Isaiah Chapter 29 verse 21 Holy Bible
that make a man an offender in `his' cause, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just with a thing of nought.
read chapter 29 in ASV
Who give help to a man in a wrong cause, and who put a net for the feet of him who gives decisions in the public place, taking away a man's right without cause.
read chapter 29 in BBE
that make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and pervert [the judgment of] the righteous by futility.
read chapter 29 in DARBY
That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
read chapter 29 in KJV
read chapter 29 in WBT
that make a man an offender in [his] cause, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just with a thing of nothing.
read chapter 29 in WEB
Causing men to sin in word, And for a reprover in the gate lay a snare, And turn aside into emptiness the righteous.
read chapter 29 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 21. - That make a man an offender for a word. The meaning of this clause is very doubtful. Kay translates, "That lead men into sin by words;" Mr. Cheyne, "That make out people to be sinners by their words," i.e. by bearing false witness against them; while Delitzsch upholds the rendering of the Authorized Version. Mr. Vance Smith has other suggestions ('Prophecies,' p, 171). There seems to be, on the whole, no sufficient reason for setting aside the authorized rendering, which con-demus one form of oppression - the severe punishment of mere words. And lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate. "The gate" was the place where judgment was given and public assemblies held. If any one boldly stood up and reproved the oppressors "in the gate," they instantly set to work to lay a trap for him and bring him to ruin. And turn aside the just for a thing of naught; rather, and deprive the just [of their right] by empty charges. "Turning aside the just" means turning them from their right (Amos 5:12; Exodus 23:6); and bat tohu is not "for nothing" but "by nothing," i.e. by some vain empty pretence.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(21) That make a man an offender for a word . . .--The words indicate that Isaiah had been accused, as Jeremiah was afterwards (Jeremiah 37:13), of being unpatriotic, because he had rebuked the sins of Israel and its rulers. Another interpretation gives, "that make men sinners in word," i.e., suborn false witnesses against him. The former seems preferable, but the general drift of the passage is the same. The "snare" was laid for the "righteous man," precisely because he "reproved in the gate:" i.e., preached in the open air in the places of public concourse, even in the presence of the rulers and judges as they sat there.Turn aside the just.--The phrase is used in Exodus 23:6; Amos 5:12; Malachi 3:5, for the deliberate perversion of justice.A thing of nought.--The Hebrew word is once more the tohu ("without form") of Genesis 1:1. The accusations brought against the prophet were, as we say, incoherent, absolutely chaotic in their falsehood. . . .
