TRV
Translation
King James Version
We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
Complete Jewish Bible
We growl, all of us, like bears and moan pitifully like doves; we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.
Berean Standard Bible
We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
American Standard Version
We roar all like bears, and moan sore like doves: we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
World English Bible Messianic
We roar all like bears, and moan bitterly like doves: we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
Geneva Bible (1599)
We roare all like beares, and mourne like dooues: wee looke for equitie, but there is none: for health, but it is farre from vs.
Young's Literal Translation
We make a noise as bears--all of us, And as doves we coo sorely; We wait for judgment, and there is none, For salvation--it hath been far from us.
In the KJVVerse 18,812 of 31,102
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Commentary on Isaiah 59 verses 9–15
9 ¶ Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
The scope of this paragraph is the same with that of the last, to show that sin is the great mischief-maker; as it is that which keeps good things from us, so it is that which brings evil things upon us. But as there it is spoken by the prophet, in God's name, to the people, for their conviction and humiliation, and that God might be justified when he speaks and clear when he judges, so here it seems to be spoken by the people to God, as an acknowledgment of that which was there told them and an expression of their humble submission and subscription to the justice and equity of God's proceedings against them. Their uncircumcised hearts here seem to be humbled in some measure, and they are brought to confess (the confession is at least extorted from them), that God had justly walked contrary to them, because they had walked contrary to him.
I. They acknowledge that God had contended with them and had walked contrary to them. Their case was very deplorable, Isa 59:9-11. 1. They were in distress, trampled upon and oppressed by their enemies, unjustly dealt with, and ruled with rigour; and God did not appear for them, to plead their just and injured cause: "Judgment is far from us, neither does justice overtake us, Isa 59:9. Though, as to our persecutors, we are sure that we have right on our side; and they are the wrong-doers, yet we are not relieved, we are not righted. We have not done justice to one another, and therefore God suffers our enemies to deal thus unjustly with us, and we are as far as ever from being restored to our right and recovering our property again. Oppression is near us, and judgment is far from us. Our enemies are far from giving our case its due consideration, but still hurry us on with the violence of their oppressions, and justice does not overtake us, to rescue us out of their hands." 2. Herein their expectations were sadly disappointed, which made their case the more sad: "We wait for light as those that wait for the morning, but behold obscurity; we cannot discern the least dawning of the day of our deliverance. We look for judgment, but there is none (Isa 59:11); neither God nor man appears for our succour; we look for salvation, because God (we think) has promised it, and we have prayed for it with fasting; we look for it as for brightness, but it is far off from us, as far off as ever for aught we can perceive, and still we walk in darkness; and the higher our expectations have been raised the sorer is the disappointment." 3. They were quite at a loss what to do to help themselves and were at their wits' end (Isa 59:10): "We grope for the wall like the blind; we see no way open for our relief, nor know which way to expect it, or what to do in order to it." If we shut our eyes against the light of divine truth, it is just with God to hide from our eyes the things that belong to our peace; and, if we use not our eyes as we should, it is just with him to let us be as if we had no eyes. Those that will not see their duty shall not see their interest. Those whom God has given up to a judicial blindness are strangely infatuated; they stumble at noon-day as in the night; they see not either those dangers, or those advantages, which all about them see. Quos Deus vult perdere, eos dementat - God infatuates those whom he means to destroy. Those that love darkness rather than light shall have their doom accordingly. 4. They sunk into despair and were quite overwhelmed with grief, the marks of which appeared in every man's countenance; they grew melancholy upon it, shunned conversation, and affected solitude: We are in desolate places as dead men. The state of the Jews in Babylon is represented by dead and dry bones (Eze 37:12) and the explanation of the comparison there (Isa 59:11) explains this text: Our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. In this despair the sorrow and anguish of some were loud and noisy: We roar like bears; the sorrow of others was silent, and preyed more upon their spirits: "We mourn sore like doves, like doves of the valleys; we mourn both for our iniquities (Eze 7:16) and for our calamities." Thus they owned that the hand of the Lord had gone out against them.
II. They acknowledge that they had provoked God thus to contend with them, that he had done right, for they had done wickedly, Isa 59:12-15. 1. They owned that they had sinned, and that to this day they were in a great trespass, as Ezra speaks (Ezr 10:10): "Our transgressions are with us; the guilt of them is upon us, the power of them prevails among us, we are not yet reformed, nor have we parted with our sins, though they have done so much mischief. Nay, our transgressions are multiplied; they are more numerous and more heinous than they have been formerly. Look which way we will, we cannot look off them; all places, all orders and degrees of men, are infected. The sense of our transgression is with us, as David said, My sin is ever before me; it is too plain to be denied or concealed, too bad to be excused or palliated. God is a witness to them: They are multiplied before thee, in thy sight, under thy eye. We are witnesses against ourselves: As for our iniquities, we know them, though we may have foolishly endeavoured to cover them. Nay, they themselves are witnesses: Our sins stare us in the face and testify against us, so many have they been and so deeply aggravated." 2. They owned the great evil and malignity of sin, of their sin; it is transgressing and lying against the Lord, v. 13. The sins of those that profess themselves God's people, and bear his name, are upon this account worse than the sins of others, that in transgressing they lie against the Lord, they falsely accuse him, they misrepresent and belie him, as if he had dealt hardly and unfairly with them; or they perfidiously break covenant with him and falsify their most sacred and solemn engagements to him, which is lying against him: it is departing away from our God, to whom we are bound as our God and to whom we ought to cleave with purpose of heart; from him we have departed, as the rebellious subject from his allegiance to his rightful prince, and the adulterous wife from the guide of her youth and the covenant of her God. 3. They owned that there was a general decay of moral honesty; and it is not strange that those who were false to their God were unfaithful to one another. They spoke oppression, declared openly for that, though it was a revolt from their God and a revolt from the truth, by the sacred bonds of which we should always be tied and held fast. They conceived and uttered words of falsehood. Many ill thing is conceived in the mind, yet is prudently stifled there, and not suffered to go any further; but these sinners were so impudent, so daring, that whatever wickedness they conceived, they gave it an imprimatur - a sanction, and made no difficulty of publishing it. To think an ill thing is bad, but to say it is much worse. Many a word of falsehood is uttered in haste, for want of consideration; but these were conceived and uttered, were uttered - deliberately and of malice prepense. They were words of falsehood, and yet they are said to be uttered from the heart, because, though they differed from the real sentiments of the heart and therefore were words of falsehood, yet they agreed with the malice and wickedness of the heart, and were the natural language of that; it was a double heart, Psa 12:2. Those who by the grace of God kept themselves free from these enormous crimes yet put themselves into the confession of sin, because members of that nation which was generally thus corrupted. 4. They owned that that was not done which might have been done to reform the land and to amend what was amiss, Isa 59:14. "Judgment, that should go forward, and bear down the opposition that is made to it, that should run in its course like a river, like a mighty stream, is turned away backward, a contrary course. The administration of justice has become but a cover to the greatest injustice. Judgment, that should check the proceedings of fraud and violence, is driven back, and so they go on triumphantly. Justice stands afar off, even from our courts of judicature, which are so crowded with the patrons of oppression that equity cannot enter, cannot have admission into the court, cannot be heard, or at least will not be heeded. Equity enters not into the unrighteous decrees which they decree, Isa 10:1. Truth is fallen in the street, and there she may lie to be trampled upon by every foot of pride, and she has never a friend that will lend a hand to help her up; yea, truth fails in common conversation, and in dealings between man and man, so that one knows not whom to believe nor whom to trust." 5. They owned that there was a prevailing enmity in men's minds to those that were good: He that does evil goes unpunished, but he that departs from evil makes himself a prey to those beasts of prey that were before described. It is crime enough with them for a man not to do as they do, and they treat him as an enemy who will not partake with them in their wickedness. He that departs from evil is accounted mad; so the margin reads. Sober singularity is branded as folly, and he is thought next door to a madman who swims against the stream that runs so strongly. 6. They owned that all this could not but be very displeasing to the God of heaven. The evil was done in his sight. They knew very well, though they were not willing to acknowledge it, that the Lord saw it; though it was done secretly, and gilded over with specious pretences, yet it could not be concealed from his all-seeing eye. All the wickedness that is in the world is naked and open before the eyes of God; and, as he is of quicker eyes than not to see iniquity, so he is of purer eyes than to behold it with the least approbation or allowance. He saw it, and it displeased him, though it was among his own professing people that he saw it. It was evil in his eyes; he saw the sinfulness of all this sin, and that which was most offensive to him was that there was no judgment, no reformation; had he seen any signs of repentance, though the sin displeased him, he would soon have been reconciled to the sinners upon their returning from their evil way. Then the sin of a nation becomes national, and brings public judgments, when it is not restrained by public justice.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 9–15. Public domain.
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JeromeAD 420
Commentary on Isaiah
(Verse 9 and following) Because of this, judgment has been far from us: and justice does not overtake us. We waited for light, and behold darkness: for brightness, and we have walked in gloom. We have groped like the blind against a wall: and we have touched as if without eyes: we have stumbled at noonday, as if in darkness: we are in dusky places as dead. We roar like bears, all of us: and we moan like doves, meditating. We waited for judgment, and it does not come: for salvation, and it is far from us. LXX: Therefore judgment has withdrawn from them, and justice does not apprehend them. While they wait for light, darkness shall come upon them. They shall grope in the dark and feel their way like blind men; they shall stumble at noonday as in the twilight; they shall be like those who die in the midst of their groaning. They shall be like a bear and a dove walking together. We hoped for judgment, but there is none; salvation has far from us. After the accusation of the Jewish people, their Prophet responded, advising what repentant individuals should say if they wish to receive healing after their wounds. And I am amazed why the Seventy, as if speaking on behalf of the Prophet, do not respond to the words of the Prophets themselves, but instead weave together a prayer, when later, overcome by the truth, they themselves do the same, saying: We have waited for judgment, and it has not come; salvation has moved far from us. For our iniquities are many in your sight; and our sins testify against us, and we know them. In this present time, everything is being fulfilled. Judgment has been delayed for the Jews, which has been announced to the Gentiles. And justice, which has been embraced by the nations, will not seize them. They have waited for the light, saying: Send forth your light and your truth (Ps. 42:3), which had been promised to them through the prophets, and they are occupied with the darkness of error. They sustained splendor; and they walked in darkness. Thus they handle the holy Scriptures, like blind people feeling the wall, seeking only words and leaves, not understanding the meaning and fruit that is held within the letters. Finally, the author joins and says: We stumble, or we fall at midday, as if in darkness: in the shadows, as if dead. For in the whole world, with the sun of righteousness shining brightly, they dwell in darkness, namely because they are dead in sin. He says, let us roar like bears, and let us moan like doves; that they may be equally cruel and miserable: fierce and savage towards the humble and submissive: fearful and trembling before those who are stronger, whom they dread like hawks. We also read in another place: Like a bear robbed of her cubs. And in Daniel, a bloody kingdom compared to the fiercest bears (2 Kings 17:8; Dan. 7). And, like doves, we groan, without sense and understanding of the Scriptures, only meditating on words that we recite from memory. But just as the doves, of which it is written: Ephraim is like a dove without sense (Hosea VII, 11); and just as in the Gospel, simplicity is set against the malice of serpents (Matthew X): so in the present place, simplicity without prudence, which is close to foolishness, is shown in the meditation on words alone. They will await judgment, and it will not come. Salvation is implied: they will wait and it will not come, because she has migrated far away to the nations. In this, it should be noted that everything is said in the future tense, so that what the Jews are now enduring is indicated.
JeromeAD 420
COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 16:29
And we coo like meditating doves who have no sense and no understanding of the Scriptures, contemplating only those words that they sing from memory. But just as it is written of doves that “Ephraim is like a dove with no sense,” and just as the innocence of doves is contrasted with the prudence of serpents in the Gospel, so also innocence without prudence, which is the neighbor of foolishness, is shown in the present passage to consist of meditating on words alone.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Isaiah 59:11 offers a profound and poignant lament from the people of Israel, vividly portraying their deep spiritual and societal anguish. Through powerful animalistic imagery, they express a desperate yearning for divine intervention in the form of justice and salvation. This verse captures the painful realization that, due to their pervasive sin and moral decay, God's righteous judgment and redemptive power seem conspicuously absent and distant, leaving them in a state of profound despair and unfulfilled expectation.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Isaiah 59:11 is rich with powerful Imagery and Simile, comparing the people's lament to the distinct sounds of "bears" and "doves." The "roar" of bears conveys a raw, forceful, perhaps even angry expression of distress, while the "mourning" of doves suggests a softer, more sorrowful, and persistent lament. This juxtaposition creates a vivid picture of multifaceted anguish, capturing both the intense outcry and the deep, pervasive sorrow. The verse also employs Parallelism, particularly antithetical parallelism, by pairing "judgment" with "salvation" and then stating their absence: "we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us." This structure emphasizes the complete lack of what they desperately seek. The use of "all" and "sore" can be seen as a form of Hyperbole, intensifying the collective and profound nature of their despair. Overall, the verse powerfully evokes strong Pathos, drawing the reader into the deep sorrow and unfulfilled longing of the people.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
This verse profoundly articulates the spiritual and existential crisis that arises when a people's sin has severed their connection with God, leading to a pervasive sense of injustice and abandonment. The lament in Isaiah 59:11 underscores the theological truth that sin creates a chasm, not only separating humanity from God's holy presence but also disrupting the very fabric of society, leading to a breakdown of moral order and the absence of divine justice and deliverance. It highlights humanity's inherent longing for righteousness and redemption, a yearning that remains unfulfilled when sin reigns. This passage serves as a stark reminder that true peace and societal well-being are inextricably linked to a right relationship with God and adherence to His righteous standards, and that rebellion inevitably leads to despair and a perceived distance from His saving hand.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Isaiah 59:11 serves as a timeless mirror, reflecting the profound consequences of collective and individual sin. It challenges us to examine our own lives and societies, asking whether our actions contribute to a culture where justice is elusive and spiritual hope feels distant. The lament of ancient Israel reminds us that when truth is suppressed, righteousness is neglected, and compassion is absent, the resulting despair is not merely an emotional state but a spiritual indicator of a deeper brokenness. For believers, this verse calls for a deep and honest self-assessment, encouraging repentance for personal and corporate sins that might hinder God's manifest presence and work in our midst. It also compels us to actively pursue justice and righteousness in our spheres of influence, becoming instruments of God's kingdom so that the lament for absent justice and distant salvation might be transformed into a song of His presence and deliverance. Though the despair is palpable, this lament also subtly points to the deep human need that only God can ultimately satisfy, prompting us to turn to Him with renewed earnestness.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does the imagery of "roaring like bears" and "mourning like doves" convey?
Answer: This imagery is a powerful simile used to express the multifaceted nature of the people's anguish. "Roaring like bears" (from hâmâh, meaning to make a loud sound, be in commotion) suggests a deep, guttural, and perhaps frustrated or angry cry of distress, indicative of intense internal turmoil and a chaotic situation. It's a raw, animalistic sound of profound disquiet. "Mourning sore like doves" (from hâgâh, to murmur, mourn deeply, and yôwnâh, dove) evokes a softer, more sorrowful, and persistent lament. Doves are known for their mournful cooing, symbolizing a deep, continuous, and perhaps helpless sorrow. Together, these images paint a vivid picture of a people experiencing both a forceful, desperate outcry and a profound, aching grief, highlighting the depth and pervasiveness of their despair.
What is meant by "judgment" in this verse, and why is its absence significant?
Answer: The Hebrew word for "judgment" here is mishpâṭ (H4941). It refers not merely to a legal verdict or condemnation, but to the broader concept of divine justice, righteousness, and the proper ordering of society. It encompasses God's moral law, fair governance, and the upholding of rights and truth. The people's lament that "there is none" signifies a complete breakdown of moral and legal systems within their society, where corruption and injustice are rampant. This absence of mishpâṭ means that the righteous are oppressed, the wicked go unpunished, and the divine order is severely disrupted, leading to chaos and despair. It highlights the profound consequences of a people's departure from God's standards, as seen in earlier verses like Isaiah 59:4.
Why is "salvation" described as "far off from us"?
Answer: The term "salvation" (yᵉshûwʻâh, H3444) here refers to deliverance, rescue, or restoration from their current state of sin, oppression, and despair. It signifies God's saving power and intervention. The phrase "far off from us" (râchaq, H7368, meaning to be distant or removed) indicates the people's perception that God's saving hand is remote and inaccessible. This is not necessarily because God Himself is distant, but because their own pervasive sin has created a spiritual chasm, separating them from His presence and preventing them from experiencing His deliverance. As stated in Isaiah 59:2, "your iniquities have separated between you and your God." Their unrepentant rebellion has made them feel abandoned and without hope of immediate relief or vindication from the very source of true salvation.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Isaiah 59:11, with its raw lament for absent justice and distant salvation, finds its ultimate and profound fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The people's desperate cry for mishpâṭ (justice) and yᵉshûwʻâh (salvation) highlights humanity's inherent inability to bridge the chasm created by sin. It is precisely into this void of despair that Christ enters. He is the embodiment of God's perfect justice, the one who "will bring forth justice to the Gentiles" (Matthew 12:18) and through whom God's righteousness is revealed (Romans 3:21-26). Furthermore, Jesus is the very "salvation" that was "far off" from humanity. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, providing the ultimate deliverance that Israel longed for. Through His atoning sacrifice, He became sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Thus, the lament of Isaiah 59:11, a cry from a people separated by sin, is answered in the person and work of Christ, who draws near to us, bridging the chasm and bringing both perfect justice and eternal salvation within reach.