Isaiah 59:11

11 All we shall roar as bears, and we shall wail thinking as culvers; we abided doom, and none there is; we abided health, and it is made far from us. (We all shall roar like bears, and we shall wail thinking like doves; we wait for justice, but there is none; we wait for deliverance, or salvation, but it is made 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 doom is made far from us, and rightfulness shall not (over)take us; we abided light, and lo! darknesses be; we abided shining, and we went in darknesses. (And so justice is made far from us, and right shall not overtake us; we wait for the light, but lo! there is only darkness; we wait for the sun to shine, but still we walk in darkness.)

10 We groped as blind men the wall, and we as without eyes touched; we stumbled in midday, as in darknesses, in dark places, as dead men. (We grope the wall like the blind, and we touch it, like those without eyes; we stumble at midday, like in the darkness, yea, in dark places, like the dead.)

11 All we shall roar as bears, and we shall wail thinking as culvers; we abided doom, and none there is; we abided health, and it is made far from us. (We all shall roar like bears, and we shall wail thinking like doves; we wait for justice, but there is none; we wait for deliverance, or salvation, but it is made far from us.)

12 For why our wickednesses be multiplied before thee, and our sins answered to us (and our sins witnessed against us); for our great trespasses be with us, and we knew our wickednesses,

13 to do sin, and to lie against the Lord. And we be turned away, that we went not after the back of our God, that we speak false challenge, and trespassing. We conceived, and spake of (the) heart, words of leasing; (to do sin, and to lie against the Lord. And we turned away, so that we went not after the back of our God, and we speak of oppression, and of trespassing. We conceived lies, and spoke them out from our hearts;)