Isaiah 1:26
I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning. After that you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City."
I will restore
The phrase "I will restore" signifies a divine promise of renewal and redemption. In the Hebrew text, the word used is "אָשִׁיבָה" (ashivah), which comes from the root "שׁוּב" (shuv), meaning to return or bring back. This indicates God's intention to bring back what was lost or to return the people to a former state of righteousness and justice. Historically, this reflects God's covenant faithfulness, as He often promised restoration to Israel after periods of judgment and exile. It is a message of hope, emphasizing God's mercy and His desire to see His people restored to their intended glory.

your judges
The term "your judges" refers to leaders who were responsible for maintaining justice and righteousness in society. In ancient Israel, judges were not only legal arbiters but also leaders who guided the people according to God's laws. The Hebrew word "שֹׁפְטַיִךְ" (shofetayikh) is derived from "שָׁפַט" (shafat), meaning to judge or govern. This restoration of judges implies a return to a time when leadership was characterized by integrity and adherence to divine law, reminiscent of the period of the Judges before the establishment of the monarchy.

as at first
The phrase "as at first" suggests a return to an original, ideal state. It implies a restoration to the purity and righteousness that characterized the early days of Israel's history, possibly alluding to the time of the Judges or the leadership of Moses and Joshua. This is a call back to foundational principles and a time when the people were more closely aligned with God's will.

and your counselors
"Your counselors" refers to advisors or leaders who provide wisdom and guidance. The Hebrew word "יוֹעֲצַיִךְ" (yo'atzayikh) comes from "יָעַץ" (ya'atz), meaning to advise or counsel. This restoration of counselors indicates a return to wise and godly leadership, where decisions are made in accordance with divine wisdom. It underscores the importance of having leaders who seek God's guidance in their decision-making processes.

as at the beginning
Similar to "as at first," this phrase emphasizes a return to an original state of righteousness and justice. It suggests a restoration to the foundational values and principles that were present at the inception of the nation. This is a call to return to the purity and faithfulness that characterized the early days of Israel's covenant relationship with God.

Afterward you will be called
This phrase indicates a transformation in identity and reputation. The Hebrew word "יִקָּרֵא" (yiqqare) means to be called or named. It suggests that following the restoration, there will be a new recognition or acknowledgment of the people's renewed state. This change in identity is a result of the divine restoration and the people's return to righteousness.

the City of Righteousness
"The City of Righteousness" is a prophetic title that signifies a community characterized by justice and moral integrity. In the context of Jerusalem, it implies a transformation from a city plagued by corruption and injustice to one that embodies God's standards of righteousness. This title reflects the ultimate goal of God's restorative work, where the city becomes a beacon of divine justice and holiness.

a Faithful City
"A Faithful City" denotes a community that is steadfast in its commitment to God and His covenant. The Hebrew word for faithful, "נֶאֱמָנָה" (ne'emanah), conveys reliability, trustworthiness, and loyalty. This transformation into a faithful city indicates a return to covenant faithfulness, where the people live in accordance with God's laws and maintain a steadfast relationship with Him. It is a vision of a community that reflects God's faithfulness in their own lives.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Judges
Refers to leaders who were responsible for maintaining justice and order in Israel. Historically, judges were appointed by God to lead and guide the people, as seen in the Book of Judges.

2. Counselors
These were advisors who provided wisdom and guidance to the leaders and people of Israel. They played a crucial role in decision-making processes.

3. City of Righteousness
Symbolically represents Jerusalem or the people of God when they are living in accordance with God's laws and righteousness.

4. Faithful City
This term signifies a community or city that remains true to God's covenant and commands, reflecting faithfulness in their relationship with Him.

5. Restoration
The event or process where God promises to bring back the original state of justice and righteousness to His people, indicating a return to divine order and blessing.
Teaching Points
God's Promise of Restoration
God is committed to restoring His people to a state of righteousness and justice. This promise is a source of hope and encouragement for believers facing moral and spiritual decline.

The Importance of Righteous Leadership
Just as God promised to restore judges and counselors, the need for righteous and wise leadership is crucial in our communities and churches today. We should pray for and support leaders who seek God's wisdom.

Living as a Faithful Community
Being called a "Faithful City" implies living in a way that reflects God's character. As believers, we are called to embody faithfulness in our personal and communal lives, influencing the world around us.

The Role of Justice in God's Kingdom
Justice is a central theme in God's kingdom. We are called to pursue justice in our interactions and systems, reflecting God's heart for fairness and righteousness.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the promise of restoration in Isaiah 1:26 encourage you in your personal walk with God?

2. In what ways can you contribute to making your community or church a "City of Righteousness"?

3. Reflect on a time when you experienced or witnessed righteous leadership. How did it impact the situation or community?

4. How can the concept of restoration in Isaiah 1:26 be applied to areas of your life that need renewal or healing?

5. What other biblical examples of restoration can you find, and how do they relate to the promise in Isaiah 1:26?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Judges and Counselors
The role of judges and counselors is echoed in the Book of Judges, where God raises leaders to deliver Israel from oppression and guide them back to righteousness.

City of Righteousness
This concept is further explored in Revelation, where the New Jerusalem is described as a place of righteousness and faithfulness, symbolizing the ultimate fulfillment of God's promise.

Restoration
The theme of restoration is prevalent throughout the Bible, notably in the prophetic books like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, where God promises to restore Israel after periods of judgment and exile.
A Grand IdealProf. J. Skinner, D. D.Isaiah 1:26
National RevivificationF. Delitzsch.Isaiah 1:26
Social RegenerationJ. Parker, D. D.Isaiah 1:26
The City of RighteousnessJ. Parker, D. D.Isaiah 1:26
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
Sentence PassedE. Johnson Isaiah 1:24-31
Dross and AlloyBp. H. C. G. Moule, D. D.Isaiah 1:25-27
Dross and AlloyG. H. C. Macgregor, M. A.Isaiah 1:25-27
Moral DrossG. H. C. Macgregor, M. A.Isaiah 1:25-27
Purging Away DrossProf. J. Skinner, D. D.Isaiah 1:25-27
True Reformation the Work of GodIsaiah 1:25-27
People
Ahaz, Amos, Amoz, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Jotham, Uzziah
Places
Gomorrah, Jerusalem, Sodom, Zion
Topics
Afterward, Afterwards, Beginning, Called'the, Counsellors, Counselors, Faithful, Guides, Judges, Named, Past, Restore, Righteousness, Town, Wise
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 1:26

     4909   beginning
     5044   names, giving of
     6730   reinstatement
     8251   faithfulness, to God

Isaiah 1:21-26

     7254   plumb-line

Isaiah 1:23-26

     5931   resistance

Isaiah 1:25-26

     4324   dross

Isaiah 1:26-27

     5542   society, positive

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 1:26 NIV
Isaiah 1:26 NLT
Isaiah 1:26 ESV
Isaiah 1:26 NASB
Isaiah 1:26 KJV

Isaiah 1:26 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Isaiah 1:25
Top of Page
Top of Page