Isaiah 59:12

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,

Isaiah 59:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 59:12

For our transgressions are multiplied before thee
Not only an increase of immorality among the people in common, but among professors of religion; and as their transgressions are committed against the Lord, so they are in his sight taken notice of and observed by him, are loathsome and abominable to him, and call aloud for his judgments on them: and our sins testify against us;
God is a witness against us, in whose sight our sins are done; and our consciences are witnesses against us, which are as a thousand witnesses; and there is no denying facts; our sins stare us in the face, and we must confess our guilt: or, "our sins answer against us" ^F3; as witnesses called and examined answer to the questions put, so our sins, being brought as it were into open court, answer and bear testimony against us; or it must be owned, our punishment for our sins answers to them; it is the echo of our sins, what they call for, and righteously comes upon us: for our transgressions are with us;
or, "on us" ^F4; in our minds, on our consciences, loading us with guilt; continually accusing and condemning us; are manifest to us, as the Targum; too manifest to be denied: and as for our iniquities, we know them;
the nature and number of them, and the aggravating circumstances that attend them; and cannot but own and acknowledge them, confess, lament, and bewail them; an enumeration of which follows.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (wnb htne wnytajx) "peccata nostra respondit contra nos", Montanus; "id ipsum respondit contra nos", Cocceius; "even everyone of them", so Junius & Tremellius; "peccatorum nostrorum quodque", sic
F4 (wnta) "super nos", Munster.

Isaiah 59:12 In-Context

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;)

14 and doom was turned aback, and rightfulness stood [a]far; for why truth fell down in the street, and equity, either evenness, might not enter. (and justice was turned back, and right stood afar off; and truth fell down in the street, and integrity, or honesty, could not even come in.)