Isaiah 57:16

For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me—the breath of life I have made.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh speaks to Israel, responding to the cycle of rebellion described in the surrounding context. He declares His deliberate choice to limit His accusations and wrath to prevent human destruction.

The words — The Hebrew אָרִ֔יב ('a.Riv) means "I will conduct a case," paired with the negated temporal phrases לְ/עוֹלָם֙ (le./'o.Lam) and לָ/נֶ֖צַח (la./Ne.tzach). God uses these terms to state that His legal charges and anger are finite, not perpetual.

The thread — The limitation of divine anger recurs in Psalms 85:5, Jeremiah 10:24, and Micah 7:18, where the text either petitions God to cease wrath or affirms His habit of pardoning rather than maintaining it. The consistent biblical pattern treats endless anger as incompatible with God's life-sustaining character.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to recognize that divine discipline is measured and ends, unlike human condemnation. It demands an acceptance of God's restraint as a structural reality that preserves human breath rather than a temporary emotional state.

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

כִּ֣יkifor לֹ֤אlo'not לְעוֹלָם֙le./'o.Lamfor/ ever אָרִ֔יב'a.RivI will conduct a case וְלֹ֥אve./Lo'and/ not לָנֶ֖צַחla./Ne.tzachto/ perpetuity אֶקְּצ֑וֹף'e.ke.TzofI will be angry כִּי־ki-for ר֙וּחַ֙Ru.achspirit מִלְּפָנַ֣יmi./le./fa.Na/ifrom/ to/ before/ me יַֽעֲט֔וֹףya.'a.Tofit will grow faint וּנְשָׁמ֖וֹתu./ne.sha.Motand/ breaths אֲנִ֥י'a.Ni[which] I עָשִֽׂיתִי׃'a.Si.tiI made

King James Version

For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.

Cross-references

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
Jeremiah 10:24 Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice—not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.
Psalms 85:5 Will You be angry with us forever? Will You draw out Your anger to all generations?
Psalms 103:9 He will not always accuse us, nor harbor His anger forever.
Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?
Psalms 78:38 And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath.
Genesis 6:3 So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”
Numbers 16:22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”
Job 34:14 If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath,
Isaiah 42:5 This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it: