“O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.”
My Notes
What Does Isaiah 63:17 Mean?
Isaiah prays one of the most daring prayers in Scripture — a prayer that borders on accusation. Why did You do this to us? Why did You let us wander? Why did You harden our hearts? The prayer is honest to the point of discomfort.
"O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways" — the accusation is direct. You made us err. Not we chose to err. You did this. Isaiah is wrestling with the theological tension every person of faith eventually encounters: if God is sovereign, then somehow even our wandering falls under His governance. If He could have prevented it and didn't, He's implicated. Isaiah doesn't resolve the tension. He prays it.
"And hardened our heart from thy fear" — the hardening language echoes Pharaoh's story, where God hardened a heart that had already chosen to harden itself. Isaiah's prayer carries the same ambiguity: did God harden first, or did the hardening respond to prior rebellion? The text doesn't settle the question. It lives in it. The prayer is the sound of a person who can't untangle sovereignty and responsibility and brings the whole knotted mess to God.
"Return for thy servants' sake" — after the accusation, the plea. Come back. Not because we deserve it — the prayer has just admitted they've erred and been hardened. But for Your servants' sake. Because of the relationship. Because of the commitment You made. The appeal isn't to Israel's merit. It's to God's character.
"The tribes of thine inheritance" — the final phrase is the clincher. We're Yours. Whatever has gone wrong, however we got here, whatever role You played or we played in the wandering — we belong to You. Inherited. Claimed. Yours. And ownership implies responsibility. Come back for what's Yours.
This prayer doesn't resolve the mystery of divine sovereignty and human freedom. It does something better: it brings the unresolved tension into God's presence and trusts Him with it.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you ever felt like God 'made you err' — like the wandering in your life was somehow beyond your control? How do you process that tension?
- 2.How does Isaiah's willingness to bring accusatory questions to God give you permission to be honest in your own prayers?
- 3.What does it mean to appeal to God's ownership of you ('thine inheritance') rather than to your own merit when asking for His return?
- 4.How do you live with the unresolved tension between God's sovereignty and your own choices — especially in seasons of spiritual hardness?
Devotional
You've had this prayer — maybe not in these exact words, but in this exact posture. God, why did You let this happen? Why did You let me drift so far? Why does it feel like my heart has been hardened — like the desire for You that used to be alive has gone cold, and I didn't choose for it to go cold? Why did You let me wander?
Isaiah doesn't get an answer. Not in this chapter. Not in the rest of the book. The mystery of how God's sovereignty intersects with human wandering isn't resolved with a tidy explanation. But the prayer is validated. God doesn't strike Isaiah down for asking the question. The question is in the Bible. It's canonical. Authorized. You're allowed to bring this to God.
The pivot from accusation to plea is the model. Isaiah doesn't stay in the accusation. He moves from "why did You do this" to "return for Your servants' sake." The complaint becomes an invitation. The confusion becomes a cry for presence. You don't have to understand why God let you wander before you ask Him to come back. The asking is enough.
"The tribes of thine inheritance" — you're His. Whatever happened, however you got here, however tangled the questions of sovereignty and choice have become in your head — you belong to Him. He inherited you. He claimed you. And His ownership is the ground you stand on when nothing else makes sense. Return, Lord. Not because I deserve it. Because I'm Yours.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear?.... These are the words, not…
O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? - Lowth and Noyes render this, ‘Why dost thou suffer us to wander…
Why hast thou made us to err - A mere Hebraism, for why hast thou permitted us to err. So, Lead us not into temptation;…
The foregoing praises were intended as an introduction to this prayer, which is continued to the end of the next…
Expostulation with Jehovah for the hard treatment which makes righteousness and true religion impossible to the nation.
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture