Isaiah 1:4

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 1:4

Ah! sinful nation - The word rendered ‘ah!’ - הוי hôy - is not a mere exclamation, expressing astonishment. It is rather an interjection denouncing threatening, or punishment. ‘Wo to the sinful nation.’ Vulgate, ‘Vae genti peccatrici.’ The corruption pertained to the nation, and not merely to a part. It had become general.Laden with iniquity - The word translated “laden” - כבד kebed - denotes properly anything “heavy,” or burdensome; from כבד kâbad, “to be heavy.” It means that they were... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 1:4

Isaiah 1:4. Ah, sinful nation The prophet bemoans those who would not bemoan themselves; and he speaks with a holy indignation at their degeneracy, and with a dread of the consequences of it. A people laden with iniquity Laden, not with the sense of sin, as those described Matthew 11:28, but with the guilt and bondage of sin. A seed of evil- doers The children of wicked parents, whose guilt they inherit, and whose evil example they follow; children that are corrupted Hebrew, משׁחיתים... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Isaiah 1:1-9

1:1-6:13JUDAH AN UNCLEAN PEOPLEGod judges Judah (1:1-9)The opening chapter introduces most of the main issues that the prophet is to deal with, and therefore is a summary of the overall message of the book. The scene is one of judgment. God is the judge, his people the accused, heaven and earth the witnesses. The charge is that Judah has rebelled against God. Even animals are grateful for what their masters do for them, but the people of Judah show no gratitude to their heavenly Father... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Isaiah 1:4

Ah. Figure of speech Ecphonesis . Note the four exclamatory descriptions, and see note on "gone away", below. sinful. Hebrew. chata . App-44 . sinful nation. Note the Figures of speech Apostrophe, Synonymia and Anabasis in verses: Isaiah 1:4 , Isaiah 1:5 . Contrast Exodus 19:6 . Deuteronomy 7:6 ; Deuteronomy 14:2 , Deuteronomy 14:21 . laden = heavily burdened. iniquity. Hebrew 'avah. App-44 . of = consisting of. Genitive of Apposition. App-17 . corrupters. Reference to Pentateuch... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Isaiah 1:4

Isaiah 1:4. Children that are corrupters—have provoked, &c.— Or, Children that corrupt themselves—have contemptuously treated the Holy One of Israel; &c. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 1:4

4. people—the peculiar designation of God's elect nation ( :-), that they should be "laden with iniquity" is therefore the more monstrous. Sin is a load (Psalms 38:4; Matthew 11:28). seed—another appellation of God's elect (Genesis 12:7; Jeremiah 2:21), designed to be a "holy seed" (Isaiah 6:13), but, awful to say, "evildoers!" children—by adoption (Hosea 11:1), yet "evildoers"; not only so, but "corrupters" of others (Hosea 11:1- :); the climax. So "nation—people—seed children."... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 1:2-9

2. Israel’s condition 1:2-9Israel was guilty of forsaking her God and, as a result, she had become broken and desolate. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 1:4-9

The prophet amplified God’s charge and proved it by referring to Israel’s condition. He lamented that Israel’s state was the logical outcome of her behavior."The interjection ’ah’ [Isaiah 1:4] (the Hebrew word [hoy] is sometimes translated ’woe’) was a cry of mourning heard at funerals (see 1 Kings 13:30; Jeremiah 22:18-19; Amos 5:16). When Isaiah’s audience heard this word, images of death must have appeared in their minds." [Note: Robert B. Chisholm Jr., Handbook on the Prophets, p. 15.]... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 1:1-31

Jehovah’s Arraignment of His PeopleThis chapter is general in character, and much of it (e.g. Isaiah 1:10-17) might refer to almost any period. This general character of the prophecy renders it especially suitable as an introduction, and may account for its position at the beginning of the book. It gives us a picture of the internal condition of Judah in Isaiah’s age, and not only brings out his characteristic teaching, but more than any other OT. passage indicates the general line of prophetic... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 1:4

(4) Ah, sinful nation . . .—The Hebrew interjection is, like our English “Ha!” the expression of indignation rather than of pity.A seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters.—The first phrase in the Hebrew idiom does not mean “the progeny of evil-doers,” but those who, as a seed or brood, are made up of such. (Comp. Isaiah 14:20; Isaiah 65:23.) The word “children” (better, as in Isaiah 1:2, sons) once more emphasises the guilt of those who ought to have been obedient.They have forsaken the... read more