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Isaiah 57

Isaiah contrasts the ruin of idolatry with the peace God grants to those who take refuge in him.

Righteous people are dying, and those around them fail to consider that they are being spared from evil and entering peace. Through Isaiah, God confronts a people devoted to idols, describing their worship through images of adultery and naming the killing of children. He exposes the helplessness of their idols, then promises refuge and healing. The high and holy God pledges to revive the humble, while the chapter closes by denying peace to the wicked.

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1The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil.
2He enters into peace. They rest in their beds, each one who walks in his uprightness.
3“But draw near here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes.
4Whom do you mock? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out your tongue? Aren’t you children of disobedience and offspring of falsehood,
5you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
6Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion. They, they are your lot. You have even poured a drink offering to them. You have offered an offering. Shall I be appeased for these things?
7On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice.
8You have set up your memorial behind the doors and the posts, for you have exposed yourself to someone besides me, and have gone up. You have enlarged your bed and made a covenant for yourself with them. You loved what you saw on their bed.
9You went to the king with oil, increased your perfumes, sent your ambassadors far off, and degraded yourself even to Sheol.
10You were wearied with the length of your ways; yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain.’ You found a reviving of your strength; therefore you weren’t faint.
11“Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven’t I held my peace for a long time, and you don’t fear me?
12I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they will not benefit you.
13When you cry, let those whom you have gathered deliver you, but the wind will take them. A breath will carry them all away, but he who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and will inherit my holy mountain.”
14He will say, “Build up, build up, prepare the way! Remove the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.”
15For the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, says: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
16For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.
17I was angry because of the iniquity of his covetousness and struck him. I hid myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.
18I have seen his ways, and will heal him. I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.
19I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near,” says the LORD; “and I will heal them.”
20But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can’t rest and its waters cast up mire and mud.
21“There is no peace”, says my God, “for the wicked.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Isaiah 57:15God joins his eternal holiness with his presence among the humble, whose crushed spirits he promises to revive.
Isaiah 57:19God declares peace for those far off and near, grounding their healing in his own action.
Isaiah 57:1The opening exposes public indifference to righteous deaths and identifies deliverance from evil within a loss people fail to consider.
Where this chapter reaches

Jeremiah and Ezekiel share Isaiah’s use of adultery imagery for unfaithfulness to God, along with accusations of idolatry and child sacrifice. Psalm and Proverbs share the contrast between the humble whom God helps and the wicked whose ways lead to ruin.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does God’s promise to dwell with the contrite reveal about his holiness?

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How does the chapter distinguish the peace God gives from the restless pursuit of idols?

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Questions people ask about Isaiah 57

What does Isaiah 57:1 mean when it says the righteous are taken away?

The verse describes righteous people dying while others fail to take their deaths to heart. It says they are taken away from evil, and verse 2 describes their peace and rest. The passage does not identify these people or explain the timing of every righteous person’s death.

What does a contrite and humble spirit mean in Isaiah 57:15?

A contrite and humble spirit describes someone brought low, with a heart broken over wrongdoing. The surrounding passage contrasts such humility with persistent unfaithfulness and confidence in idols. God, whose dwelling is high and holy, says he also dwells with these humbled people to revive them.

Why does Isaiah 57 say there is no peace for the wicked?

The closing image compares the wicked to a sea that cannot rest and keeps throwing up mud. This follows God’s promise of peace and healing. The contrast shows that his promise does not erase his judgment against wickedness, which the chapter has described through idolatry, violence, and refusal to heed him.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).