Isaiah 32:6

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice. ²Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, and the shadow of a great rock in an arid land. ³Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. ⁴The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently. ⁵No longer will a fool be called noble, nor a scoundrel said to be important. ⁶For a fool speaks foolishness; his mind plots iniquity. He practices ungodliness and speaks falsely about the LORD; he leaves the hungry empty and deprives the thirsty of drink.⁷The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. ⁸But a noble man makes honorable plans; he stands up for worthy causes.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the vile: 1 Samuel 24:13, 1 Samuel 25:10, 1 Samuel 25:11, Jeremiah 13:23, Matthew 12:34-36, Matthew 15:19, James 3:5, James 3:6

and his heart: Psalms 58:1, Psalms 58:2, Hosea 7:6, Hosea 7:7, Micah 2:1, Micah 2:2, Acts 5:3, Acts 5:4, Acts 8:21, Acts 8:22, James 1:14, James 1:15

empty: Job 22:5-9, Job 24:2-16, Proverbs 11:24-26, Amos 2:6, Amos 2:7, Amos 8:6, Micah 3:1-3, Matthew 23:14, James 1:27

Reciprocal: Exodus 16:8 - but against Job 30:8 - viler Psalms 15:4 - a vile Proverbs 21:10 - findeth no favour Ecclesiastes 5:13 - riches Isaiah 9:17 - every mouth Isaiah 59:13 - lying Jeremiah 15:19 - take Daniel 12:10 - but the wicked Amos 8:4 - swallow Matthew 12:10 - that Matthew 24:48 - say James 3:17 - hypocrisy

Cross-References

Genesis 32:8
He thought, "If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape."

Genesis 32:11
Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me, and also the mothers and their children with me.

Genesis 33:1
Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants.

Amos 5:19
It will be like a man who flees from a lion only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall only to have a serpent bite him.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For the vile person will speak villainy,.... Or, "a fool will utter folly" g; a man that has no understanding of Gospel truths himself can not deliver them to others; he will only speak foolish things, concerning the purity of human nature, the power of man's free will, the sufficiency of his own righteousness to justify him, and the merits of good works, and the like; and therefore such a man is a very improper one to be a guide and governor in the church of God:

and his heart will work iniquity; forge and devise it within himself; will form schemes of false doctrine, discipline, and worship, disagreeable to the word of God:

to practise hypocrisy; to make men believe he is a very devout and religious man, when he has no good thing in him, and to put others upon a profession of religion that have none; which things are commonly done by foolish and ignorant preachers:

and to utter error against the Lord; such doctrines as are contrary to the free, rich, sovereign grace of God; to the deity, personality, sonship, offices, blood, sacrifice, and righteousness of Christ, and so to the person and operations of the blessed Spirit:

to make empty the soul of the hungry; and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail; the "hungry" and "thirsty" are such as hunger and thirst after, and earnestly desire, the sincere milk of the word for their spiritual nourishment and growth; whose "souls" become "empty", and their "drink" fails, when the doctrines of grace are not dispensed unto them, but false and unedifying doctrines are delivered, so that their souls sink and faint, and are ready to die away, for want of the bread of the Gospel; agreeably to this sense, the Targum paraphrases the words thus,

"to make the soul of the righteous weary, who desire doctrine, as a hungry man bread; and the words of the law, which are as water to him that is thirsty, they think to cause to cease.''

g כי נבל נבלה ידבר "nam stultus stultitiam loquetur", Pagninus, Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the vile person - Hebrew, ‘The fool.’ This word more properly expresses the idea than ‘vile person.’ The Hebrews Used the name fool to denote not only one destitute of understanding, but a knave, a dishonest man - regarding sin as the highest folly (see 1Sa 25:25; 2 Samuel 3:33; Job 2:10).

Will speak villainy - Hebrew, ‘Will speak folly.’ That is, he will act in accordance with his nature; it is his nature to speak folly, and he will do it. Under a wicked and unjust administration such persons might be the subjects flattery Isaiah 32:5, and might be raised to office and power. But under the administration of a virtuous king they would not be admitted to favor; and the reason was, that they would act out their nature, and would corrupt all around them. A monarch, therefore, who regarded the honor of his own throne, and the welfare of his subjects, would exclude them from his counsels.

To make empty the soul of the hungry - Probably this refers to spiritual hunger and thirst; and means that such a person would take away the means of knowledge from the people, and leave them to error, ignorance, and want. The sense is, that if such persons were raised to office, they would corrupt the nation and destroy their confidence in God; and this was a reason why a virtuous prince would exclude them from any participation in his government.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 32:6. The vile person will speak villany - "The fool will still utter folly"] A sort of proverbial saying, which Euripides (Bacchae, 369) has expressed in the very same manner and words: Μωρα γαρ μωρος λεγει· "The fool speaks folly." Of this kind of simple and unadorned proverb or parable, see De S. Poes, Hebr. Praelect. xxiv.

Against the Lord - "Against JEHOVAH"] For אל El, two MSS. read אל al, more properly; but both are of nearly the same meaning.