◄ Isaiah 3:10 ►
Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
Study Bible
Tell the righteous
The phrase "Tell the righteous" is a direct address to those who are living in accordance with God's laws and commandments. The Hebrew word for "righteous" is "צַדִּיק" (tzaddik), which denotes someone who is just, lawful, and in right standing with God. In the historical context of Isaiah, the righteous were often a remnant within Israel who remained faithful despite widespread corruption and idolatry. This phrase serves as a reassurance to those who strive to live a life pleasing to God, affirming that their efforts are seen and valued by the Lord.

it will be well with them
The promise "it will be well with them" is a profound assurance of divine favor and blessing. The Hebrew word for "well" is "טוֹב" (tov), which encompasses goodness, prosperity, and well-being. This assurance is not merely about material prosperity but includes spiritual peace and fulfillment. In the scriptural context, this promise echoes the covenantal blessings found in Deuteronomy, where obedience to God's commandments results in blessings. It is a reminder that God's justice ensures that the righteous will ultimately experience His goodness, even if not immediately visible in their current circumstances.

for they will eat the fruit of their labor
The phrase "for they will eat the fruit of their labor" highlights the principle of reaping what one sows, a recurring theme in biblical wisdom literature. The Hebrew word for "fruit" is "פְּרִי" (peri), symbolizing the results or outcomes of one's actions. This imagery is agricultural, reflecting the agrarian society of ancient Israel, where the harvest was a direct result of one's hard work and diligence. Spiritually, it signifies that the righteous will enjoy the rewards of their faithfulness and obedience. This promise serves as an encouragement to remain steadfast in righteousness, trusting that God will ensure their efforts are not in vain.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Isaiah
A major prophet in the Old Testament, Isaiah is known for his prophecies concerning the judgment and salvation of Israel. His messages often include themes of repentance and hope.

2. The Righteous
In this context, the righteous are those who live according to God's laws and commandments. They are contrasted with the wicked, who face judgment.

3. Judah and Jerusalem
The primary audience of Isaiah's prophecies, these locations represent the people of God who are being warned of impending judgment due to their sins.

4. The Fruit of Their Labor
This phrase symbolizes the rewards and blessings that come from living a life in accordance with God's will.

5. Prophetic Context
Isaiah's message is delivered during a time of moral and spiritual decline in Israel, serving as both a warning and a promise of hope for those who remain faithful.
Teaching Points
Assurance for the Righteous
The verse provides assurance that living a righteous life according to God's standards will lead to well-being and fulfillment.

The Principle of Reaping and Sowing
This principle is evident throughout Scripture, encouraging believers to live righteously and trust in God's promise of reward.

Encouragement in Times of Trial
Even when surrounded by societal decline, believers are reminded that their faithfulness will not go unnoticed by God.

The Importance of Righteous Living
This verse underscores the importance of aligning one's life with God's commandments to experience His blessings.

Hope Amidst Judgment
Isaiah's message offers hope to the faithful, even when judgment is pronounced on the nation as a whole.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Isaiah 3:10 provide comfort and assurance to believers today?

2. In what ways can we "enjoy the fruit of our labor" in a spiritual sense, according to this verse?

3. How does the principle of reaping what we sow, as seen in Isaiah 3:10, connect with other biblical teachings on righteousness?

4. What are some practical steps we can take to ensure we are living righteously in a world that often opposes God's standards?

5. How can the promise in Isaiah 3:10 encourage us to remain faithful during challenging times?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Psalm 1
This psalm contrasts the way of the righteous with the way of the wicked, emphasizing that the righteous will prosper like a tree planted by streams of water.

Galatians 6:7-9
Paul speaks about sowing and reaping, reinforcing the idea that those who sow to please the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Matthew 5:6
In the Beatitudes, Jesus promises that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled, aligning with the promise of well-being for the righteous.
Sermons
The Reasons of JudgmentE. Johnson Isaiah 3:8-15
The Path of Sin and the Rest of RighteousnessW. Clarkson Isaiah 3:9-11
A Christian Gardener's HopeGates of ImageryIsaiah 3:10-11
All Well with the RighteousJ. Warburton.Isaiah 3:10-11
An Old Man's HallelujahIsaiah 3:10-11
Cheering Words and Solemn WarningsIsaiah 3:10-11
Heaven, the Outcome of Godly LivingD. J. S. Hunt.Isaiah 3:10-11
It is Well with the RighteousH. Woodcock.Isaiah 3:10-11
Messages to the Righteous and the WickedW. Clarkson Isaiah 3:10, 11
Objections to God's Moral GovernmentJ. Bartlett.Isaiah 3:10-11
Retribution of the Righteous and the WickedJ. Bartlett.Isaiah 3:10-11
The End of Christian LifeF. Morse, M. A.Isaiah 3:10-11
The Happiness of the RighteousHomilistIsaiah 3:10-11
The Happiness of the Righteous in All Circumstances IllustratedJ. Abernethy, M. A.Isaiah 3:10-11
The Righteous and the Wicked, Their Reward and Their WoeW. Mudge, M. A.Isaiah 3:10-11
People
Isaiah
Places
Jerusalem, Sodom, Zion
Topics
Actions, Deeds, Doings, Eat, Enjoy, Fruit, Happy, Joy, Righteous, Upright
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 3:10

     5846   enjoyment
     7150   righteous, the
     8158   righteousness, of believers
     8265   godliness

Library
A Paradox of Selling and Buying
'Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.'--ISAIAH iii. 3. THE first reference of these words is of course to the Captivity. They come in the midst of a grand prophecy of freedom, all full of leaping gladness and buoyant hope. The Seer speaks to the captives; they had 'sold themselves for nought.' What had they gained by their departure from God?--bondage. What had they won in exchange for their freedom?-- only the hard service of Babylon. As Deuteronomy puts it: …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Marching Orders
'Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord. 12. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your reward.'--ISAIAH iii. 11, 12. These ringing notes are parts of a highly poetic picture of that great deliverance which inspired this prophet's most exalted strains. It is described with constant allusion to the first Exodus, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Christian view of Sorrow
"A man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief" Is. Iii. 3. There is one great distinction between the productions of Heathen and of Christian art. While the first exhibits the perfection of physical form and of intellectual beauty, the latter expresses, also, the majesty of sorrow, the grandeur of endurance, the idea of triumph refined from agony. In all those shapes of old there is nothing like the glory of the martyr; the sublimity of patience and resignation; the dignity of the thorn-crowned Jesus. …
E. H. Chapin—The Crown of Thorns

The Personal History of Herod - the Two Worlds in Jerusalem.
It is an intensely painful history, [581] in the course of which Herod made his way to the throne. We look back nearly two and a half centuries to where, with the empire of Alexander, Palestine fell to his successors. For nearly a century and a half it continued the battle-field of the Egyptian and Syrian kings (the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ). At last it was a corrupt High-Priesthood - with which virtually the government of the land had all along lain - that betrayed Israel's precious trust. …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

How those are to be Admonished who Praise the Unlawful Things of which they are Conscious, and those who While Condemning Them, in no Wise Guard
(Admonition 32.) Differently to be admonished are they who even praise the unlawful things which they do, and those who censure what is wrong, and yet avoid it not. For they who even praise the unlawful things which they do are to be admonished to consider how for the most part they offend more by the mouth than by deeds. For by deeds they perpetrate wrong things in their own persons only; but with the mouth they bring out wickedness in the persons of as many as there are souls of hearers, to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

"But Whereunto Shall I Liken this Generation?"
Matth. xi. 16.--"But whereunto shall I liken this generation?" When our Lord Jesus, who had the tongue of the learned, and spoke as never man spake, did now and then find a difficulty to express the matter herein contained. "What shall we do?" The matter indeed is of great importance, a soul matter, and therefore of great moment, a mystery, and therefore not easily expressed. No doubt he knows how to paint out this to the life, that we might rather behold it with our eyes, than hear it with our …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Brief Memoir of Thomas Watson
Compiled by C. H. Spurgeon Thomas Watson's Body of Practical Divinity is one of the most precious of the peerless works of the Puritans; and those best acquainted with it prize it most. Watson was one of the most concise, racy, illustrative, and suggestive of those eminent divines who made the Puritan age the Augustan period of evangelical literature. There is a happy union of sound doctrine, heart-searching experience and practical wisdom throughout all his works, and his Body of Divinity is, beyond …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Of Civil Government.
OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. This chapter consists of two principal heads,--I. General discourse on the necessity, dignity, and use of Civil Government, in opposition to the frantic proceedings of the Anabaptists, sec. 1-3. II. A special exposition of the three leading parts of which Civil Government consists, sec. 4-32. The first part treats of the function of Magistrates, whose authority and calling is proved, sec. 4-7. Next, the three Forms of civil government are added, sec. 8. Thirdly, Consideration …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Letter Li to the virgin Sophia
To the Virgin Sophia He praises her for having despised the glory of the world: and, setting forth the praises, privileges, and rewards of Religious Virgins, exhorts her to persevere. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, to the Virgin Sophia, that she may keep the title of virginity and attain its reward. I. Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised (Prov. xxxi. 31). I rejoice with you, my daughter, in the glory of your virtue, whereby, as I hear, you …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

"All Our Righteousnesses are as Filthy Rags, and we all do Fade as a Leaf, and Our Iniquities, Like the Wind, have Taken us Away. "
Isaiah lxiv. 6, 7.--"All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Not only are the direct breaches of the command uncleanness, and men originally and actually unclean, but even our holy actions, our commanded duties. Take a man's civility, religion, and all his universal inherent righteousness,--all are filthy rags. And here the church confesseth nothing but what God accuseth her of, Isa. lxvi. 8, and chap. i. ver. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother. "
From this Commandment we learn that after the excellent works of the first three Commandments there are no better works than to obey and serve all those who are set over us as superiors. For this reason also disobedience is a greater sin than murder, unchastity, theft and dishonesty, and all that these may include. For we can in no better way learn how to distinguish between greater and lesser sins than by noting the order of the Commandments of God, although there are distinctions also within the …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &C.
Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &c. [1273] Seeing the chief end of all religion is to redeem men from the spirit and vain conversation of this world and to lead into inward communion with God, before whom if we fear always we are accounted happy; therefore all the vain customs and habits thereof, both in word and deed, are to be rejected and forsaken by those who come to this fear; such as taking off the hat to a man, the bowings and cringings of the body, and such other salutations of that …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it …
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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