Isaiah 57:8

8 Behind your doors and your doorposts you have put your pagan symbols. Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed, you climbed into it and opened it wide; you made a pact with those whose beds you love, and you looked with lust on their naked bodies.

Isaiah 57:8 in Other Translations

KJV
8 Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it.
ESV
8 Behind the door and the doorpost you have set up your memorial; for, deserting me, you have uncovered your bed, you have gone up to it, you have made it wide; and you have made a covenant for yourself with them, you have loved their bed, you have looked on nakedness.
NLT
8 You have put pagan symbols on your doorposts and behind your doors. You have left me and climbed into bed with these detestable gods. You have committed yourselves to them. You love to look at their naked bodies.
MSG
8 Behind closed doors you assemble your precious gods and goddesses. Deserting me, you've gone all out, stripped down and made your bed your place of worship. You've climbed into bed with the 'sacred' whores and loved every minute of it, adoring every curve of their naked bodies.
CSB
8 You have set up your memorial behind the door and doorpost. For away from Me, you stripped, went up, and made your bed wide, and you have made a bargain for yourself with them. You have loved their bed; you have gazed on their genitals.

Isaiah 57:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 57:8

Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy
remembrance
The memorial of thine idols, as the Targum. As the Heathens had their "lares" and "penates", their household gods, so the Papists have their tutelar images, which they place in their houses, and in their bedchambers; their images of saints, their crucifixes and superstitious pictures, which they call "memories", and "laymen's books": for thou hast discovered thyself to another than me;
or, "from me" F14; departing from me, and leaving my bed; rejecting Christ as King of saints, deserting his worship and ordinances; thou hast uncovered thyself to another, prostituted thyself to another, been guilty of spiritual adultery or idolatry; receiving and acknowledging another for head of the church, according to whose will all things in worship are directed: and art gone up;
to the bed set up in the high place; to idolatrous temples and altars, there to offer sacrifice: thou hast enlarged thy bed;
to take in many adulterers, and idolatrous worshippers; and so, as Musculus observes, many small chapels, at first erected for this and the other saint, through the vast concourse of people to them, and the gifts they have brought, have, in process of time, become large and magnificent temples: and made a covenant with them;
with idols, and idol worshippers; agreeing to receive the mark and name of the beast, and to worship his image, ( Revelation 13:15-17 ) , or, "thou hast cut for thyself more than they" {o}; more trees to make idols of, or to make more room for the placing of idols in groves than the Heathens: or, "thou hast hewed it for thyself", a bed larger F16 than theirs;
that is, thy bed thou hast made larger than theirs: or, "thou hast cut for thyself from them" F17; taken away from emperors and kings part of, their dominions, and joined them to thy patrimony, and appropriated them to thine own use: thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it;
took delight and pleasure in places of idolatrous worship, and in their idolatry, wherever they were: or, "thou lovedst their bed, a hand thou hast seen" F18; stretched out to help thee, or give thee power, or to invite, encourage, and receive thee into the idolatrous bed; or rather any pillar, monument F19, or statue, erected for idolatry, which seen, they fell down to and worshipped.


FOOTNOTES:

F14 (ytam) "a me", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vitringa.
F15 (Mhm Kl trktw) "et caedis tibi arbores plusquam illi", Piscator.
F16 "Caedens tibi amplius Cubile quam illorum sit", Junius & Tremellius.
F17 "Et excidisti tibi ex eis", Montanus.
F18 (tyzx dy) "manum vidisti", Montanus, Cocceius.
F19 "Ubi monumentum vidisti", Vitringa.

Isaiah 57:8 In-Context

6 The idols among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion; indeed, they are your lot. Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings and offered grain offerings. In view of all this, should I relent?
7 You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill; there you went up to offer your sacrifices.
8 Behind your doors and your doorposts you have put your pagan symbols. Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed, you climbed into it and opened it wide; you made a pact with those whose beds you love, and you looked with lust on their naked bodies.
9 You went to Molek with olive oil and increased your perfumes. You sent your ambassadors far away; you descended to the very realm of the dead!
10 You wearied yourself by such going about, but you would not say, ‘It is hopeless.’ You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Ezekiel 16:26; Ezekiel 23:7
  • 2. Ezekiel 16:15,36; Ezekiel 23:18
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