The Meaning of Isaiah 24:5 Explained

Isaiah 24:5

KJV: The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

YLT: And the land hath been defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed laws, They have changed a statute, They have made void a covenant age-during.

Darby: And the land is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; for they have violated the laws, changed the statute, broken the everlasting covenant.

ASV: The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

The earth  also is defiled  under the inhabitants  thereof; because they have transgressed  the laws,  changed  the ordinance,  broken  the everlasting  covenant. 

What does Isaiah 24:5 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Sinful humankind has corrupted its environment. Humans refused to live by divine Revelation , introduced an innovative morality, and refused to walk in fellowship with God as He specified in the biblical covenants (cf. Genesis 2:16-17; Genesis 3:1-6; Genesis 9:12; Genesis 9:16; Leviticus 24:8; 2 Samuel 23:5; Psalm 105:10; Romans 1-3).
". . . human beings in sin are the supreme environmental threat." [1]

Context Summary

Isaiah 24:1-13 - The Desolation Of A Guilty World
This and the three following chapters form a single prophecy, describing the calamities about to desolate the land, because the inhabitants had transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Primarily it describes the experiences of Palestine under the successive invasions from the Euphrates valley, first of Nineveh and then of Babylon. There is a mysterious connection between the condition of a man's soul and the response of surrounding nature. The very vineyards would sigh in sad accord with the prevailing misery and sin, Isaiah 24:7-9; and in the great city silence would reign in streets decimated by plague and war, Isaiah 24:10-12. Both in the Old and the New Testament the blessings of sufficiency and comfort are the fruits of holy living; whereas, sooner or later, evil overtakes wrong-doing. "Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed," is always true. [source]

Chapter Summary: Isaiah 24

1  The doleful judgments of God upon the land
13  A remnant shall joyfully praise him
16  God in his judgments shall advance his kingdom

What do the individual words in Isaiah 24:5 mean?

And the earth is defiled under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws Changed the ordinance Broken the covenant everlasting
וְהָאָ֥רֶץ חָנְפָ֖ה תַּ֣חַת יֹשְׁבֶ֑יהָ כִּֽי־ עָבְר֤וּ תוֹרֹת֙ חָ֣לְפוּ חֹ֔ק הֵפֵ֖רוּ בְּרִ֥ית עוֹלָֽם

וְהָאָ֥רֶץ  And  the  earth 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֶרֶץ  
Sense: land, earth.
חָנְפָ֖ה  is  defiled 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person feminine singular
Root: חָנֵף  
Sense: to be profaned, be defiled, be polluted, be corrupt.
תַּ֣חַת  under 
Parse: Preposition
Root: מִתְחָה 
Sense: the under part, beneath, instead of, as, for, for the sake of, flat, unto, where, whereas.
יֹשְׁבֶ֑יהָ  its  inhabitants 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine plural construct, third person feminine singular
Root: יָשַׁב 
Sense: to dwell, remain, sit, abide.
כִּֽי־  because 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: כִּי 
Sense: that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since.
עָבְר֤וּ  they  have  transgressed 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: עָבַר 
Sense: to pass over or by or through, alienate, bring, carry, do away, take, take away, transgress.
תוֹרֹת֙  the  laws 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural
Root: תֹּורָה  
Sense: law, direction, instruction.
חָ֣לְפוּ  Changed 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: חָלַף 
Sense: to pass on or away, pass through, pass by, go through, grow up, change, to go on from.
חֹ֔ק  the  ordinance 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: חֹק  
Sense: statute, ordinance, limit, something prescribed, due.
הֵפֵ֖רוּ  Broken 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: פָּרַר 
Sense: to break, frustrate.
בְּרִ֥ית  the  covenant 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: בְּרִית  
Sense: covenant, alliance, pledge.
עוֹלָֽם  everlasting 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: עֹולָם  
Sense: long duration, antiquity, futurity, for ever, ever, everlasting, evermore, perpetual, old, ancient, world.