; intimating that the wicked sin not occasionally and accidentally, but premeditatingly and professedly; they grow big with it. The expression is allegorical, and in the two next verses compared to the cockatrice’ eggs for the wickedness of it, and to a spider’s web for the vanity of it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv4–7None calleth for justice,.... Or, "righteousness"; not for civil…
None calleth for justice,.... Or, "righteousness"; not for civil justice in courts of judicature, as if there were no advocates for it there; or that put those in mind of it, to whom the administration of it belongs; or that see to put the laws against sin in execution, and to relieve those that are oppressed; though of this there may be just cause of complaint in some places: but there are none or few that call for evangelical righteousness, either that preach it, proclaim and publish it to others; even the righteousness of Christ, the grand doctrine of the Gospel, which is therein revealed from faith to faith; so the Syriac version, "there is none that preacheth righteously"; or "in", or "of righteousness" (t); and the Septuagint version, "no one speaks righteous things"; the words and doctrines of righteousness and truth: or, "no one calls for righteousness"; desires to hear this doctrine, and have it preached to him; hungers and thirsts after it; but chooses the doctrine of justification by works. The Targum refers it to prayer, paraphrasing it thus,
"there is none that prays in truth;''
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in sincerity and uprightness, in faith and with fervour; but in a cold, formal, and hypocritical way:
nor any pleadeth for truth: for the truth of the Gospel, particularly for the principal one, the justification of a sinner by the righteousness of Christ alone; few or none contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints; they are not valiant for the truth, nor stand fast in it, but drop or conceal it, or deny it: or, "none is judged by", or "according to truth" (u); by the Scriptures of truth, but by carnal reason; or by forms and rules of man's devising, and so are condemned; as Gospel ministers and professors of it are:
they trust in vanity; in nothing, as the Vulgate Latin; that is worth nothing; in their own strength, wisdom, riches, righteousness, especially the latter:
and speak lies; or "vanity"; vain things, false doctrines, as before:
they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity; they "conceive" and contrive "mischief" in their minds against those that differ in doctrine and practice from them: "and bring forth iniquity": do that which is criminal and sinful, by words and actions, by calumnies and reproaches, by violence and persecution. The Targum is,
"they hasten and bring out of their hearts words of violence.''
(t) "in justitia", Montanus, Tigurine version; "sive de justitia". (u) "nemo judicatur scundum veritatem", Munster; "non judicatur in veritate", Montanus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv4–7None - None seek to redress these wrongs, and…
None - None seek to redress these wrongs, and violences; they commit all rapines, and frauds with impunity. Bring forth - These two words of conceiving, and bringing forth, denote their whole contrivance, and perfecting their wickedness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn v4Verse 4. They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.]…
Verse 4. They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.] There is a curious propriety in this mode of expression; a thought or purpose is compared to conception; a word or act, which is the consequence of it, to the birth of a child. From the third to the fifteenth verse inclusive may be considered a true statement of the then moral state of the Jewish people; and that they were, in the most proper sense of the word, guilty of the iniquities with which they are charged.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv4, 5, 7Isa 59:4. None calleth for justice — None seek…
Isa 59:4. None calleth for justice — None seek to redress these wrongs and violences; they commit all rapines and frauds with impunity; they trust in vanity — In vain and empty words, void of all consistency; or, in vain things, such as their idols were, often called vanity and nothing, 1Co 8:4; or in their own power, craft, and policy, whereby, laying aside justice, they oppressed others. And speak lies — This may refer to the judges, lawyers, and false prophets, who told them they should not go into captivity; as if he had said, They speak that which they know to be false. They conceive mischief and bring forth, &c. — These two words, conceiving and bringing forth, denote the whole contriving and perfecting of their wickedness.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv4–7None calleth for justice - Or rather, there is…
None calleth for justice - Or rather, there is no one who brings a suit with justice; no one who goes into court for the purpose of obtaining justice. There is a love of litigation; a desire to take all the advantage which the law can give; a desire to appeal to the law, not for the sake of having strict justice done, but for the sake of doing injury to others, and to take some undue advantage.
Nor any pleadeth for truth - Or, no one pleadeth with truth. He does not state the cause as it is. He makes use of cunning and falsehood to gain his cause.
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They trust in vanity - They confide in quirks and evasions rather than in the justice of their cause.
They conceive mischief - They form plans of evil, and they execute them when they are fully ripe. Compare Job 15:35, where the same phrase occurs. The sense is, that they form plans to injure others, and that they expect to execute them by fraud and deceit.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv4–5Justice. They arraign unjustly. None call upon the just…
Justice. They arraign unjustly. None call upon the just God, but trust in idols. --- Iniquity. They kill themselves, while they strive to injure others, Psalm vii. 15., and Micheas ii. 1.
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 Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv4–7Rather, "No one calleth an adversary into court with…
Rather, "No one calleth an adversary into court with justice," that is, None bringeth a just suit: "No one pleadeth with truth."
they trust . . . iniquity--(So Job 15:35; Psa 7:14).
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv5, 75, 6. Cockatrice’s eggs — Hatched into basilisks, (see…
5, 6. Cockatrice’s eggs — Hatched into basilisks, (see Isa_11:8;) a fabulous reptile — its gaze supposed to be fatal, its eggs, as food, certainly poisonous. The reference is to a popular, not a scientific, conception of a certain not well-known reptile, and is employed to characterize strongly the people’s evil works. So of the next figure.
The spider’s web — An emblem of the people’s acts of enticing and ruining others. The further point of the figure is, that the “spider’s web” is too gauzy as a covering to conceal wicked plans against others. Flimsy sophistry cannot hide pretended righteousness.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv4–74. The first half of the verse should be…
4. The first half of the verse should be rendered as R.V.
None sueth in righteousness,
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And none pleadeth in truth.
The reference is to the abuse of legal procedure: lawsuits instituted and conducted with absolute disregard of righteousness and truth. Cf. ch. Isa_29:21.
calleth] with the sense of “summon” (in jus vocare), as in Job_9:16; Job_13:22.
pleadeth] i.e. “pleadeth a cause”, litigates; the same word as in Isa_43:26.
The rest of the verse probably continues the same subject, describing the sophistical and mischievous arguments employed by the litigants to make the worse appear the better reason, and subvert the ends of justice. The verbs are infinitives (as in Isa_59:13 and Hos_4:2) and should be translated thus:
Trusting in emptiness (lit. “chaos” as Isa_40:17) and speaking vanity!
Conceiving mischief and bringing forth evil!
The last line occurs almost verbatim in Job_15:35.
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv4–7(4) None calleth for justice.—Better, none preferreth his suit…
(4) None calleth for justice.—Better, none preferreth his suit with truthfulness. The words point chiefly to the guilt of unrighteous prosecutions, but may include that of false witness also.
They trust in vanity.—Literally, in chaos—the characteristic tohu of both parts of Isaiah (Isa_24:10; Isa_29:21; Isa_40:17; Isa_40:23).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv4–7None calleth for justice; rather, none preferreth his suit…
None calleth for justice; rather, none preferreth his suit in justice (so Lowth, Gesenius, Ewald, Knobel, and Mr. Cheyne). "No one," that is, "who engaged in a suit, limited himself to just pleas and honest courses in his prosecution of it." Nor any pleadeth for truth; rather, none pleadeth in truthfulness. They trust in vanity; literally, in chaos; i.e. "in a mass of false and vain statements." The whole basis of the dealings between man and man was unsound, corrupt, chaotic. Where truth and plain dealing are set aside, all shortly becomes ruin and confusion. They conceive mischief, etc. (comp. Psa_7:14)
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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv5–7They hatch cockatrice eggs
Isa_59:5-6
They hatch cockatrice eggs
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Wicked devices
I.
THE DEVICES OF THY. WICKED.
1. Like eggs--productive.
2. Like cockatrice eggs--injurious.
3. Like spiders webs--frail, useless.
II. THEIR EFFECT.
1. Upon others--mischief, death.
2. Upon themselves--disappointment, retribution. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
The schemes of the ungodly
The meaning seems to be that the persons spoken of brood over and bring to maturity projects of wickedness, whose effects are almost equally fatal to those who acquiesce in them and to those who oppose them. He that eateth of their eggs, i.e either he who enters into their schemes or he who is their victim. That which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Should one try to stamp out one of their diabolical plans, its deadly nature will only be the more clearly manifested. Verse 6 is the development of the second image of Isa_59:5, the point of comparison being the uselessness for any good social end of the schemes devised by the ungodly. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
And weave the spiders web:--
Hypocritical religion
See the spiders web and behold in it a most suggestive picture of the hypocrites religion.
1. It is meant to catch his prey; the spider fattens himself on flies. Foolish persons are easily entrapped by the loud professions of pretenders, and even the more judicious cannot always escape.
2. A spiders web is a marvel of skill; look at it and admire the cunning hunters wiles. Is not a deceivers religion equally wonderful? How does he make so barefaced a lie appear to be a truth.
3. A spiders web comes all from the creatures own bowels. Even so hypocrites find their hope and trust within themselves.
4. But a spiders web is very frail. Hypocritical cobwebs will soon come down when the broom of destruction begins its purifying work.
5. Which reminds us of one more thought, viz that such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lords house. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Spiders webs
As the spider weaveth her web to catch the smaller flies, so do they lay their plots to take the poorer sort of people, and them which are most destitute of friends. (W. Day, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v6Isa_59:6. Their webs shall not become garments
WEBS BUT NOT GARMENTS
Isa_59:6. Their webs shall not become garments
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What a telling blow the prophet deals at the corruptions of his age! His illustration is homely, but, on that account, all the more forcible. The whole passage presents an appalling picture of the state of society,—powers perverted, &c. The two things always go together—the practice of wickedness, and recourse to vain excuses to palliate it. An evil course cannot long be pursued without some plea which justifies it to the sinner’s mind. These fictions are the very food on which his sin lives. Tear them away, and you strip him of those defences behind which he fortifies himself in the practice of iniquity. This is what God’s prophet is trying to do; not only denouncing sin, but exposing the worthlessness of the pleas by which it is encouraged. These fancies he characterises as “spiders’ webs” (Isa_59:5); and, continuing the metaphor (Isa_59:6), he declares—“Their webs shall not become garments.” It is a kindness to undeceive one who labours under a fatal mistake, however unpleasant the task. Some of you are the victims of soul-destroying delusions; but soon you will pass into a world of reality, where every dark subterfuge in which you try to hide yourselves, will be illumined in all its corners by the fierce and searching light of eternity. You are weaving your subtle webs of fancy and practice now, bestowing pains upon them, thinking well of them, and gaining the approval of others; but they are mere shoddy, which, though it pass from the loom, is worthless for wear. Let us visit some of the looms in the great factory of human life, and see what sort of fabrics the weavers are turning out.
I. There is one who is weaving the web of a respectable life. Living for appearances, squaring his opinions and behaviour by the maxims of the world; pleasant and accommodating whatever company he may enter, and putting up even with Christian society, if they are not too decided. No strong principles has he to bring him into collision with other people. His principle is to have no principles, but to fall in with those of others. If ever he offered a real prayer it would be—“O God, keep me on good terms with the world; save me from anything that would incur its censure, or draw down upon me its frown.” He worships the goddess of respectability. It would never do for him to be anything but sober, honest, and industrious. He cannot throw into his web the dark threads which they use who have sunk so low as to have no regard even for public opinion. It has attractive colours and a glossy surface. Such goods are in demand in the world’s market; but with no higher purpose, his web shall not become a garment. He has lived without the thought of God, and tried to do as others do, not what conscience and Scripture command.
II. At another loom sits a busy worker weaving the web of formalism. The formalist sees something good in religion, but is mistaken as to the way in which its blessedness is secured. His trust is in the outward observance of religious ceremonies, forgetting that the Kingdom of God is a thing of the heart. Precise and regular in his church attendance and Sabbath observance, he is yet cold and heartless. No warm, loving impulse stirs his soul. He has made a god of religious routine (Job_8:13-14). It is hard to undeceive such a man, just because of his familiarity with sacred things (Mat_21:31). He who weaves such a web, is only preparing a winding-sheet for his dead soul.
III. There is another weaving the web of self-righteousness. Not blindly trusting in ceremonies, but relying on an upright life. Without a change of heart he tries to obey the law (Rom_10:3), but his view of sin is defective. So long as the Divine law is regarded as an outward rule, you may think you render a tolerably perfect obedience, but let its light shine into the heart and it reveals the sinner’s guilt (Rom_7:7-9). Self-righteousness may be a web, but it never shall become a garment (Isa_57:12; Isa_64:6). We are to work not for but from acceptance and pardon. Never can we fulfil the law until the heart has been changed by the experience of God’s mercy (Php_3:9).
IV. Further on we encounter another who is weaving the web of reliance on the future. A young man who promises himself long life and abundant opportunity. He is bent on trying some experiments in weaving before he settles down to serious work. He means to attend to religious matters, but not just now. Can he count upon the uncertain future? can he promise himself inclination and opportunity? That is the web which the young are prone to weave. How is it with those more advanced in life?
V. Here is an old man busily weaving the web of amendment, thinking thus to atone for the vices and follies of an ill-spent youth. But can any resolution for the future wipe out the guilt of the erring past? If he wishes to begin life anew he must go to the cross, and make that his starting-point, but he blindly imagines that reformation of life will supply the garment which he needs.
VI. Have I exhausted the various classes of weavers? Alas for our race if I have! Many find the requisite garment provided for them in the righteousness of Christ (Rom_3:21-26; Rom_4:5). It fits us, becomes us, protects us, will never grow old, and will never be out of fashion. How can you appear before God in the flimsy dress of your own manufacture? (Mat_22:11-13). But do we cease to be weavers when we “put on the Lord Jesus Christ?” The weaving of the right sort can only then begin; for, the righteousness wrought out for us and imputed becomes a righteousness wrought in us and imparted. Christ takes the web of our life into his own hands (1Co_1:30; Gal_2:20). Instead of leading to licentiousness a free justification alone can sanctify the life (Rom_6:1-4).
To which class of weavers do you belong? Look at your life—how profitless, purposeless, and polluted! Can that web clothe you for standing before God, when it is finished and removed from the beam? Throw it away, tear it to shreds, abandon alike your good and bad works, and listen to the Redeemer’s voice (Rev_3:18). You pity the poorly-clad amid the biting frosts and snows of winter, but more to be pitied are they who advance into the winter of declining years, the chill region of death, and the storms of judgment, with no sufficient clothing for their defenceless souls!—William Guthrie, M.A.
Isa_59:7. Depravity. I. Has its seat in the heart. II. Its expression in the conduct. III. Its issue in misery and ruin.—J. Lyth, D.D.
Isa_59:8. I. The characters described. Those who make crooked paths—
1. From the line of duty prescribed by the law.
2. By the Gospel.
3. By conscience. II. Their awful condition. Cannot know peace. In life—death—eternal world.—C. Simeon, M.A.
The path of transgressors is one—I. Of contention. II. Of injustice. III. Of perverseness. IV. Of misery.
Isa_59:9-15. I. The misery of sinners. No light, comfort, certainty, security, relief, salvation. II. The cause. Transgression multiplied, acknowledged, aggravated, open, wilful, exciting justly the displeasure of God.—Dr. Lyth.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren1905 · Public DomainOn v6Isa 59:6. - Rev 3:18.
Isaiah
FLIMSY GARMENTS
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Isa 59:6. - Rev 3:18.
The force of these words of the prophet is very obvious. He has been pouring out swift, indignant denunciation on the evil-doers in Israel; and, says he, ‘they hatch cockatrice’s eggs and spin spiders’ webs,’ pointing, as I suppose, to the patient perseverance, worthy of a better cause, which bad men will exercise in working out their plans. Then with a flash of bitter irony, led on by his imagination to say more than he had meant, he adds this scathing parenthesis, as if he said, ‘Yes, they spin spiders’ webs, elaborate toil and creeping contrivance, and what comes of it all! The flimsy foul thing is swept away by God’s besom sooner or later. A web indeed! but they will never make a garment out of it. It looks like cloth, but it is useless.’ That is the old lesson that all sin is profitless and comes to nothing.
I venture to connect with that strongly figurative declaration of the essential futility of godless living, our second text, in which Jesus uses a similar figure to express one aspect of His gifts to the believing soul. He is ready to clothe it, so that ‘being clothed, it will not be found naked.’
I. Sin clothes no man even here.
Notice in passing what a hint there is of the toil and trouble that men are so willing to take in a wrong course. Hatching and spinning both suggest protracted, sedulous labour. And then the issue of it all is- nothing.
Take the plainest illustrations of this truth first-the breach of common laws of morality, the indulgence, for instance, in dissipation. A man gets a certain coarse delight out of it, but what does he get besides? A weakened body, a tyrannous craving, ruined prospects, oftenest poverty and shame, the loss of self-respect and love; of moral excellences, of tastes for what is better. He is not a beast, and he cannot live for pure animalism without injuring himself.
Then take actual breaches of human laws. How seldom these ‘pay,’ even in the lowest sense. Thieves are always poor. The same experience of futility dogs all coarse and palpable breaches of morality. It is always true that ‘He that breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him.’
The reasons are not far to seek. This is, on the whole, God’s world, a world of retribution. Things are, on the whole, on the side of goodness. God is in the world, and that is an element not to be left out in the calculation. Society is on the side of goodness to a large extent. The constitution of a man’s own soul, which God made, works in the same direction. Young men who are trembling on the verge of youthful yieldings to passion, are tempted to fancy that they can sow sin and not reap suffering or harm. Would that they settled it in their thoughts that he who fires a fuse must expect an explosion!
But the same rule applies to every godless form of life. Take our Manchester temptation, money or success in business. Take ambition. Take culture, literary fame. Take love and friendship. What do they all come to, if godless? I do not point to the many failures, but suppose success: would that make you a happy man? If you won what you wanted, would it be enough? What ‘garments’ for your conscience, for your sense of sin, for your infinite longings would success in any godless course provide? You would have what you wanted, and what would it bring with it? Cares and troubles and swift satiety, and not seldom incapacity to enjoy what you had won with so much toil. If you gained the prize, you would find clinging to it something that you did not bargain for, and that took most of the dazzle away from it.
II. The rags are all stripped off some day.
Death is a becoming naked as to the body, and as to all the occupations that terminate with bodily life. It necessarily involves the loss of possessions, the cessation of activities, the stripping off of self-deceptions, and exposure to the gaze of the Judge, without defence. The godless soul will ‘be found naked’ and ashamed. All ‘works of darkness,’ laden with rich blossom or juicy fruit though they have seemed to be, will then be seen to be in tragic truth ‘fruitless.’ A life’s spinning and weaving, and not a rag to cover the toiler after all! Is that ‘productive labour’?
III. Christ will clothe you.
‘White raiment.’ Pure character. Covering before the Judge. Festal robe of Victory.
‘Buy’-how? By giving up self.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn v4(See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
trust
(See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv5, 7General Information:
General Information:
Isaiah continues speaking to the people of Israel about the evil they do using the metaphors of poisonous snakes and spider's webs.
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They hatch eggs of a poisonous snake
Eggs of a poisonous snake hatch into more dangerous snakes. "Poisonous snakes" represents evil the people do that harms more and more. AT: "They make evil that spreads out to make more evil" (See: Metaphor)
weave a spider's web
This represents the deeds of the people that are useless. AT: "produce things and activities that are useless" (See: Metaphor)
Whoever eats of their eggs dies, and if an egg is crushed, it hatches into a poisonous snake
Eating a poisonous egg will kill the one that eats it and represents self-destruction. Breaking the egg allows the young poisonous snake to hatch and represents spreading destruction. AT: "The activities they do will destroy them and will spread destruction to others" (See: Metaphor)
if an egg is crushed
This can be stated in active form. AT: "if someone crushes an egg" (See: Active or Passive)
Their webs cannot be used for garments, nor can they cover themselves with their works
This means their sinful deeds cannot be covered and hidden, just as a web cannot serve as clothing and cover someone. AT: "Their evil deeds will be exposed as useless" (See: Metaphor)
Their webs cannot be used for garments
This can be stated in active form. AT: "They cannot clothe themselves with their webs" (See: Active or Passive)
deeds of violence are in their hands
"Hands" represents the ability and power to do these things and therefore their responsibility. AT: "they are fully responsible for the violence they do" (See: Metonymy)
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv4–5 According to their wicked devices, they hurt their neighbors.
According to their wicked devices, they hurt their neighbors.
All men wink at the injuries and oppressions, and none go about to remedy them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Isa 59:4 None calleth for justice, nor [any] pleadeth…
Isa 59:4 None calleth for justice, nor [any] pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Ver. 4. None calleth for justice.] Mindeth the judges of their duty, but rather connive, collogue, partake, &c. The Chaldee hath it, ‘There is none that delivereth the poor and needy.’
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They trust in vanity.] As those did; {Jer 7:4} making a bridge of their own shadows, they fall into the brook.
They conceive mischief, &c.] This is taken out of Psa 7:14 Job 15:35; {See Trapp on "Psa 7:14"} {See Trapp on "Job 15:35"} Heb., Going great with grievance, and bringing forth vexation.
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 On vv4–7 None calleth for justice, i.e. none seek to redress…
None calleth for justice, i.e. none seek to redress these wrongs and violences; they commit all rapines and frauds under impunity; either,
1. Because the judges are corrupt. Or,
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2. Because none will warn the judges of their duty. Or,
3. Because none seek to bring offenders to justice. Or,
4. Because none will plead a righteous cause, or plead it righteously, or countenance goodness; and this the next expression favours; and so justice suffers, which the Hebrew word mispat, being in the passive voice, seems to intimate: the sense is the same, and whereas it is said none, it is as much as to say very few, as we say few or none; the like Psa 14:3.
Quest. How could this be charged upon them, when in the time of their captivity they had no courts?
Answ. It is probable they had courts among themselves, to judge between one another, by leave of the Babylonish kings.
They trust in vanity; either,
1. Relating to their lies, which are words empty and void of all consistency; and so it is the same with the next expression,
and speak lies. Or,
2. In their idols, which are stocks and stones, and so oft called vanity and nothing, 1Co 8:4. For even in Babylon they worshipped idols, as appears by Jer 16:11,12,18. Or rather,
3. In their power, and craft, and policy, whereby, laying aside justice, they can oppress others; and so he calls it vanity by a metonymy of the adjunct, because it would prove all vain in the end, and either,
1. Frustrate their ends. Or,
2. Not justify them against God’s proceedings with them. Or,
3. Bring all into emptiness and confusion: the word is tohu, whereby the confusion and mingling of all things is expressed, before the world was brought into order and form, Gen 1:2.
Speak lies: it may refer both to the judges, and to the lawyers and false prophets, that tell them they shall not go into captivity; they speak that which they know to be false.
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity: these two words of conceiving and bringing forth note their whole contrivance, and perfecting their wickedness; the former notes their plotting, the latter their execution of mischief; whatever is in the mind, only out of sight, warmed and formed there by cogitating and meditation, is called conception, which being ripe, and produced to view, is called a birth; intimating that the wicked sin not occasionally and accidentally, but premeditatingly and professedly; they grow big with it. The expression is allegorical, and in the two next verses compared to the cockatrice’ eggs for the wickedness of it, and to a spider’s web for the vanity of it.
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 On vv4–7 None calleth for justice,.... Or, "righteousness"; not for civil…
None calleth for justice,.... Or, "righteousness"; not for civil justice in courts of judicature, as if there were no advocates for it there; or that put those in mind of it, to whom the administration of it belongs; or that see to put the laws against sin in execution, and to relieve those that are oppressed; though of this there may be just cause of complaint in some places: but there are none or few that call for evangelical righteousness, either that preach it, proclaim and publish it to others; even the righteousness of Christ, the grand doctrine of the Gospel, which is therein revealed from faith to faith; so the Syriac version, "there is none that preacheth righteously"; or "in", or "of righteousness" (t); and the Septuagint version, "no one speaks righteous things"; the words and doctrines of righteousness and truth: or, "no one calls for righteousness"; desires to hear this doctrine, and have it preached to him; hungers and thirsts after it; but chooses the doctrine of justification by works. The Targum refers it to prayer, paraphrasing it thus,
"there is none that prays in truth;''
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in sincerity and uprightness, in faith and with fervour; but in a cold, formal, and hypocritical way:
nor any pleadeth for truth: for the truth of the Gospel, particularly for the principal one, the justification of a sinner by the righteousness of Christ alone; few or none contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints; they are not valiant for the truth, nor stand fast in it, but drop or conceal it, or deny it: or, "none is judged by", or "according to truth" (u); by the Scriptures of truth, but by carnal reason; or by forms and rules of man's devising, and so are condemned; as Gospel ministers and professors of it are:
they trust in vanity; in nothing, as the Vulgate Latin; that is worth nothing; in their own strength, wisdom, riches, righteousness, especially the latter:
and speak lies; or "vanity"; vain things, false doctrines, as before:
they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity; they "conceive" and contrive "mischief" in their minds against those that differ in doctrine and practice from them: "and bring forth iniquity": do that which is criminal and sinful, by words and actions, by calumnies and reproaches, by violence and persecution. The Targum is,
"they hasten and bring out of their hearts words of violence.''
(t) "in justitia", Montanus, Tigurine version; "sive de justitia". (u) "nemo judicatur scundum veritatem", Munster; "non judicatur in veritate", Montanus.
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 On vv4–7 None - None seek to redress these wrongs, and…
None - None seek to redress these wrongs, and violences; they commit all rapines, and frauds with impunity. Bring forth - These two words of conceiving, and bringing forth, denote their whole contrivance, and perfecting their wickedness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v4 Verse 4. They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.]…
Verse 4. They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.] There is a curious propriety in this mode of expression; a thought or purpose is compared to conception; a word or act, which is the consequence of it, to the birth of a child. From the third to the fifteenth verse inclusive may be considered a true statement of the then moral state of the Jewish people; and that they were, in the most proper sense of the word, guilty of the iniquities with which they are charged.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7 Isa 59:4. None calleth for justice — None seek…
Isa 59:4. None calleth for justice — None seek to redress these wrongs and violences; they commit all rapines and frauds with impunity; they trust in vanity — In vain and empty words, void of all consistency; or, in vain things, such as their idols were, often called vanity and nothing, 1Co 8:4; or in their own power, craft, and policy, whereby, laying aside justice, they oppressed others. And speak lies — This may refer to the judges, lawyers, and false prophets, who told them they should not go into captivity; as if he had said, They speak that which they know to be false. They conceive mischief and bring forth, &c. — These two words, conceiving and bringing forth, denote the whole contriving and perfecting of their wickedness.
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 On vv4–7 None calleth for justice - Or rather, there is…
None calleth for justice - Or rather, there is no one who brings a suit with justice; no one who goes into court for the purpose of obtaining justice. There is a love of litigation; a desire to take all the advantage which the law can give; a desire to appeal to the law, not for the sake of having strict justice done, but for the sake of doing injury to others, and to take some undue advantage.
Nor any pleadeth for truth - Or, no one pleadeth with truth. He does not state the cause as it is. He makes use of cunning and falsehood to gain his cause.
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They trust in vanity - They confide in quirks and evasions rather than in the justice of their cause.
They conceive mischief - They form plans of evil, and they execute them when they are fully ripe. Compare Job 15:35, where the same phrase occurs. The sense is, that they form plans to injure others, and that they expect to execute them by fraud and deceit.
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 On vv4–5 Justice. They arraign unjustly. None call upon the just…
Justice. They arraign unjustly. None call upon the just God, but trust in idols. --- Iniquity. They kill themselves, while they strive to injure others, Psalm vii. 15., and Micheas ii. 1.
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 On vv4–7 Rather, "No one calleth an adversary into court with…
Rather, "No one calleth an adversary into court with justice," that is, None bringeth a just suit: "No one pleadeth with truth."
they trust . . . iniquity--(So Job 15:35; Psa 7:14).
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 On vv5, 7 5, 6. Cockatrice’s eggs — Hatched into basilisks, (see…
5, 6. Cockatrice’s eggs — Hatched into basilisks, (see Isa_11:8;) a fabulous reptile — its gaze supposed to be fatal, its eggs, as food, certainly poisonous. The reference is to a popular, not a scientific, conception of a certain not well-known reptile, and is employed to characterize strongly the people’s evil works. So of the next figure.
The spider’s web — An emblem of the people’s acts of enticing and ruining others. The further point of the figure is, that the “spider’s web” is too gauzy as a covering to conceal wicked plans against others. Flimsy sophistry cannot hide pretended righteousness.
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 On vv4–7 4. The first half of the verse should be…
4. The first half of the verse should be rendered as R.V.
None sueth in righteousness,
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And none pleadeth in truth.
The reference is to the abuse of legal procedure: lawsuits instituted and conducted with absolute disregard of righteousness and truth. Cf. ch. Isa_29:21.
calleth] with the sense of “summon” (in jus vocare), as in Job_9:16; Job_13:22.
pleadeth] i.e. “pleadeth a cause”, litigates; the same word as in Isa_43:26.
The rest of the verse probably continues the same subject, describing the sophistical and mischievous arguments employed by the litigants to make the worse appear the better reason, and subvert the ends of justice. The verbs are infinitives (as in Isa_59:13 and Hos_4:2) and should be translated thus:
Trusting in emptiness (lit. “chaos” as Isa_40:17) and speaking vanity!
Conceiving mischief and bringing forth evil!
The last line occurs almost verbatim in Job_15:35.
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 On vv4–7 (4) None calleth for justice.—Better, none preferreth his suit…
(4) None calleth for justice.—Better, none preferreth his suit with truthfulness. The words point chiefly to the guilt of unrighteous prosecutions, but may include that of false witness also.
They trust in vanity.—Literally, in chaos—the characteristic tohu of both parts of Isaiah (Isa_24:10; Isa_29:21; Isa_40:17; Isa_40:23).
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 On vv4–7 None calleth for justice; rather, none preferreth his suit…
None calleth for justice; rather, none preferreth his suit in justice (so Lowth, Gesenius, Ewald, Knobel, and Mr. Cheyne). "No one," that is, "who engaged in a suit, limited himself to just pleas and honest courses in his prosecution of it." Nor any pleadeth for truth; rather, none pleadeth in truthfulness. They trust in vanity; literally, in chaos; i.e. "in a mass of false and vain statements." The whole basis of the dealings between man and man was unsound, corrupt, chaotic. Where truth and plain dealing are set aside, all shortly becomes ruin and confusion. They conceive mischief, etc. (comp. Psa_7:14)
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 On vv5–7 They hatch cockatrice eggs
Isa_59:5-6
They hatch cockatrice eggs
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Wicked devices
I.
THE DEVICES OF THY. WICKED.
1. Like eggs--productive.
2. Like cockatrice eggs--injurious.
3. Like spiders webs--frail, useless.
II. THEIR EFFECT.
1. Upon others--mischief, death.
2. Upon themselves--disappointment, retribution. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
The schemes of the ungodly
The meaning seems to be that the persons spoken of brood over and bring to maturity projects of wickedness, whose effects are almost equally fatal to those who acquiesce in them and to those who oppose them. He that eateth of their eggs, i.e either he who enters into their schemes or he who is their victim. That which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Should one try to stamp out one of their diabolical plans, its deadly nature will only be the more clearly manifested. Verse 6 is the development of the second image of Isa_59:5, the point of comparison being the uselessness for any good social end of the schemes devised by the ungodly. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
And weave the spiders web:--
Hypocritical religion
See the spiders web and behold in it a most suggestive picture of the hypocrites religion.
1. It is meant to catch his prey; the spider fattens himself on flies. Foolish persons are easily entrapped by the loud professions of pretenders, and even the more judicious cannot always escape.
2. A spiders web is a marvel of skill; look at it and admire the cunning hunters wiles. Is not a deceivers religion equally wonderful? How does he make so barefaced a lie appear to be a truth.
3. A spiders web comes all from the creatures own bowels. Even so hypocrites find their hope and trust within themselves.
4. But a spiders web is very frail. Hypocritical cobwebs will soon come down when the broom of destruction begins its purifying work.
5. Which reminds us of one more thought, viz that such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lords house. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Spiders webs
As the spider weaveth her web to catch the smaller flies, so do they lay their plots to take the poorer sort of people, and them which are most destitute of friends. (W. Day, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v6 Isa_59:6. Their webs shall not become garments
WEBS BUT NOT GARMENTS
Isa_59:6. Their webs shall not become garments
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What a telling blow the prophet deals at the corruptions of his age! His illustration is homely, but, on that account, all the more forcible. The whole passage presents an appalling picture of the state of society,—powers perverted, &c. The two things always go together—the practice of wickedness, and recourse to vain excuses to palliate it. An evil course cannot long be pursued without some plea which justifies it to the sinner’s mind. These fictions are the very food on which his sin lives. Tear them away, and you strip him of those defences behind which he fortifies himself in the practice of iniquity. This is what God’s prophet is trying to do; not only denouncing sin, but exposing the worthlessness of the pleas by which it is encouraged. These fancies he characterises as “spiders’ webs” (Isa_59:5); and, continuing the metaphor (Isa_59:6), he declares—“Their webs shall not become garments.” It is a kindness to undeceive one who labours under a fatal mistake, however unpleasant the task. Some of you are the victims of soul-destroying delusions; but soon you will pass into a world of reality, where every dark subterfuge in which you try to hide yourselves, will be illumined in all its corners by the fierce and searching light of eternity. You are weaving your subtle webs of fancy and practice now, bestowing pains upon them, thinking well of them, and gaining the approval of others; but they are mere shoddy, which, though it pass from the loom, is worthless for wear. Let us visit some of the looms in the great factory of human life, and see what sort of fabrics the weavers are turning out.
I. There is one who is weaving the web of a respectable life. Living for appearances, squaring his opinions and behaviour by the maxims of the world; pleasant and accommodating whatever company he may enter, and putting up even with Christian society, if they are not too decided. No strong principles has he to bring him into collision with other people. His principle is to have no principles, but to fall in with those of others. If ever he offered a real prayer it would be—“O God, keep me on good terms with the world; save me from anything that would incur its censure, or draw down upon me its frown.” He worships the goddess of respectability. It would never do for him to be anything but sober, honest, and industrious. He cannot throw into his web the dark threads which they use who have sunk so low as to have no regard even for public opinion. It has attractive colours and a glossy surface. Such goods are in demand in the world’s market; but with no higher purpose, his web shall not become a garment. He has lived without the thought of God, and tried to do as others do, not what conscience and Scripture command.
II. At another loom sits a busy worker weaving the web of formalism. The formalist sees something good in religion, but is mistaken as to the way in which its blessedness is secured. His trust is in the outward observance of religious ceremonies, forgetting that the Kingdom of God is a thing of the heart. Precise and regular in his church attendance and Sabbath observance, he is yet cold and heartless. No warm, loving impulse stirs his soul. He has made a god of religious routine (Job_8:13-14). It is hard to undeceive such a man, just because of his familiarity with sacred things (Mat_21:31). He who weaves such a web, is only preparing a winding-sheet for his dead soul.
III. There is another weaving the web of self-righteousness. Not blindly trusting in ceremonies, but relying on an upright life. Without a change of heart he tries to obey the law (Rom_10:3), but his view of sin is defective. So long as the Divine law is regarded as an outward rule, you may think you render a tolerably perfect obedience, but let its light shine into the heart and it reveals the sinner’s guilt (Rom_7:7-9). Self-righteousness may be a web, but it never shall become a garment (Isa_57:12; Isa_64:6). We are to work not for but from acceptance and pardon. Never can we fulfil the law until the heart has been changed by the experience of God’s mercy (Php_3:9).
IV. Further on we encounter another who is weaving the web of reliance on the future. A young man who promises himself long life and abundant opportunity. He is bent on trying some experiments in weaving before he settles down to serious work. He means to attend to religious matters, but not just now. Can he count upon the uncertain future? can he promise himself inclination and opportunity? That is the web which the young are prone to weave. How is it with those more advanced in life?
V. Here is an old man busily weaving the web of amendment, thinking thus to atone for the vices and follies of an ill-spent youth. But can any resolution for the future wipe out the guilt of the erring past? If he wishes to begin life anew he must go to the cross, and make that his starting-point, but he blindly imagines that reformation of life will supply the garment which he needs.
VI. Have I exhausted the various classes of weavers? Alas for our race if I have! Many find the requisite garment provided for them in the righteousness of Christ (Rom_3:21-26; Rom_4:5). It fits us, becomes us, protects us, will never grow old, and will never be out of fashion. How can you appear before God in the flimsy dress of your own manufacture? (Mat_22:11-13). But do we cease to be weavers when we “put on the Lord Jesus Christ?” The weaving of the right sort can only then begin; for, the righteousness wrought out for us and imputed becomes a righteousness wrought in us and imparted. Christ takes the web of our life into his own hands (1Co_1:30; Gal_2:20). Instead of leading to licentiousness a free justification alone can sanctify the life (Rom_6:1-4).
To which class of weavers do you belong? Look at your life—how profitless, purposeless, and polluted! Can that web clothe you for standing before God, when it is finished and removed from the beam? Throw it away, tear it to shreds, abandon alike your good and bad works, and listen to the Redeemer’s voice (Rev_3:18). You pity the poorly-clad amid the biting frosts and snows of winter, but more to be pitied are they who advance into the winter of declining years, the chill region of death, and the storms of judgment, with no sufficient clothing for their defenceless souls!—William Guthrie, M.A.
Isa_59:7. Depravity. I. Has its seat in the heart. II. Its expression in the conduct. III. Its issue in misery and ruin.—J. Lyth, D.D.
Isa_59:8. I. The characters described. Those who make crooked paths—
1. From the line of duty prescribed by the law.
2. By the Gospel.
3. By conscience. II. Their awful condition. Cannot know peace. In life—death—eternal world.—C. Simeon, M.A.
The path of transgressors is one—I. Of contention. II. Of injustice. III. Of perverseness. IV. Of misery.
Isa_59:9-15. I. The misery of sinners. No light, comfort, certainty, security, relief, salvation. II. The cause. Transgression multiplied, acknowledged, aggravated, open, wilful, exciting justly the displeasure of God.—Dr. Lyth.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v6 Isa 59:6. - Rev 3:18.
Isaiah
FLIMSY GARMENTS
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Isa 59:6. - Rev 3:18.
The force of these words of the prophet is very obvious. He has been pouring out swift, indignant denunciation on the evil-doers in Israel; and, says he, ‘they hatch cockatrice’s eggs and spin spiders’ webs,’ pointing, as I suppose, to the patient perseverance, worthy of a better cause, which bad men will exercise in working out their plans. Then with a flash of bitter irony, led on by his imagination to say more than he had meant, he adds this scathing parenthesis, as if he said, ‘Yes, they spin spiders’ webs, elaborate toil and creeping contrivance, and what comes of it all! The flimsy foul thing is swept away by God’s besom sooner or later. A web indeed! but they will never make a garment out of it. It looks like cloth, but it is useless.’ That is the old lesson that all sin is profitless and comes to nothing.
I venture to connect with that strongly figurative declaration of the essential futility of godless living, our second text, in which Jesus uses a similar figure to express one aspect of His gifts to the believing soul. He is ready to clothe it, so that ‘being clothed, it will not be found naked.’
I. Sin clothes no man even here.
Notice in passing what a hint there is of the toil and trouble that men are so willing to take in a wrong course. Hatching and spinning both suggest protracted, sedulous labour. And then the issue of it all is- nothing.
Take the plainest illustrations of this truth first-the breach of common laws of morality, the indulgence, for instance, in dissipation. A man gets a certain coarse delight out of it, but what does he get besides? A weakened body, a tyrannous craving, ruined prospects, oftenest poverty and shame, the loss of self-respect and love; of moral excellences, of tastes for what is better. He is not a beast, and he cannot live for pure animalism without injuring himself.
Then take actual breaches of human laws. How seldom these ‘pay,’ even in the lowest sense. Thieves are always poor. The same experience of futility dogs all coarse and palpable breaches of morality. It is always true that ‘He that breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him.’
The reasons are not far to seek. This is, on the whole, God’s world, a world of retribution. Things are, on the whole, on the side of goodness. God is in the world, and that is an element not to be left out in the calculation. Society is on the side of goodness to a large extent. The constitution of a man’s own soul, which God made, works in the same direction. Young men who are trembling on the verge of youthful yieldings to passion, are tempted to fancy that they can sow sin and not reap suffering or harm. Would that they settled it in their thoughts that he who fires a fuse must expect an explosion!
But the same rule applies to every godless form of life. Take our Manchester temptation, money or success in business. Take ambition. Take culture, literary fame. Take love and friendship. What do they all come to, if godless? I do not point to the many failures, but suppose success: would that make you a happy man? If you won what you wanted, would it be enough? What ‘garments’ for your conscience, for your sense of sin, for your infinite longings would success in any godless course provide? You would have what you wanted, and what would it bring with it? Cares and troubles and swift satiety, and not seldom incapacity to enjoy what you had won with so much toil. If you gained the prize, you would find clinging to it something that you did not bargain for, and that took most of the dazzle away from it.
II. The rags are all stripped off some day.
Death is a becoming naked as to the body, and as to all the occupations that terminate with bodily life. It necessarily involves the loss of possessions, the cessation of activities, the stripping off of self-deceptions, and exposure to the gaze of the Judge, without defence. The godless soul will ‘be found naked’ and ashamed. All ‘works of darkness,’ laden with rich blossom or juicy fruit though they have seemed to be, will then be seen to be in tragic truth ‘fruitless.’ A life’s spinning and weaving, and not a rag to cover the toiler after all! Is that ‘productive labour’?
III. Christ will clothe you.
‘White raiment.’ Pure character. Covering before the Judge. Festal robe of Victory.
‘Buy’-how? By giving up self.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v4 (See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
trust
(See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 7 General Information:
General Information:
Isaiah continues speaking to the people of Israel about the evil they do using the metaphors of poisonous snakes and spider's webs.
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They hatch eggs of a poisonous snake
Eggs of a poisonous snake hatch into more dangerous snakes. "Poisonous snakes" represents evil the people do that harms more and more. AT: "They make evil that spreads out to make more evil" (See: Metaphor)
weave a spider's web
This represents the deeds of the people that are useless. AT: "produce things and activities that are useless" (See: Metaphor)
Whoever eats of their eggs dies, and if an egg is crushed, it hatches into a poisonous snake
Eating a poisonous egg will kill the one that eats it and represents self-destruction. Breaking the egg allows the young poisonous snake to hatch and represents spreading destruction. AT: "The activities they do will destroy them and will spread destruction to others" (See: Metaphor)
if an egg is crushed
This can be stated in active form. AT: "if someone crushes an egg" (See: Active or Passive)
Their webs cannot be used for garments, nor can they cover themselves with their works
This means their sinful deeds cannot be covered and hidden, just as a web cannot serve as clothing and cover someone. AT: "Their evil deeds will be exposed as useless" (See: Metaphor)
Their webs cannot be used for garments
This can be stated in active form. AT: "They cannot clothe themselves with their webs" (See: Active or Passive)
deeds of violence are in their hands
"Hands" represents the ability and power to do these things and therefore their responsibility. AT: "they are fully responsible for the violence they do" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
serpent
works
sin
hand
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 5, 7 59:4 being fair and honest: Israel did not practice…
59:4 being fair and honest: Israel did not practice these qualities that are part of God’s nature and that he expects from people (1:21; see 25:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.