“For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.”
My Notes
What Does Isaiah 57:17 Mean?
Isaiah 57:17 is a devastating three-act narrative compressed into a single verse. It describes God's response to Israel's sin, Israel's response to God's discipline, and the chasm between the two.
Act one: "For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him" — the Hebrew betsa' (covetousness, unjust gain, greed) identifies the specific sin. God was angry (qatsaph — furious, in a rage) and struck (nakah — smote, struck with force). The response was proportional to the offense: greed provoked divine fury.
Act two: "I hid me, and was wroth" — God withdrew His presence. The Hebrew satar (hid) is the same word used in Psalm 10:1 for divine hiddenness. God's hiding is itself a form of judgment — the withdrawal of His accessible presence. He was simultaneously hidden and angry. The silence wasn't indifference; it was furious grief.
Act three: "And he went on frowardly in the way of his heart" — the marginal note gives the Hebrew literal meaning: "turning away." While God raged and hid, Israel simply... kept going. Walked away. Continued on the path of their own heart's choosing, completely unaffected by God's anger or absence. The Hebrew shovav (frowardly, backsliding, turning away) describes someone who has heard the rebuke and responded by walking in the opposite direction.
The verse's horror is in the mismatch. God is emotionally engaged — wrathful, grieving, hiding — and Israel is emotionally disengaged, continuing as if nothing happened. The smiting didn't work. The hiding didn't work. Israel absorbed divine judgment the way a wall absorbs rain: the surface got wet but nothing penetrated.
This is the same spiritual oblivion described in Isaiah 42:25 — on fire and didn't know it. Here it's worse: on fire, aware of the heat, and choosing to keep walking anyway.
Reflection Questions
- 1.God was wrathful, smiting, hiding — and Israel was unmoved. Have you ever been in a season where God seemed to be urgently communicating and you chose not to respond? What kept you walking?
- 2.The verse describes God hiding Himself as a form of discipline. Have you experienced God's silence as judgment rather than absence? How did you eventually recognize what was happening?
- 3.Israel went 'frowardly in the way of his heart' — turning away from God toward their own desires. What does the 'way of your heart' look like when it's pulling against God's direction?
- 4.The discipline didn't produce change. What makes some seasons of correction effective in your life and others ineffective? What determines whether you actually turn?
Devotional
God was furious. He struck. He hid Himself. He withdrew every sign of His presence. And Israel just... kept walking. In the other direction. As if none of it happened.
The mismatch in this verse is what makes it so painful. God is fully engaged — raging, grieving, punishing, hiding — and Israel is fully disengaged. They absorb the discipline and it produces nothing. No repentance. No fear. No change of direction. Just the continued, stubborn pursuit of whatever their hearts wanted.
Isaiah 42:25 described a people on fire who didn't know it. This is worse. This is a people who know. God smote them — they felt it. God hid — they noticed the silence. And they still chose their own way. The information was available. The consequences were tangible. And they walked on "frowardly" — turning away, as the marginal note says. Not drifting. Turning.
This is the hardest kind of spiritual failure to recognize in yourself, because it doesn't look like rebellion from the outside. It looks like simply living your life. Going about your business. Continuing on the path you've chosen. But underneath, something devastating is happening: God is actively communicating — through discipline, through withdrawal, through consequences — and you're choosing not to respond.
If God has been trying to get your attention — through pain, through silence, through the gradual withdrawal of things you relied on — and you've responded by continuing in the way of your own heart, this verse names what's happening. It's not that God stopped speaking. It's that you kept walking.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him, .... Not the greedy watchmen of the church of Rome, Isa…
For the iniquity of his covetousness - The guilt of his avarice; that is, of the Jewish people. The word rendered here…
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth "Because of his iniquity for a short time was I wroth" - For בצעו…
The body of the people of Israel, in this account of God's dealings with them, is spoken of as a particular person (Isa…
For the iniquity of his covetousness The mention of "covetousness" as the typical sin of the community here addressed…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture