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Selected Verse: Isaiah 57:7 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Isa 57:7	Strong Concordance	Upon a lofty [01364] and high [05375] mountain [02022] hast thou set [07760] thy bed [04904]: even thither wentest thou up [05927] to offer [02076] sacrifice [02077].
	King James	Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Upon . . . high mountain . . . bed--image from adultery, open and shameless (Eze 23:7); the "bed" answers to the idolatrous altar, the scene of their spiritual unfaithfulness to their divine husband (Eze 16:16, Eze 16:25; Eze 23:41).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Upon . . . high mountain . . . bed--image from adultery, open and shameless (Eze 23:7); the "bed" answers to the idolatrous altar, the scene of their spiritual unfaithfulness to their divine husband (Eze 16:16, Eze 16:25; Eze 23:41).

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Upon a lofty and high mountain - The design of this verse and the following, is, to show the extent, the prevalence, the publicity, and the grossness of their idolatry. The language is that which would appropriately express adulterous intercourse, and is designed to show the abhorrence in which God held their conduct. The language is easy to be understood, and it would not be proper to go into an extended explanation of the phrases used. It is common in the Scriptures to compare idolatry among the people of God, with unfaithfulness to the marriage vow. The declaration that they had placed their bed on a high mountain, means, that in the rites of idolatrous worship, there was no concealment. It was public and shameless.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
The prophet now proceeds with perfects, like שׁפכתּ and העלית (addressed to the national community generally, the congregation regarded as a woman). The description is mostly retrospective. "Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set up thy bed; thou also ascendedst thither to offer slain offerings. And behind the door and the post thou didst place thy reminder: for thou uncoveredst away from me, and ascendedst; thou madest thy bed broad, and didst stipulate for thyself what they had to do: thou lovedst their lying with thee; thou sawest their manhood." The lovers that she sought for herself are the gods of the heathen. Upon lofty mountains, where they are generally worshipped, did she set up her bed, and did all that was needed to win their favour. The zikkârōn, i.e., the declaration that Jehovah is the only God, which the Israelites were to write upon the posts of their houses, and upon the entrances (Deu 6:9; Deu 11:20), for a constant reminder, she had put behind the door and post, that she might not be reminded, to her shame, of her unfaithfulness. That this explanation, which most of the commentators adopt, is the true one, is proved by the expression מאתּי כּי which follows, and according to which זכרון is something inconvenient, which might and was intended to remind them of Jehovah. מאתּי, away, far from me, as in Jer 3:1, and like מתּחתּי, which is still more frequently used. It is unnecessary to take gillı̄th with ערותך understood (Eze 23:18) as equivalent to "thou makest thyself naked," or with reference to the clothes = ἀνασύρεις. משׁכּב is the common object of all three verbs, even of ותּעלי (with double metheg), after Gen 49:4. On ותּכרת for ותּכרתי (cf., Jer 3:5), see Ewald, 191, b. The explanation "thou didst bind," or "thou didst choose (some) of them to thyself," is contrary to the general usage, according to which ל כּרת signifies spondere (Ch2 7:18), and (עם כּרת pacisci (Sa1 22:8), in both cases with בּרית to be supplied, so that מן (בּרית) כּרת would mean stipulari ab aliquo, i.e., to obtain from a person a solemn promise, with all the force of a covenant. What she stipulated from them was, either the wages of adultery, or the satisfaction of her wanton lust. What follows agrees with this; for it is there distinctly stated, that the lovers to whom she offered herself gratified her lust abundantly: adamasti concutibum eorum (mishkâb, cubile, e.g., Pro 7:17, and concubitus, e.g., Ezra 23:17), manum conspexisit. The Targum and Jewish commentators adopt this explanation, loco quem delegisti, or (postquam) locum delegisti. This also is apparently the meaning of the accents, and most of the more modern commentators have adopted it, taking יד in the sense of place or side. But this yields only a very lame and unmeaning thought. Doederlein conjectured that יד was employed here in the sense of ἰθύφαλλος; and this is the explanation adopted by Hitzig, Ewald, and others. The Arabic furnishes several analogies to this obscene use of the word; and by the side of Eze 16:26 and Eze 23:20, where the same thing is affirmed in even plainer language, there is nothing to astonish in the passage before us. The meaning is, that after the church of Jehovah had turned away from its God to the world and its pleasures, it took more and more delight in the pleasures afforded it by idolatry, and indulged its tastes to the full.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

The prophet now proceeds with perfects, like שׁפכתּ and העלית (addressed to the national community generally, the congregation regarded as a woman). The description is mostly retrospective. "Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set up thy bed; thou also ascendedst thither to offer slain offerings. And behind the door and the post thou didst place thy reminder: for thou uncoveredst away from me, and ascendedst; thou madest thy bed broad, and didst stipulate for thyself what they had to do: thou lovedst their lying with thee; thou sawest their manhood." The lovers that she sought for herself are the gods of the heathen. Upon lofty mountains, where they are generally worshipped, did she set up her bed, and did all that was needed to win their favour. The zikkârōn, i.e., the declaration that Jehovah is the only God, which the Israelites were to write upon the posts of their houses, and upon the entrances (Deu 6:9; Deu 11:20), for a constant reminder, she had put behind the door and post, that she might not be reminded, to her shame, of her unfaithfulness. That this explanation, which most of the commentators adopt, is the true one, is proved by the expression מאתּי כּי which follows, and according to which זכרון is something inconvenient, which might and was intended to remind them of Jehovah. מאתּי, away, far from me, as in Jer 3:1, and like מתּחתּי, which is still more frequently used. It is unnecessary to take gillı̄th with ערותך understood (Eze 23:18) as equivalent to "thou makest thyself naked," or with reference to the clothes = ἀνασύρεις. משׁכּב is the common object of all three verbs, even of ותּעלי (with double metheg), after Gen 49:4. On ותּכרת for ותּכרתי (cf., Jer 3:5), see Ewald, 191, b. The explanation "thou didst bind," or "thou didst choose (some) of them to thyself," is contrary to the general usage, according to which ל כּרת signifies spondere (Ch2 7:18), and (עם כּרת pacisci (Sa1 22:8), in both cases with בּרית to be supplied, so that מן (בּרית) כּרת would mean stipulari ab aliquo, i.e., to obtain from a person a solemn promise, with all the force of a covenant. What she stipulated from them was, either the wages of adultery, or the satisfaction of her wanton lust. What follows agrees with this; for it is there distinctly stated, that the lovers to whom she offered herself gratified her lust abundantly: adamasti concutibum eorum (mishkâb, cubile, e.g., Pro 7:17, and concubitus, e.g., Ezra 23:17), manum conspexisit. The Targum and Jewish commentators adopt this explanation, loco quem delegisti, or (postquam) locum delegisti. This also is apparently the meaning of the accents, and most of the more modern commentators have adopted it, taking יד in the sense of place or side. But this yields only a very lame and unmeaning thought. Doederlein conjectured that יד was employed here in the sense of ἰθύφαλλος; and this is the explanation adopted by Hitzig, Ewald, and others. The Arabic furnishes several analogies to this obscene use of the word; and by the side of Eze 16:26 and Eze 23:20, where the same thing is affirmed in even plainer language, there is nothing to astonish in the passage before us. The meaning is, that after the church of Jehovah had turned away from its God to the world and its pleasures, it took more and more delight in the pleasures afforded it by idolatry, and indulged its tastes to the full.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Mountain - In high places, which were much used for religious worship, both by Israelites and by Heathens. Thy bed - Thine altar, in which thou didst commit spiritual whoredom with idols.

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⁴¹ And satest [03427] upon a stately [03520] bed [04296], and a table [07979] prepared [06186] before [06440] it, whereupon thou hast set [07760] mine incense [07004] and mine oil [08081].

²⁵ Thou hast built [01129] thy high place [07413] at every head [07218] of the way [01870], and hast made thy beauty [03308] to be abhorred [08581], and hast opened [06589] thy feet [07272] to every one that passed by [05674], and multiplied [07235] thy whoredoms [08457].

¹⁶ And of thy garments [0899] thou didst take [03947], and deckedst [06213] thy high places [01116] with divers colours [02921], and playedst the harlot [02181] thereupon: the like things shall not come [0935], neither shall it be so.

⁷ Thus she committed [05414] her whoredoms [08457] with them, with all them that were the chosen [04005] men [01121] of Assyria [0804], and with all on whom she doted [05689]: with all their idols [01544] she defiled [02930] herself.

²⁰ For she doted [05689] upon their paramours [06370], whose flesh [01320] is as the flesh [01320] of asses [02543], and whose issue [02231] is like the issue [02231] of horses [05483].

²⁶ Thou hast also committed fornication [02181] with the Egyptians [01121] [04714] thy neighbours [07934], great [01432] of flesh [01320]; and hast increased [07235] thy whoredoms [08457], to provoke me to anger [03707].

¹⁷ I have perfumed [05130] my bed [04904] with myrrh [04753], aloes [0174], and cinnamon [07076].

⁸ That all of you have conspired [07194] against me, and there is none that sheweth [01540] [0241] me that my son [01121] hath made a league [03772] with the son [01121] of Jesse [03448], and there is none of you that is sorry [02470] for me, or sheweth [01540] [0241] unto me that my son [01121] hath stirred up [06965] my servant [05650] against me, to lie in wait [0693], as at this day [03117]?

¹⁸ Then will I stablish [06965] the throne [03678] of thy kingdom [04438], according as I have covenanted [03772] with David [01732] thy father [01], saying [0559], There shall not fail [03772] thee a man [0376] to be ruler [04910] in Israel [03478].

⁵ Will he reserve [05201] his anger for ever [05769]? will he keep [08104] it to the end [05331]? Behold, thou hast spoken [01696] and done [06213] evil things [07451] as thou couldest [03201].

⁴ Unstable [06349] as water [04325], thou shalt not excel [03498]; because thou wentest up [05927] to thy father's [01] bed [04904]; then defiledst thou [02490] it: he went up [05927] to my couch [03326].

¹⁸ So she discovered [01540] her whoredoms [08457], and discovered [01540] her nakedness [06172]: then my mind [05315] was alienated [03363] from her, like as my mind [05315] was alienated [05361] from her sister [0269].

¹ They say [0559], If a man [0376] put away [07971] his wife [0802], and she go [01980] from him, and become another [0312] man's [0376], shall he return unto her again [07725]? shall not that land [0776] be greatly [02610] polluted [02610]? but thou hast played the harlot [02181] with many [07227] lovers [07453]; yet return again [07725] to me, saith [05002] the LORD [03068].

²⁰ And thou shalt write [03789] them upon the door posts [04201] of thine house [01004], and upon thy gates [08179]:

⁹ And thou shalt write [03789] them upon the posts [04201] of thy house [01004], and on thy gates [08179].