Bible Strands
Isaiah 57:17
I was enraged by his sinful greed, so I struck him and hid My face in anger; yet he kept turning back to the desires of his heart.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses the rebellious house of Israel, explaining His past discipline against their persistent idolatry and greed. He speaks this declaration at a moment of judgment that immediately precedes His stated resolve to heal and restore them.
The words — The Hebrew קָצַפְתִּי (qatsafti) literally means "I was angry" or "I was enraged," marking God's provoked response to his unjust gain. The term שׁוֹבָב (shovav) denotes an "apostate" or "turning back" condition, capturing the subject's relentless return to the desires of his heart.
The thread — This cycle of divine anger meeting human repetition of greed runs through Isaiah 56:11 and Jeremiah 6:13, where leaders and people alike pursue unjust gain. The New Testament addresses the same pattern in Colossians 3:5, which commands believers to put to death earthly greed and evil desires.
Why it lands — The text establishes that God's anger and disciplinary striking are direct responses to persistent, unrepentant greed rather than arbitrary wrath. It requires the reader to confront their own documented tendency to return to destructive desires despite known correction.
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
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 56:11 Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:
- Jeremiah 6:13 “For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.
- Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
- Ephesians 5:3 But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.
- 2 Peter 2:14 Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.
- Ecclesiastes 6:9 Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
- Isaiah 1:4 Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who act corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.
- Isaiah 5:8 Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land.
- Isaiah 8:17 I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him.
- Isaiah 9:13 But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.