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Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Isaiah 41:27

The first shall say to Zion. — The italics show the difficulty and abruptness of the originals. A preferable rendering is, (1) I was the first that said to Zion, &c. No oracle or soothsayer anticipated that message of deliverance (Ewald, Del.); or (2) a forerunner shall say ... The words “Behold them” point to the returning exiles. The second clause fits in better with (2), and explains it. Jehovah sends a herald of good news (not Cyrus himself, but a messenger reporting his victories, or possibly Isaiah himself, as a more distant herald) to Jerusalem, to say that the exiles are returning.

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See also Isaiah 41:27 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Isaiah 41:27. _THE FIRST_ SHALL SAY _TO ZION, BEHOLD, BEHOLD THEM_ - "I first to Zion _gave the word_, Behold they are here"] This verse is somewhat obscure by the transposition of the parts of...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    THE FIRST SHALL SAY TO ZION - This translation is unhappy. It does not convey any clear meaning, nor is it possible from the translation to conjecture what the word ‘first’ refers to. The correct rend...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 41 Jehovah's Challenge 1. _The address to the islands and the peoples (Isaiah 41:1)_ 2. _Jehovah's question, Cyrus and his ways predicted (Isaiah 41:2)_ 3. Nations troubled on account of Cyru...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    YAHWEH'S CHALLENGE TO THE GODS OF THE NATIONS. The nations are bidden to produce their case and bring forward their champions their idols (so emend strong reasons). Let the idols show that in days gon...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    THE FIRST SHALL SAY. From the first [I have said]....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The general argument is now brought to bear on the particular case of the raising up of Cyrus....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _The first … behold them_ A very perplexing sentence: lit. "A first one to Zion, Behold, behold them!" We may render (nearly as R.V.) (I) FIRST (HAVE SAID) TO ZION, BEHOLD, etc. Or we may supply the v...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    I HAVE RAISED UP ONE FROM THE NORTH— The prophet changes his general argument into a particular one; repeating and urging more strongly the example of Cyrus, which he produced at the beginning of this...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    d. GOOD TIDINGS TEXT: Isaiah 41:21-29 21 Produce your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. 22 Let them bring them forth, and declare unto us what shall...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings. THE FIRST (SHALL SAY) TO ZION, BEHOLD, BEHOLD THEM: AND I WILL GIVE TO JERUSALEM ONE T...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    RV 'I first _will say_ unto Zion,' etc. BEHOLD THEM] the returning exiles. 28, 29. No reply is possible on the part of the heathen; their gods are nought....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    CYRUS GOD'S AGENT 1-7. Jehovah and the gods of the heathen compared as in a court of judgment. Jehovah has raised up Cyrus and given him victory, in order to carry out His good purposes, while the he...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    ISAIAH: GOD CONTROLS THE NATIONS GOD PROMISES COMFORT TO HIS PEOPLE ISAIAH CHAPTER S 40 TO 48 _NORMAN HILLYER_ CHAPTER 41 KNOW WHO REALLY CONTROLS EVENTS V1 God speaks: ‘You people in distant...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    No *idols can announce what is going to happen. That is something that only the *Lord God can do. • See my note on Isaiah 44:9-20. LORD ~ God’s personal name in the Bible. In the original language, G...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    רִאשֹׁ֥ון לְ צִיֹּ֖ון הִנֵּ֣ה הִנָּ֑ם וְ לִ

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER I THE DATE OF Isaiah 40:1; Isaiah 41:1; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 43:1;...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    WHAT THE LORD'S HAND DOES FOR THE NEEDY Isaiah 41:17-29 Life is not easy for any of us, if we regard external conditions only; but directly we learn the divine secret, rivers flow from bare heights,...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Having thus announced the majesty of Jehovah, the prophet proceeds to utter his general manifesto. This occupies Chapter s forty-one and forty-two. In chapter forty-one Jehovah challenges the island a...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    The first [shall say] to Zion, Behold, behold (z) them: and I will give to Jerusalem (a) one that bringeth good tidings. (z) That is, the Israelites who return from the captivity. (a) That is, a con...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    W hat a blessed view is here again given of Christ, and the glorious events of his coming! It seems as if our God and Father delighted to be forever calling upon the Church to notice him. The north is...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    27._The first to Zion. _(149) In this verse God states more clearly that he predicts future events to the Jews, in order to encourage them to believe; because if prophecies had not their end and use,...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 41, 42, AND 43. Chapter 41 begins the historical details which prove this. Who raised up Cyrus to overthrow idolatry? But in the midst of the havoc he made of...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    THE FIRST SHALL SAY TO ZION, BEHOLD, BEHOLD THEM,.... Or, "I the first say to Zion"; I who am the first and the last, Isaiah 41:4 which some ancient Jewish writers d observe is the name of the Messiah...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    The first [shall say] to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings. Ver. 27. _The first shall say to Zion._] Or, I first said to Zion. I first brought her...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _The first shall say_, &c. Hebrew, ראשׁון לציון, literally, _first_, or _the first to Zion;_ which words some interpret thus: I, who am the first, (Isaiah 41:4,) do and will foretel to my people thing...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them, or, "I let Zion have the first one who says, Behold, there it is"; AND I WILL GIVE TO JERUSALEM ONE THAT BRINGETH GOOD TIDINGS; that is, the idols wer...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    THE COMING OF THE DELIVERER...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    21-29 There needs no more to show the folly of sin, than to bring to notice the reasons given in defence of it. There is nothing in idols worthy of regard. They are less than nothing, and worse than...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    THE FIRST; I who am the first, as I said before, ISAIAH 41:4, and therefore capable of declaring or foretelling things to come from the beginning, which your idols cannot do, ISAIAH 41:26. SHALL SAY T...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Isaiah 41:27 first H7223 Zion H6726 Look H2009 H2009 give H5414 (H8799) Jerusalem H3389 tidings H1319 ...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    Isaiah 41:25 “I have raised up one from the north, and he is come, From the rising of the sun one who calls on my name. And he will come on rulers as on mortar, And as the potter treads the clay.”...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Greatness of God and weakness of man. Admonition to shun idols and encouragement to trust in God. CHARACTERS: God, Christ, Jacob. CONCLUSION: Jehovah is infinite, eternal and unchangeable....

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Isaiah 41:1. _Keep silence before me, oh islands._ Commentators here refer us to the time of our Saviour's birth, for the isles of Chittim designate the Roman power. In the Augustan age, the temple of...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _One that bringeth good tidings_ DIVINE ORDINATION I. MINISTERS ARE DIVINELY ORDAINED. They come from God. “f will give.” The ministry is not one of the literary professions, nor a secular office. C...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    ISAIAH—NOTE ON ISAIAH 41:21 God challenges the false claims of human idols. ⇐ ⇔...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    SECTION II.—RECOVERY OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD FROM THEIR SIN, AND FROM THEIR BONDAGE IN BABYLON (CH. 41-48.). EXPOSITION...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    In the forty-first chapter of Isaiah in the first part of the chapter, God begins His predictions concerning Cyrus who was not yet born. A man who was not to be born for a hundred and fifty years. But...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Ezra 1:1; Ezra 1:2; Isaiah 40:9; Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 43:10;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    The first — I who am the first, do and will foretel to my people things to come. Them — I also represent future things as if they were present. By them he means things which are to come. One — Messeng...

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