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2 Chronicles 32:33
And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

2 Chronicles 35:24
His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried inone of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

no man

Isaiah 57:11
And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laidit to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not?

Isaiah 42:24
Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.

Isaiah 47:7
And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever:so that thou didst not lay thesethings to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.

merciful men.

Psalm 12:1
To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

Micah 7:2
The goodman is perished out of the earth: andthere is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

the righteous

1 Kings 14:13
And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is foundsome good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

2 Kings 22:20
Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

2 Chronicles 34:28
Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.

the evil to come.

devout men are taken away,
The removal of devout individuals can be seen as a divine act of mercy, sparing them from impending judgment or calamity. This concept is similar to the removal of Enoch inGenesis 5:24, who was taken by God, and Elijah in2 Kings 2:11, who was taken up to heaven. The phrase suggests that God, in His sovereignty, sometimes chooses to protect His faithful servants by removing them from a corrupt world. This can also be seen as a foreshadowing of the ultimate deliverance through Christ, who promises eternal life to His followers.

while no one considers that the righteous are taken away from the presence of evil.
This part of the verse emphasizes the lack of understanding or awareness among the people regarding God's purposes. The removal of the righteous is not merely a loss but a deliverance from evil. This aligns with the biblical theme of God protecting His people from judgment, as seen in the story of Noah and the flood (Genesis 6-9) and Lot's escape from Sodom (Genesis 19). The phrase also points to the eschatological hope found inRevelation 21:4, where God promises to remove all pain and suffering, ultimately delivering His people from evil. The righteous being taken away can be seen as a type of Christ's redemptive work, where believers are saved from the ultimate presence of sin and evil.

“The righteous perish…”

• Scripture acknowledges the observable fact: faithful believers sometimes die early or unexpectedly.

• Their passing is not evidence of God’s neglect; rather, it affirmsHebrews 9:27—death is appointed for all.

•Psalm 116:15 echoes, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints,” reminding us that even an untimely death is held within God’s loving sovereignty.

“…and no one takes it to heart…”

• Society grows numb when godly voices disappear (Micah 7:2;Psalm 12:1).

• Indifference signals spiritual decline—people fail to grieve the loss of moral influence.

•Acts 8:2 notes devout men mourning Stephen; the contrast in Isaiah shows what happens when such mourning is absent.

“…devout men are taken away…”

• “Taken away” points to God’s active role: He gathers His saints (Isaiah 57:2;1 Thessalonians 4:14).

• The phrase recalls Enoch’s translation (Genesis 5:24) and Josiah’s peaceful death before judgment fell on Judah (2 Kings 22:19-20).

• God sometimes removes His people to spare them, not to punish them.

“…while no one considers…”

• Spiritual blindness keeps people from connecting events to divine purposes (Jeremiah 5:21).

•Ecclesiastes 7:2 says it is wise to take death to heart; failure to do so reveals a hardening toward God’s warnings.

“…that the righteous are taken away from the presence of evil.”

• Core meaning: God mercifully removes His people before greater evil or judgment descends (cf.Revelation 3:10).

•2 Kings 22:20 illustrates the principle: Josiah “will be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes will not see all the disaster.”

•Philippians 1:23 shows Paul’s desire “to depart and be with Christ,” affirming that death ushers believers into safety and joy.

•Revelation 14:13 underlines the blessing: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord… they will rest from their labors.”

Isaiah 57:1 teaches that when righteous believers die, it is neither random nor tragic from heaven’s viewpoint. God sometimes calls His faithful ones home to shield them from impending evil, yet a spiritually dull culture fails to notice the protective love behind their departure. The verse urges us to value godly lives, recognize divine purposes in death, and trust that the Lord’s timing—whether in life or death—is always good.

(1)The righteous perisheth . . .--The words seem written as if in the anticipation or in the actual presence of Manasseh's persecution of the true prophets. Even before that persecution burst out in its full violence, the "righteous" survivors of Hezekiah'sregimemay well have vexed their souls even to death with the evils that were around them. The prophet finds comfort in the thought that their death was a deliverance from yet worse evils. The singular number points to the few conspicuous sufferers.