3 A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
3 a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick;
3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks;
3 They get on my nerves, are rude to my face day after day, Make up their own kitchen religion, a potluck religious stew.
3 A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face; Who sacrifice in gardens, And burn incense on altars of brick;
3 All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens. They burn incense on pagan altars.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 65:3
Commentary on Isaiah 65:1-7
(Read Isaiah 65:1-7)
The Gentiles came to seek God, and find him, because they were first sought and found of him. Often he meets some thoughtless trifler or profligate opposer, and says to him, Behold me; and a speedy change takes place. All the gospel day, Christ waited to be gracious. The Jews were bidden, but would not come. It is not without cause they are rejected of God. They would do what most pleased them. They grieved, they vexed the Holy Spirit. They forsook God's temple, and sacrificed in groves. They cared not for the distinction between clean and unclean meats, before it was taken away by the gospel. Perhaps this is put for all forbidden pleasures, and all that is thought to be gotten by sin, that abominable thing which the Lord hates. Christ denounced many woes against the pride and hypocrisy of the Jews. The proof against them is plain. And let us watch against pride and self-preference, remembering that every sin, and the most secret thoughts of man's heart, are known and will be judged by God.