Isaiah 59:4 · Bible study
Isaiah 59:4 Commentary: The Process of Sin from Conception to Birth
Hebrew · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Isaiah 59:4 depicts a people who have abandoned truth and justice. The verse traces sin from trust in vanity to the birth of iniquity.
Research Summary
- Meaning: A thorough corruption of justice and truth, with sin described as conceived in thought and born in action.
- Key words: tohu (emptiness, chaos), shav (falsehood, worthlessness), 'amal (mischief, trouble), 'aven (iniquity, wickedness).
- Main debate: Whether the verse refers exclusively to judicial corruption or includes broader spiritual failure (neglect of righteousness, rejection of the gospel).
- Theological theme: Sin as a process from conception to birth; human rebellion as the cause of separation from God.
- Best use: A penitential passage that diagnoses the root of unanswered prayer and calls for honest confession of social and personal sin.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
WEB World English Bible 2000
No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
KJV King James Version 1769
None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
None sueth in righteousness, and none pleadeth in truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
There is none calling in righteousness, And there is none pleading in faithfulness, Trusting on emptiness, and speaking falsehood, Conceiving perverseness, and bearing iniquity.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
none calleth for justice, none pleadeth in truthfulness. They trust in vanity, and speak falsehood; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
There is none that calleth upon justice, neither is there any one that judgeth truly: but they trust in a mere nothing, and speak vanities: they have conceived labour, and brought forth iniquity.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
No hay quien clame por la justicia, ni quien juzgue por la verdad: confían en vanidad, y hablan vanidades; conciben trabajo, y paren iniquidad.
Ninguém há que clame pela justiça, nem ninguém que defenda causa em juízo por meio da verdade; confiam naquilo que é inútil, e falam mentiras; são causadores de opressão, e geram injustiça;
Nul ne se plaint avec justice,
Es ist niemand, der von Gerechtigkeit predige oder treulich richte. Man vertraut aufs Eitle und redet nichts Tüchtiges; mit Unglück sind sie schwanger und gebären Mühsal.
Er is niemand, die voor de gerechtigheid roept, en niemand, die voor de waarheid in het gericht zich begeeft; zij vertrouwen op ijdelheid, en spreken leugen; met moeite zijn zij zwanger, en zij baren ongerechtigheid.
Nessuno muove causa con giustizia, nessuno la discute con verità; s’appoggiano su quel che non è, dicon menzogne, concepiscono il male, partoriscono l’iniquità.
Niemasz ktoby się zastawiał o sprawiedliwość, ani jest ktoby się zasadzał o prawdę. Ufają w próżności, a mówią kłamstwo; poczynają ucisk, a rodzą nieprawość.
Никто не возвышает голоса за правду, и никто не вступается за истину; надеются на пустое и говорят ложь, зачинают зло и рождают злодейство;
無一人 按公義 告狀，無一人 憑誠實 辯白；都倚靠 虛妄，說 謊言。所懷的 是毒害；所生的 是罪孽。
No one puts forward an upright cause, or gives a true decision: their hope is in deceit, and their words are false; they are with child with sin, and give birth to evil.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Isaiah 59:4
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that Isaiah 59:4 describes a systemic failure of justice and truth. Barnes, the Cambridge Bible, and Jamieson-Fausset-Brown read it as lawsuits conducted without righteousness or honesty, litigants trusting in “vanity” (Hebrew tohu, formlessness) rather than justice. Gill extends the reference to the failure to preach and embrace the righteousness of Christ, while the Targum applies it to prayer. The metaphor of conceiving mischief and bringing forth iniquity (drawn from Job 15:35 and Psalm 7:14) is widely held to portray sin's progression from inner intention to outward act. Clarke notes the “curious propriety” of comparing a thought to conception and an act to birth. All agree the verse exposes a people whose corruption has severed them from God, setting the stage for the indictment that follows.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Judicial corruption (narrow view): The surrounding context (vv. 3, 6–8) mentions hands defiled with blood, violence, and lack of peace, pointing to legal abuse. Parallels in Isaiah 29:21 and Amos 5:12.
- Spiritual failure (broad view): The Targum applies 'calling for justice' to prayer; Gill sees it as failure to preach evangelical righteousness. The infinitive forms suggest a comprehensive way of life, not merely courtrooms.
- Comprehensive moral decay (majority view): The verse summarizes the entire indictment of vv. 3–8: both public justice and private character are corrupt. The metaphor of conception/birth applies to all sin, not just legal perversion.
What is clear: The people are thoroughly corrupt in their pursuit of justice and truth, and sin progresses from inner intention to outward action, resulting in separation from God.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Scope of the indictment | The verse describes a society where justice and truth have collapsed. | Some commentators (Barnes, Cambridge) see it as specific to legal proceedings; others (Gill, Targum) extend it to religious and spiritual life, failure to preach or pray rightly. |
| Meaning of 'call for justice' | It refers to initiating a lawsuit or public plea for righteousness. | Whether it means summoning an opponent to court (Keil, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown) or speaking out publicly in defense of justice (LXX, Syriac). |
| Identity of the accused | The people of Judah in the time of Isaiah are the primary referent. | Whether the accusation applies universally to all humanity (Reformed tradition) or is limited to the specific historical context. |
| The metaphor of conception | Sin originates in inner thoughts and intentions before becoming external actions. | Whether the metaphor emphasizes human culpability (the sinner actively conceives) or the inevitability of sin's fruit (what is conceived will be born). |
Historical & Cultural Context
Isaiah 59 opens with the people complaining that God does not save them. The prophet counters: your iniquities have separated you from your God. Verse 4 sits within a catalogue of social sins that includes defiled hands, lying lips, and feet running to evil. In ancient Judah, the legal system was the primary arena for covenant justice, courts were supposed to protect the vulnerable and uphold truth. But here, no one brings a just lawsuit; even the process of pleading is dishonest. The Hebrew infinitive absolute forms used in the second half of the verse (trusting, speaking, conceiving, bringing forth) indicate characteristic, habitual action (Keil and Delitzsch compare them to the Latin historical infinitive). This is not a momentary lapse but a settled pattern of life.
The word tohu (“emptiness”) echoes Genesis 1:2, where it describes the primordial chaos before creation. The people have reduced justice to chaos. The metaphor of conceiving mischief and birthing iniquity was a wisdom tradition (Job 15:35, Psalm 7:14) that described how the wicked scheme inwardly until evil becomes concrete action. The absence of any righteous lawsuit means the community has abandoned its God-given structures for maintaining justice. The result is a society where oppression, violence, and falsehood flourish, exactly the condition that Isaiah elsewhere denounces (Isaiah 1:21, 23; 5:7). The verse thus functions as a diagnostic: it explains why God’s hand is not shortened. The problem is not divine weakness but human rebellion.
Textual Notes
The Masoretic Text presents the second half of the verse as a series of infinitive absolutes: batōaḥ (trusting), dabbēr (speaking), hārō (conceiving), hôlêd (bringing forth). These infinitives function as vivid descriptions of habitual action, a feature noted by Keil and Delitzsch. The LXX and Syriac render them as finite verbs, clarifying the sense for their readers. No textual variants significantly alter the meaning. The reading hôlêd (bring forth) is the western (Palestinian) tradition; the eastern (Babylonian) tradition reads hōlēd (a participial form). Both convey the same idea.
Reception History
Isaiah 59:4 has been read across Christian traditions as a stark diagnosis of human sinfulness and its social consequences. The Reformers frequently cited it to argue that apart from grace, even society’s structures of justice become corrupt. In the early church, the metaphor of conceiving and birthing iniquity was used in penitential literature to warn against the gradual hardening of the heart. Jewish commentators such as the Targum interpreted the verse as a failure to pray in truth, connecting it to the wider theme of hypocritical worship. In liturgical settings, Isaiah 59 is sometimes appointed for Advent or Lent, where verses 1, 4 prepare the congregation for confession before the promise of a Redeemer in verses 20, 21. The image of sin as a pregnancy that must come to term has also appeared in Christian moral instruction, urging believers to root out temptation before it grows into action.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The Absence of Righteousness in the Courts. No one sues or pleads with justice or truth. The legal system, meant to embody God’s order, has become a theater of deceit.
- The Reliance on Emptiness and Lies. People trust in tohu, what is formless and unreal, and speak falsehood. They have exchanged God’s solid truth for vapor.
- The Fruit of Wickedness: Mischief Conceived, Iniquity Born. Sin begins as a thought or plan, then develops into destructive action. The metaphor warns that evil, once nurtured, cannot remain hidden; it comes to term.
Five-point outline
- No one calls for justice.
- No one pleads with truth.
- Trust is placed in vanity rather than God.
- Speech is filled with lies.
- Sin is conceived in the heart and born as wickedness.
Illustration hooks
- A courtroom where the evidence is twisted and the judge turns a blind eye, the slow erosion of trust in public institutions.
- A person who starts with a “small” compromise, telling themselves it’s justified, then finds themselves trapped in a pattern of deception.
- The habit of scrolling through news or social media, trusting in “expert” opinions that are actually empty rhetoric, and speaking those same opinions as facts.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why doesn’t God answer my prayers? (The opening of Isaiah 59 provides the context: sin creates separation.)
- How does sin grow from a temptation to a habit to a life-dominating pattern?
- What does it mean to “trust in emptiness” in everyday life, can it apply to trusting in money, reputation, or political systems?
Leading a Discussion
Isaiah 59:4 cuts to the heart of why God seems distant. The verse lists four ways the people have turned from him: they abandon justice, reject truth, trust in what is empty, and speak lies. The startling metaphor of conceiving and giving birth to sin shows that evil is not accidental, it is nurtured and brought forth intentionally. As you discuss, consider how this description might apply not only to ancient Judah but to any community, including your own.
Discussion questions
- Read Isaiah 59:1, 4. What does the prophet say is the real reason God does not save?
- What does “no one sues in righteousness” suggest about the state of the legal system? Can you think of modern parallels?
- Why does the verse pair “trust in vanity” with “speak lies”? What is the connection between what we rely on and what we say?
- How does the metaphor of conception and birth change the way you think about sin? What does it imply about human responsibility?
- In what areas of your life might you be trusting in “emptiness”, things that look substantial but offer no real security?
- Verse 2 says that iniquities separate us from God. Does this mean God stops loving us, or that our sin blinds us to his presence?
- What hope does the rest of Isaiah 59 offer? (Read ahead to verses 20, 21.) How does this shape your response to the indictment?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Job 15:31 | Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, for emptiness will be his reward. |
| Job 15:35 | They conceive mischief and produce iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit.” |
| Psalms 7:13 | He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death. He makes ready his flaming arrows. |
| Psalms 7:14 | Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought out falsehood. |
| Psalms 62:4 | They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah. |
| Psalms 62:10 | Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them. |
| Proverbs 4:16 | For they don’t sleep unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall. |
| Isaiah 30:12 | Therefore the Holy One of Israel says, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it, |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke draws attention to the careful metaphor at work: a sinful thought is compared to conception, and the resulting word or deed to childbirth. He then insists that the entire passage, from verse 3 through 15, is not poetic exaggeration but a plain description of the Jewish people's actual moral condition at the time.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes observes that people take legal action not to obtain justice but to injure others through cunning and falsehood. They trust in legal tricks and evasions rather than the fairness of their case. Their lawsuits are schemes to harm, using the law as a weapon of deceit.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
This commentary emphasizes that the verse describes corrupt legal practices. People bring lawsuits without any concern for righteousness or truth, using deceitful arguments to twist justice. The language points to a system where litigants trust in emptiness and scheme to produce evil.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Notes point out the total absence of anyone seeking justice or contending for truth. They trace a downward spiral: people put their trust in what is empty, speak worthless words, and ultimately conceive evil and produce iniquity. This stark description shows a society given over completely to sin.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill reads this verse as a lament over the spiritual refusal to accept or proclaim Christ's righteousness as the only ground of salvation. He sees "justice" and "truth" as specifically referring to the gospel doctrine of justification by faith alone, which people ignore and oppose, preferring their own works and false teachings instead.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB points out that the verse condemns every aspect of legal proceedings: no one brings a just case, and no one argues truthfully. People trust instead in injustice itself, relying on iniquity rather than righteousness in their disputes.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch highlights that the corruption described is judicial in nature, with no one giving truthful public testimony. Using Hebrew wordplay, he shows that people trust in what is empty (tohu) and speak what is worthless (shav). The double
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange stresses that when Israel complained about God’s inability to save or hear, the real problem was not any weakness on God’s part. Their sins had built a wall of separation, and God had hidden His face precisely because of their guilt, not because He lacked power or attention.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry shows that the people's complaint against God is misplaced. The fault is not that God lacks power or refuses to listen; their own sins have created the barrier. God remains fully able and willing to save, but their iniquities have separated them from him.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley draws attention to the words "conceiving" and "bringing forth" as covering the entire process of evil, from planning to action. He notes that these wrongdoers commit violent acts and frauds without any punishment because no one intervenes to correct such injustices.