1Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek Jehovah: Look to the rock from which you have been hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you have been dug. 2Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. 3For Jehovah will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. 4Listen to Me, My people; and give ear to Me, O My nation; for a law shall go out from Me, and I will make My justice to rest for a light of the people. 5My righteousness is near; My salvation has gone forth, and My arms shall judge the people; the coastlands shall wait upon Me, and on My arm they shall trust. 6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall become old like a garment; and its inhabitants shall die in the same way. But My salvation shall be forever, and My righteousness shall not be broken. 7Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My Law; do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their revilings. 8For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but My righteousness shall be forever, and My salvation from generation to generation. 9Awake! awake! Put on strength, O arm of Jehovah. Awake, as in the days of antiquity, in the generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab into pieces, wounding the dragon? 10Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? 11Therefore the redeemed of Jehovah shall return and come with singing into Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their head. Gladness and joy shall overtake them; sorrow and mourning shall flee away. 12I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you, that you should fear a man, who shall die; or the son of man, who shall be made as grass? 13And you forget Jehovah your Maker, who has stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. And you dread 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? 14Stooped over he hurries to be loosed, so that he should not die in the pit, nor lack his bread. 15But I am Jehovah your God, who divided the sea, whose waves roared; Jehovah of Hosts is His name. 16And I have put My Words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, You are My people. 17Awake! Awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, who has drunk the cup of His fury from the hand of Jehovah; you have drunk the dregs of the cup of staggering, and wrung them out. 18There is no one to guide her among all the sons she has borne; and no one takes her by the hand of all the sons that she has raised. 19These two things have come upon you, who shall be sorry for you? Desolation, and destruction, and famine, and the sword. By whom shall I comfort you? 20Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets like a wild animal in a net, filled with the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of your God. 21Therefore now hear this, you afflicted one, and drunk, but not with wine. 22Thus says your Lord, Jehovah, and your God who pleads the case of His people: Behold, I have taken the cup of staggering out of your hand, even the dregs of the cup of My fury; you shall never drink it again. 23But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, Bow down so that we may pass over; and lay your back on the ground, even as the street, for those who cross over.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE FAITHFUL REMNANT OF ISRAEL TO TRUST IN GOD FOR DELIVERANCE, BOTH FROM THEIR LONG BABYLONIAN EXILE, AND FROM THEIR PRESENT DISPERSION. (Isa. 51:1-23)
me--the God of your fathers.
ye . . . follow after righteousness--the godly portion of the nation;
Isa 51:7 shows this (
Pro 15:9;
1Tim 6:11). "Ye follow righteousness," seek it therefore from Me, who "bring it near," and that a righteousness "not about to be abolished" (
Isa 51:6-
Isa 51:7); look to Abraham, your father (
Isa 51:2), as a sample of how righteousness before Me is to be obtained; I, the same God who blessed him, will bless you at last (
Isa 51:3); therefore trust in Me, and fear not man's opposition (
Isa 51:7-
Isa 51:8,
Isa 51:12-
Isa 51:13). The mistake of the Jews, heretofore, has been, not in that they "followed after righteousness," but in that they followed it "by the works of the law," instead of "by faith," as Abraham did (
Rom 9:31-
Rom 9:32;
Rom 10:3-
Rom 10:4;
Rom 4:2-
Rom 4:5).
hole of . . . pit--The idea is not, as it is often quoted, the inculcation of humility, by reminding men of the fallen state from which they have been taken, but that as Abraham, the quarry, as it were (compare
Isa 48:1), whence their nation was hewn, had been called out of a strange land to the inheritance of Canaan, and blessed by God, the same God is able to deliver and restore them also (compare
Matt 3:9).
2 alone--translate, "I called him when he was but one" (
Ezek 33:24). The argument is: the same God who had so blessed "one" individual, as to become a mighty nation (
Gen 12:1;
Gen 22:7), can also increase and bless the small remnant of Israel, both that left in the Babylonish captivity, and that left in the present and latter days (
Zech 14:2); "the residue" (
Isa 13:8-
Isa 13:9).
3 For--See for the argument, see on
Isa 51:2.
the garden of the Lord--restoration of the primeval paradise (
Gen 2:8;
Ezek 28:13;
Rev 2:7).
melody--Hebrew, "psalm." God's praises shall again be heard.
4 my people--the Jews. This reading is better than that of GESENIUS: "O peoples . . . nations," namely, the Gentiles. The Jews are called on to hear and rejoice in the extension of the true religion to the nations; for, at the first preaching of the Gospel, as in the final age to come, it was from Jerusalem that the gospel law was, and is, to go forth (
Isa 2:3).
law . . . judgment--the gospel dispensation and institutions (
Isa 42:1, "judgment").
make . . . to rest--establish firmly; found.
light, &c.-- (
Isa 42:6).
5 righteousness . . . near--that is, faithful fulfilment of the promised deliverance, answering to "salvation" in the parallel clause (
Isa 46:13;
Isa 56:1;
Rom 10:8-
Rom 10:9). Ye follow after "righteousness"; seek it therefore, from Me, and you will not have far to go for it (
Isa 51:1).
arms--put for Himself; I by My might.
judge-- (
Isa 2:3-
Isa 2:4;
Ps 98:9).
isles, &c.-- (
Isa 60:9).
arm-- (
Rom 1:16), "the power of God unto (the Gentiles as well as the Jews) salvation."
6 (
Isa 40:6,
Isa 40:8;
Ps 102:26;
Heb 1:11-
Heb 1:12).
vanish away--literally, "shall be torn asunder," as a garment [MAURER]; which accords with the context.
in like manner--But GESENIUS, "Like a gnat"; like the smallest and vilest insect. JEROME translates, as English Version, and infers that "in like manner" as man, the heavens (that is, the sky) and earth are not to be annihilated, but changed for the better (
Isa 65:17).
righteousness--My faithfully fulfilled promise (see on
Isa 51:5).
7 know righteousness--(See on
Isa 51:1).
8 (See on
Isa 50:9;
Job 4:18-
Job 4:20). Not that the moth eats men up, but they shall be destroyed by as insignificant instrumentality as the moth that eats a garment.
9 Impassioned prayer of the exiled Jews.
ancient days-- (
Ps 44:1).
Rahab--poetical name for Egypt (see on
Isa 30:7).
dragon--Hebrew, tannin. The crocodile, an emblem of Egypt, as represented on coins struck after the conquest of Egypt by Augustus; or rather here, "its king," Pharaoh (see on
Isa 27:1;
Ps 74:13-
Ps 74:14;
Ezek 32:2, Margin;
Ezek 29:3).
10 it--the arm.
Art not Thou the same Almighty power that . . . ? dried the sea--the Red Sea (
Isa 43:16;
Exod 14:21).
11 (
Isa 35:10).
Therefore--assurance of faith; or else the answer of Jehovah corresponding to their prayer. As surely as God redeemed Israel out of Egypt, He shall redeem them from Babylon, both the literal in the age following, and mystical in the last ages (
Rev 18:20-
Rev 18:21). There shall be a second exodus (
Isa 11:11-
Isa 11:16;
Isa 27:12-
Isa 27:13).
singing--image from the custom of singing on a journey when a caravan is passing along the extended plains in the East.
everlasting joy-- (
Jude 1:24).
sorrow . . . flee away-- (
Rev 21:4).
12 comforteth-- (
Isa 51:3;
Isa 40:1).
thou--Zion.
son of man--frail and dying as his parent Adam.
be made as grass--wither as grass (
Isa 40:6-
Isa 40:7).
13 (
Isa 40:12,
Isa 40:26,
Isa 40:28), the same argument of comfort drawn from the omnipotence of the Creator.
as if . . . ready, &c.--literally, "when he directs," namely, his arrow, to destroy (
Ps 21:12;
Ps 7:13;
Ps 11:2) [MAURER].
14 captive exile--literally, one bowed down as a captive (
Isa 10:4) [MAURER]. The scene is primarily Babylon, and the time near the close of the captivity. Secondarily, and antitypically, the mystical Babylon, the last enemy of Israel and the Church, in which they have long suffered, but from which they are to be gloriously delivered.
pit--such as were many of the ancient dungeons (compare
Jer 38:6,
Jer 38:11,
Jer 38:13;
Gen 37:20).
nor . . . bread . . . fail-- (
Isa 33:16;
Jer 37:21).
15 divided . . . sea--the Red Sea. The same Hebrew word as "make to rest" (
Isa 51:4). Rather, "that terrify the sea," that is, restrain it by My rebuke, "when its waves roar" [GESENIUS]. The Hebrew favors MAURER, "that terrify the sea so that the waves roar." The sense favors GESENIUS (
Jer 5:22;
Jer 31:35), or English Version (
Isa 51:9-
Isa 51:10, which favors the special reference to the exodus from Egypt).
16 Addressed to Israel, embodied in "the servant of Jehovah" (
Isa 42:1), Messiah, its ideal and representative Head, through whom the elect remnant is to be restored.
put my words in thy mouth--true of Israel, the depository of true religion, but fully realized only in Israel's Head and antitype, Messiah (
Isa 49:2;
Isa 50:4-
Isa 50:5;
Isa 59:21;
Deut 18:18;
John 3:34).
covered . . . in . . . shadow of . . . hand--protected thee (see on
Isa 49:2).
plant--rather, "fix" as a tabernacle; so it ought to be rendered (
Dan 11:45). The "new creation," now going on in the spiritual world by the Gospel (
Eph 2:10), and hereafter to be extended to the visible world, is meant (
Isa 65:17;
Isa 66:22; compare
Isa 13:13;
2Pet 3:10-13).
Zion--Its restoration is a leading part in the new creation to come (
Isa 65:17,
Isa 65:19).
17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, &c.-- (
Isa 52:1).
drunk--Jehovah's wrath is compared to an intoxicating draught because it confounds the sufferer under it, and makes him fall (
Job 21:20;
Ps 60:3;
Ps 75:8;
Jer 25:15-
Jer 25:16;
Jer 49:12;
Zech 12:2;
Rev 14:10); ("poured out without mixture"; rather, "the pure wine juice mixed with intoxicating drugs").
of trembling--which produced trembling or intoxication.
wrung . . . out--drained the last drop out; the dregs were the sediments from various substances, as honey, dates, and drugs, put into the wine to increase the strength and sweetness.
18 Following up the image in
Isa 51:17, intoxicated and confused by the cup of God's anger, she has none to guide her in her helpless state; she has not yet awakened out of the sleep caused by that draught. This cannot apply to the Babylonish captivity; for in it they had Ezekiel and Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, as "guides," and soon awoke out of that sleep; but it applies to the Jews now, and will be still more applicable in their coming oppression by Antichrist.
19 two--classes of evils, for he enumerates four, namely, desolation and destruction to the land and state; famine and the sword to the people.
who shall be sorry for thee--so as to give thee effectual relief: as the parallel clause, "By whom shall I comfort thee?" shows (
Lam 2:11-
Lam 2:13).
20 head of all . . . streets-- (
Lam 2:19;
Lam 4:1).
wild bull--rather, "oryx" [JEROME], or gazelle [GESENIUS], or wild goat [BOCHART]; commonly in the East taken in a net, of a wide sweep, into which the beasts were hunted together. The streets of cities in the East often have gates, which are closed at night; a person wishing to escape would be stopped by them and caught, as a wild animal in a net.
21 drunken . . . not with wine-- (
Isa 29:9; compare
Isa 51:17,
Isa 51:20, here;
Lam 3:15).
22 pleadeth . . . cause-- (
Ps 35:1;
Jer 50:34;
Mic 7:9).
no more drink it-- (
Isa 54:7-
Isa 54:9). This cannot apply to Israel after the return from Babylon, but only to them after their final restoration.
23 (
Isa 49:26;
Jer 25:15-
Jer 25:29;
Zech 12:2).
Bow down that . . . go over--Conquerors often literally trod on the necks of conquered kings, as Sapor of Persia did to the Roman emperor Valerian (
Josh 10:24;
Ps 18:40;
Ps 66:11-
Ps 66:12).
Zion long in bondage (
Isa 51:17-
Isa 51:20) is called to put on beautiful garments appropriate to its future prosperity.