The Meaning of Isaiah 59:3 Explained

Isaiah 59:3

KJV: For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

YLT: For your hands have been polluted with blood, And your fingers with iniquity, Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue perverseness doth mutter.

Darby: For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips speak lies, your tongue muttereth unrighteousness:

ASV: For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue muttereth wickedness.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For your hands  are defiled  with blood,  and your fingers  with iniquity;  your lips  have spoken  lies,  your tongue  hath muttered  perverseness. 

What does Isaiah 59:3 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Violence and bloodshed among God"s people were signs of their sinfulness. Lies and deception were others.

Context Summary

Isaiah 59:1-15 - Iniquities Separate From God
Israel's sins, Isaiah 59:1-8. Much of our suffering in life results from our sins, which cut off God's health and help. Let us not blame Providence, but set ourselves to discover the cause of controversy. When the law courts-the fountains of justice-are demoralized, the community is in a hopeless condition, Isaiah 59:3-4. Instead of stamping out evil in the egg, the sinful heart hatches it out, and it yields the poison of vipers, Isaiah 59:5. Ah, the hapless state of the ungodly! Their feet, and their thoughts, and their paths, are fatal to the peace of others and to their own. The way of peace can be entered only at the Cross, and maintained only by constant watchfulness. See Luke 1:79.
Israel's confession, Isaiah 59:9-15. Here the stricken people pour out their complaint before God, confessing, first, the bitterness of their sufferings and then the blackness of their sins. The roar of the hungry bear for food and the dove's mourning for her mate, Isaiah 59:11, are apt descriptions of the complaint of the penitent soul. It is a good sign when a man cannot lift up his eyes to heaven and beats upon his breast, Luke 18:13. [source]

Chapter Summary: Isaiah 59

1  Calamities are not due to lack of saving power in God, but to their own sins
16  Salvation is only of God
20  The covenant of the Redeemer

What do the individual words in Isaiah 59:3 mean?

For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity Your lips have spoken lies Your tongue perversity has muttered
כִּ֤י כַפֵּיכֶם֙ נְגֹאֲל֣וּ בַדָּ֔ם וְאֶצְבְּעוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם בֶּֽעָוֺ֑ן שִׂפְתֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙ דִּבְּרוּ־ שֶׁ֔קֶר לְשׁוֹנְכֶ֖ם עַוְלָ֥ה תֶהְגֶּֽה

כַפֵּיכֶם֙  your  hands 
Parse: Noun, fdc, second person masculine plural
Root: כַּף  
Sense: palm, hand, sole, palm of the hand, hollow or flat of the hand.
נְגֹאֲל֣וּ  are  defiled 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: גָּאַל  
Sense: to defile, pollute, desecrate.
בַדָּ֔ם  with  blood 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: דָּם  
Sense: blood.
וְאֶצְבְּעוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם  and  your  fingers 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: אֶצְבַּע  
Sense: finger, toe.
בֶּֽעָוֺ֑ן  with  iniquity 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, common singular
Root: עָוֹן  
Sense: perversity, depravity, iniquity, guilt or punishment of iniquity.
שִׂפְתֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙  Your  lips 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: שָׂפָה  
Sense: lip, language, speech, shore, bank, brink, brim, side, edge, border, binding.
דִּבְּרוּ־  have  spoken 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: דָּבַר 
Sense: to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, sing.
שֶׁ֔קֶר  lies 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: שֶׁקֶר  
Sense: lie, deception, disappointment, falsehood.
לְשׁוֹנְכֶ֖ם  Your  tongue 
Parse: Noun, common singular construct, second person masculine plural
Root: לָשֹׁון  
Sense: tongue.
עַוְלָ֥ה  perversity 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: עָוֶל 
Sense: injustice, unrighteousness, wrong.
תֶהְגֶּֽה  has  muttered 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: הָגָה  
Sense: to moan, growl, utter, muse, mutter, meditate, devise, plot, speak.