The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
Parallel translations
- WEB They don’t know the way of peace; and there is no justice in their ways. They have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them doesn’t know peace.
- BSB The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their tracks. They have turned them into crooked paths; no one who treads on them will know peace.
- NKJV The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.
- NASB They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks; They have made their paths crooked, Whoever walks on them does not know peace.
- NLT They don’t know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good. They have mapped out crooked roads, and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace.
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 neither know the way of peace nor practice justice, walking crooked paths devoid of peace. Sin robs people of true peace.
Overview
The prophet declares that these people are strangers to the way of peace, making crooked paths where no one finds rest. Paul also quotes this in Romans 3:17 to depict humanity apart from God. The absence of peace highlights the longing only Christ can satisfy, who is our peace and guides our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:79).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Isa 57:20–21But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
- Rom 3:17And the way of peace have they not known:
- Isa 5:7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
- Luke 1:79To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
- Ps 58:1–2Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
- Jer 5:1Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
- Hos 4:1–2Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
- Matt 23:23Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
- Prov 28:18Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.
- Isa 48:22There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.
- Amos 6:1–6Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
- Isa 59:14–15And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
- Ps 125:5As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel.
- Prov 2:15Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
- Prov 3:17Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 59:8 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.