Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock [whence] ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit [whence] ye are digged. Ver. 1. _Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness._] Heb., Ye that pursue or follow hard after it, as Paul did. Php 3:13-1... [ Continue Reading ]
_Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah [that] bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him._ Ver. 2. _Look unto Abraham your father._] "Look" and again "look." "Hearken" and again "hearken." These poor Jews, before the coming of Christ in the flesh, were _vino somnoq... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody._ Ver. 3. _For the Lord shall comfort Zion._] (As once he did... [ Continue Reading ]
Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. Ver. 4. _Hearken unto me._] See on Isaiah 51:2 . _ For a law shall proceed from me,_] _i.e., _ The gospel of grace, that "perfect law of li... [ Continue Reading ]
My righteousness [is] near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. Ver. 5. _My righteousness,_] _i.e., _ My faithfulness, or my Son, that Sun of righteousness, is already on the way, _a_ and will be with you... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished._ Ver.... [ Continue Reading ]
Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart [is] my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. Ver. 7. _Hearken unto me._] See on Isaiah 51:2 . _ Ye that know righteousness._] With a knowledge apprehensive, and affective also. _ The p... [ Continue Reading ]
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. Ver. 8. _For the moth shall eat them up._] They shall be crushed before the moth, Job 4:19 that is, easily be destroyed, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. [Art] thou not it that hath cut Rahab, [and] wounded the dragon? Ver. 9. _Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord._] God had promised what his holy arm should do for his people, Isa 51:5 now they beg... [ Continue Reading ]
Isaiah 51:10 [Art] thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? Ver. 10. _Art not thou it which hath dried the sea?_] And canst not thou do as much again for thy poor people? This is an excellent way of... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy [shall be] upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; [and] sorrow and mourning shall flee away. Ver. 11. _Therefore the redeemed of the Lord, &c._] This is God's answer, as some; or the... [ Continue Reading ]
I, [even] I, [am] he that comforteth you: who [art] thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man [that] shall die, and of the son of man [which] shall be made [as] grass; Ver. 12. _I, even I, am he that comforteth you._] This is certainly an answer to that supplication, Isa 51:10 and it comprehende... [ Continue Reading ]
_And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where [is] the fury of the oppressor?_ Ver. 13. _And forgettest the Lord... [ Continue Reading ]
The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. Ver. 14. _The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed,_] _i.e., _ Deliverance is even at the next door by; or, it is a description, saith Diodate, of the believers' readin... [ Continue Reading ]
But I [am] the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts [is] his name. Ver. 15. _For I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea._] Or, I the Lord thy God am he that stilleth the sea when the waves of it roar; how much more then can I curb and control the rage of ma... [ Continue Reading ]
And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou [art] my people. Ver. 16. _And I have put my words in thy mouth._] O Isaiah, my servant; but especially, O Christ, my... [ Continue Reading ]
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, [and] wrung [them] out. Ver. 17. _Awake, awake._] _Suscita te, suscita te._ As the Church had stirred up the arm of the Lord to awake, Isa 51:9 so... [ Continue Reading ]
__ Isaiah 51:18 _[There is] none to guide her among all the sons [whom] she hath brought forth; neither [is there any] that taketh her by the hand of all the sons [that] she hath brought up._ Ver. 18. _There is none to guide her._] This was a point next the worst, as we say. She was without pruden... [ Continue Reading ]
These two [things] are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? Ver. 19. _These two things are come unto thee._] As they seldom are separated; as some write of the asp, that he never wanders alone without... [ Continue Reading ]
Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God. Ver. 20. _Thy sons have fainted._] _Fame, macie, tabe, vulnere,_ utterly disabled to relieve thee. Isa 51:18 _ As a wild bull in a net._] Taken in... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: Ver. 21. _Thou afflicted and drunken._] With a dry drunkenness, which thou canst not so easily sleep out. Isa 51:17... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God [that] pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, [even] the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: Ver. 22. _Behold I have taken._] Though man could not. Where human help faileth,... [ Continue Reading ]
But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over. Ver. 23. _But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee._] Who shall drink it not... [ Continue Reading ]