Isaiah 57:4 is a sharp rebuke. God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, asks the people of Judah whom they think they are mocking and why they stick out their tongues at others, and then declares that they are children of rebellion and offspring of lies. The verse is less a call to read about contempt than an exposure of it: the people’s scorn is directed at someone, and God holds them accountable for it. The speaker is the LORD, and the audience is a group of Israelites who have turned to idolatry and wicked practices.
Whom do you mock? Against whom do you make a wide mouth, and stick out your tongue? Aren’t you children of disobedience, and offspring of falsehood…
Isaiah 57:4 (WEB)
What Isaiah 57:4 Means
The opening questions, “Whom do you mock?” and “Against whom do you make a wide mouth, and stick out your tongue?”, are rhetorical. God already knows the answer. The gestures describe open derision: the wide-open mouth and the protruding tongue were ways of jeering at someone, much as a crowd might gesture at a person they despise. The verse pictures a people so sure of their superiority that they feel free to ridicule those around them, while the true target is actually God’s own faithfulness.
The final phrase, “children of disobedience, and offspring of falsehood,” names the root of that behavior. Their scorn comes from a settled habit of rebellion and a life built on lies. The verse does not promise anything directly. What it does is diagnose the heart. It teaches that contempt for others is rarely a stand-alone sin; it grows out of a larger refusal to listen to God and a willingness to live in deception.
The Context of Isaiah 57:4
Isaiah is traditionally attributed to the eighth-century prophet of that name, who ministered in Jerusalem during a period of political pressure and religious compromise. Chapter 57 turns from comfort for the faithful to indictment of those who practice idolatry. Verses 1 and 2 speak of righteous people who die and are taken away, finding peace in their beds, while verse 3 abruptly calls out “sons of a sorceress” and “offspring of adulterers and prostitutes,” the spiritual heirs of the unfaithful.
Read against that background, verse 4 is the hinge of the indictment. The mockery is not simply rudeness toward neighbors. It is part of a pattern that runs through verses 5 through 7, where the same people burn with idolatrous zeal under green trees, sacrifice children, and set up their beds on high mountains to worship false gods. Their jeering at the faithful is an outward sign of an inward allegiance to lies.
Key Phrases in Isaiah 57:4
Proverbs 12:22
Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who do the truth are his delight.
(WEB)
This proverb contrasts lying lips with those who act faithfully, echoing Isaiah’s link between falsehood and the character God detests. Reading it alongside Isaiah 57:4 shows that deception is never merely private; it shapes how a person treats others.
Psalm 1:1
Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers…
(WEB)
Psalm 1 opens by describing the path of the one who refuses to walk with the scornful. Together with Isaiah 57:4, it helps the reader see that choosing whose company and counsel to keep is a decisive step away from mockery.
A Short Prayer From Isaiah 57:4
Lord, you see what I say when I think no one important is listening. You know the laughter I have joined and the people I have quietly looked down on. Search my heart, and show me where contempt has taken root in my speech. Turn me away from falsehood and toward truth, and give me the courage to refuse to mock those you love. Make my words honest and kind, and let my life bear witness to your faithfulness. Amen.
