Isaiah 57

Isaiah 57 begins with the righteous dying unnoticed, yet taken into peace. It then turns on God’s people who chase idols, forbidden rites and foreign alliances. The chapter ends with God’s astonishing mercy: he lives with the humble and heals the broken, while the wicked find no peace.

Isaiah 57:1

Good people die and almost no one stops to think about it. Isaiah says there is a hidden mercy: the righteous are taken away from the presence of evil. What looks like loss may be God’s protection.

BSA: guided (“protected, delivered, preserved”): Their death is pictured as God sheltering them, not as God overlooking them.

Hebrew: חֶסֶד (ḥesed, H2617) — “loyal love, faithfulness.” The word behind ‘devout men’ comes from ḥesed, God’s covenant loyalty. These are people who lived faithful, merciful lives.

Isaiah 57:2

For those who walk uprightly, death is a doorway into peace. They rest, as someone lies down on a bed at the end of the day. It is a quiet word of comfort for those who grieve godly people.

BSA: peace (“complete wellness, spiritual harmony”): This is the full wholeness of shalom, not just the absence of trouble.

See also: Revelation 14:13.

Isaiah 57:3-4

God now calls the idolaters to come forward and answer for themselves. He names them as children of sorcery and unfaithfulness. They mock the faithful, sneering and sticking out their tongues, but they are really mocking God.

BSA: mocking (“making fun of, ridiculing”): Their scorn is aimed at the righteous of verse 1, and in the end at God himself.

Isaiah 57:5

The pagan worship of the day was tied to sensuality, in groves of oaks and under green trees. It even included child sacrifice in the valleys. Isaiah shows how far from God a people can drift.

See also: Jeremiah 7:31.

Isaiah 57:6

People offered drinks and grain to smooth stones, probably worshipped as idols in the stream beds. These stones are their ‘portion’, the share they chose over God. The Lord asks, in effect: should I be content with this?

BSA: portion (“inheritance, allotted share”): Israel’s true inheritance was the LORD himself, and they traded it for river stones.

Isaiah 57:7-8

The idolatry is described as adultery. On the hilltops they made their bed, and at home they set up pagan symbols behind the door. They left God, who was their husband, and made pacts with other lovers.

BSA: pact (“covenant, agreement”): They made covenant-like commitments to idols, in place of the covenant with the LORD.

See also: Hosea 2:13.

Isaiah 57:9

Oil and perfumes were offerings and gifts for a false god, here named Molech. They also sent envoys far away, likely seeking foreign alliances and spiritual help. Isaiah says the chase leads down toward Sheol, the realm of the dead.

BSA: Sheol (“the underworld, the grave, a place of no return”): Their search for security ends in death, the opposite of what they hoped for.

Isaiah 57:10

They wore themselves out on all these journeys, yet never said it was hopeless. They kept finding fresh strength to continue. Stubborn energy for the wrong things shows how firmly sin can hold a heart.

BSA: hope (“despair, no chance of recovery”): The word means to give up in despair, which they refused to do, so they never turned back to God.

Isaiah 57:11

God asks what they feared so much that they lied and forgot him. He has been patient and silent, and they took his silence for weakness. They stopped fearing him because he held back his judgment.

See also: Psalm 50:21; Romans 2:4.

Isaiah 57:12

God will expose their so-called righteousness and all their religious works. Whatever they thought was good, in truth was worthless. None of it will do them any good on the day they need help.

BSA: profit (“benefit, be valuable”): Their efforts bring no real return when trouble comes.

Isaiah 57:13

The idols are told to save their people when they cry out. But a wind will carry them all away. The ones who take refuge in God, however, will inherit the land and his holy mountain, meaning a place with him.

BSA: breath (“gentle breeze, vanity”): The idols are nothing but a puff of air, empty and weightless. refuge (“trusts, flees to”): Refuge means running to God for safety, as to a shelter.

Hebrew: חָסָה (ḥāsāh, H2620) — “to take shelter.” The Hebrew behind ‘seeks refuge’ pictures a person running under cover from a storm, a favorite image in the Psalms.

See also: Psalm 2:12.

Isaiah 57:14

A voice calls out to build a road for God’s people to return. Every stumbling block must be removed. The way back from exile and from sin is opened by God’s own command.

BSA: obstacle (“stumbling block, hindrance”): Whatever trips the returning people up must be cleared away.

See also: Isaiah 40:3.

Isaiah 57:15

The high and holy God, who lives forever, chooses to live with the humble and broken. He is not only far above us but also near the crushed. He comes to revive them, which is a heart-stopping contrast.

BSA: contrite (“broken”): These are people who have been crushed and know they need him. revive (“inner self, emotions”): God renews a person’s deepest inner life, not only the outside.

Hebrew: דַּכָּא (dakkā, H1793) — “crushed.” The word for ‘contrite’ means crushed or pounded down. God draws close to people who feel flattened.

See also: Psalm 34:18; Isaiah 66:2.

Isaiah 57:16

God’s anger has a limit. If he kept accusing forever, the human spirit, which he himself made, would faint and fail. He disciplines for a purpose and does not intend to destroy.

BSA: accuse (“contend or strive”): God is not willing to remain in a permanent legal fight with his people.

See also: Psalm 103:9.

Isaiah 57:17

God was angry at their greed. He struck them and hid his face, yet they just went on in their own way. It shows how stubborn the heart is, and why a rescue had to come from God alone.

BSA: greed (“covetousness, unjust gain”): The sin was grasping for gain, which God saw as the root of their rebellion.

Isaiah 57:18

God has seen their wandering ways. Even so he promises to heal, to guide and to comfort, and that includes those who mourn. His mercy answers a record of failure, and is not earned by good behavior.

BSA: heal (“mend, cure”): God promises to repair what sin has broken.

Isaiah 57:19

God creates praise on the lips of the healed. He offers peace to those far away and those near, likely including both distant exiles and those at home. Many Christians also see here a welcome reaching all nations.

BSA: Peace, peace (“shalom, completeness, wellness”): Saying it twice stresses the fullness of peace, whole and lasting.

See also: Ephesians 2:17.

Isaiah 57:20-21

The wicked are like a stormy sea that never settles, always stirring up mud. The chapter closes with a solemn warning: no peace for the wicked. Peace is God’s gift, and it cannot be had apart from him.

BSA: storm-tossed (“troubled, raging”): An unrepentant heart is restless and driven like the waves.

See also: Isaiah 48:22.