Romans 3:15

Their feet are swift to shed blood:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:9-18 Here again is shown that all mankind are under the guilt of sin, as a burden; and under the government and dominion of sin, as enslaved to it, to work wickedness. This is made plain by several passages of Scripture from the Old Testament, which describe the corrupt and depraved state of all men, till grace restrain or change them. Great as our advantages are, these texts describe multitudes who call themselves Christians. Their principles and conduct prove that there is no fear of God before their eyes. And where no fear of God is, no good is to be looked for.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Their feet ... - The quotation in this and the two following verses, is abridged or condensed from Isaiah 59:7-8. The expressions occur in the midst of a description of the character of the nation in the time of the prophet. The apostle has selected a few expressions out of many, rather making a reference to the entire passage, than a formal quotation. The expression, "their feet are swift," etc., denotes the eagerness of the nation to commit crime, particularly deeds of injustice and cruelty. They thirsted for the blood of innocence, and hasted to shed it, to gratify their malice, or to satisfy their vengeance.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. Their feet are swift to shed blood—(Pr 1:16; Isa 59:7): that is, "Those feet, which should 'run the way of God's commandments' (Ps 119:32), are employed to conduct men to deeds of darkest crime."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

If we consider this member also, we may see the corruption of man; witness that testimony, Proverbs 1:16, and Isaiah 59:7; on both which see annotations.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Their feet are swift to shed blood. The sins of the heart and mouth are before described, and now the sins of action are taken notice of; for "the feet" are the instruments of motion and action: and when these are said to be "swift to shed blood", it denotes the readiness and eagerness of men, to murder innocent creatures; which shows the dreadful malice and hatred that is in them. The words are cited from Isaiah 59:7, and seem to point at the times of Manasseh, who shed so much innocent blood, as to fill Jerusalem with it from one end to the other.

Geneva Study Bible

Their feet are swift to shed blood:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Romans 3:15-17. These verses are rather a free extract from, than a quotation of, Isaiah 59:7-8. They describe the moral corruption of Israel in the age of the prophet. According to Lipsius, σύντριμμα καὶ ταλαιπωρία refer to the spiritual misery which comes upon the Jews in the path of self-righteousness. But it is much more natural to suppose that the Apostle is pointing to the destruction and misery which human wickedness inflicts on others, than to any such spiritual results of it. It is as if he had said, “Wherever they go, you can trace them by the ruin and distress they leave behind”. The same consideration applies to Romans 3:17. It does not mean, “They have failed to discover the way of salvation,” but “they tread continually in paths of violence”.

Bengel's Gnomen

Romans 3:15-18. Ὀξεῖς—οὐκ ἔγνωσαν) Isaiah 59:7-8, LXX., οἱ δὲ πόδες αὐτῶν—ταχινοὶ ἐκχέαι αἷμα—σύντριμμα οὐκ οἰδασι. So of the feet, Proverbs 1:16.

Romans 3:15