Bible Strands
Isaiah 43:27
Your first father sinned, and your spokesmen rebelled against Me.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel, recounting their historical and spiritual failure. He speaks this indictment immediately after inviting them to present their legal case in Isaiah 43:26.
The words — הָרִאשׁוֹן (ha./ri.Shon) denotes the first ancestor, while מְלִיצֶיךָ (me.li.Tzei./kha) refers to your spokesmen or intermediaries. The text states these figures sinned and transgressed before declaring the coming judgment.
The thread — This indictment of religious leaders runs parallel to Isaiah 28:7, Jeremiah 5:31, and Lamentations 4:13. These passages similarly record how prophets and priests led the people astray through rebellion and false authority.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that spiritual failure originates with both ancestral precedent and appointed leaders. It asks the reader to accept that divine judgment follows when those entrusted with guidance rebel against God.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 28:7 These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.
- Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
- Lamentations 4:13 But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.
- Ezekiel 16:3 and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
- Ezekiel 22:25 The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.
- Isaiah 3:12 Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them. O My people, your guides mislead you; they turn you from your paths.
- Isaiah 56:10 Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.
- Jeremiah 3:25 Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth even to this day we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
- Jeremiah 23:11 “For both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD.
- Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.