“And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
My Notes
What Does Isaiah 1:26 Mean?
God is speaking through Isaiah to a Jerusalem that has become corrupt — its rulers are rebels, its judges take bribes, its leaders oppress the vulnerable. But this verse pivots from judgment to restoration: "I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning." God's plan isn't just to punish the corruption. It's to replace it with something that echoes the original design. "As at the first" and "as at the beginning" look backward to an earlier, uncorrupted state — probably the Mosaic era when judges were appointed to administer justice faithfully.
The promise culminates in a new name: "The city of righteousness, the faithful city." Jerusalem will be renamed — not by human decree but by divine transformation. The city that is currently called corrupt will earn the title "faithful" again. The name change represents a change in character, not just in leadership. The judges will be righteous because the city itself has been restored to its intended identity.
The Hebrew hashivah (I will restore, I will cause to return) is the causative form of shuv — the return word, the repentance word. God causes the return. The restoration is His initiative. Jerusalem doesn't fix itself. God says "I will." The judges change because God changes them. The city becomes faithful because God makes it faithful.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What has your life become that doesn't match what it was 'at the first' — what God originally designed?
- 2.Where do you need God to restore the 'judges' — the right voices and authorities — in your life?
- 3.Do you believe God can rename you — that the unfaithful version isn't the final version?
- 4.What's the difference between trying to fix yourself and letting God restore you to His original design?
Devotional
God looks at a corrupt city and doesn't just see what it is. He sees what it was meant to be. And He says: I will restore it. Not patch it. Not improve it. Restore — bring it back to what it was at the beginning, before the corruption took root. That's the difference between human reform and divine restoration. Humans manage damage. God resets origins.
If your life has become something you don't recognize — if the corruption has crept in slowly, through compromise and neglect and the hundred small decisions that moved you away from who you were meant to be — this verse is God's posture toward you. He doesn't look at the mess and walk away. He says: I will restore your judges. I will bring back the right voices to positions of authority in your life. I will rename you. The faithless version isn't the final version.
"As at the first" — God has an original design for you, and He hasn't forgotten it. Before the bad relationships reshaped you. Before the career consumed you. Before the pain hardened you. There was a version of you that was closer to what He intended, and He's committed to restoring it. Not by nostalgia — you can't go back in time. But by renewal — God can bring the same qualities, the same alignment, the same faithfulness back into a life that lost them. The faithful city isn't built from scratch. It's restored from what was always there.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And I will restore thy judges as at the first,.... This refers not to the times after the Babylonish, captivity, when…
And I will restore ... - That is, I will give you such judges as the nation had in former days - in the times of Moses,…
Here, I. The woeful degeneracy of Judah and Jerusalem is sadly lamented. See, 1. What the royal city had been, a…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture