both for their own sins and for those of their ancestors,” says the Lord. “For they also burned incense on the mountains and insulted me on the hills. I will pay them back in full!
Parallel translations
- WEB your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together”, says Yahweh, “who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills. Therefore I will first measure their work into their bosom.”
- KJV Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
- BSB both for your iniquities and for those of your fathers,” says the LORD. “Because they burned incense on the mountains and scorned Me on the hills, I will measure into their laps full payment for their former deeds.”
- NKJV Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,” Says the Lord, “Who have burned incense on the mountains And blasphemed Me on the hills; Therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom.”
- NASB Both your own wrongdoings and the wrongdoings of your fathers together,” says the Lord. “Because they have burned incense on the mountains And scorned Me on the hills, Therefore I will measure their former work into their laps.”
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 will repay both their sins and their fathers' idolatry committed on the mountains and hills. It matters because it shows the accumulated guilt of persistent, generational sin.
Overview
The judgment addresses not only present idolatry but the long history of unfaithfulness on the high places. This reflects how sin compounds across generations when unrepented. While God holds each accountable, the passage also magnifies the mercy of the gospel, in which the curse of accumulated sin is borne by Christ for those who believe (Galatians 3:13).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Ezek 20:27–28“Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “In this moreover your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.
- Isa 57:7On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice.
- Exod 20:5you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
- Isa 22:14Yahweh of Armies revealed himself in my ears, “Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
- Isa 65:6“Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will repay, yes, I will repay into their bosom,
- Jer 13:25This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me,” says Yahweh; “because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.”
- Jer 5:9Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh; “and shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
- Lev 26:39Those of you who are left will pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers they shall pine away with them.
- Ps 106:6–7We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly.
- Jer 5:29“Shall I not punish for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
- Jer 7:19–20Do they provoke me to anger? says Yahweh. “Don’t they provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?”
- Matt 23:31–36Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets.
- 2 Kgs 16:4He sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
- 2 Kgs 14:4However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
- 2 Kgs 15:35However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of Yahweh’s house.
- 2 Kgs 12:3However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
- 1 Kgs 22:43He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He didn’t turn aside from it, doing that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes. However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
- Dan 9:8Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
- Ezek 18:6and has not eaten on the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbor’s wife, neither has come near to a woman in her impurity,
- 1 Th 2:16forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
- Num 32:14“Behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, an increase of sinful men, to increase the fierce anger of Yahweh toward Israel.
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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 65:7 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
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