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Selected Verse: Isaiah 57:16 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Isa 57:16 |
King James |
For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
For--referring to the promise in Isa 57:14-15, of restoring Israel when "contrite" (Gen 6:3; Gen 8:21; Psa 78:38-39; Psa 85:5; Psa 103:9, Psa 103:13-14; Mic 7:18). God "will not contend for ever" with His people, for their human spirit would thereby be utterly crushed, whereas God's object is to chasten, not to destroy them (Lam 3:33-34; Mic 7:8-9). With the ungodly He is "angry every day" (Psa 7:11; Rev 14:11).
spirit . . . before me--that is, the human spirit which went forth from Me (Num 16:22), answering to "which I have made" in the parallel clause. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
For I will not contend for ever - I will not be angry with my people forever, nor always refuse to pardon and comfort them (see Psa 103:9). This is to be regarded as having been primarily addressed to the Jews in their long and painful exile in Babylon. It is, however, couched in general language; and the idea is, that although God would punish his people for their sins, yet his wrath would not be perpetual. If they were his children, he would visit them again in mercy, and would restore to them his favor.
For the spirit should fail before me - Critics have taken a great deal of pains on this part of the verse, which they suppose to be very obscure. The simple meaning seems to be, that if God should continue in anger against people they would be consumed. The human soul could not endure a long-continued controversy with God. Its powers would fail; its strength decay; it must sink to destruction. As God did not intend this in regard to his own people; as he meant that his chastisements should not be for their destruction, but for their salvation; and as he knew how much they could bear, and how much they needed, he would lighten the burden, and restore them to his favor. And the truth taught here is, that if we are his children, we are safe. We may suffer much and long. We may suffer so much that it seems scarcely possible that we should endure more. But he knows how much we can bear; and he will remove the lead, so that we shall not be utterly crushed. A similar sentiment is found in the two following elegant passages of the Psalms, which are evidently parallel to this, and express the same idea:
But he being full of compassion,
Forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not;
Yea many a time burned he his anger away,
And did not stir up all his wrath.
For he remembered that they were but flesh;
A wind that passeth away and returneth not again.
Psa 78:38-39
He will not always chide;
Neither will he keep his anger forever.
Like as a father pitieth his children,
So the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
For he knoweth our frame;
He remembereth that we are dust.
Psa 103:9, Psa 103:13-14
The Hebrew word which is rendered here 'should fail' (עטף ‛âṭaph), means properly to cover, as with a garment; or to envelope with anything, as darkness. Then it is used in the sense of having the mind covered or muffled up with sorrow; and means to languish, to be faint or feeble, to fail. Thus it is used in Psa 61:2; Psa 107:5; Psa 142:3; Lam 2:11-12, Lam 2:19; Jon 2:7. Other interpretations of this verse may be seen in Rosenmuller; but the above seems to be the true sense. According to this, it furnishes ground of encouragement and comfort to all the children of God who are afflicted. No sorrow will be sent which they will not be able to endure, no calamity which will not be finally for their own good. At the same time, it is a passage full of alarm to the sinner. How can he contend forever with God? How can he struggle always with the Almighty? And what must be the state in that dreadful world, where God shall contend for ever with the soul, and where all its powers shall be crushed beneath the vengeance of his eternal arm! |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| The compassion, by virtue of which God has His abode and His work of grace in the spirit and heart of the penitent, is founded in that free anticipating love which called man and his self-conscious spirit-soul into being at the first. "For I do not contend for ever, and I am not angry for ever: for the spirit would pine away before me, and the souls of men which I have created." The early translators (lxx, Syr., Jer., possibly also the Targum) give to יעטף the meaning egredietur, which certainly cannot be established. And so also does Stier, so far as the thought is concerned, when he adopts the rendering, "A spirit from me will cover over, and breath of life will I make;" and so Hahn, "When the spirit pines away before me, I create breath in abundance." But in both cases the writer would at any rate have used the perf. consec. ועשׂיתי, and the last clause of the v. has not the syntactic form of an apodosis. The rendering given above is the only one that is unassailable both grammatically and in fact. כּי introduces the reason for the self-limitation of the divine wrath, just as in Psa 78:38-39 (cf., Psa 103:14): if God should put no restraint upon His wrath, the consequence would be the entire destruction of human life, which was His creative work at first. The verb עטף, from its primary meaning to bend round (Comm. on Job, at Job 23:9), has sometimes the transitive meaning to cover, and sometimes the meaning to wrap one's self round, i.e., to become faint or weak (compare עטוּף, fainted away, Lam 2:19; and התעטּף in Psa 142:4, which is applied to the spirit, like the kal here). מלּפני is equivalent to "in consequence of the wrath proceeding from me." נשׁמות (a plural only met with here) signifies, according to the fixed usage of the Old Testament (Isa 2:22; Isa 42:5), the souls of men, the origin of which is described as a creation in the attributive clause (with an emphatic אני), just as in Jer 38:16 (cf., Zac 12:1). Whether the accents are intended to take עשׂיתי אני in this attributive sense or not, cannot be decided from the tiphchah attached to ונשׁמות. The prophet, who refers to the flood in other passages also (e.g., Isa 54:9), had probably in his mind the promise given after the flood, according to which God would not make the existing and inherited moral depravity an occasion for utterly destroying the human race. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| For - I will not proceed to the utmost severity with sinful men. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
For I will not contend for ever - The learned have taken a great deal of pains to little purpose on the latter part of this verses which they suppose to be very obscure. After all their labors upon it, I think the best and easiest explication of it is given in the two following elegant passages of the Psalms, which I presume are exactly parallel to it, and very clearly express the same sentiment.
"But he in his tender mercy will forgive their sin
And will not destroy them;
Yea, oftentimes will he turn away his wrath,
And will not rouse up his indignation:
For he remembereth that they are but flesh,
A breath that passeth, and returneth not."
Psa 78:38, Psa 78:39.
"He will not always contend
Neither will he for ever hold his wrath:
As a father yearneth towards his children,
So is Jehovah tenderly compassionate towards them
that fear him For he knoweth our frame;
He remembereth that we are but dust."
Psa 103:9, Psa 103:13, Psa 103:14.
In the former of these two passages the second line seems to be defective both in measure and sense. I suppose the word אותם otham, then is lost at the end; which seems to be acknowledged by the Chaldee and Vulgate, who render as if they had read ולא ישחית אותם velo yaschith otham. - L.
For the spirit - רוח ruach, the animal life.
And the souls - נשמות neshamoth, the immortal spirits. The Targum understands this of the resurrection. I will restore the souls of the dead, i.e., to their bodies. |
22 And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
14 And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.
15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.
3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.
5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
16 So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.
5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
22 Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
4 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.
19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
38 But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.