Isaiah 1:24
Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: "Ah, I will be relieved of My foes and avenge Myself on My enemies.
Therefore
This word serves as a transition, indicating a conclusion or result based on previous statements. In the context of Isaiah 1, it follows a series of rebukes against the nation of Israel for their rebellion and sin. The use of "therefore" underscores the inevitability of God's response to their actions, emphasizing the cause-and-effect nature of divine justice.

the Lord GOD of Hosts
This title combines "Lord" (Adonai) and "GOD" (Yahweh), highlighting God's supreme authority and covenantal relationship with Israel. "Hosts" refers to the heavenly armies, signifying God's omnipotence and command over all creation. This title reassures believers of God's ultimate control and power, even amidst judgment.

the Mighty One of Israel
This phrase emphasizes God's strength and His special relationship with Israel. The Hebrew word "Gibbor" (Mighty One) conveys a sense of heroism and valor. Historically, it reminds the Israelites of God's past deliverances and His ability to protect and uphold His covenant people, even when they stray.

declares
The use of "declares" signifies a formal and authoritative pronouncement. In prophetic literature, this term often introduces a divine message, underscoring its importance and the certainty of its fulfillment. It invites the audience to listen and heed the words that follow as the very words of God.

Ah
This interjection expresses a deep emotional response, often of lament or anger. It conveys God's sorrow and righteous indignation over Israel's unfaithfulness. This emotional depth highlights the personal nature of God's relationship with His people, where their actions deeply affect Him.

I will vent My fury
The phrase "vent My fury" indicates a release of God's righteous anger. The Hebrew root "chemah" (fury) suggests a burning wrath, a response to the grievous sins of the people. This is not a capricious anger but a measured response to injustice and idolatry, reflecting God's holiness and justice.

on My foes
"Foes" refers to those who oppose God, including both external enemies and rebellious Israelites. This term serves as a reminder that enmity with God is a serious matter, and those who set themselves against Him will face His judgment. It calls believers to align themselves with God's will.

and avenge Myself
To "avenge" implies retribution and the restoration of justice. The Hebrew root "naqam" conveys the idea of vindication. God's avenging is not petty revenge but a divine act to uphold righteousness and rectify wrongs, assuring believers that evil will not go unpunished.

against My enemies
"Enemies" here are those who persistently reject God and His ways. This phrase reinforces the idea that opposition to God leads to inevitable consequences. It serves as both a warning to the unrepentant and a comfort to the faithful, affirming that God will ultimately triumph over all opposition.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The Lord GOD of Hosts
This title emphasizes God's supreme authority and command over the heavenly armies, highlighting His power and sovereignty.

2. The Mighty One of Israel
This designation underscores God's strength and His special relationship with Israel as their protector and deliverer.

3. Foes and Enemies
These refer to those who oppose God and His purposes, including both external adversaries and those within Israel who have turned away from Him.

4. Isaiah
The prophet through whom God delivers this message, calling the people of Judah and Jerusalem to repentance.

5. Judah and Jerusalem
The primary audience of Isaiah's prophecy, representing the southern kingdom of Israel during a time of moral and spiritual decline.
Teaching Points
God's Sovereignty and Power
Recognize that God is the ultimate authority over all creation, and His plans will prevail despite human opposition.

Divine Justice
Understand that God is just and will address wrongdoing in His perfect timing, which calls us to trust in His righteous judgment.

Call to Repentance
Reflect on the need for personal and communal repentance, turning away from sin and aligning with God's will.

God's Relationship with His People
Appreciate the special relationship God has with His people, which includes both His protection and His discipline.

Trust in God's Vengeance
Learn to release personal desires for revenge, trusting that God will handle justice according to His wisdom.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the title "The Lord GOD of Hosts" influence your understanding of God's power and authority in your life?

2. In what ways can you see the need for repentance in your own life or community, similar to the call given to Judah and Jerusalem?

3. How does the concept of divine justice in Isaiah 1:24 provide comfort or challenge you in situations where you face opposition or injustice?

4. What are some practical steps you can take to trust in God's timing and justice, rather than seeking personal revenge?

5. How can the relationship between God and Israel, as depicted in Isaiah 1:24, inspire you to deepen your own relationship with God?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Deuteronomy 32:35
This verse speaks of God's vengeance and recompense, reinforcing the theme of divine justice found in Isaiah 1:24.

Romans 12:19
Paul echoes the concept of leaving vengeance to God, aligning with the idea that God will avenge Himself against His enemies.

Psalm 24:10
This psalm refers to the Lord as the King of glory and the Lord of Hosts, connecting to the titles used in Isaiah 1:24.

Nahum 1:2
This passage describes God as a jealous and avenging God, similar to the portrayal in Isaiah 1:24.
God's Enemies and His Treatment of ThemIsaiah 1:24
Salvation Through JudgmentF. Delitzsch, D. D.Isaiah 1:24
A Last AppealLloyd Robinson.Isaiah 1:2-31
God Finds Vindication in NatureD. Davies.Isaiah 1:2-31
God Man's Truest FriendIsaiah 1:2-31
IngratitudeBishop Reynolds.Isaiah 1:2-31
Isaiah's SermonIsaiah 1:2-31
Israel's ApostasyF. Delitzsch.Isaiah 1:2-31
The Fatherhood of God in Relation to IsraelF. Delitzsch.Isaiah 1:2-31
The Fatherhood of God in the Old TestamentJ. Parker, D. D.Isaiah 1:2-31
The Heinousness of Rebellion Against God's Paternal GovernmentT. W. Coit.Isaiah 1:2-31
The Parental Grief of God, and its Pathetic AppealD. Davies.Isaiah 1:2-31
The Sinful NationSermons by the Monday ClubIsaiah 1:2-31
The Sinful NationHanford A. Edson, D. D.Isaiah 1:2-31
The Sinful NationJ. Sanderson, D. D.Isaiah 1:2-31
Divine Dealing with the DegenerateW. Clarkson Isaiah 1:21-31
Hope in God's RefiningsR. Tuck Isaiah 1:24, 25
Sentence PassedE. Johnson Isaiah 1:24-31
People
Ahaz, Amos, Amoz, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Jotham, Uzziah
Places
Gomorrah, Jerusalem, Sodom, Zion
Topics
Adversaries, Affirmation, Ah, Armies, Avenge, Avenged, Declares, Ease, Eased, Enemies, Foes, Haters, Hosts, Mighty, Myself, Punishment, Reason, Relief, Relieved, Says, Strong, Vent, Wrath
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 1:24

     1105   God, power of
     1205   God, titles of
     1235   God, the LORD
     5493   retribution
     9210   judgment, God's

Isaiah 1:21-26

     7254   plumb-line

Isaiah 1:23-24

     5238   bribery
     8245   ethics, incentives

Isaiah 1:23-26

     5931   resistance

Library
Useless Sacrifice
Preached at Southsea for the Mission of the Good Shepherd. October 1871. Isaiah i. 11-17. "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: . . . When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination to me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

The Stupidity of Godlessness
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.'--ISAIAH i. 3. This is primarily an indictment against Israel, but it touches us all. 'Doth not know' i.e. has no familiar acquaintance with; 'doth not consider,' i.e. frivolously ignores, never meditates on. I. This is a common attitude of mind towards God. Blank indifference towards Him is far more frequent than conscious hostility. Take a hundred men at random as they hurry through
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Great Suit: Jehovah Versus Judah
'The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. I Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. 3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

What Sin Does to Men
'Ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. 31. And the strong shall be as tow, and His work as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.'--ISAIAH i. 30-31. The original reference of these words is to the threatened retribution for national idolatry, of which 'oaks' and 'gardens' were both seats. The nation was, as it were, dried up and made inflammable; the idol was as the 'spark' or the occasion for destruction. But a wider application,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

1St Day of Month. Pardoning Grace.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."--ISAIAH i. 18. Pardoning Grace. My soul! thy God summons thee to His audience chamber! Infinite purity seeks to reason with infinite vileness! Deity stoops to speak to dust! Dread not the meeting. It is the most gracious, as well as wondrous of all conferences. Jehovah himself breaks silence! He
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

Worship
ISAIAH i. 12, 13. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. This is a very awful text; one of those which terrify us--or at least ought to terrify us--and set us on asking ourselves seriously and honestly--'What do I believe after all? What manner of man am I after all?
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

"But we are all as an Unclean Thing, and all Our Righteousnesses are as Filthy Rags,"
Isaiah lxiv 6, 7.--"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," &c. This people's condition agreeth well with ours, though the Lord's dealing be very different. The confessory part of this prayer belongeth to us now; and strange it is, that there is such odds of the Lord's dispensations, when there is no difference in our conditions; always we know not how soon the complaint may be ours also. This prayer was prayed long before the judgment and captivity came
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Time of Doubting and of Spiritual Darkness Constitutes
another season when it is very difficult to keep the heart. When the light and comfort of the divine presence is withdrawn; when the believer, from the prevalence of indwelling sin in one form or other, is ready to renounce his hopes, to infer desperate conclusions with respect to himself, to regard his former comforts as vain delusions, and his professions as hypocrisy; at such a time much diligence is necessary to keep the heart from despondency. The Christian's distress arises from his apprehension
John Flavel—On Keeping the Heart

What are Consequences of Backsliding in Heart.
The text says, that "the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways." 1. He shall be filled with his own works. But these are dead works, they are not works of faith and love, which are acceptable to God, but are the filthy rags of his own righteousness. If they are performed as religious services, they are but loathsome hypocrisy, and an abomination to God; there is no heart in them. To such a person God says: "Who hath required this at your hand?" (Isaiah 1:12). "Ye are they which justify
Charles G. Finney—The Backslider in Heart

Works.
The extant works of St. Basil may be conveniently classified as follows: I. Dogmatic. (i) Adversus Eunomium. Pros Eunomion. (ii) De Spiritu Sancto. Peri tou Pneumatos. II. Exegetic. [302] (i) In Hexæmeron. Eis ten Exaemeron. (ii) Homiliæ on Pss. i., vii., xiv., xxviii., xxix., xxxii., xxxiii., xliv., xlv., xlviii., lix., lxi., cxiv. (iii) Commentary on Isaiah i.-xvi. III. Ascetic. (i) Tractatus prævii. (ii.) Prooemium de Judicio Dei and De Fide. (iii) Moralia. Ta
Basil—Basil: Letters and Select Works

"His Chains Fell Off. " Acts xii. 7
IN ANSWER TO PRAYER:--Do you know any one tied and bound? Have you prayed for them without ceasing? Are you conscious of the enemy putting YOUR hands or feet in fetters? Are you unable to reach that purse which was at one time always within your grasp, so that now you do not give to the poor as you once did? Are your feet prevented from going on errands of mercy? Do the manacles keep you at home on Sundays, instead of walking muddy lanes to preach? If so, how do you like it? Do you not think
Thomas Champness—Broken Bread

The Greater Prophets.
1. We have already seen (Chap. 15, Nos. 11 and 12) that from Moses to Samuel the appearances of prophets were infrequent; that with Samuel and the prophetical school established by him there began a new era, in which the prophets were recognized as a distinct order of men in the Theocracy; and that the age of written prophecy did not begin till about the reign of Uzziah, some three centuries after Samuel. The Jewish division of the latter prophets--prophets in the more restricted sense of the
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Synagogues in the City; and Schools.
"R. Phinehas, in the name of R. Hoshaia, saith, There were four hundred and sixty synagogues in Jerusalem: every one of which had a house of the book, and a house of doctrine," "A house of the book for the Scripture," that is, where the Scripture might be read: "and a house of doctrine for traditions," that is, the Beth Midrash, where traditions might be taught. These things are recited elsewhere, and there the number ariseth to four hundred and eighty. "R. Phinehas, in the name of R. Hoshaia, saith,
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The Massacre
Your hands are full of blood.--Isaiah i. 15. Foiled at every turn, Gaïnas began to feel that his star was no longer in the ascendant; that fortune had abandoned him; that in the game of ambition he had been finally defeated; that Nemesis was but awaiting her opportunity. Tormented more and more by indecision and disappointment, and seeing in their effects the anger of a besetting demon, he gave out that he was ill, and that he should resort to the Chapel of St. John the Baptist at the Hebdomon.
Frederic William Farrar—Gathering Clouds: A Tale of the Days of St. Chrysostom

Fresh Troubles
The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and festering sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oil.--Isaiah i. 5-6. We have already seen enough to show the intense and all but universal corruption which ruined the true work of the Church in Antioch, and still more in Constantinople. It is distressing to find the same moral apostasy, the same revolting unreality,
Frederic William Farrar—Gathering Clouds: A Tale of the Days of St. Chrysostom

Self-Righteousness Insufficient.
1 "Where are the mourners, [1] (saith the Lord) "That wait and tremble at my word, "That walk in darkness all the day? "Come, make my name your trust and stay. 2 ["No works nor duties of your own "Can for the smallest sin atone; "The robes [2] that nature may provide "Will not your least pollutions hide. 3 "The softest couch that nature knows "Can give the conscience no repose: "Look to my righteousness, and live; "Comfort and peace are mine to give.] 4 "Ye sons of pride that kindle coals "With your
Isaac Watts—Hymns and Spiritual Songs

Confession and Prayer. December 13, 1776

John Newton—Olney Hymns

The Expositor's Bible.
Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7s. 6d. each vol. FIRST SERIES, 1887-8. Colossians. By the Rev. A. MACLAREN, D.D. St. Mark. By the Right Rev. the Bishop of Derry. Genesis. By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. 1 Samuel. By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D. 2 Samuel. By the same Author. Hebrews. By Principal T. C. EDWARDS, D.D. SECOND SERIES, 1888-9. Galatians. By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A., D.D. The Pastoral Epistles. By the Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. Isaiah I.-XXXIX. By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. Vol. I. The Book of Revelation.
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

"The Dust of the Actual"
"This may be counted as our richest gain, to have learned afresh one's utter impotency so completely that the past axiom of service, 'I can no more convert a soul than create a star,' comes to be an awful revelation, so that God alone may be exalted in that day." Rev. Walter Searle, Africa. WE have just come back from a Pariah village. Now see it all with me. Such a curious little collection of huts, thrown down anywhere; such half-frightened, half-friendly faces; such a scurrying in of some
Amy Wilson-Carmichael—Things as They Are

If it is Objected, that the Necessity which Urges us to Pray is not Always...
If it is objected, that the necessity which urges us to pray is not always equal, I admit it, and this distinction is profitably taught us by James: " Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms" (James 5:13). Therefore, common sense itself dictates, that as we are too sluggish, we must be stimulated by God to pray earnestly whenever the occasion requires. This David calls a time when God "may be found" (a seasonable time); because, as he declares in several other
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

How those are to be Admonished who Abstain not from the Sins which they Bewail, and those Who, Abstaining from Them, Bewail them Not.
(Admonition 31.) Differently to be admonished are those who lament their transgressions, and yet forsake them not, and those who forsake them, and yet lament them not. For those who lament their transgressions and yet forsake them not are to be admonished to learn to consider anxiously that they cleanse themselves in vain by their weeping, if they wickedly defile themselves in their living, seeing that the end for which they wash themselves in tears is that, when clean, they may return to filth.
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

"And There is None that Calleth Upon Thy Name, that Stirreth up Himself to Take Hold on Thee,"
Isaiah lxiv. 7.--"And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee," &c. They go on in the confession of their sins. Many a man hath soon done with that a general notion of sin is the highest advancement in repentance that many attain to. You may see here sin and judgment mixed in thorough other(315) in their complaint. They do not so fix their eyes upon their desolate estate of captivity, as to forget their provocations. Many a man would spend more affection,
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Links
Isaiah 1:24 NIV
Isaiah 1:24 NLT
Isaiah 1:24 ESV
Isaiah 1:24 NASB
Isaiah 1:24 KJV

Isaiah 1:24 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Isaiah 1:23
Top of Page
Top of Page