◄ Isaiah 3:11 ►
Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.
Study Bible
Woe to the wicked
The word "woe" is a strong expression of lament and impending judgment. In Hebrew, it is "הוֹי" (hoy), often used by prophets to announce divine judgment. This phrase sets the tone for the verse, indicating a serious warning to those who live in opposition to God's ways. The "wicked" refers to those who actively choose to live in sin, rejecting God's commandments. Historically, this would have been a direct message to the Israelites who had turned away from God, but it also serves as a timeless warning to all who choose unrighteousness.

disaster is upon them
The term "disaster" in Hebrew is "רָעָה" (ra'ah), which can mean calamity or evil. This phrase emphasizes the certainty and imminence of the consequences that the wicked will face. The use of "is upon them" suggests that this disaster is not a distant threat but an immediate reality. In the historical context of Isaiah, this would have been a reference to the impending judgment on Judah and Jerusalem due to their unfaithfulness. It serves as a reminder that God's justice is not only future but can also be present.

For they will be repaid
The concept of being "repaid" is rooted in the principle of divine justice. The Hebrew word "שָׁלַם" (shalam) implies a sense of completeness or fulfillment, indicating that the wicked will receive the full measure of what they deserve. This reflects the biblical principle of sowing and reaping, where one's actions have corresponding consequences. It underscores the fairness of God's judgment, as He ensures that justice is served.

with what their hands have done
This phrase highlights personal responsibility and accountability. The "hands" symbolize one's actions and deeds. In the Hebrew culture, the hand was often seen as the instrument of action, representing the choices and behaviors of an individual. This part of the verse reinforces the idea that the wicked are not victims of arbitrary punishment but are receiving the natural outcome of their own actions. It serves as a call to self-examination and repentance, urging individuals to consider the moral and spiritual implications of their deeds.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Isaiah
A major prophet in the Old Testament, Isaiah is the author of the book. He prophesied during the reigns of several kings of Judah and is known for his messages of both judgment and hope.

2. Judah
The southern kingdom of Israel, which Isaiah primarily addressed. During Isaiah's time, Judah was experiencing moral and spiritual decline.

3. The Wicked
Refers to those in Judah who were living in rebellion against God's commandments, engaging in idolatry, injustice, and immorality.

4. Prophetic Judgment
The event of God pronouncing judgment upon the wicked through His prophet, warning them of the consequences of their actions.

5. Divine Retribution
The concept that God will repay individuals according to their deeds, a theme prevalent in Isaiah's prophecies.
Teaching Points
The Certainty of Divine Justice
God's justice is certain and inevitable. The wicked cannot escape the consequences of their actions, as God will repay them according to their deeds.

The Consequences of Sin
Sin leads to disaster and destruction. This verse serves as a warning to turn away from wickedness and seek righteousness.

The Call to Repentance
While judgment is pronounced, there is always an implicit call to repentance. God desires that the wicked turn from their ways and seek His mercy.

Living Righteously
Believers are encouraged to live righteously, knowing that God sees all actions and will reward or punish accordingly.

Trust in God's Sovereignty
In a world where injustice seems prevalent, believers can trust that God is sovereign and will ultimately bring about justice.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Isaiah 3:11 reflect the character of God in terms of justice and righteousness?

2. In what ways can we see the principle of "reaping what you sow" in our own lives and in the world around us?

3. How can the message of Isaiah 3:11 encourage us to live a life of integrity and righteousness?

4. What are some practical steps we can take to avoid the path of the wicked as described in Isaiah 3:11?

5. How does understanding God's justice help us deal with the injustices we witness in the world today?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Psalm 1
Contrasts the way of the righteous and the wicked, emphasizing the ultimate downfall of the wicked.

Galatians 6:7
Reinforces the principle of sowing and reaping, where individuals will face consequences based on their actions.

Proverbs 11:21
Assures that the wicked will not go unpunished, aligning with the theme of divine justice.

Romans 2:6
Speaks of God repaying each person according to their deeds, echoing the message of Isaiah 3:11.

Revelation 22:12
Jesus declares that He will reward each person according to what they have done, highlighting the consistency of this principle throughout Scripture.
Sermons
All Things Conspire for Evil to the SinnerC. G. Finny.Isaiah 3:11
Presumptuous DisobedienceIsaiah 3:11
The Wicked Man Digs His Own HellJ. Parker, D. D.Isaiah 3:11
The Reasons of JudgmentE. Johnson Isaiah 3:8-15
The Path of Sin and the Rest of RighteousnessW. Clarkson Isaiah 3:9-11
A Christian Gardener's HopeGates of ImageryIsaiah 3:10-11
All Well with the RighteousJ. Warburton.Isaiah 3:10-11
An Old Man's HallelujahIsaiah 3:10-11
Cheering Words and Solemn WarningsIsaiah 3:10-11
Heaven, the Outcome of Godly LivingD. J. S. Hunt.Isaiah 3:10-11
It is Well with the RighteousH. Woodcock.Isaiah 3:10-11
Messages to the Righteous and the WickedW. Clarkson Isaiah 3:10, 11
Objections to God's Moral GovernmentJ. Bartlett.Isaiah 3:10-11
Retribution of the Righteous and the WickedJ. Bartlett.Isaiah 3:10-11
The End of Christian LifeF. Morse, M. A.Isaiah 3:10-11
The Happiness of the RighteousHomilistIsaiah 3:10-11
The Happiness of the Righteous in All Circumstances IllustratedJ. Abernethy, M. A.Isaiah 3:10-11
The Righteous and the Wicked, Their Reward and Their WoeW. Mudge, M. A.Isaiah 3:10-11
People
Isaiah
Places
Jerusalem, Sodom, Zion
Topics
Badly, Deed, Deeds, Desert, Deserves, Disaster, Doings, Evil, Hands, Ill, Paid, Rendered, Reward, Sinner, Unhappy, Wicked, Wo, Woe
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 3:11

     5483   punishment

Isaiah 3:11-15

     5931   resistance

Library
A Paradox of Selling and Buying
'Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.'--ISAIAH iii. 3. THE first reference of these words is of course to the Captivity. They come in the midst of a grand prophecy of freedom, all full of leaping gladness and buoyant hope. The Seer speaks to the captives; they had 'sold themselves for nought.' What had they gained by their departure from God?--bondage. What had they won in exchange for their freedom?-- only the hard service of Babylon. As Deuteronomy puts it: …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Marching Orders
'Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord. 12. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your reward.'--ISAIAH iii. 11, 12. These ringing notes are parts of a highly poetic picture of that great deliverance which inspired this prophet's most exalted strains. It is described with constant allusion to the first Exodus, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Christian view of Sorrow
"A man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief" Is. Iii. 3. There is one great distinction between the productions of Heathen and of Christian art. While the first exhibits the perfection of physical form and of intellectual beauty, the latter expresses, also, the majesty of sorrow, the grandeur of endurance, the idea of triumph refined from agony. In all those shapes of old there is nothing like the glory of the martyr; the sublimity of patience and resignation; the dignity of the thorn-crowned Jesus. …
E. H. Chapin—The Crown of Thorns

The Personal History of Herod - the Two Worlds in Jerusalem.
It is an intensely painful history, [581] in the course of which Herod made his way to the throne. We look back nearly two and a half centuries to where, with the empire of Alexander, Palestine fell to his successors. For nearly a century and a half it continued the battle-field of the Egyptian and Syrian kings (the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ). At last it was a corrupt High-Priesthood - with which virtually the government of the land had all along lain - that betrayed Israel's precious trust. …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

How those are to be Admonished who Praise the Unlawful Things of which they are Conscious, and those who While Condemning Them, in no Wise Guard
(Admonition 32.) Differently to be admonished are they who even praise the unlawful things which they do, and those who censure what is wrong, and yet avoid it not. For they who even praise the unlawful things which they do are to be admonished to consider how for the most part they offend more by the mouth than by deeds. For by deeds they perpetrate wrong things in their own persons only; but with the mouth they bring out wickedness in the persons of as many as there are souls of hearers, to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

"But Whereunto Shall I Liken this Generation?"
Matth. xi. 16.--"But whereunto shall I liken this generation?" When our Lord Jesus, who had the tongue of the learned, and spoke as never man spake, did now and then find a difficulty to express the matter herein contained. "What shall we do?" The matter indeed is of great importance, a soul matter, and therefore of great moment, a mystery, and therefore not easily expressed. No doubt he knows how to paint out this to the life, that we might rather behold it with our eyes, than hear it with our …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Brief Memoir of Thomas Watson
Compiled by C. H. Spurgeon Thomas Watson's Body of Practical Divinity is one of the most precious of the peerless works of the Puritans; and those best acquainted with it prize it most. Watson was one of the most concise, racy, illustrative, and suggestive of those eminent divines who made the Puritan age the Augustan period of evangelical literature. There is a happy union of sound doctrine, heart-searching experience and practical wisdom throughout all his works, and his Body of Divinity is, beyond …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Of Civil Government.
OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. This chapter consists of two principal heads,--I. General discourse on the necessity, dignity, and use of Civil Government, in opposition to the frantic proceedings of the Anabaptists, sec. 1-3. II. A special exposition of the three leading parts of which Civil Government consists, sec. 4-32. The first part treats of the function of Magistrates, whose authority and calling is proved, sec. 4-7. Next, the three Forms of civil government are added, sec. 8. Thirdly, Consideration …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Letter Li to the virgin Sophia
To the Virgin Sophia He praises her for having despised the glory of the world: and, setting forth the praises, privileges, and rewards of Religious Virgins, exhorts her to persevere. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, to the Virgin Sophia, that she may keep the title of virginity and attain its reward. I. Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised (Prov. xxxi. 31). I rejoice with you, my daughter, in the glory of your virtue, whereby, as I hear, you …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

"All Our Righteousnesses are as Filthy Rags, and we all do Fade as a Leaf, and Our Iniquities, Like the Wind, have Taken us Away. "
Isaiah lxiv. 6, 7.--"All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Not only are the direct breaches of the command uncleanness, and men originally and actually unclean, but even our holy actions, our commanded duties. Take a man's civility, religion, and all his universal inherent righteousness,--all are filthy rags. And here the church confesseth nothing but what God accuseth her of, Isa. lxvi. 8, and chap. i. ver. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother. "
From this Commandment we learn that after the excellent works of the first three Commandments there are no better works than to obey and serve all those who are set over us as superiors. For this reason also disobedience is a greater sin than murder, unchastity, theft and dishonesty, and all that these may include. For we can in no better way learn how to distinguish between greater and lesser sins than by noting the order of the Commandments of God, although there are distinctions also within the …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &C.
Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &c. [1273] Seeing the chief end of all religion is to redeem men from the spirit and vain conversation of this world and to lead into inward communion with God, before whom if we fear always we are accounted happy; therefore all the vain customs and habits thereof, both in word and deed, are to be rejected and forsaken by those who come to this fear; such as taking off the hat to a man, the bowings and cringings of the body, and such other salutations of that …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it …
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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