Isaiah 57:3-4

Indignant summons to the apostate community.

But draw near hither Better, But as for you, draw near hither &c. to hear your doom (cf. Isaiah 41:1; Isaiah 45:20; Isaiah 48:16).

ye sons of a sorceress The most galling insult to an Oriental is to revile his mother (see 1 Samuel 20:30). By the use of the phrase here the persons addressed are described as nursed in witchcraft and superstition.

seed of an adulterer and a whore Cf. Ezekiel 16:3; Ezekiel 16:45 ("thy father an Amorite, thy mother a Hittite"). It is not improbable that the words contain a specific allusion to the mixed origin of the Samaritans (2 Kings 17:24 ff.); the "adulterer" may be the remains of the old Israelitish population (who had been untrue to the marriage bond with Jehovah), and the "harlot" the heathen element which had been imported by successive kings of Assyria.