Isa 57:17

“Because of the wickedness of his greed, I became angry and struck him; I hid myself and was indignant, and he went on his way grieving (Vulgate: he went astray). LXX: Because of sin I have afflicted him for a little while, and struck him: and I turned my face away from him, and he was saddened and walked sadly in his ways. After the rejection of the people of Judah and those who refused to believe in the Savior, God had promised those who had confidence in Him a gentle land and a holy mountain, and He commanded the Apostles: Make a way for the people who are returning and remove all stumbling blocks from their path. And lest it seem unbelievable, He reveals His power, that the lofty and great God can easily grant forgiveness to the repentant, and it is just that the Creator should have mercy on His creatures. Therefore, because of those things, He joined together, because He was angry and saddened His people: therefore, He made Himself, because He sinned, and He had greed for iniquity, and He was not satisfied with one iniquity, but He always added sins to sins. And I struck Him for a little while, He says, in order to heal, and I hid, it is understood, My face, so that He would desire Me more, and would say: Show Your face and we shall be saved (Psalm 79:4). And I was indignant; which He sensing, He approached sadly, saying: I walked sad all day long (Psalm 38:7). And he walked in sorrow, whether turned towards the way of his heart, so that he did not act for the appearance of men, but in his heart he performed repentance.”

“Some understand this passage specifically about the Savior, that he was deeply grieved for the sins of the world, saying: My soul is sorrowful even to death (Matthew 26:38). And the Father who speaks through Zacharias says: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered (Zech. XIII, 7); and he himself says of himself in the sixty-eighth psalm: Because it is you who have struck, they have persecuted (Psalm LXVIII, 27). And God turned his face away from him, so that he might assume the appearance of a servant for a short time, walk in sadness, lamenting the sins of the people, mourning and weeping over Jerusalem.”

“For the iniquity of his thievery Heb. בִּצְעוֹ, his thievery. I became wroth at the beginning and I smote him, always hiding My face from his distress and I was wroth for he went rebelliously in the way of his heart. Transpose the verse and explain it thus: For the iniquity of his thievery and the fact that he went rebelliously in the way of his heart, I became wroth and smote him.”

“ואכהו And smote him, namely, my people (ver. 14), or him that is of a contrite and humble spirit (ver. 15). It is the imperfect, for which the Hebrew language has no special form. I hid me. I hid my face when I smote him with my hand. It is a figurative expression for I smote him without pity. הסתר lit., to hide is infinitive. וילך שובב He went on returning, with frowardness and obstinacy, in the way of his heart, that is, in his evil ways. שובב is used in a bad sense.”

“And he adds the reason, setting out justice fulfilled in punishing: for the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, and I struck him: I hid my face, that I might not give help, and he went away wandering, like a sheep without a shepherd: shall he reprove you for fear, and come with you into judgment, and not for your manifold wickedness and your infinite iniquities? (Job 22:4–5).”