Isaiah 1 · Verse 5

Isaiah 1:5

Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
Isaiah 1:5, King James Version

Isaiah 1:5 in other translations

BSBWhy do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
WEBWhy should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
ASVWhy will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
YLTWherefore are ye stricken any more? Ye do add apostasy! Every head is become diseased, and every heart is sick.
DARBYWhy should ye be smitten any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
BBEWhy will you have more and more punishment? why keep on in your evil ways? Every head is tired and every heart is feeble.
WebsterWhy should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

What does Isaiah 1:5 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
5. Why--rather, as Vulgate, "On what part." Image from a body covered all over with marks of blows (Psa 38:3). There is no part in which you have not been smitten. head ... sick, &c.--not referring, as it is commonly quoted, to their sins, but to the universality of their punishment. However, sin, the moral disease of the head or intellect, and the heart, is doubtless made its own punishment (Pr 1:31; Jr 2:19; Ho 8:11). "Sick," literally, "is in a state of sickness" [Gesenius]; "has passed into sickness" [Maurer].

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 5 Why should ye be stricken any more "On what part," etc.? - The Vulgate renders על מה al meh, super quo, (see Job 38:6; 2Chr 32:10), upon what part. And so Abendana on Sal. Den Melech: "There are some who explain it thus: Upon what limb shall you be smitten, if you add defection? for already for your sins have you been smitten upon all of them; so that there is not to be found in you a whole limb on which you can be smitten." Which agrees with what follows: "From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it:" and the sentiment and image is exactly the same with that of Ovid, Pont. 2:7, 42: - Vix habet in nobis jam nova plaga locum. There is no place on you for a new stripe. Or that still more expressive line of Euripides; the great force and effect of which Longinus ascribes to its close and compressed structure, analogous to the sense which it expresses: - ́γεμω κακων δη· κ' ουκετ' εσθ' ὁπη τιθῃ. I am full of miseries: there's no room for more. Herc. Fur. 1245, Long. sec. 40. "On what part will ye strike again? will ye add correction?" This is addressed to the instruments of God's vengeance; those that inflicted the punishment, who or whatsoever they were. Ad verbum certae personae intelligendae sunt, quibus ista actio quae per verbum exprimitur competit; "The words are addressed to the persons who were the agents employed in the work expressed by the original word," as Glassius says in a similar case, Philippians Sacr. 1:3, 22. See Isa 7:4. As from ידע yada, דעה deah, knowledge; from יעץ yaats, עצה etsah, counsel; from ישן yeshan, שנה shenah, sleep, etc.; so from יסר yasar is regularly derived סרה sarah, correction. The whole head is sick - The king and the priests are equally gone away from truth and righteousness. Or, The state is oppressed by its enemies, and the Church corrupted in its rulers and in its members.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 1:1-9

The corruptions prevailing among the Jews. (Is. 1:1-9) Severe censures. (Is. 1:10-15) Exhortations to repentance. (Is. 1:16-20) The state of Judah is lamented; with gracious promises of the gospel times. (Is. 1:21-31) Verses 1-9 Isaiah signifies, "The salvation of the Lord;" a very suitable name for this prophet, who prophesies so much of Jesus the Saviour, and his salvation. God's professing people did not know or…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 1:1-9 →

Isaiah 1:5 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

עַ֣ל'alconcerningH5921
מֶ֥הmehwhat?H4100
תֻכּ֛וּtu.Kuwill you be struckH5221
ע֖וֹדodagainH5750
תּוֹסִ֣יפוּto.Si.fuwill you increase?H3254
סָרָ֑הsa.RahrebellionH5627
כָּל\־kol-allH3605
רֹ֣אשׁrosh[the] headH7218
לָחֳלִ֔יlo.cho.Li[is] for sicknessH2483
וְכָל\־ve.kholand allH3605
לֵבָ֖בle.Vav[the] heartH3824
דַּוָּֽי\׃da.Vai[is] faintH1742

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 1:5

  • Daniel 9:8-11

    O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.

  • Ezekiel 24:13

    In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.

  • Jeremiah 5:3

    O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

  • Revelation 16:8-11

    And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

  • Zephaniah 3:1-4

    Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

  • Jeremiah 5:31

    The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

  • Isaiah 31:6

    Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.

  • Jeremiah 6:28-30

    They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters. The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.

  • Isaiah 33:24

    And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

  • Jeremiah 9:3

    And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord.

  • Jeremiah 2:30

    In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

  • Hebrews 12:5-8

    And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
should.
9:13,21; Jer 2:30; 5:3; 6:28-30; Eze 24:13; Heb 12:5-8
ye will.
2Ch 28:22; Jer 9:3; Re 16:8-11
revolt more and more. Heb. increase revolt. the whole.
23; Ne 9:34; Jer 5:5,31; Da 9:8-11; Zep 3:1-4

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Isaiah 1:4

    Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

  • Isaiah 1:5

    Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

  • Isaiah 1:6

    From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Read all of Isaiah 1

Isaiah 1:5 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
¿Para qué habéis de ser castigados aún? todavía os rebelaréis. Toda cabeza está enferma, y todo corazón doliente.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Pourquoi seriez-vous encore frappés? vous ajouterez des révoltes! Toute la tête est malade et tout le cœur défaille.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Warum solltet ihr weiter geschlagen werden, da ihr nur den Abfall mehren würdet? Das ganze Haupt ist krank, und das ganze Herz ist siech.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Super quo percutiam vos ultra, addentes prævaricationem? omne caput languidum, et omne cor mœrens.