Those who convict the innocent by their false testimony will disappear. A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice and who tell lies to destroy the innocent.
Parallel translations
- WEB who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for the arbiter in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony.
- KJV That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
- BSB those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.
- NKJV Who make a man an offender by a word, And lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, And turn aside the just by empty words.
- NASB Who cause a person to be indicted by a word, And set a trap for the arbitrator at the gate, And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.
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
These evildoers twist justice—falsely accusing, ensnaring judges, and denying the innocent their rights.
Overview
Isaiah specifies the oppressors' sins: false testimony, corrupting the courts, and depriving the innocent of justice. Their abuse of legal power especially provokes God's judgment. The promise that such injustice will be cut off reflects God's righteous character and His coming kingdom where perfect justice reigns through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Amos 5:10–12They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.
- Jas 5:6You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.
- Acts 3:14But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
- Jer 26:2–8“Yahweh says: ‘Stand in the court of Yahweh’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Yahweh’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Don’t omit a word.
- Matt 22:15Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk.
- Judg 12:6then they said to him, “Now say ‘Shibboleth;’” and he said “Sibboleth”; for he couldn’t manage to pronounce it right: then they seized him, and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time, forty-two thousand of Ephraim fell.
- Jer 18:18Then they said, “Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
- Jer 20:7–10Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughing-stock all day. Every one mocks me.
- Mal 3:5I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Isa 32:7The ways of the scoundrel are evil. He devises wicked devices to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.
- Prov 28:21To show partiality is not good; yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.
- Amos 7:10–17Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the middle of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.
- Mic 2:6–7“Don’t prophesy!” They prophesy. “Don’t prophesy about these things. Disgrace won’t overtake us.”
- Ezek 13:19You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to kill the souls who should not die, and to save the souls alive who should not live, by your lying to my people who listen to lies.’
- Luke 11:53–54As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly angry, and to draw many things out of him;
- Matt 26:15and said, “What are you willing to give me, that I should deliver him to you?” They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver.
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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 29:21 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.