Isaiah 59:11

Isa 59:11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but [there is] none; for salvation, [but] it is far off from us.

Ver. 11. We roar all like bears.] Fremimus, ac gemimus. The bear, when hurt or robbed, runs into his den and roareth; doves, when bereft of their mates, sit solitary and groan; so do we, indesinenter et intime gemimus, make pitiful moan; and that is all we can do.

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.

59:11-14 The people growl and moan with longing for redemption, finally coming to terms with their sinfulness.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

We express our sorrows by outward signs, some more, some less.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

roar--moan plaintively, like a hungry bear which growls for food.

doves-- (Isa 38:14; Eze 7:16).

salvation--retribution in kind: because not salvation, but "destruction" was "in their paths" (Isa 59:7).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. But it is far off from us - "And it is far distant from us."] The conjunction ו vau must necessarily be prefixed to the verb, as the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate found it in their copies; ורחקה verachakah, "and far off."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(11) We roar all like bears . . .—The comparison is not found elsewhere in Scripture, but Horace (Epp. xvi. 51) gives “circumgemit ursus ovile.” For the dove, comp. Isa_38:14; Eze_7:16.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. We roar (better groan) all like bears] Comp. (with Gesenius) Horace, Epod. 16. 51:

“Nec vespertinus circumgemit ursus ovile.”

The comparison would no doubt gain in force if we could suppose, as Duhm hesitatingly suggests, that captive animals, pining for liberty, are meant. But this is not indicated.

On the “mourning” of the dove, cf. ch. Isa_38:14; Eze_7:16; Nah_2:7; and see Davidson’s Ezekiel (Cambridge Bible), p. 49.

we look for judgment, &c.] returning to the thought of Isa_59:9.

12–15a. Confession of the sins previously denounced, the prophet speaking in the name of the people.

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.

We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves,.... Some in a more noisy and clamorous, others in a stiller way, yet all in private: for the bear, when robbed of its whelps, goes to its den and roars; and the dove, when it has lost its mate, mourns in solitude: this expresses the secret groanings of the saints under a sense of sin, and the forlorn state of religion. The Targum paraphrases it thus,

"we roar because of our enemies, who are gathered against us as bears; all of us indeed mourn sore as doves:''

we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us; we expect that God will take vengeance on our enemies, and save us; look for judgment on antichrist, and the antichristian states, and for the salvation of the church of God; for the vials of divine wrath on the one, and for happy times to the other; but neither of them as yet come; the reason of which is as follows.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

We roar all like bears - This is designed still further to describe the heavy judgments which had come upon them for their sins. The word rendered here ‘roar’ (from המה hâmâh, like English, to hum, German, hummen, spoken of bees), is applied to any murmuring, or confused noise or sound. It sometimes means to snarl, as a dog Psa 59:7, Psa 59:15; to coo, as a dove Eze 7:16; it is also applied to waves that roar Psa 46:4; Isa 51:15; to a crowd or tumultuous assemblage Psa 46:7; and to music Isa 16:11; Jer 48:36. Here it is applied to the low growl or groan of a bear. Bochart (Hieroz. i. 3. 9), says, that a bear produces a melancholy sound; and Horace (Epod. xvi. 51), speaks of its low groan:

Nee vespertinus circumgemit ursus ovile.

Here it is emblematic of mourning, and is designed to denote that they were suffering under heavy and long-continued calamity. Or, according to Gesenius (Commentary in loc.), it refers to a bear which is hungry, and which growls, impatient for food, and refers here to the complaining, dissatisfaction, and murmuring of the people, because God did not come to vindicate and relieve them.

And mourn sore like doves - The cooing of the dove, a plaintive sound, is often used to denote grief (see Eze 7:16; compare the notes at Isa 38:14).

We look for judgment ... - (See the notes at Isa 59:9.)

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Judgment, that God would avenge us, (ver. 9.) and regard our fasts, chap. lviii. 3.

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).

We roar: this signifies the greatness of their anguish, that forced from them these loud outcries.

And mourn: this notes some sense of their condition, that wrought in them these sorrowful lamentations; or it may relate to the condition that both sorts of people were in under their oppressing governors. It made the wicked roar like bears, and the godly mourn like doves. It is thus expressed because these properties are peculiar to these creatures. The bear, when robbed, goes into his den and roars; the dove, when absent from her mate, sits solitary and mourns.

For salvation, but it is far off from us: see the exposition of this last part of the verse Isa 59:9.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

We roar all like bears; rather, we growl. The verb is used commonly of the "roaring" of the sea; (Isa_17:12 Isa_51:15 Jer_6:23 Jer_31:4-5 Jer_50:42 Jer_51:55) but is applied also to the noise made by a dog. (Psa_59:6, Psa_59:14) Here it represents the deep murmur of discontent, which alternates with the mournful tones of Israel"s despondency the latter being compared to the melancholy cooing of the dove. (see Isa_38:14) We look for judgment, but there is none, etc. The same complaint as in ver. 9, clause 1.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mourn - Their oppressing governors made the wicked roar like bears, and the good mourn like doves.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“We growl like the bears, all of us, and like the doves we moan (we) moan; we wait for justice and there is none, for salvation (and) it is far from us.” The Latin poets also speak of the voice of bears and doves as a gemitus or groaning. (See above, Isa 38:14, and Eze 7:16) The same effect which is produced in the first clause by the use of the phrase ‘all of us’, is produced in the other by the idiomatic repetition of the verb. Here, as in v. 9, we may understand by judgment or justice that which God does by His providential dispensations both to His people and His enemies.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Isaiah continues speaking to the people of Israel.

We growl like bears and moan like doves

These refer to the sounds the people made because they were distressed and mourning. (See: Simile)

translationWords

dove

just

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

we moan Heb. הָגֹה נֶהְגֶה, an expression of wailing.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

We roar, etc. We cry, but nobody comes to our assistance, nobody comes to do us justice.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.