John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 32:6

"For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise profaneness, and to utter error against Jehovah, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail." — Isaiah 32:6 (ASV)

For the vile person will speak vileness. We might also translate it, “The wicked man will speak wickedly,” for נבלה (nĕbālāh) denotes “baseness” or any wickedness, such as is meant by the French word lascheté, or by the English words “lewdness” or “baseness.” It might also be translated, “The fool will speak wickedly,” and thus there would be an allusion to the words נבל (nābāl) and נבלה (nĕbālāh), though the meaning would be considerably different. But since he used this word in the former verse when speaking of “vile” persons, I willingly adopt that interpretation.

And his heart will contrive iniquity. I consider און (āvĕn) to denote “wickedness,” for he speaks of them continually giving themselves up to sin and acting wickedly, as is plainly shown by what follows. His earnest remonstrances are directed against wicked men who abandon themselves to all that is vile, are not moved by any sense of conscience, and who laugh at all warnings, ridiculing God and his servants.

Christ also drags them into the light and exposes what lay concealed. For to him, as we have said, it uniquely belongs to pierce, by the sword of the gospel, the hidden feelings of the heart, that they may answer to the judgment of God (Hebrews 4:12).

Isaiah therefore continues the same subject which he had previously begun to explain.

Others explain it differently, but, in my opinion, in an unsuitable manner. They think that it is a kind of proverbial saying and translate it in the present tense: “The vile person speaks vileness.”

But I think that the Prophet means something more profound: namely, that Christ is the Judge of the world. Therefore, when he ascends the judgment-seat, he will show the disposition of every person.

For as long as he does not exercise the office of a judge, everything remains in confusion: the wicked are applauded because they appear pious, and the most excellent people are despised.

But Christ will openly display the life of every person, so that what previously, under some pretense, had a fair reputation will be revealed as wickedness. On this account he is said to have in his hand a sieve for separating the wheat from the chaff (Matthew 3:12).

Now, this sieve is the gospel, by which, as a Judge, he brings wrongdoers to trial and, despite their efforts, draws forth the exposure of their transgressions and crimes.

We experience this more and more every day, when that wickedness which was concealed under the mask of Popery and the intricate folds of superstitions is exposed.

Who, amidst that darkness, would ever have thought that such dreadful monsters as are revealed today were concealed in human hearts? The contempt of God has risen to such a height that many show themselves to be more like beasts than human beings.

Yet the Papists slander us, as if our doctrine gave free rein to people and exhorted them to despise God and pursue wickedness without fear or shame. But let them listen to Isaiah, who replies that when the truth of God is made known, vile persons will speak vileness, and wicked persons will speak baseness and wickedness. Indeed, Christ would not be a spiritual judge if he did not reveal the secret thoughts of the heart and bring every hidden thing to light (Luke 2:35).

To make empty the hungry soul. In addition to those mockeries which the reprobate direct against God, cruelty is next mentioned. The Prophet thus gives an exact list of those actions which are contrary to the second table of the Law.

Wicked people begin by despising God, then rush to outward crimes, and practice every sort of cruelty against their neighbors. Now, the worst and most flagrant of all cruelty is to “snatch food from the hungry soul and drink from the thirsty,” for mere natural feeling prompts us to mercy and (συμπάθειαν) compassion.

When people are so brutalized that they are not affected by the misery of others and abandon every feeling of humanity, they must be worse than the beasts themselves, which show some sort of pity for the needs of their own kind.