Isaiah 63:17

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Isaiah 63:7-19

A prayer for Israel (63:7-64:12)The prophet’s prayer for God’s suffering people begins by recalling God’s great acts of love in the past (7). Because Israel was his people, God saved them from slavery in Egypt, though when they rebelled against him, they were punished (8-10). Nevertheless, God forgave them. Therefore, asks the prophet, could not this God of mercy and love, who has done such great things for Israel in the past, also save his people from captivity in Babylon now (11-14)?It seems... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Isaiah 63:17

made us = suffered us. hardened = let us harden. Return. Reference to Pentateuch (Numbers 10:36 ). App-92 . read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Isaiah 63:17

"O Jehovah, why dost thou make us to err from thy ways, and hardenest our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servant's sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. Thy people possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. We are become as they over whom thou never barest rule, as they that were not called by thy name."The judicial hardening of Israel announced in Isaiah 6:9,10, at this time, "had been going on ever since."[23] And from the appearance of Isaiah... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Isaiah 63:17

Isaiah 63:17. O Lord, why hast thou made us to err?— The chorus here humbly expostulate with God. The first clause may be rendered, O Lord, why hast thou suffered us? &c. See Deuteronomy 32:36. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 63:17

17. made us to err—that is, "suffer" us to err and to be hardened in our heart. They do not mean to deny their own blameworthiness, but confess that through their own fault God gave them over to a reprobate mind (Isaiah 6:9; Isaiah 6:10; Psalms 119:10; Romans 1:28). Return— (Numbers 10:36; Psalms 90:13). read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 63:15-19

The complaint 63:15-19Isaiah next appealed to God, on behalf of the nation, to have pity on Israel. The prophet was speaking for the faithful remnant after the exile who found little evidence that God was among them, in the way He had been during the Exodus and wilderness wanderings."Isaiah is teaching us how to pray. We don’t learn to pray by listening to one another. We learn to pray by reading the Bible." [Note: Ortlund, p. 429.] read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 63:17

Isaiah, and all Scripture, does not present God as the direct cause of sin, unless this is the only verse in the Bible that does so, and it is not. God allows sin, and He allows people to sin, but He does not make it inevitable that they sin in any given instance of temptation (James 1:13). Isaiah meant that God had caused Israel to sin and had hardened the hearts of the people in a judicial sense (cf. Isaiah 6:9-13; Romans 1:18-32). Because they had chosen to continue in sin, He judged them by... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 63:1-19

The Glorious Future of the Jewish RaceThis concluding group of chapters is chiefly distinguished by glowing pictures of the future of Jerusalem, when the Jews shall be restored to their land again. A glorious restoration is promised (Isaiah 60:1-2; Isaiah 61:4, Isa 61:10-11), all nations are tobe members of the restored city (Isa 60:3-5), the glories of which are vividly pictured (Isa 60:6), the crowning glory being the holiness of the citizens (Isa 60:21). The fulfilment of the prophet's... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 63:7-19

8. Lie] RV ’deal falsely.’9. He was afflicted] so Heb. traditional reading, meaning that He felt His people’s pains as His own (Judges 10:16). But Heb. written text ’he was no adversary’ (RM), but, on the contrary, their deliverer. The angel] see Exodus 23:20; Exodus 32:34; Exodus 33:2.Bare them] see Deuteronomy 1:31; Deuteronomy 32:11.10. Cp. Psalms 78:40. 11. He (Israel) remembered] The thought of past mercies evoked penitence (Psalms 78:35). Shepherd] RV ’shepherds.’ Within him] i.e. Israel,... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 63:17

(17) Why hast thou made us to err . . .—The prophet identifies himself with his people, and speaks as in their name. Have their sins led God to abandon them, and to harden their hearts as He hardened Pharaoh’s? (Comp. Romans 9:17-22.) Are they given over as to a reprobate mind? Against that thought he finds refuge, where only men can find it, in prayer, and in pleading God’s promise and the “election of grace,” to which He at least remains faithful, though men are faithless. Conscious that they... read more