5 You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree; you sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags.
5 Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
5 you who burn with lust among the oaks,
5 You satisfy your lust any place you find some shade and fornicate at whim. You kill your children at any convenient spot - any cave or crevasse will do.
5 Inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree, Slaying the children in the valleys, Under the clefts of the rocks?
5 You worship your idols with great passion beneath the oaks and under every green tree. You sacrifice your children down in the valleys, among the jagged rocks in the cliffs.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 57:5
Commentary on Isaiah 57:3-12
(Read Isaiah 57:3-12)
The Lord here calls apostates and hypocrites to appear before him. When reproved for their sins, and threatened with judgments, they ridiculed the word of God. The Jews were guilty of idolatry before the captivity; but not after that affliction. Their zeal in the worship of false gods, may shame our indifference in the worship of the true God. The service of sin is disgraceful slavery; those who thus debase themselves to hell, will justly have their portion there. Men incline to a religion that inflames their unholy passions. They are led to do any evil, however great or vile, if they think it will atone for crimes, or purchase indulgence for some favourite lust. This explains idolatry, whether pagan, Jewish, or antichristian. But those who set up anything instead of God, for their hope and confidence, never will come to a right end. Those who forsake the only right way, wander in a thousand by-paths. The pleasures of sin soon tire, but never satisfy. Those who care not for the word of God and his providences, show they have no fear of God. Sin profits not; it ruins and destroys.