Text -- Isaiah 57:16-21 (NET)

57:16 For I will not be hostile forever or perpetually angry, for then man’s spirit would grow faint before me, the life-giving breath I created. 57:17 I was angry because of their sinful greed; I attacked them and angrily rejected them, yet they remained disobedient and stubborn. 57:18 I have seen their behavior, but I will heal them and give them rest, and I will once again console those who mourn. 57:19 I am the one who gives them reason to celebrate. Complete prosperity is available both to those who are far away and those who are nearby,” says the Lord, “and I will heal them. 57:20 But the wicked are like a surging sea that is unable to be quiet; its waves toss up mud and sand. 57:21 There will be no prosperity,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 57:16

¹ tn Or perhaps, “argue,” or “accuse” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

² tn Heb “for a spirit from before me would be faint.”

NET Notes: Isa 57:17

¹ tn Heb “and I struck him, hiding, and I was angry.” פָּנַיִם (panayim, “face”) is the implied object of “hiding.”

² tn Heb “and he walked [as an] apostate in the way of his heart.”

NET Notes: Isa 57:18

¹ tn Heb “his ways” (so KJV, NASB, NIV); TEV “how they acted.”

² tn Heb “and I will restore consolation to him, to his mourners.”

NET Notes: Isa 57:19

¹ tc The Hebrew text has literally, “one who creates fruit of lips.” Perhaps the pronoun אֲנִי (’ani) should be inserted after the participle; it may have been accidentally omitted by haplography: נוּב שְׂפָתָיִם[אֲנִי] בּוֹרֵא (bore’ [’ani] nuv sÿfatayim). “Fruit of the lips” is often understood as a metonymy for praise; perhaps it refers more generally to joyful shouts (see v. 18).

² tn Heb “Peace, peace.” The repetition of the noun emphasizes degree.