We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
Parallel translations
- WEB We all roar like bears, and moan bitterly like doves. We look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
- BSB We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
- NKJV We all growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We look for justice, but there is none; For salvation, but it is far from us.
- NASB All of us growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none; For salvation, but it is far from us.
- NLT We growl like hungry bears; we moan like mournful doves. We look for justice, but it never comes. We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.
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
They moan and roar in distress, looking for justice and salvation but finding none. Their longing exposes a need they cannot meet themselves.
Overview
The people compare themselves to growling bears and mourning doves as they wait for justice and salvation that remain far off. Their cry expresses genuine desperation under the weight of sin. This unfulfilled longing sets the stage for God's own intervention, anticipating the salvation He alone provides through the coming Redeemer.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Isa 38:14Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
- Ezek 7:16But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
- Isa 59:9Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
- Ps 32:3–4When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
- Job 30:28–29I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
- Ps 85:9Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
- Ps 119:155Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.
- Ps 38:8I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
- Jer 8:15We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
- Isa 51:20Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
- Jer 9:1Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
- Hos 7:14And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.
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 59:11 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.