Isaiah 51:4

Hearken unto me Better as R.V. Attend unto me, the verb being different from that used in Isaiah 51:1; Isaiah 51:7.

a law shall proceed from me See ch. Isaiah 2:3 ("for out of Zion shall go forth Tôrâh"). For a law(tôrâh) read, as usual, instruction. The word judgmentin the next line is probably to be rendered "religion" as in Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 42:3-4 (see on Isaiah 42:1).

The verb rendered "make to rest" has three meanings in the O.T. (a) to "cause to rest" (Jeremiah 31:2) or "be at rest" (ch. Isaiah 34:14), (b) to "set in commotion" (Jeremiah 50:34, see on Isaiah 51:15 below), and (c) to "do a thing in the twinkling of an eye" (Jeremiah 49:19). Of these (a) is alone possible in the present connexion, though hardly quite suitable; the sense "establish," given by some critics, seems to have no sufficient support. By the LXX. the word is taken with Isaiah 51:5, and in the sense (c), and this suggests the true reading, although it requires a slight modification of the following word. The construction would be the same as in Jeremiah 49:19, and the rendering perhaps, "Suddenly I bring near my righteousness." The word is at all events superfluous in Isaiah 51:4, the last clause of which reads simply: and my judgement for a light of the peoples (cf. Isaiah 49:6).