The Meaning of Isaiah 59:7 Explained

Isaiah 59:7

KJV: Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

YLT: Their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed innocent blood, Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, Spoiling and destruction are in their highways.

Darby: Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths;

ASV: Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Their feet  run  to evil,  and they make haste  to shed  innocent  blood:  their thoughts  [are] thoughts  of iniquity;  wasting  and destruction  [are] in their paths. 

What does Isaiah 59:7 Mean?

Context Summary

Isaiah 59:1-15 - Iniquities Separate From God
Israel's sins, Isaiah 59:1-8. Much of our suffering in life results from our sins, which cut off God's health and help. Let us not blame Providence, but set ourselves to discover the cause of controversy. When the law courts-the fountains of justice-are demoralized, the community is in a hopeless condition, Isaiah 59:3-4. Instead of stamping out evil in the egg, the sinful heart hatches it out, and it yields the poison of vipers, Isaiah 59:5. Ah, the hapless state of the ungodly! Their feet, and their thoughts, and their paths, are fatal to the peace of others and to their own. The way of peace can be entered only at the Cross, and maintained only by constant watchfulness. See Luke 1:79.
Israel's confession, Isaiah 59:9-15. Here the stricken people pour out their complaint before God, confessing, first, the bitterness of their sufferings and then the blackness of their sins. The roar of the hungry bear for food and the dove's mourning for her mate, Isaiah 59:11, are apt descriptions of the complaint of the penitent soul. It is a good sign when a man cannot lift up his eyes to heaven and beats upon his breast, Luke 18:13. [source]

Chapter Summary: Isaiah 59

1  Calamities are not due to lack of saving power in God, but to their own sins
16  Salvation is only of God
20  The covenant of the Redeemer

What do the individual words in Isaiah 59:7 mean?

Their feet to evil run and they make haste to shed blood innocent their thoughts [are] thoughts of iniquity Wasting and destruction [are] in their paths
רַגְלֵיהֶם֙ לָרַ֣ע יָרֻ֔צוּ וִֽימַהֲר֔וּ לִשְׁפֹּ֖ךְ דָּ֣ם נָקִ֑י מַחְשְׁבֽוֹתֵיהֶם֙ מַחְשְׁב֣וֹת אָ֔וֶן שֹׁ֥ד וָשֶׁ֖בֶר בִּמְסִלּוֹתָֽם

רַגְלֵיהֶם֙  Their  feet 
Parse: Noun, fdc, third person masculine plural
Root: רֶגֶל  
Sense: foot.
לָרַ֣ע  to  evil 
Parse: Preposition-l, Article, Adjective, masculine singular
Root: רַע 
Sense: bad, evil.
יָרֻ֔צוּ  run 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: רוּץ 
Sense: to run.
וִֽימַהֲר֔וּ  and  they  make  haste 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Piel, Conjunctive imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: מָהַר  
Sense: (Qal) to hasten.
לִשְׁפֹּ֖ךְ  to  shed 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: שֶׂפֶק 
Sense: to pour, pour out, spill.
דָּ֣ם  blood 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: דָּם  
Sense: blood.
נָקִ֑י  innocent 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: נָקִי 
Sense: clean, free from, exempt, clear, innocent.
מַחְשְׁבֽוֹתֵיהֶם֙  their  thoughts  [are] 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, third person masculine plural
Root: מַחֲשָׁבָה  
Sense: thought, device.
מַחְשְׁב֣וֹת  thoughts 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct
Root: מַחֲשָׁבָה  
Sense: thought, device.
אָ֔וֶן  of  iniquity 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אָוֶן 
Sense: trouble, wickedness, sorrow.
שֹׁ֥ד  Wasting 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: שֹׁד  
Sense: havoc, violence, destruction, devastation, ruin.
וָשֶׁ֖בֶר  and  destruction  [are] 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine singular
Root: שֶׁבֶר 
Sense: breaking, fracture, crushing, breach, crash, ruin, shattering.
בִּמְסִלּוֹתָֽם  in  their  paths 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, feminine plural construct, third person masculine plural
Root: מְסִלָּה  
Sense: highway, raised way, public road.