Isaiah 61:8

8 For I [am] Jehovah, loving judgment, Hating plunder for a burnt-offering, And I have given their wage in truth, And a covenant age-during I make for them.

Isaiah 61:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 61:8

For I the Lord love judgment
To do that which is right and just himself, and to see it done by others, and therefore he will right the wrongs of his people; and whereas the Jews, though they have justly suffered his vengeance for their sins, yet being reproached and abused beyond measure by the Gentiles, among whom they are dispersed; the Lord will look in mercy upon them, and will deliver and save them, and bestow favours plentifully on them, as in the preceding verse: or the Lord loves strict justice and real righteousness, and will not be put off with an imperfect righteousness in the room of a perfect one, and much less an insincere and hypocritical one, such as that of the unbelieving Jews, the pharisaical sect of them; nothing less is acceptable to God than a perfect righteousness, which is adequate to the demands of law and justice; and such a righteousness is not to be found among men, only in his Son Jesus Christ, and with which he is well pleased, ( Isaiah 42:21 ) :

I hate robbery for burnt offering;
that which is stolen, though it be converted into a burnt offering: or, "with a burnt offering" ^F3; all immorality, this being put for the whole, along with ceremonial sacrifices; as if it could be atoned for by them, or would be connived at on account of them: or,

by burnt offering;
expiation of theft, or any other sin, by the sacrifices of the law, being offered up without faith in Christ; and especially since the great sacrifice, the antitype of them, is offered up; and therefore God will have no more offered up, they are displeasing and hateful to him, ( Isaiah 1:12 Isaiah 1:13 ) ( Hebrews 10:5-8 ) :

and I will direct their work in truth;
appoint them work and service of a spiritual nature, and direct them, and enable them to perform it in spirit and in truth, in opposition to the carnal and shadowy ordinances of the ceremonial law; see ( John 4:23 John 4:24 ) :

and I will make an everlasting covenant with them;
that is, renew the everlasting covenant of grace with them, make it manifest unto them; apply the grace and bestow the blessings of it to and on them, ( Romans 11:25-27 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (hlweb lzg) "rapinam conjunctam holocausto", Junius & Tremellius.

Isaiah 61:8 In-Context

6 And ye are called `Priests of Jehovah,' `Ministers of our God,' is said of you, The strength of nations ye consume, And in their honour ye do boast yourselves.

7 Instead of your shame and confusion, A second time they sing of their portion, Therefore in their land A second time do they take possession, Joy age-during [is] for them.

8 For I [am] Jehovah, loving judgment, Hating plunder for a burnt-offering, And I have given their wage in truth, And a covenant age-during I make for them.

9 And known among nations hath been their seed, And their offspring in the midst of the peoples, All their beholders acknowledge them, For they [are] a seed Jehovah hath blessed.

10 I greatly rejoice in Jehovah, Joy doth my soul in my God, For He clothed me with garments of salvation, With a robe of righteousness covereth Me, As a bridegroom prepareth ornaments, And as a bride putteth on her jewels.