Isaiah 59:11

11 We all groan like bears, and we coo mutteringly like doves. We wait for justice, but there is none; for salvation, [but] it is far from us.

Isaiah 59:11 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 59:11

We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves
Some in a more noisy and clamorous, others in a stiller way, yet all in private: for the bear, when robbed of its whelps, goes to its den and roars; and the dove, when it has lost its mate, mourns in solitude: this expresses the secret groanings of the saints under a sense of sin, and the forlorn state of religion. The Targum paraphrases it thus,

``we roar because of our enemies, who are gathered against us as bears; all of us indeed mourn sore as doves:''

we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far
from us;
we expect that God will take vengeance on our enemies, and save us; look for judgment on antichrist, and the antichristian states, and for the salvation of the church of God; for the vials of divine wrath on the one, and for happy times to the other; but neither of them as yet come; the reason of which is as follows.

Isaiah 59:11 In-Context

9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for light, but look! [there is] darkness; for brightness, [but] we walk in darkness.

10 We grope like the blind [along] a wall, and we grope {as without} eyes. We stumble at noon as [in] the twilight; among the strong [we are] like the dead.

11 We all groan like bears, and we coo mutteringly like doves. We wait for justice, but there is none; for salvation, [but] it is far from us.

12 For our transgressions are numerous before you, and our sins {testify} against us. Indeed, our transgressions [are] with us, and we know our iniquities:

13 transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning {away from following} our God; speaking oppression and falsehood, conceiving and uttering words of deception from [the] heart.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "and"