That make a man an offender; that condemn and punish a man as if he were a great criminal. For a word; for a verbal reproof, as appears from the next clause. For him that reproveth; for God's faithful prophets and ministers, whose office it is to reprove ungodly men, such as these were. In the gate, publicly; which they took for a great affront and disgrace; although the reproof ought to be public, where the sin is public and scandalous. He mentions the gate, because there the people used to assemble, both upon civil and sacred accounts, and there prophets used to deliver their prophecies; of which see Jeremiah 7:2, Jeremiah 17:19. Turn aside, to wit, from judgment, as this phrase is more fully delivered, Isaiah 10:2, or from his right; which is elsewhere called the perverting, or overturning, or overthrowing of a man's right or judgment, as Deuteronomy 27:19 Proverbs 17:23 Lamentations 3:35. The just; the faithful prophets and ministers of God, and among others Christ, who is oft called the just or righteous one, both in the Old and New Testament. For a thing of nought; not for any great advantage, but for a trifle, which is a great aggravation of their injustice. Or, with vanity, i.e. with vain and frivolous pretences, or without any colour of reason or justice.
Related Commentaries of Isaiah 29:21
Isaiah 29:21
21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.