Isaiah 51:16

I have put my words in thy mouth recurring in ch. Isaiah 59:21.

covered thee in the shadow of mine hand Taken almost exactly from Isaiah 49:2.

that I may plant &c. This is no doubt the right translation, not "that thou mayest plant" (lit. "to plant"). The metaphor of "planting" the heavens is strange; some critics substitute "to stretch forth" (changing a letter), as in Isaiah 51:13, with which likewise the following words correspond.

The verse is remarkable in two respects. (1) It throws an important light on the idea of the Servant of the Lord. Language which is elsewhere used of the Servant is here applied to Israel, to whom the verse is undoubtedly addressed. This would be a strong confirmation of the theory that the Servant is in some sense a personification of Israel. (2) The conception of a new moral universe about to be created is partly anticipated both in Isaiah 51:6 (where the transitoriness of the present world is asserted), and in Isaiah 51:9 f. (see the notes above). This verse, however, adds the further idea that the new creation is the ultimate goal of God's dealings with Israel, whose religious mission culminates in a universal and everlasting salvation.