Isaiah 61:8-9

For I, Yahweh, love judgment,

I hate robbery with a burnt offering,

And I will give them their recompense in truth,

And I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

And their seed will be known among the nations,

And their offspring among the peoples,

All who see them will acknowledge them,

That they are the seed which Yahweh has blessed.

By now it is Yahweh Himself Who is speaking. All that has been described must be so because God is determined to produce a world in accordance with His desires, a world of justice, honesty and truth. He is the One Who loves true justice, both official and personal, and will therefore bring it about. ‘Robbery' here is contrasted with compensation and would thus seem to indicate robbery of blessings from those who deserve them. It sees all injustice and unjust gain as robbery.

‘Robbery with (in) a burnt offering.' This directly contrasts with ‘recompense in truth'. It may be speaking of the hypocrisy of those who rob God's true people, or even are generally deceitful and dishonest, and then blatantly and hypocritically offer tongue-in-cheek offerings to God thinking that it will make everything right. They have a mechanical view of the process of forgiveness which is not valid, forgetting that no religious rite can benefit a man if his heart is wrong, for when a man offers an offering God first looks at his heart. Or it may simply signify that God hates those who blatantly sin and at the same time pretend to be genuinely godly. They thus live a lie, and their offering is a lie, for it purports to be a whole offering of the person while they are in fact withholding themselves from God. As Jesus Himself said, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).

But to His true people, who reveal what they are by their righteous living, He gives ‘recompense in truth'. ‘Recompense' means reward for work and then the giving of what is due. This may be translated as either ‘true recompense', a full and satisfactory recompense, or ‘recompense because they come in truth', i.e. because they come with true hearts in contrast with those who offer offerings while engaging in dishonesty. Those who love justice as He loves it will receive their due reward.

‘And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and their seed will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Yahweh has blessed.' God's promise to His own continues. With those who come in truth He will make His everlasting covenant which will guarantee their recognition as the people of God in the eyes of the nations. Their seed will be known among the nations as the seed which Yahweh has blessed (see especially Isaiah 59:21 compare also Isaiah 54:10; Isaiah 55:3). In the end all will see their quality of life and being and have to recognise them for what they are and admit that they are truly God's people. Note the emphasis on seed and compare Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 53:10. These described are the true seed of Abraham, and the seed of the true Servant.