No Rest For The Wicked

Opened up Plotz's Good Book to a random page, searching for his musings on Samuel without using my common sense and b-lining to the table of contents. Page 197, his first sentence on Isaiah Chapter 48 leapt out at me:

The line so nice God uses it twice: "'There is no peace,' says the Lord, 'for the wicked.'" This is the closing verse of Isaiah 48, and of Isaiah 57.

I guess I automatically assumed that somewhere within the Bible resided the oft-quoted passage "No rest for the wicked." A great example of assumptive falsity. Yet another Biblical misquote that has erroneously established itself in our culture's collective conscious? I thought, perhaps, that another translation/version of the Bible contained a rendering of the verse closer to the common saying. As Isaiah 48:22 is essentially identical in the NIV, NSRV, and NKJV, I went back to considerably older English translations, along with the Latin Vulgate and newer Catholic versions. Here's what I could find online:

"Pees is not to wickid men, seith the Lord." (Wycliff Bible, late 1300s)

"There is no peace, sayeth the Lord, vnto the wicked." (Geneva Bible, 1599)

"There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked." (King James Version, 1611)

"There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord." (Douay-Rheims Challoner Revision, 1752)

"(There is no peace for the wicked, says the LORD.)" (New American Bible, 1970)

"There is no peace, says Yahweh, for the wicked." (New Jerusalem Bible, 1985)

"non est pax dicit Dominus impiis." (Latin Vulgate)

While I'm in no way fluent in Latin, I know that "pax" literally means peace, leading me to the conclusion that no translation offers a direct basis for the inclusion of "rest". Seems the common replacement of "peace" with "rest" emerged simply as a derivative phrase referencing the original, with the separation of the two versions fading from memory over time.

When read by itself, isolated from any additional context, the passage appears to be a declaration of retributive justice. Isaiah prophesies the fulfillment of God's promise to restore Israel to the Jews, delivering them from Babylon. Cyrus, ruler of Persia, is promised victory by God so that he may conquer Babylon, free the Israelites and allow their return to Zion. On a side note, Plotz makes an amusing connection to modern day events:

Cyrus remains a great hero to modern Iranians as the father of Persia. Cyrus is also a hero to Jews, because he liberated them, redeemed Jerusalem, and was famously tolerant of Judaism. So, you have Iran, a nation led today by an anti-Semite who calls for the destruction of Israel, sharing a hero with Jews, who revere said hero for restoring Israel. And what did Cyrus conquer? Babylon: modern-day Iraq. As I'm writing, Americans are fretting about Tehran's rising influence in Baghdad and Iraq's possible transformation into a vassal state of Iran. Twenty-five hundred years later and it's the same fights, the same land, the same people.

(197)

Back on track. God makes good on his promise, pledging to heal the Israelites despite their past transgressions. Chapter 57 provides a strong context, in which God promises (through Isaiah) he will not "always be angry," despite Israelites "turning back" again and again, but will provide peace for all but those who persist in being wicked. When taken into such context, "There is no peace ... for the wicked," resists being a statement of retributive justice so much as a warning that the impending salvation of the Israelites will not be extended to those who are unrepentant, who continue in their wickedness.

I dwell in the high and holy place,

and also with those who are contrite

and humble in spirit,

to revive the spirit of the humble,

and to revive the heart of the contrite.

For I will not continually accuse,

nor will I always be angry;

for then the spirits would grow faint before me,

even the souls that I have made.

Because of their wicked covetousness I was angry;

I struck them, I hid and was angry;

but they kept turning back to their own ways.

I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;

I will lead them and repay them with comfort,

creating for their mourners the fruit of the lips.

Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the Lord;

and I will heal them.

But the wicked are like the tossing sea that cannot keep still;

its waters toss up mire and mud.

There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.

(Isaiah 57:15-21)