Isaiah 59:8

Isa 59:8 The way of peace they know not; and [there is] no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

Ver. 8. The way of peace they know not.] Like salamanders, they love to live in the fire of contention, to swim against the stream with the trout, to sow sedition, as the devil, &c.

Shall not know peace.] Shall not know what it meaneth.

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.

peace--whether in relation to God, to their own conscience, or to their fellow men (Isa 57:20-21).

judgment--justice.

crooked--the opposite of "straightforward" (Pro 2:15; Pro 28:18).

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 8. Whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace - "Whoever goeth in them knoweth not peace"] For בה bah, singular, read בם bam, plural, with the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Chaldee. The ה he is upon a rasure in one MS. Or, for נתיבתיהם nethibotheyhem, plural, we must read נתיבתם nethibatham, singular, as it is in an ancient MS., to preserve the grammatical concord. - L.

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

8. judgment here means right (R.V. marg.).

goings] tracks, a common word in the Book of Proverbs.

they have made them &c.] they have made their paths crooked. Cf. Pro_2:15; Pro_10:9; Pro_28:18.

whosoever goeth therein] i.e. makes common cause with them.

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.

The way of peace they know not,.... Neither the way of peace with God, supposing it is to be made by man, and not by Christ; and are ignorant of the steps and methods taken to procure it; nor do they know the way of peace of conscience, or how to attain to that which is true and solid; nor the way to eternal peace and happiness, which is alone by Christ, and the Gospel of peace reveals, to which they are strangers; nor the way of peace among men, which they are unconcerned about, and do not seek after, make use of no methods to promote, secure, and establish it; but all the reverse:

and there is no judgment in their goings; no justice in their actions, in their dealings with men; no judgment in their religious duties, which are done without any regard to the divine rule, or without being able to give a reason for them; they have no judgment in matters of doctrine or worship; they have no discerning of true and false doctrines, and between that which is spiritual and superstitious in worship; they have no knowledge of the word of God, which should be their guide both in faith and practice; but this they do not attend unto:

they have made them crooked paths: they have devised paths and modes of worship of their own, in which they walk, and which they observe, that are not according to the rule of the word; but deviate from it; and so may be said to be crooked, as not agreeable to that:

whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace; the way of peace with God, as before; or he shall not have any experience of true, solid, and substantial peace in his own conscience now, and shall not attain to eternal peace hereafter.

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

The way of peace they know not - The phrase ‘way of peace’ may denote either peace of conscience, peace with God, peace among themselves, or peace with their fellow-men. Possibly it may refer to all these; and the sense will be, that in their whole lives they were strangers to true contentment and happiness. From no quarter had they peace, but whether in relation to God, to their own consciences, to each other, or to their fellow-men, they were involved in continual strife and agitation (see the notes at Isa 57:20-21).

And there is no judgment in their goings - Margin, ‘Right.’ The sense is, that there was no justice in their dealings. there was no disposition to do right. They were full of selfishness, falsehood, oppression, and cruelty.

They have made them crooked paths - A crooked path is an emblem of dishonesty, fraud, deceit. A straight path is an emblem of sincerity, truth, honesty, and uprightness (see Psa 125:5; Pro 2:15; and the notes at Isa 40:4). The idea is, that their counsels and plans were perverse and evil. We have a similar expression now when we say of a man that he is ‘straightforward,’ meaning that he is an honest man.

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

Peace, or prosperity. They quarrel with all, and ruin themselves, Psalm xiii.

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).

The way of peace they know not; they are of such turbulent spirits, living in such continual contentions and discords, that, breaking in pieces the very bonds of society, they neither know,

1. How to make and keep peace; neither,

2. Do they feel or enjoy the sweet fruits of it; and therefore by consequence,

3. They take not the course that leads to prosperity and happiness. They are not friends to peace.

There is no judgment, i.e. no justice, equity, faith, or integrity, which are the foundation of judgment,

in their goings; as paths did note their habitual way or manner of living, so goings do signify their actual progress in that way, or their works; thus Job 14:16.

They have made them crooked paths; they walk by no rule, which should discover the crooked from the straight; they are full of unevennesses and uncertainties, contrary to what David speaks, Psa 26:12. The LXX. render it perverse. Moses joins them both together, Deu 32:5; and so doth Solomon, speaking what wisdom shall deliver from, Pro 2:15; and it stands in opposition to them that walk uprightly, Pro 28:18. It may note,

1. Their hypocrisy, that pretend one thing and do another, that oppress under a pretence of justice. Or,

2. Their professed and owned irregularities and deviations from the rule of justice. Shall not know peace, i.e. shall not experience it; whosoever do as they do will be turbulent and perverse, as they are, and have as little peace within, or happiness without, as they have, Isa 57:21. They shall be poisoned by having converse with them, as in Isa 59:5, which the next words do intimate.

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

The way of peace they know not. They have no desire for "peace," and neither "seek" it nor "ensue" it. (1Pe_3:11) Peace can only be obtained through righteousness. (Isa_32:17) There is no judgment in their goings; rather, no justice no recognition of other men"s rights, no endeavour to observe right in their own acts and proceedings. (comp. ver. 4; and see also Isa_1:17, Isa_1:21, 23 3:14, 15, etc.) They have made them crooked paths. (comp. Pro_2:15 Pro_10:9 Pro_28:6) The way that leadeth to life is straight. They have wandered from it, and made for themselves "crooked" paths, which can only lead to destruction. In such paths there neither is nor can be "peace."

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

The way of peace - They live in continual contentions, and discords. Judgment - No justice, equity, faith, or integrity.

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

Their whole nature is broken up into discord. "The way of peace they know not, and there is no right in their roads: they make their paths crooked: every one who treads upon them knows no peace." With דּרך, the way upon which a man goes, the prophet uses interchangeably (here and in Isa 59:7) מסלּה, a high-road thrown up with an embankment; מעגּל (with the plural in ı̂m and ôth), a carriage-road; and נתיבה, a footpath formed by the constant passing to and fro of travellers. Peaceable conduct, springing form a love of peace, and aiming at producing peace, is altogether strange to them; no such thing is to be met with in their path as the recognition of practice of right: they make their paths for themselves (להם, dat. ethicus), i.e., most diligently, twisting about; and whoever treads upon them (bâh, neuter, as in Isa 27:4), forfeits all enjoyment of either inward or outward peace. Shâlōm is repeated significantly, in Isaiah's peculiar style, at the end of the verse. The first strophe of the prophecy closes here: it was from no want of power or willingness on the part of God, that He had not come to the help of His people; the fault lay in their own sins.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

“The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their paths; their courses they have rendered crooked for them; every one walking in them knows not peace.” The obvious and simple meaning is, that their lives are not pacific but contentious. The erroneous principle involved in all specific interpretations is refuted by the comprehensive sense which the apostle puts upon the words in the passage which has been already cited (Rom 3:15-17).

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

and there is no justice in their paths That is to say that in their paths there is nothing judged truly according to its law.

they have made themselves crooked paths They made their road crooked for themselves.

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.

Their paths that were well known before (as straight), are now crooked. Whosoever goeth therein, that is, he who walks in their ways, and learns from them.

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.