Isaiah 65:7

Isa 65:7 Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

Ver. 7. Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together.] Your "vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers," {1Pe 1:18} whom you have striven to out sin. {Gen 15:16 Mat 23:32; Mat 23:35-36; Mat 27:25 1Th 2:15-16}

And blasphemed me upon the hills.] Or, Reproached or dishonoured me. Displeasing service is double dishonour, because men dishonour God in that wherein they pretend (or presume at least) to please him. Such are all Popish will-worshippers; neither will it help them to plead the example of their forefathers, for here that of the prophet Ezekiel {Eze 20:18} should take place, "Walk ye not in the ways of your fathers."

Therefore will I measure into their bosom.] Or, Lap; very largely. See Psa 79:12 Luk 6:38. I will pay them home, for the new and the old together.

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.

Isa 65:7. Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together — Yea, and when I reckon with them, I will punish them, not only for their personal sins, but for the sins of their parents, which they have made their own, by imitation. Which have burned incense upon the mountains — There performing to idols that homage which I commanded them to pay unto me; or, if any of them pretend it was to me they performed that service, though before an image, yet it was in a way and place in which I expressly forbid them to worship me, having appointed the place where, and the manner how, I would be worshipped. And blasphemed me upon the hills — Dishonoured instead of glorifying me, by worshipping me in a way which I had not appointed, and which they learned only from idolaters. Therefore will I measure their former work, &c. — I will not only punish the late sins that they have committed, but the former sins of this kind, which those that went before did practise, and they have continued in.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

65:7 The people of Israel practiced their pagan religion at sacred shrines on mountains and hills (see 1 Kgs 14:23; Hos 4:13).

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

Shall be both punished together: and this declareth how the children are punished for their fathers’ faults, to wit, when the same faults or like are found in them.

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

Their sin had been accumulating from age to age until God at last repaid it in full.

mountains-- (Isa 57:7; Eze 18:6; Eze 20:27-28; Hos 4:13).

their--"Your" had preceded. From speaking to, He speaks of them; this implies growing alienation from them and greater distance.

work--the full recompense of their work (so Isa 49:4).

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 7. Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers - "Their iniquities, and the iniquities of their fathers"] For the pronoun affixed of the second person חם chem, your, twice, read הם hem, their, in the third person; with the Septuagint and Houbigant. - L.

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

(7) Which have burned incense upon the mountains . . .—The old inveterate sin of the worship of high places (comp. Isa_57:7; Hos_4:13; Eze_6:13; 2Ki_15:4; 2Ki_15:35). The worship paid there to other gods, or nominally to Jehovah in a way which He had forbidden, was practically a “blasphemy” or “reproach” against Him.

Their former work.—Better, I will measure their work first into their bosoms. That was, as it were, the primary duty of the Supreme Ruler.

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

7. Your iniquities … your fathers] The change from 3rd to 2nd pers. is extremely awkward, unless the verse could be detached from the preceding and regarded (down to “hills”) as an exclamation. This is far from natural; the better construction is that of the E.V. which makes “iniquities” the obj. to “recompense.” It is probably necessary (with the LXX.) to read “their” in both cases. The iniquities of the fathers are indicated in the following words.

which have burnt incense (have sacrificed,—see on Isa_1:13) upon the mountains] The reference is obviously to the illegal worship of the “high places” or local sanctuaries, which is denounced in similar terms in Hos_4:13; Eze_6:13; cf. Eze_18:6 (if the text be right,—see Davidson on the passage in Camb. Bible for Schools). That this form of idolatry was also practised by those here spoken of is in every way probable (see ch. Isa_57:7); on the other hand their ancestors, the pre-exilic Israelites, could not be charged with the more heinous offences described in Isa_65:3-5. These last, however, were the outcome of the same idolatrous tendency which formerly shewed itself in the worship at the high places, and the judgement now about to descend on the children is called forth both by their own guilt and by that of their fathers.

therefore will I measure their former work] Rather: and I will first measure their reward. The word for “former” (rí’shônâh) if an adj., ought to have the art., and moreover the thought expressed by this translation would be unsuitable, since it passes by in silence the recompense due to the sins of the children themselves. It must therefore be rendered as an adverb, as in Jer_16:18 (“and first I will recompense their iniquity” &c.). So R.V.

into their bosom] as Isa_65:6.

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.

Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together (saith the Lord),.... That is, the punishment both of the one and of the other; these being alike, and continued from father to son, and approved of, and committed by one generation after another, till the measure was filled up; and then the recompence of reward is given for all of them together at once: which have burnt incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills; where they offered incense and other sacrifices to idols, which was interpreted by the Lord as a blaspheming and reproaching of him; see Isa 57:7,

therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom; punish them for their former sins as well as their latter ones, and both together.

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

Your iniquities - Their idolatry and their forsaking God, and their arts of necromancy.

And the iniquities of your fathers together - The consequences of your own sins, and of the long defection of the nation from virtue and pure religion, shall come rushing upon you like accumulated floods. This is in accordance with the Scripture doctrine everywhere, that the consequences of the sins of ancestors pass over and visit their posterity (see Exo 20:5; Exo 34:7; Num 14:18; Job 21:19; Luk 11:50-51; the notes at Rom 5:19). The case here was, that the nation had been characteristically prone to wander from God, and to fall into idolatry. Crime had thus been accumulating, like pent-up waters, for ages, and now it swept away every barrier. So crime often accumulates in a nation. Age after age rolls on, and it is unpunished, until it breaks over every obstacle, and all that is valuable and happy is swept suddenly away.

Which have burnt incense upon the mountains - (See the notes at Isa 65:3).

And blasphemed me upon the hills - That is, they have dishonored me by worshipping idols, and by denying me in that public manner. Idols were usually worshipped on high places.

Will I measure their former work - I will recompense them; I will pour the reward of their work or of their doings into their bosom.

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

Hills. Some offered sacrifices to God, others to idols; both unlawfully. (Calmet)

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).

Yea, and when I reckon with them, I will punish them, not only for their personal sins, but for the sins of their parents, which they have testified their approbation of by continuing in them, and so made them their own, by an apish, sinful imitation.

Which have burnt incense upon the mountains: their fathers burnt incense upon the mountains, there performing to idols that homage which I obliged them to pay unto me; or if any of them pretend it was to me, though before an image, yet it was in a way which I directed them not, who had appointed them the place where I would be worshipped.

And blasphemed me upon the hills; so as that, instead of blessing, they indeed blasphemed me upon the hills; instead of speaking well, they spake ill of my name, worshipping me in a way which I had not appointed, and for which they only took their copy from idolaters.

Therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom; therefore I will punish them, and that justly, as he that rendereth another his due by

measure, giving measure for measure, and weight for weight; only they must expect that I should not only punish the late sins that have committed of this nature, but the former sins of this kind which those in this nation, that went before this present generation, did commit, and the present age hath continued in the guilt of.

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

Your iniquities. This is a new sentence, not a continuation of ver. 6, which should be closed by a full stop. It is an incomplete sentence, needing for its completion the repetition of the verb shillamti, "I will recompense." Which have burned incense upon the mountains. (see 2Ki_17:11 Hos_4:13 Eze_6:13; and comp. Isa_57:7) And blasphemed me; rather, reproached me. (see Isa_37:4, Isa_37:17, Isa_37:23, Isa_37:24) Therefore will I measure their former work; rather, therefore will r, first of all, measure their work into their bosom. The expression, "first of all," prepares the way for the encouraging promises of vers. 8-10.

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

Together - Yea, and when I reckon with them, I will punish them, not only for their personal sins, but for the sins of their parents, which they have made their own, by imitation. Their former - I will not only punish the late sins that they have committed, but the former sins of this kind, which those that went before did commit, and they have continued in.

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

Your iniquities Yours and your forefathers’ together I will recompense you.

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.

Your iniquities, etc. You have added sins to the sins of your forefathers. I measured their former work into their bosom. Your fathers went into exile for their idolatry.

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.