Isaiah 1:5

5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Isaiah 1:5 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 1:5

Why should ye be stricken any more?
&c.] Or "for what are ye stricken again" ^F1? with afflictions and chastisements, with which God smites his people by way of correction for their sins, ( Isaiah 57:17 ) ( Hosea 6:1 ) and the sense is, either that they did not consider what they were afflicted for, that it was for their sins and transgressions; they thought they came by chance, or imputed them to second causes, and so went on in sin, and added sin to sin; to which sense the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, incline: or the meaning is, that the chastisements that were laid upon them were to no purpose; had produced no good effect, were of no avail, and unprofitable to them; and which is mentioned as an aggravation of their sins, obstinacy, and impenitence; see ( Jeremiah 5:3 ) . Ye will revolt more and more,
or "add defection" ^F2; go on in sin, and apostatize more and more, and grow more obdurate and resolute in it; unless afflictions are sanctified, men become more hardened by them: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint;
which may be understood either of their chastisements, which were universal, and had reached all sorts and ranks of men among them, without any reformation, and therefore it was in vain to use more; or of their sins and transgressions which abounded among them, even among the principal of them; their civil rulers and governors, meant by the "head"; and the priests, who should feed the people with knowledge and understanding, designed by the "heart"; but both were corrupted, and in a bad condition.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (wkt hm le) "super quo", V. L. "ad quid", Ar.
F2 (hro wpyowt) "addentes prevaricationem", Sept. V. L.

Isaiah 1:5 In-Context

3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: [but] Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they are gone away backward.

5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

6 From the sole of the foot even to the head [there is] no soundness in [it]; [but] wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

7 Your country [is] desolate, your cities [are] burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and [it is] desolate, as overthrown by strangers.