Bible Strands
Isaiah 61:8
For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity; in My faithfulness I will give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks directly, addressing the shamed and humiliated people of v. 7, explaining the basis for the double portion and everlasting joy just promised.
The words — אֹהֵב ('ohev, "am loving") and שֹנֵא (so.ne', "am hating") are both present participles, making the verse a statement of continuous character rather than a one-time act.
The thread — Psalm 11:7 uses nearly identical phrasing ("He loves justice"), and Zechariah 8:16 moves from that divine disposition to the practical demand of "true and sound judgments" in the gates.
Why it lands — The promise of recompense and covenant rests on God's standing character, not the people's merit, which means the reader cannot bargain for or earn what is being declared.
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 I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Cross-references
- Psalms 11:7 For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.
- Jeremiah 9:24 But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.
- Zechariah 8:16 These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,
- Genesis 17:7 I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
- Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
- Jeremiah 32:40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.
- Psalms 25:8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He shows sinners the way.
- Psalms 37:28 For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.
- Psalms 99:4 The mighty King loves justice. You have established equity; You have exercised justice and righteousness in Jacob.
- Proverbs 8:20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,