Isaiah 59:15

“Yea, truth faileth, &c.] Or, “is deprived”f1168; of its life and being; it not only falls in the street, and there lies, without any to show regard unto it; but it fails; it seems as if it had given up the ghost and expired; so very prevalent will error be, before light and truth spring up again and be victorious, as they will: and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey; he that does not give in to the prevailing vices of the age in which he lives, now become fashionable, but abstains from them, and departs from doctrinal as well as practical evils; from all false doctrines, and from all superstitious modes of worship; becomes a prey to others; a reproach and a laughing stock to…”

“faileth--is not to be found. he that departeth . . . prey--He that will not fall in with the prevailing iniquity exposes himself as a prey to the wicked (Psa 10:8-9). Lord saw it--The iniquity of Israel, so desperate as to require nothing short of Jehovah's interposition to mend it, typifies the same necessity for a Divine Mediator existing in the deep corruption of man; Israel, the model nation, was chosen to illustrate his awful fact.”

“Yea, truth faileth - That is, it is not to be found, it is missing. The word used here (from עדר ‛âdar) means “to be left, to remain” 2 Samuel 17:22; then “to be missing or lacking” 1 Samuel 30:19; Isaiah 40:26. Here it means that truth had no existence there. And he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey - Margin, ‘Is accounted mad.’ Noyes renders this, ‘And he that departeth from evil is plundered.’ Grotius renders it, ‘The innocent man lies open to injury from all.’ The Septuagint, ‘They took away the mind from understanding;’ or, ‘They substituted opinion in the place of knowledge.’ (Thompson’s Translation.) The phrase, ‘He that departeth from evil,’ means evidently a man who…”

“Faileth - All things are amiss, neither judgment or justice, or truth, is to be found among us. A prey - Or, as some render it, is accounted mad, is laughed at. Josephus tells us, that immediately before the destruction of Jerusalem, it was matter of scorn to be religions. The translators reach the meaning of the word by prey: the wicked, like wild beasts, endeavouring to devour such as are not as bad as themselves: where wickedness rules, innocency is oppressed. Isaiah 59:16”

“59:15-17 The Lord goes out as a warrior intent on achieving victory against the wicked (cp. Eph 6:14).”

“truth: Isa 48:1; Psa 5:9, Psa 12:1, Psa 12:2; Jer 5:1, Jer 5:2, Jer 7:28; Hos 4:1, Hos 4:2; Mic 7:2 he that: Hab 1:13, Hab 1:14; Act 9:1, Act 9:23; Rom 8:36; Heb 11:36-38; Jo1 3:11, Jo1 3:12 maketh himself a prey: or, is accounted mad, Kg2 9:11; Jer 29:26; Hos 9:7; Mar 3:21; Joh 8:52, Joh 10:20; Act 26:24; Co2 5:13 displeased him: Heb. was evil in his eyes, Gen 38:10; Sa2 11:27; Ch2 21:7 \*marg. Isaiah 59:16”