Isaiah 9:17 - Exposition

The Lord shall have no joy in their young men. "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy" ( Psalms 147:11 ). He can have no joy or delight in evil-doers, or idolaters, or in those whose speech is profanity. Neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows . The widow and the orphan are objects of God's tenderest love and compassion ( Exodus 22:22 ; Deuteronomy 10:18 ; Deuteronomy 14:29 ; Isaiah 1:17 , etc.); but when the wickedness of a land provokes him to send any one of his "four sore judgments" upon it, the widow and the fatherless must suffer with the other inhabitants. God pities them, doubtless, but his justice and his righteous anger force him to restrain his pity, and carry out his judgment in spite of it. Every one is an hypocrite ; or, corrupt ; compare, " They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one " ( Psalms 14:3 ). A certain allowance must be made for the natural hyperbole of strong feeling. Every mouth speaketh folly . The word translated here (and generally) " folly " is rendered " villany " in Isaiah 32:6 and Jeremiah 29:23 . Its proper meaning seems to be " lewdness ' or " profligacy ."