Isaiah Chapter 1 verse 17 Holy Bible
learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
read chapter 1 in ASV
Take pleasure in well-doing; let your ways be upright, keep down the cruel, give a right decision for the child who has no father, see to the cause of the widow.
read chapter 1 in BBE
learn to do well: seek judgment, gladden the oppressed, do justice to the fatherless, plead for the widow.
read chapter 1 in DARBY
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
read chapter 1 in KJV
read chapter 1 in WBT
Learn to do well. Seek justice, Relieve the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, Plead for the widow."
read chapter 1 in WEB
Seek judgment, make happy the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, strive `for' the widow.
read chapter 1 in YLT
Isaiah 1 : 17 Bible Verse Songs
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 17. - Learn to do well. Now comes the positive; first, in the general form" learn," etc.; which resembles the apostle's "Put on the armor of light" (Romans 13:12). Then follow the particulars. Seek judgment; or, seek out justice; i.e. endeavor to get justice done to all men; see that they "have right." Relieve the oppressed. So the LXX., the Vulgate, the Syriac, and the Chaldean Versions. But the word translated "oppressed" is thought by many to mean "oppressor" (Kimchi, Gesenius, Cheyne). This is certainly its meaning in Psalm 71:4. Translate, tighten the oppressor; i.e. correct and chasten him. Judge the fatherless; rather, do justice to the orphan (Cheyne); see that he is not wronged - be his champion. Plead for the widow; i.e. plead her cause in the courts; or, if judge, and she have no advocate, lean towards her, as if her advocate. The widow and the orphan were taken under God's special protection from the time of Moses, and constantly commended to the tender care of the righteous (Exodus 22:22-24; Deuteronomy 10:18; Deuteronomy 24:17; Deuteronomy 27:19, etc.).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(17) Relieve the oppressed.--More accurately, correct the oppressor. The prophet calls on the rulers not merely to acts of benevolence, but to the courageous exercise of their authority to restrain the wrong-doing of the men of their own order. We are reminded of what Shakespeare says of Time, that it is his work--"To wrong the wronger till he render right."(Rape of Lucrece.)Judge the fatherless.--The words are still primarily addressed to men in office. They are told that they must be true to their calling, and that the "fatherless" and the "widow," as the typical instances of the defenceless, ought to find an advocate in the judge.
