Isaiah 59:15

King James Version

Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

Parallel Translations

Legacy Standard Bible
So it is that truth is missing;And he who turns aside from evil makes himself plunder.Then Yahweh saw,And it was evil in His eyes that there was no justice.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Yes, truth is lacking; And he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the LORD saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.

Bible in Basic English
Yes, faith is gone; and he whose heart is turned from evil comes into the power of the cruel: and the Lord saw it, and he was angry that there was no one to take up their cause.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Yea the trueth is taken away, and he that refraineth hym selfe from euyll, must be spoyled: When the Lorde sawe this, it displeased hym sore that there was no equitie.

Darby Translation
And truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And Jehovah saw [it], and it was evil in his sight that there was no judgment.

New King James Version
So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice.

Literal Translation
And the truth is lacking; and whoever turns from evil makes himself a prey. And Jehovah saw; and it was evil in His eyes, that there was no justice.

Easy-to-Read Version
Loyalty is gone, and people who try to do good are robbed. The Lord looked and saw there was no justice. He did not like what he saw.

World English Bible
Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Yahweh saw it, and it displeased him who there was no justice.

King James Version (1611)
Yea truth faileth, and he that departeth from euill maketh himselfe a pray: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him, that there was no iudgement.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yee ye treuth is lade in preson, and he that refrayneth himself fro euel, must be spoyled. When the LORDE sawe this, it displeased him sore, yt there was no where eny equite.

Amplified Bible
Yes, truth is missing; And he who turns away from evil makes himself a prey. Now the LORD saw it, And it displeased Him that there was no justice.

American Standard Version
Yea, truth is lacking; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And Jehovah saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

Update Bible Version
Yes, truth is lacking; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey. And Yahweh saw it, and it was evil in his eyes that there was no justice.

Webster's Bible Translation
Yes, truth faileth; and he [that] departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw [it], and it displeased him that [there was] no judgment.

New Century Version
Truth cannot be found anywhere, and people who refuse to do evil are attacked. The Lord looked and could not find any justice, and he was displeased.

New English Translation
Honesty has disappeared; the one who tries to avoid evil is robbed. The Lord watches and is displeased, for there is no justice.

Contemporary English Version
Everyone tells lies; those who turn from crime end up ruined. When the Lord noticed that justice had disappeared, he became very displeased.

Complete Jewish Bible
Honesty is lacking, he who leaves evil becomes a target. Adonai saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Yea, trueth faileth, and hee that refraineth from euill, maketh himselfe a praye: and when the Lorde sawe it, it displeased him, that there was no iudgement.

George Lamsa Translation
Yea, truth is hid, and understanding has departed from our mind; the LORD saw that there was no justice, and he was displeased.

Hebrew Names Version
Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him who there was no justice.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And truth is lacking, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice;

New Living Translation
Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The Lord looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.

New Life Bible
Yes, truth is not there. And he who turns away from sin comes under the anger of sinners. Now the Lord saw this, and it did not please Him to see that what is right and fair was not being done.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And truth has been taken away, and they have turned aside their mind from understanding.

English Revised Version
Yea, truth is lacking; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

Berean Standard Bible
Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil makes himself prey. The LORD looked and was offended that there was no justice.

New Revised Standard
Truth is lacking, and whoever turns from evil is despoiled. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And the truth hath been found missing, And he that hath turned away from wrong is liable to be despoiled, And when, Yahweh, looked, Then was it grievous in his eyes that there was no justice:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And truth hath been forgotten: and he that departed from evil, lay open to be a prey: and the Lord saw, and it appeared evil in his eyes, because there is no judgment.

Lexham English Bible
and truth is missing, and he who turns aside from evil is plundered. And Yahweh saw, and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice

English Standard Version
Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

New American Standard Bible
Truth is lacking, And one who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the LORD saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.

Good News Translation
There is so little honesty that those who stop doing evil find themselves the victims of crime." The Lord has seen this, and he is displeased that there is no justice.

Christian Standard Bible®
Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil is plundered. The Lord saw that there was no justice, and He was offended.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And treuthe was maad in to foryetyng, and he that yede awei fro yuel, was opyn to robbyng. And the Lord siy, and it apperide yuel in hise iyen, for ther is no doom.

Revised Standard Version
Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

Young's Literal Translation
And the truth is lacking, And whoso is turning aside from evil, Is making himself a spoil. And Jehovah seeth, and it is evil in His eyes, That there is no judgment.

Contextual Overview

⁹ Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. ¹⁰ We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. ¹¹ We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. ¹² For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; ¹³ In transgressing and lying against the Lord , and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. ¹⁴ And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. ¹⁵ Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

truth: Isaiah 48:1, Psalms 5:9, Psalms 12:1, Psalms 12:2, Jeremiah 5:1, Jeremiah 5:2, Jeremiah 7:28, Hosea 4:1, Hosea 4:2, Micah 7:2

he that: Habakkuk 1:13, Habakkuk 1:14, Acts 9:1, Acts 9:23, Romans 8:36, Hebrews 11:36-38, 1 John 3:11, 1 John 3:12

maketh himself a prey: or, is accounted mad, 2 Kings 9:11, Jeremiah 29:26, Hosea 9:7, Mark 3:21, John 8:52, John 10:20, Acts 26:24, 2 Corinthians 5:13

displeased him: Heb. was evil in his eyes, Genesis 38:10, 2 Samuel 11:27, 2 Chronicles 21:7, *marg.

Reciprocal: Exodus 18:21 - men Psalms 60:4 - because Isaiah 40:10 - the Lord God Isaiah 59:8 - no Jeremiah 17:5 - whose Lamentations 3:36 - the Lord

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Yea, truth faileth,.... Or, "is deprived" f; of its life and being; it not only falls in the street, and there lies, without any to show regard unto it; but it fails; it seems as if it had given up the ghost and expired; so very prevalent will error be, before light and truth spring up again and be victorious, as they will:

and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey; he that does not give in to the prevailing vices of the age in which he lives, now become fashionable, but abstains from them, and departs from doctrinal as well as practical evils; from all false doctrines, and from all superstitious modes of worship; becomes a prey to others; a reproach and a laughing stock to them; they scoff at him, and deride him for his preciseness in religion; for his enthusiastic and irrational notions in doctrine; and for his stiffness in matters of worship: or, "he makes himself reckoned a madman" g; as some render it; and this is a common notion with profane men, and loose professors, to reckon such as madmen that are upright in doctrine, worship, and conversation; see Acts 26:24:

and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment; he took notice of all this, and resented it, though in a professing people, that there was no judgment or discretion in matters of doctrine and worship; no order or discipline observed; no justice done in civil courts, or in the church of God; no reformation in church or state.

f נעדרת "privata"; so העדר "privatio", often with the Rubbins. g משתולל "facit ut insanus habeatur", Junius Tremellius "habitus est pro insano", Vitringa; so Abendana, "he that fears God, and departs from evil", יחשבוהו לשוטה, "they reckon him a fool or a madman."

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Yea, truth faileth - That is, it is not to be found, it is missing. The word used here (from עדר ‛âdar) means “to be left, to remain” 2 Samuel 17:22; then “to be missing or lacking” 1 Samuel 30:19; Isaiah 40:26. Here it means that truth had no existence there.

And he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey - Margin, ‘Is accounted mad.’ Noyes renders this, ‘And he that departeth from evil is plundered.’ Grotius renders it, ‘The innocent man lies open to injury from all.’ The Septuagint, ‘They took away the mind from understanding;’ or, ‘They substituted opinion in the place of knowledge.’ (Thompson’s Translation.) The phrase, ‘He that departeth from evil,’ means evidently a man who did not, and would not, fall in with the prevailing iniquitous practices, but who maintained a life of honesty and piety. It was one of the evils of the times that such a man would be harassed, plundered, ill-treated. The word rendered ‘maketh himself a prey’ (משׁתולל mish^etôlēl from שׁלל shâlal), is a word usually signifying to strip off, to plunder, to spoil. Some have supposed that the word means to make foolish, or to account mad, in Job 12:17, Job 12:19. Thus, in the passage before us, the Septuagint understood the word, and this sense of the word our translators have placed in the margin. But there is no reason for departing here from the usual signification of the word as denoting to plunder, to spoil; and the idea is, that the people of honesty and piety were subject to the rapacity of the avaricious, and the oppression of the mighty. They regarded them as lawful prey, and took every advantage in stripping them of their property, and reducing them to want. This completes the statement of the crimes of the nation, and the existence of such deeds of violence and iniquity constituted the basis on which God was led to interpose and effect deliverance. Such a state of crime and consequent suffering demanded the divine interposition; and when Yahweh saw it, he was led to provide a way for deliverance and reform.

The passage before us had a primary reference to the prevalence of iniquity in the Jewish nation. But it is language also that will quite as appropriately describe the moral condition of the world as laying the foundation for the necessity of the divine interposition by the Messiah. Indeed, the following verses undoubtedly refer to him. No one, it is believed, can attentively read the passage, and doubt this. The mind of the prophet is fixed upon the depravity of the Jewish nation. The hands, the tongue, the eyes, the feet, the fingers, were all polluted. The whole nation was sunk in moral corruption; and this was but a partial description of what was occurring everywhere on the earth. In such a state of things in the Jewish nation, and in the whole world, the question could not but arise, whether no deliverer could be found. Was there no way of pardon; no way by which deserved and impending wrath could be diverted? From this melancholy view, therefore, the prophet turns to him who was to be the Great Deliverer, and the remainder of the chapter is occupied with a most beautiful description of the Redeemer, and of the effect of his coming. The sentiment of the whole passage is, “that the deep and extended depravity of man was the foundation of the necessity of the divine interposition in securing salvation, and that in view of the guilt of people, God provided one who was a Glorious Deliverer, and who was to come to Zion as the Redeemer.”

And the Lord saw it - He saw there was no righteousness; no light; no love; no truth. All was violence and oppression: all was darkness and gloom.

And it displeased him - Margin, ‘Was evil in his eyes.’ So Jerome, ‘It appeared evil in his eyes.’ Septuagint, Καὶ οὐκ ἤρεσεν αὐτῷ Kai ouk ēresen autō - ‘And it did not please him.’ The Hebrew, וירע vayēra‛ means, literally, ‘It was evil in his eyes.’ That is, it was painful or displeasing to him. The existence of so much sin and darkness was contrary to the benevolent feelings of his heart.

That there was no judgment - No righteousness; no equity; and that iniquity and oppression abounded.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 59:15. And the Lord saw it - "And JEHOVAH saw it -----"] This third line of the stanza appears manifestly to me to be imperfect by the loss of a phrase. The reader will perhaps more perfectly conceive my idea of the matter if I endeavour to supply the supposed defect, I imagine it might have stood originally in this manner: -

לו ויחר יהוה וירא

lo veyachar Yehovah vaiyar

משפט אין כי בעיניו וירע

mishpat ein ki beeyinaiv veyera

"And JEHOVAH saw it, and he was wroth;

And it displeased him, that there was no judgment."

We have had already many examples of mistakes of omission; this, if it be such, is very ancient, being prior to all the versions. - L.