Isaiah 1:23
New International Version
Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them.

New Living Translation
Your leaders are rebels, the companions of thieves. All of them love bribes and demand payoffs, but they refuse to defend the cause of orphans or fight for the rights of widows.

English Standard Version
Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.

Berean Standard Bible
Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.

King James Bible
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

New King James Version
Your princes are rebellious, And companions of thieves; Everyone loves bribes, And follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.

New American Standard Bible
Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after gifts. They do not obtain justice for the orphan, Nor does the widow’s case come before them.

NASB 1995
Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.

NASB 1977
Your rulers are rebels, And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe, And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.

Legacy Standard Bible
Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And pursues rewards. They do not execute justice for the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.

Amplified Bible
Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves bribes And chases after gifts. They do not defend the fatherless, Nor does the widow’s cause come before them [instead they delay or turn a deaf ear].

Christian Standard Bible
Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love graft and chase after bribes. They do not defend the rights of the fatherless, and the widow’s case never comes before them.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love graft and chase after bribes. They do not defend the rights of the fatherless, and the widow’s case never comes before them.

American Standard Version
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Your Princes are rebellious and are partners of thieves; all of them love a bribe and they hurry to reward corruptions; for the orphans they do not execute justice, and the justice of the widow does not come into them

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Thy princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving bribes, seeking after rewards; not pleading for orphans, and not heeding the cause of widows.

Contemporary English Version
Your leaders have rejected me to become friends of crooks; your rulers are looking for gifts and bribes. Widows and orphans never get a fair trial.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, the run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow's cometh not in to them.

English Revised Version
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Your rulers are rebels, friends with thieves. They all love bribes and run after gifts. They never defend orphans. They don't notice the widows' pleas.

Good News Translation
Your leaders are rebels and friends of thieves; they are always accepting gifts and bribes. They never defend orphans in court or listen when widows present their case.

International Standard Version
Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. All of them are lovers of bribes and are runners after gifts. They don't bring justice to orphans, and the widow's case never comes up for review in their court."

JPS Tanakh 1917
Thy princes are rebellious, And companions of thieves; Every one loveth bribes, And followeth after rewards; They judge not the fatherless, Neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

Literal Standard Version
Your princes [are] apostates, and companions of thieves, | Everyone loving a bribe, and pursuing rewards, | They do not judge the fatherless, | And the plea of the widow does not come to them.

Majority Standard Bible
Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.

New American Bible
Your princes are rebels and comrades of thieves; Each one of them loves a bribe and looks for gifts. The fatherless they do not defend, the widow’s plea does not reach them.

NET Bible
Your officials are rebels, they associate with thieves. All of them love bribery, and look for payoffs. They do not take up the cause of the orphan, or defend the rights of the widow.

New Revised Standard Version
Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan, and the widow’s cause does not come before them.

New Heart English Bible
Your rulers are rebellious, companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe, chasing after payoffs. They do not judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come to them.

World English Bible
Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

Young's Literal Translation
Thy princes are apostates, and companions of thieves, Every one loving a bribe, and pursuing rewards, The fatherless they judge not, And the plea of the widow cometh not to them.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Corruption of Zion
22Your silver has become dross; your fine wine is diluted with water. 23Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them. 24Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah, I will be relieved of My foes and avenge Myself on My enemies.…

Cross References
Luke 24:27
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.

James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Exodus 23:8
Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.

Isaiah 1:22
Your silver has become dross; your fine wine is diluted with water.

Isaiah 5:23
who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.

Isaiah 10:2
to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.

Isaiah 30:1
"Woe to the rebellious children," declares the LORD, "to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.


Treasury of Scripture

Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loves gifts, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

princes

Isaiah 3:14
The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

2 Chronicles 24:17-21
Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them…

2 Chronicles 36:14
Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

companions

Proverbs 29:24
Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not.

Matthew 21:13
And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Mark 11:27
And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders,

every

Isaiah 33:15
He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

Exodus 23:8
And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

Deuteronomy 16:19
Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

they judge

Isaiah 10:1,2
Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; …

Jeremiah 5:28,29
They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge…

Zechariah 7:10
And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

Jump to Previous
Bribe Bribes Case Cause Chase Chases Chiefs Companions Decisions Defend Fatherless Followeth Follows Friends Gifts Judge Loves Orphan Plea Princes Profit Rebellious Rebels Rewards Right Rulers Runs Thieves Widow Widow's
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Bribe Bribes Case Cause Chase Chases Chiefs Companions Decisions Defend Fatherless Followeth Follows Friends Gifts Judge Loves Orphan Plea Princes Profit Rebellious Rebels Rewards Right Rulers Runs Thieves Widow Widow's
Isaiah 1
1. Isaiah complains of Judah for her rebellion
5. He laments her judgments
10. He upbraids their whole service
16. He exhorts to repentance, with promises and threats
21. Bewailing their wickedness, he denounces God's judgments
25. He promises grace
28. And threatens destruction to the wicked














(23) Thy princes are rebellious.--The Hebrew words present an alliterative paronomasia (s?rim, sorerim), which may be represented by "Thy rulers are rebels." Here, as before, we note the "influence of Hosea (Hosea 9:15), from whom the words are cited.

Companions of thieves.--We seem almost to be reading a report of the state of police in a provincial city under the government of Turkey as it is, or of Naples or Sicily as they were. The kadi himself is in secret partnership with the brigands who infest the highways. Nothing can be done without baksheesh, and the robbers who have the plunder can bribe more heavily than the man whom they have robbed. (Comp. Micah 7:3.) To the complaints of the widow and the orphan the judges turned a deaf ear, and put off the hearing of their cause with indefinite procrastination. There is, perhaps, a touch of irony in the word for "bribes" (shalm?nim, as if "peace gifts"), which were sought after, instead of shalom, the true peace itself.

Verse 23. - Thy princes are rebellious; i.e. "rebels against their true King, Jehovah." Companions of thieves. Leagued with those who are engaged in filching away the inheritance of the widow and the orphan by chicane in the law courts (see above, vers. 15-17; and compare the Homiletics on vers. 16-20). Gifts... rewards; i.e. "bribes, "given and taken on the condition of their perverting justice (comp. Jeremiah 22:17; Ezekiel 22:12; Micah 3:11; Micah 7:3). They judge not the fatherless, etc. They dismiss the orphan's complaint without hearing it, and are so noted for perversion of justice that the widow does not even bring her cause before them.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Your rulers
שָׂרַ֣יִךְ (śā·ra·yiḵ)
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 8269: Chieftain, chief, ruler, official, captain, prince

are rebels,
סוֹרְרִ֗ים (sō·wr·rîm)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 5637: To turn away, be refractory

friends
וְחַבְרֵי֙ (wə·ḥaḇ·rê)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 2270: United, associate, companion

of thieves.
גַּנָּבִ֔ים (gan·nā·ḇîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1590: A stealer

They all
כֻּלּוֹ֙ (kul·lōw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

love
אֹהֵ֣ב (’ō·hêḇ)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 157: To have affection f

bribes
שֹׁ֔חַד (šō·ḥaḏ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7810: A present, bribe

and chasing after
וְרֹדֵ֖ף (wə·rō·ḏêp̄)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 7291: To pursue, chase, persecute

rewards.
שַׁלְמֹנִ֑ים (šal·mō·nîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 8021: A reward, bribe

They do not
לֹ֣א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

defend
יִשְׁפֹּ֔טוּ (yiš·pō·ṭū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 8199: To judge, pronounce sentence, to vindicate, punish, to govern, to litigate

the fatherless,
יָתוֹם֙ (yā·ṯō·wm)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3490: A bereaved person

and the plea
וְרִ֥יב (wə·rîḇ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 7379: Strife, dispute

of the widow
אַלְמָנָ֖ה (’al·mā·nāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 490: A widow, a desolate place

never
לֹֽא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

comes
יָב֥וֹא (yā·ḇō·w)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

before them.
אֲלֵיהֶֽם׃ (’ă·lê·hem)
Preposition | third person masculine plural
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 1:23 Your princes are rebellious and companions (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 1:22
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