Isaiah 61:8

8 I, the LORD, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing. I will faithfully reward my people's work. I will make an everlasting promise to 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 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

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

Isaiah 61:8 In-Context

6 You will be called the priests of the LORD. You will be called the servants of our God. You will consume the wealth of the nations. You will boast in their splendor.
7 You will receive a double measure of wealth instead of your shame. You will sing about your wealth instead of being disgraced. That is why you will have a double measure of wealth in your land. You will have everlasting joy.
8 I, the LORD, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing. I will faithfully reward my people's work. I will make an everlasting promise to them.
9 Then their offspring will be known among the nations and their descendants among the people. Everyone who sees them will recognize that they are the descendants whom the LORD has blessed.
10 I will find joy in the LORD. I will delight in my God. He has dressed me in the clothes of salvation. He has wrapped me in the robe of righteousness like a bridegroom with a priest's turban, like a bride with her jewels.
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