Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
Parallel translations
- WEB Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
- KJV Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
- NKJV Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints.
- NASB ¶Where will you be stricken again, As you continue in your rebellion? The entire head is sick And the entire heart is faint.
- NLT Why do you continue to invite punishment? Must you rebel forever? Your head is injured, and your heart is sick.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God asks why they keep inviting further chastening by persistent rebellion, picturing the nation as a body sick from head to heart. It shows that judgment has not yet produced repentance.
Overview
The rhetorical question implies that more blows are pointless if the people will not turn. The whole-body sickness depicts the totality of the nation's moral and spiritual decay. It anticipates the need for a healing that human discipline cannot supply, which Christ alone gives.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Dan 9:8–11O LORD, we are covered with shame—our kings, our leaders, and our fathers—because we have sinned against You.
- Ezek 24:13Because of the indecency of your uncleanness I tried to cleanse you, but you would not be purified from your filthiness. You will not be pure again until My wrath against you has subsided.
- Rev 16:8–11Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given power to scorch the people with fire.
- Jer 5:3O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
- Isa 31:6Return to the One against whom you have so blatantly rebelled, O children of Israel.
- Jer 5:31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
- Zeph 3:1–4Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled!
- Jer 2:30“I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”
- Jer 9:3“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
- Isa 33:24And no resident of Zion will say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell there will be forgiven of iniquity.
- Jer 6:28–30All are hardened rebels, walking around as slanderers. They are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.
- Heb 12:5–8And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.
- 2 Chr 28:22In the time of his distress, King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD.
- Isa 1:23Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.
- Isa 9:13But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.
- Jer 5:5I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.” But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.
- Neh 9:34Our kings and leaders and priests and fathers did not obey Your law or listen to Your commandments and warnings that You gave them.
- Isa 9:21Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they turn against Judah. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 1:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.