the Week of Proper 21 / Ordinary 26
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King James Version
Isaiah 57:9
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You have journeyed to the king with oilAnd increased your perfumes;You have sent your envoys a great distanceAnd made them go down to Sheol.
"You have journeyed to the king with oil And increased your perfumes; You have sent your envoys a great distance And made them go down to Sheol.
And you went to Melech with oil and much perfume, and you sent your representatives far off, and went as low as the underworld.
Thou wentest straight to kinges with oyle and diuers oyntmentes [that is] thou hast sent thy messengers farre of, and yet art thou fallen into the pit.
And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst multiply thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers afar off, and didst debase thyself unto Sheol.
You went to the king with ointment, And increased your perfumes; You sent your messengers far off, And even descended to Sheol.
And you went to the king with oil and multiplied your perfume. And you sent your messengers far away, and lowered yourself to Sheol.
You use your oils and perfumes to look nice for Molech. You sent your messengers to faraway lands, and this will bring you down to the place of death.
You went to the king with oil, and did increase your perfumes, and did send your ambassadors far off, and did debase yourself even to Sheol.
And thou wentest to the king with oyntment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers farre off, and didst debase thy selfe euen vnto hell.
Thou wentest straight to kinges with oyle & dyuerse oyntmentes (that is) thou hast sent thy messaungers farre of, and yet art thou fallen in to the pyt therby.
"You have gone to the king [of a pagan land] with oil And increased your perfumes; You have sent your messengers a great distance And made them go down to Sheol (the realm of the dead).
And thou wentest to the king with oil, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thine ambassadors far off, and didst debase thyself even unto Sheol.
And you went to the king with oil, and increased your perfumes, and sent your ambassadors far off, and debased yourself even to Sheol.
And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase [thyself even] to hell.
You use your oils and perfumes to look nice for Molech. You have sent your messengers to faraway lands; you even tried to send them to the place of the dead.
You take olive oil as tribute to your king, along with many perfumes. You send your messengers to a distant place; you go all the way to Sheol.
You smear on olive oil and all kinds of perfume to worship the god Molech. You even seek advice from spirits of the dead.
You went to the king with scented oil; you added to your perfumes; you sent your envoys far away, even down to Sh'ol.
Thou wentest to the Kings with oyle, and diddest increase thine oyntments and sende thy messengers farre off, and diddest humble thy selfe vnto hell.
And you did praise the kings with frankincense, and did increase your perfumes, and you did send your messengers far off, and you have brought yourself low, even down to Sheol.
You went to the king with oil, and did increase your perfumes, and did send your ambassadors far off, and did debase yourself even to She'ol.
And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thine ambassadors far off, even down to the nether-world.
You have gone to Molech with olive oil and many perfumes, sending your agents far and wide, even to the world of the dead.
You have traveled to the king with oil and much perfume. You have sent your men with gifts a very long way, and made them go down to the place of the dead.
and thou hast multiplied thy whoredom with them, and thou hast increased the number of them that are far from thee, and hast sent ambassadors beyond thy borders, and hast been debased even to hell.
And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thine ambassadors far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.
You went to Molech with oil and multiplied your perfumes. You have sent your envoys a great distance; you have descended even to Sheol itself.
You journeyed to Molech with oil, and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far away, and sent down even to Sheol.
And hast gone to the king with oil, And hast multiplied thy perfumes, - And hast sent thy messengers afar, And…lowered thyself as far as hades!
And thou hast adorned thyself for the king with ointment, and hast multiplied thy perfumes. Thou hast sent thy messengers far off, and wast debased even to hell.
And you climbed down to the king with oil, and you made your perfumes numerous, and you sent your envoys far away, and you sent down deep to Sheol.
You journeyed to the king with oil and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far off, and sent down even to Sheol.
"You have journeyed to the king with oil And increased your perfumes; You have sent your messengers a great distance And made them go down to Sheol.
You put on your perfumes and ointments and go to worship the god Molech. To find gods to worship, you send messengers far and wide, even to the world of the dead.
You went to the king with oil and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your couriers far away and sent them down even to Sheol.
and ournedist thee with kyngis oynement, and thou multipliedist thi pymentis; thou sentist fer thi messangeris, and thou art maad low `til to hellis.
You journeyed to Molech with oil and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far off, and sent down even to Sheol.
And goest joyfully to the king in ointment, And dost multiply thy perfumes, And sendest thine ambassadors afar off, And humblest thyself unto Sheol.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
thou wentest to the king: or, thou respectedst the king, Isaiah 30:1-6, Isaiah 31:1-3, 2 Kings 16:7-11, Ezekiel 16:33, Ezekiel 23:16, Hosea 7:11, Hosea 12:1
perfumes: Proverbs 7:17
and didst debase: Isaiah 2:9, Colossians 2:18
Reciprocal: Esther 2:12 - six months Isaiah 3:24 - instead Isaiah 8:12 - fear ye Isaiah 30:4 - his princes Isaiah 30:6 - burden Isaiah 57:13 - let Lamentations 5:6 - to the Egyptians Ezekiel 23:40 - ye have Ezekiel 24:12 - wearied Matthew 26:7 - very Luke 7:38 - and anointed
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And thou wentest to the king with ointment,.... To the kings of the earth, the singular for the plural, with whom the whore of Rome has committed fornication or idolatry, in allusion to harlots, who, in order to render themselves the more agreeable to their lovers, anointed themselves with ointment: this may respect the grace of the Spirit of God, which the church of Rome pretends to give by administration of the sacraments, which it is said confer grace "ex opere operato"; and the extreme unction given as a meetness for heaven, in the last moments of life:
and didst increase thy perfumes; after the manner of harlots, who, to ingratiate themselves with men, use much perfumes: this may signify the many ways the whore of Rome takes to make herself regarded by the kings and nations of the earth; pretending to antiquity, infallibility, power of working miracles, works of supererogation, primacy and superiority over all other churches; using great pomp and splendour in places of worship, and in all religious services:
and didst send thy messengers far off; not only into neighbouring kingdoms and states, into all the nations of Europe; but even into the most distant parts of the world, into both the Indies, in order to make proselytes, spread the religion of the see of Rome, and increase its power. The pope's "nuncios" and "legates a latere", may be here pointed at, as well as the Jesuits his emissaries, sent into all parts to promote his interest. Jarchi's note is,
"to exact tribute of the kings of the nations;''
which has been the business of the pope's legates:
and didst debase thyself even unto hell; or lay thyself low; prostitute thyself as harlots do to every lover; or didst feign thyself very lowly and humble, as the pope does when he calls himself "servus servorum"; or rather, "thou didst depress", or "bring low, even unto hell" t; that is, multitudes of men and women, who are brought down to hell by the false doctrine and worship of the church of Rome; and the followers of the man of sin say, that if he brings down thousands into hell, none ought to say, what dost thou? Cocceius thinks it may have respect to his pretended power over hell, to send as many there as do not please him; arrogating to himself the keys of heaven and hell; or over purgatory, a figment of his brain, where he pretends the souls of men are for a time, and from whence, for a sum of money, he delivers them. The Targum is,
"thou hast depressed the strength of the people; or, as some copies, the strong of the people unto hell.''
t זתשפילי עד שאול "et demisti usque ad infernum", Cocceius.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
And thou wentest to the king - Margin, ‘Respectedst.’ Jerome renders this, ‘Thou hast adorned thyself with royal ointment, and hast multiplied thy painting; and evidently understands it as a continuance of the sentiment in the previous verses as referring to the kind of decoration which harlots used. The Septuagint renders it, ‘Thou hast multiplied thy fornication with them, and hast done it with many who are far from thee.’ The Chaldee renders it, ‘When thou didst keep the law thou wert prosperous in the kingdom; and when thou didst abound in good works, then thine armies were multiplied.’ Lowth supposes that the king of Egypt or Assyria is intended, and that the prophet refers to the fact, that the Hebrews had sought an alliance with them, and in order to secure it, had carried a present of valuable unguents, after the manner of the East. Rosenmuller supposes, that by the king an idol was intended, and that the sense is, that they had anointed themselves with oil, and prepared perfumes, in order to be acceptable to the idol; that is, had decorated themselves as harlots did.
Grotius supposes that it means that they had imitated foreign kings, and copied the customs of other nations, and refers to the example of Ahaz 2 Kings 16:10. Others suppose that the word ‘king’ is to be taken collectively, and that it means that they had sought the alliance, and imitated the customs of foreign nations in general. It is probable that the prophet refers to some such fact. On former occasions, they had sought the alliance of the king of Assyria (see Isaiah 7:1); and on one occasion, at least, they had meditated an alliance with the king of Egypt (Isaiah 30:2 ff.) The essential idea is, that they had proved unfaithful to Yahweh. This idea is presented here under the image of a female unfaithful to her husband, who had decorated and perfumed herself that she might allure others. Thus the Jews had forsaken God, and had endeavored to make themselves agreeable in the sight of other nations, and had courted their friendship and alliance. The word I ‘king,’ according to this, refers not to idols, but to foreign princes, whose assistance had been sought.
And didst increase thy perfumes - That is, for the purpose of rendering thyself agreeable, after the manner of a licentious female (see Proverbs 7:17). The custom of perfuming the person was common in the East, and is still practiced there.
And didst send thy messengers - That is, to distant nations, for the purpose of securing their alliance.
And didst debase thyself even unto hell - On the meaning of the word ‘hell,’ see the notes at Isaiah 5:14. The idea is, that they had sunk to the deepest possible debasement. In forsaking Yahweh; in seeking foreign alliances; in their anxiety to secure their aid when Yahweh was abundantly able and willing to protect them, they had sunk to the lowest degradation of character and condition. The sentiment is, that people degrade themselves when they do not put confidence in God, and when, distrusting his ability, they put reliance on any other aid than his. If people have God for their protector, why should they court the friendship of earthly princes and kings?
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Isaiah 57:9. And thou wentest to the king with ointment - "And thou hast visited the king with a present of oil"] That is, the king of Assyria, or Egypt. Hosea, Hosea 12:1, reproaches the Israelites for the same practice: -
"They make a covenant with Assyria,
And oil is carried to Egypt."
It is well known, that in all parts of the east, whoever visits a great person must carry him a present. "It is counted uncivil," says Maundrell, p. 26, "to visit in this country without an offering in hand. All great men expect it as a tribute due to their character and authority; and look upon themselves as affronted, and indeed defrauded, when the compliment is omitted." Hence שור shur, to visit a person, is equivalent to making him a present; and תשורה teshurah signifies a present made on such occasions; as our translators have rightly rendered it, 1 Samuel 9:7; on which Jarchi says Menachem exponit תשורה teshurah, quod significat oblationem sive manus, ut aliquis aspiciat faciem regis, aut alicuius magnatis. "Menachem expounds תשורה teshurah of an offering or gift which is presented in order to be admitted into the presence of the king or some great man."
