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Selected Verse: Isaiah 1:15 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Isa 1:15	Strong Concordance	And when ye spread forth [06566] your hands [03709], I will hide [05956] mine eyes [05869] from you: yea, when ye make many [07235] prayers [08605], I will not hear [08085]: your hands [03027] are full [04390] of blood [01818].
	King James	And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
(Psa 66:18; Pro 28:9; Lam 3:43-44). spread . . . hands--in prayer (Kg1 8:22). Hebrew, "bloods," for all heinous sins, persecution of God's servants especially (Mat 23:35). It was the vocation of the prophets to dispel the delusion, so contrary to the law itself (Deu 10:16), that outward ritualism would satisfy God.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

(Psa 66:18; Pro 28:9; Lam 3:43-44).

spread . . . hands--in prayer (Kg1 8:22). Hebrew, "bloods," for all heinous sins, persecution of God's servants especially (Mat 23:35). It was the vocation of the prophets to dispel the delusion, so contrary to the law itself (Deu 10:16), that outward ritualism would satisfy God.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Ye spread forth your hands - This is an expression denoting the act of supplication. When we ask for help, we naturally stretch out our hands, as if to receive it. The expression therefore is equivalent to 'when ye pray, or implore mercy.' Compare Exo 9:29; Exo 17:11-12; Kg1 8:22. I will hide mine eyes ... - That is, I will not attend to, or regard your supplications. The Chaldee Paraphrase is, 'When your priests expand their hands to pray for you.' Your hands ... - This is given as a reason why he would not hear. The expression full of blood, denotes crime and guilt of a high order - as, in murder, the hands would be dripping in blood, and as the stain on the hands would be proof of guilt. It is probably a figurative expression, not meaning literally that they were murderers, but that they were given to rapine and injustice; to the oppression of the poor, the widow, etc. The sentiment is, that because they indulged in sin, and came, even in their prayers, with a determination still to indulge it, God would not hear them. The same sentiment is elsewhere expressed; Psa 66:18 : 'If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me;' Pro 28:9 : 'He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination;' Jer 16:10-12; Zac 7:11-12; Pro 1:28-29. This is the reason why the prayers of sinners are not heard - But the truth is abundantly taught in the Scriptures, that if sinners will forsake their sins, the greatness of their iniquity is no obstacle to forgiveness; Isa 1:18; Mat 11:28; Luk 16:11-24.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
Their self-righteousness, so far as it rested upon sacrifices and festal observances, was now put to shame, and the last inward bulwark of the sham holy nation was destroyed: "And if ye stretch out your hands, I hide my eyes from you; if ye make ever so much praying, I do not hear: your hands are full of blood." Their praying was also an abomination to God. Prayer is something common to man: it is the interpreter of religious feeling, which intervenes and mediates between God and man; (Note: The primary idea of hithpallel and tephillah is not to be obtained from Deu 9:18 and Ezr 10:1, as Dietrich and Frst suppose, who make hithpallel equivalent to hithnappel, to throw one's self down; but from Sa1 2:25, "If a man sin against a man, the authorities right him" (וּפללו אלהים: it is quite a mistake to maintain that Elohim cannot have this meaning), i.e., they can set right the relation which he has disturbed. "But if one sin against Jehovah, who shall mediate for him (מי יתפּלּל־לו, quis intercedat pro eo)?" We may see from this that prayer is regarded as mediation, which sets right and establishes fellowship; and hithpallel signifies to make one's self a healer of divisions, or to settle for one's self, to strive after a settlement (sibi, pro se, intercedere: cf., Job 19:16, hithchannen, sibi propitium facere; Job 13:27, hithchakkah, sibi insculpere, like the Arabic ichtatta, to bound off for one's self).) it is the true spiritual sacrifice. The law contains no command to pray, and, with the exception of Deut 26, no form of prayer. Praying is so natural to man as man, that there was no necessity for any precept to enforce this, the fundamental expression of the true relation to God. The prophet therefore comes to prayer last of all, so as to trace back their sham-holiness, which was corrupt even to this the last foundation, to its real nothingness. "Spread out," parash, or pi pērēsh, to stretch out; used with Cappaim to denote swimming in Isa 25:11. It is written here before a strong suffix, as in many other passages, e.g., Isa 52:12, with the inflection i instead of e. This was the gesture of a man in prayer, who spread out his hands, and when spread out, stretched them towards heaven, or to the most holy place in the temple, and indeed (as if with the feeling of emptiness and need, and with a desire to receive divine gifts) held up the hollow or palm of his hand (Cappaim: cf., tendere palmas, e.g., Virg. Aen. xii. 196, tenditque ad sidera palmas). However much they might stand or lie before Him in the attitude of prayer, Jehovah hid His eyes, i.e., His omniscience knew nothing of it; and even though they might pray loud and long (gam chi, etiamsi: compare the simple Chi, Jer 14:12), He was, as it were, deaf to it all. We should expect Chi here to introduce the explanation; but the more excited the speaker, the shorter and more unconnected his words. The plural damim always denotes human blood as the result of some unnatural act, and then the bloody deed and the bloodguiltiness itself. The plural number neither refers to the quantity nor to the separate drops, but is the plural of production, which Dietrich has so elaborately discussed in his Abhandlung, p. 40. (Note: As Chittah signified corn standing in the field, and Chittim corn threshed and brought to the market, so damim was not blood when flowing through the veins, but when it had flowed out-in other words, when it had been violently shed. (For the Talmudic misinterpretation of the true state of the case, see my Genesis, p. 626.)) The terrible damim stands very emphatically before the governing verb, pointing to many murderous acts that had been committed, and deeds of violence akin to murder. Not, indeed, that we are to understand the words as meaning that there was really blood upon their hands when they stretched them out in prayer; but before God, from whom no outward show can hide the true nature of things, however clean they might have washed themselves, they still dripped with blood. The expostulations of the people against the divine accusations have thus been negatively set forth and met in Isa 1:11-15 : Jehovah could not endure their work-righteous worship, which was thus defiled with unrighteous works, even to murder itself. The divine accusation is now positively established in Isa 1:16, Isa 1:17, by the contrast drawn between the true righteousness of which the accused were destitute, and the false righteousness of which they boasted. The crushing charge is here changed into an admonitory appeal; and the love which is hidden behind the wrath, and would gladly break through, already begins to disclose itself. There are eight admonitions. The first three point to the removal of evil; the other five to the performance of what is good.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

Their self-righteousness, so far as it rested upon sacrifices and festal observances, was now put to shame, and the last inward bulwark of the sham holy nation was destroyed: "And if ye stretch out your hands, I hide my eyes from you; if ye make ever so much praying, I do not hear: your hands are full of blood." Their praying was also an abomination to God. Prayer is something common to man: it is the interpreter of religious feeling, which intervenes and mediates between God and man;

(Note: The primary idea of hithpallel and tephillah is not to be obtained from Deu 9:18 and Ezr 10:1, as Dietrich and Frst suppose, who make hithpallel equivalent to hithnappel, to throw one's self down; but from Sa1 2:25, "If a man sin against a man, the authorities right him" (וּפללו אלהים: it is quite a mistake to maintain that Elohim cannot have this meaning), i.e., they can set right the relation which he has disturbed. "But if one sin against Jehovah, who shall mediate for him (מי יתפּלּל־לו, quis intercedat pro eo)?" We may see from this that prayer is regarded as mediation, which sets right and establishes fellowship; and hithpallel signifies to make one's self a healer of divisions, or to settle for one's self, to strive after a settlement (sibi, pro se, intercedere: cf., Job 19:16, hithchannen, sibi propitium facere; Job 13:27, hithchakkah, sibi insculpere, like the Arabic ichtatta, to bound off for one's self).)

it is the true spiritual sacrifice. The law contains no command to pray, and, with the exception of Deut 26, no form of prayer. Praying is so natural to man as man, that there was no necessity for any precept to enforce this, the fundamental expression of the true relation to God. The prophet therefore comes to prayer last of all, so as to trace back their sham-holiness, which was corrupt even to this the last foundation, to its real nothingness. "Spread out," parash, or pi pērēsh, to stretch out; used with Cappaim to denote swimming in Isa 25:11. It is written here before a strong suffix, as in many other passages, e.g., Isa 52:12, with the inflection i instead of e. This was the gesture of a man in prayer, who spread out his hands, and when spread out, stretched them towards heaven, or to the most holy place in the temple, and indeed (as if with the feeling of emptiness and need, and with a desire to receive divine gifts) held up the hollow or palm of his hand (Cappaim: cf., tendere palmas, e.g., Virg. Aen. xii. 196, tenditque ad sidera palmas). However much they might stand or lie before Him in the attitude of prayer, Jehovah hid His eyes, i.e., His omniscience knew nothing of it; and even though they might pray loud and long (gam chi, etiamsi: compare the simple Chi, Jer 14:12), He was, as it were, deaf to it all. We should expect Chi here to introduce the explanation; but the more excited the speaker, the shorter and more unconnected his words. The plural damim always denotes human blood as the result of some unnatural act, and then the bloody deed and the bloodguiltiness itself. The plural number neither refers to the quantity nor to the separate drops, but is the plural of production, which Dietrich has so elaborately discussed in his Abhandlung, p. 40.

(Note: As Chittah signified corn standing in the field, and Chittim corn threshed and brought to the market, so damim was not blood when flowing through the veins, but when it had flowed out-in other words, when it had been violently shed. (For the Talmudic misinterpretation of the true state of the case, see my Genesis, p. 626.))

The terrible damim stands very emphatically before the governing verb, pointing to many murderous acts that had been committed, and deeds of violence akin to murder. Not, indeed, that we are to understand the words as meaning that there was really blood upon their hands when they stretched them out in prayer; but before God, from whom no outward show can hide the true nature of things, however clean they might have washed themselves, they still dripped with blood. The expostulations of the people against the divine accusations have thus been negatively set forth and met in Isa 1:11-15 : Jehovah could not endure their work-righteous worship, which was thus defiled with unrighteous works, even to murder itself. The divine accusation is now positively established in Isa 1:16, Isa 1:17, by the contrast drawn between the true righteousness of which the accused were destitute, and the false righteousness of which they boasted. The crushing charge is here changed into an admonitory appeal; and the love which is hidden behind the wrath, and would gladly break through, already begins to disclose itself. There are eight admonitions. The first three point to the removal of evil; the other five to the performance of what is good.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Blood - You are guilty of murder, and oppression.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
When ye spread - The Syriac, Septuagint, and a MS., read בפרשכם beparshecem, without the conjunction ו vau. Your hands "For your hands" - Αἱ γαρ χειρες - Sept. Manus enim vestrae-Vulg. They seem to have read כי ידיכם ki yedeychem.

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¹⁶ Circumcise [04135] therefore the foreskin [06190] of your heart [03824], and be no more stiffnecked [06203] [07185].

³⁵ That [3704] upon [1909] you [5209] may come [2064] all [3956] the righteous [1342] blood [129] shed [1632] upon [1909] the earth [1093], from [575] the blood [129] of righteous [1342] Abel [6] unto [2193] the blood [129] of Zacharias [2197] son [5207] of Barachias [914], whom [3739] ye slew [5407] between [3342] the temple [3485] and [2532] the altar [2379].

²² And Solomon [08010] stood [05975] before [06440] the altar [04196] of the LORD [03068] in the presence of [05048] all the congregation [06951] of Israel [03478], and spread forth [06566] his hands [03709] toward heaven [08064]:

⁴³ Thou hast covered [05526] with anger [0639], and persecuted [07291] us: thou hast slain [02026], thou hast not pitied [02550].
⁴⁴ Thou hast covered [05526] thyself with a cloud [06051], that our prayer [08605] should not pass through [05674].

⁹ He that turneth away [05493] his ear [0241] from hearing [08085] the law [08451], even his prayer [08605] shall be abomination [08441].

¹⁸ If I regard [07200] iniquity [0205] in my heart [03820], the Lord [0136] will not hear [08085] me:

¹¹ If [1487] therefore [3767] ye have [1096] not [3756] been [1096] faithful [4103] in [1722] the unrighteous [94] mammon [3126], who [5101] will commit [4100] to your [5213] trust [4100] the true [228] riches?
¹² And [2532] if [1487] ye have [1096] not [3756] been [1096] faithful [4103] in [1722] that which is another man's [245], who [5101] shall give [1325] you [5213] that which is your own [5212]?
¹³ No [3762] servant [3610] can [1410] serve [1398] two [1417] masters [2962]: for [1063] either [2228] he will hate [3404] the one [1520], and [2532] love [25] the other [2087]; or else [2228] he will hold [472] to the one [1520], and [2532] despise [2706] the other [2087]. Ye cannot [3756] [1410] serve [1398] God [2316] and [2532] mammon [3126].
¹⁴ And [1161] the Pharisees [5330] also [2532], who were [5225] covetous [5366], heard [191] all [3956] these things [5023]: and [2532] they derided [1592] him [846].
¹⁵ And [2532] he said [2036] unto them [846], Ye [5210] are [2075] they which justify [1344] yourselves [1438] before [1799] men [444]; but [1161] God [2316] knoweth [1097] your [5216] hearts [2588]: for [3754] that which is highly esteemed [5308] among [1722] men [444] is [2076] abomination [946] in the sight [1799] of God [2316].
¹⁶ The law [3551] and [2532] the prophets [4396] were until [2193] John [2491]: since [575] that time [5119] the kingdom [932] of God [2316] is preached [2097], and [2532] every man [3956] presseth [971] into [1519] it [846].
¹⁷ And [1161] it is [2076] easier [2123] for heaven [3772] and [2532] earth [1093] to pass [3928], than [2228] one [3391] tittle [2762] of the law [3551] to fail [4098].
¹⁸ Whosoever [3956] putteth away [630] his [846] wife [1135], and [2532] marrieth [1060] another [2087], committeth adultery [3431]: and [2532] whosoever [3956] marrieth [1060] her that is put away [630] from [575] her husband [435] committeth adultery [3431].
¹⁹ [1161] There was [2258] a certain [5100] rich [4145] man [444], which [2532] was clothed [1737] in purple [4209] and [2532] fine linen [1040], and fared [2165] sumptuously [2988] every [2596] day [2250]:
²⁰ And [1161] there was [2258] a certain [5100] beggar [4434] named [3686] Lazarus [2976], which [3739] was laid [906] at [4314] his [846] gate [4440], full of sores [1669],
²¹ And [2532] desiring [1937] to be fed [5526] with [575] the crumbs [5589] which [3588] fell [4098] from [575] the rich man's [4145] table [5132]: moreover [235] [2532] the dogs [2965] came [2064] and licked [621] his [846] sores [1668].
²² And [1161] it came to pass [1096], that the beggar [4434] died [599], and [2532] was carried [667] by [5259] the angels [32] into [1519] Abraham's [11] bosom [2859]: the rich man [4145] also [1161] [2532] died [599], and [2532] was buried [2290];
²³ And [2532] in [1722] hell [86] he lift up [1869] his [846] eyes [3788], being [5225] in [1722] torments [931], and seeth [3708] Abraham [11] afar [3113] off [575], and [2532] Lazarus [2976] in [1722] his [846] bosom [2859].
²⁴ And [2532] [846] he cried [5455] and said [2036], Father [3962] Abraham [11], have mercy [1653] on me [3165], and [2532] send [3992] Lazarus [2976], that [2443] he may dip [911] the tip [206] of his [846] finger [1147] in water [5204], and [2532] cool [2711] my [3450] tongue [1100]; for [3754] I am tormented [3600] in [1722] this [5026] flame [5395].

²⁸ Come [1205] unto [4314] me [3165], all [3956] ye that labour [2872] and [2532] are heavy laden [5412], and I [2504] will give [373] you [5209] rest [373].

¹⁸ Come now [03212], and let us reason together [03198], saith [0559] the LORD [03068]: though your sins [02399] be as scarlet [08144], they shall be as white [03835] as snow [07950]; though they be red [0119] like crimson [08438], they shall be as wool [06785].

²⁸ Then shall they call [07121] upon me, but I will not answer [06030]; they shall seek me early [07836], but they shall not find [04672] me:
²⁹ For that they hated [08130] knowledge [01847], and did not choose [0977] the fear [03374] of the LORD [03068]:

¹¹ But they refused [03985] to hearken [07181], and pulled away [05414] [05637] the shoulder [03802], and stopped [03513] their ears [0241], that they should not hear [08085].
¹² Yea, they made [07760] their hearts [03820] as an adamant stone [08068], lest they should hear [08085] the law [08451], and the words [01697] which the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635] hath sent [07971] in his spirit [07307] by [03027] the former [07223] prophets [05030]: therefore came a great [01419] wrath [07110] from the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635].

¹⁰ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew [05046] this people [05971] all these words [01697], and they shall say [0559] unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD [03068] pronounced [01696] all this great [01419] evil [07451] against us? or what is our iniquity [05771]? or what is our sin [02403] that we have committed [02398] against the LORD [03068] our God [0430]?
¹¹ Then shalt thou say [0559] unto them, Because your fathers [01] have forsaken [05800] me, saith [05002] the LORD [03068], and have walked [03212] after [0310] other [0312] gods [0430], and have served [05647] them, and have worshipped [07812] them, and have forsaken [05800] me, and have not kept [08104] my law [08451];
¹² And ye have done [06213] worse [07489] than your fathers [01]; for, behold [02009], ye walk [01980] every one [0376] after [0310] the imagination [08307] of his evil [07451] heart [03820], that they may not hearken [08085] unto me:

⁹ He that turneth away [05493] his ear [0241] from hearing [08085] the law [08451], even his prayer [08605] shall be abomination [08441].

¹⁸ If I regard [07200] iniquity [0205] in my heart [03820], the Lord [0136] will not hear [08085] me:

¹¹ And it came to pass, when Moses [04872] held up [07311] his hand [03027], that Israel [03478] prevailed [01396]: and when he let down [05117] his hand [03027], Amalek [06002] prevailed [01396].
¹² But Moses [04872]' hands [03027] were heavy [03515]; and they took [03947] a stone [068], and put [07760] it under him, and he sat [03427] thereon; and Aaron [0175] and Hur [02354] stayed up [08551] his hands [03027], the one on the one side [0259], and the other on the other side [0259]; and his hands [03027] were steady [0530] until the going down [0935] of the sun [08121].

²⁹ And Moses [04872] said [0559] unto him, As soon as I am gone out [03318] of the city [05892], I will spread abroad [06566] my hands [03709] unto the LORD [03068]; and the thunder [06963] shall cease [02308], neither shall there be any more hail [01259]; that thou mayest know [03045] how that the earth [0776] is the LORD'S [03068].

¹⁷ Learn [03925] to do well [03190]; seek [01875] judgment [04941], relieve [0833] the oppressed [02541], judge [08199] the fatherless [03490], plead [07378] for the widow [0490].

¹⁶ Wash [07364] you, make you clean [02135]; put away [05493] the evil [07455] of your doings [04611] from before [05048] mine eyes [05869]; cease [02308] to do evil [07489];

¹¹ To what [04100] purpose is the multitude [07230] of your sacrifices [02077] unto me? saith [0559] the LORD [03068]: I am full [07646] of the burnt offerings [05930] of rams [0352], and the fat [02459] of fed beasts [04806]; and I delight [02654] not in the blood [01818] of bullocks [06499], or of lambs [03532], or of he goats [06260].
¹² When ye come [0935] to appear [07200] before [06440] me, who hath required [01245] this at your hand [03027], to tread [07429] my courts [02691]?
¹³ Bring [0935] no more [03254] vain [07723] oblations [04503]; incense [07004] is an abomination [08441] unto me; the new moons [02320] and sabbaths [07676], the calling [07121] of assemblies [04744], I cannot away with [03201]; it is iniquity [0205], even the solemn meeting [06116].
¹⁴ Your new moons [02320] and your appointed feasts [04150] my soul [05315] hateth [08130]: they are a trouble [02960] unto me; I am weary [03811] to bear [05375] them.
¹⁵ And when ye spread forth [06566] your hands [03709], I will hide [05956] mine eyes [05869] from you: yea, when ye make many [07235] prayers [08605], I will not hear [08085]: your hands [03027] are full [04390] of blood [01818].

¹² When they fast [06684], I will not hear [08085] their cry [07440]; and when they offer [05927] burnt offering [05930] and an oblation [04503], I will not accept [07521] them: but I will consume [03615] them by the sword [02719], and by the famine [07458], and by the pestilence [01698].

¹² For ye shall not go out [03318] with haste [02649], nor go [03212] by flight [04499]: for the LORD [03068] will go [01980] before [06440] you; and the God [0430] of Israel [03478] will be your rereward [0622].

¹¹ And he shall spread forth [06566] his hands [03027] in the midst [07130] of them, as he that swimmeth [07811] spreadeth forth [06566] his hands to swim [07811]: and he shall bring down [08213] their pride [01346] together with the spoils [0698] of their hands [03027].

²⁷ Thou puttest [07760] my feet [07272] also in the stocks [05465], and lookest narrowly [08104] unto all my paths [0734]; thou settest a print [02707] upon the heels [08328] of my feet [07272].

¹⁶ I called [07121] my servant [05650], and he gave me no answer [06030]; I intreated [02603] him with [01119] my mouth [06310].

²⁵ If one man [0376] sin [02398] against another [0376], the judge [0430] shall judge [06419] him: but if a man [0376] sin [02398] against the LORD [03068], who shall intreat [06419] for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened [08085] not unto the voice [06963] of their father [01], because the LORD [03068] would [02654] slay [04191] them.

¹ Now when Ezra [05830] had prayed [06419], and when he had confessed [03034], weeping [01058] and casting himself down [05307] before [06440] the house [01004] of God [0430], there assembled [06908] unto him out of Israel [03478] a very [03966] great [07227] congregation [06951] of men [0582] and women [0802] and children [03206]: for the people [05971] wept [01058] very [07235] sore [01059].

¹⁸ And I fell down [05307] before [06440] the LORD [03068], as at the first [07223], forty [0705] days [03117] and forty [0705] nights [03915]: I did neither eat [0398] bread [03899], nor drink [08354] water [04325], because of all your sins [02403] which ye sinned [02398], in doing [06213] wickedly [07451] in the sight [05869] of the LORD [03068], to provoke him to anger [03707].