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Isaiah 57:4

Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

Against whom do ye sport yourselves? - The word here rendered ‹sport‘ (ענג ‛ānag ) means properly “to live delicately and tenderly”; then “to rejoice, to take pleasure or delight.” Here, however, it is evidently used in the sense of to sport oneself over anyone, that is, to deride; and the idea is, probably, that they made a sport or mockery of God, and of the institutions of religion. The prophet asks, with deep indignation and emotion, against whom they did this. Were they aware of the majesty and glory of that Being whom they thus derided?

Against whom make yea wide mouth? - That is, in derision or contempt Psalm 35:21: ‹Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me.‘

And draw out the tongue? - Lowth, ‹Loll the tongue;‘ or, as we would say, ‹run out the tongue.‘ Perhaps it was done with a rapid motion, as in mockery of the true prophets when they delivered the message of God (compare 2 Chronicles 36:16). Contempt was sometimes shown also by protruding the lips Psalm 22:7: ‹They shoot out the lip;‘ and also by gaping upon a person Psalm 22:13; ‹They gaped upon me with their mouths.‘

Are ye not children of transgression? - That is, in view of the fact that you make a sport of sacred things, and deride the laws and the prophets of God.

A seed of false-hood - A generation that is unfaithful to God and to his cause.

Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary
The Lord here calls apostates and hypocrites to appear before him. When reproved for their sins, and threatened with judgments, they ridiculed the word of God. The Jews were guilty of idolatry before the captivity; but not after that affliction. Their zeal in the worship of false gods, may shame our indifference in the worship of the true God. The service of sin is disgraceful slavery; those who thus debase themselves to hell, will justly have their portion there. Men incline to a religion that inflames their unholy passions. They are led to do any evil, however great or vile, if they think it will atone for crimes, or purchase indulgence for some favourite lust. This explains idolatry, whether pagan, Jewish, or antichristian. But those who set up anything instead of God, for their hope and confidence, never will come to a right end. Those who forsake the only right way, wander in a thousand by-paths. The pleasures of sin soon tire, but never satisfy. Those who care not for the word of God and his providences, show they have no fear of God. Sin profits not; it ruins and destroys.