Isaiah 1:23

23 principes tui infideles socii furum omnes diligunt munera sequuntur retributiones pupillo non iudicant et causa viduae non ingreditur ad eos

Isaiah 1:23 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 1:23

Thy princes [are] rebellious
Stubborn and obstinate, refused to receive and acknowledge the Messiah; such were the Jewish rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, in the times of Christ. And companions of thieves:
who devoured widows' houses; made the temple, which was a house of prayer, a den of thieves; and took away the key of knowledge from the people, and would not suffer them to attend the ministry of the Gospel, ( Matthew 21:13 ) ( Matthew 23:13 Matthew 23:14 ) ( Luke 11:52 ) everyone loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards.
The Targum paraphrases it,

``everyone says to his neighbour, do me a favour in my cause, I will return "it" to thee in thy cause;''

and so justice was perverted: they judge not the fatherless;
that is, either they do not take their cause in hand at all, or, if they do, do not do them justice, but wrong them of their goods and estates, which, of right, belong to them: neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them;
there being no money to be got by undertaking it; see the case of the unjust judge, a picture of judges in those times, ( Luke 18:2 Luke 18:3 ) .

Isaiah 1:23 In-Context

21 quomodo facta est meretrix civitas fidelis plena iudicii iustitia habitavit in ea nunc autem homicidae

22 argentum tuum versum est in scoriam vinum tuum mixtum est aqua

23 principes tui infideles socii furum omnes diligunt munera sequuntur retributiones pupillo non iudicant et causa viduae non ingreditur ad eos

24 propter hoc ait Dominus exercituum Fortis Israhel heu consolabor super hostibus meis et vindicabor de inimicis meis

25 et convertam manum meam ad te et excoquam ad purum scoriam tuam et auferam omne stagnum tuum