1Potěšujte, potěšujte lid můj, praví váš Bůh. 2Mluvte láskyplně k Jeruzalému a ohlašujte mu, že už skončila jeho poroba, že jeho vina je splacena, že ho svou rukou ztrestal Hospodin dvojnásob za všechen jeho hřích. 3Hlas volajícího: „Připravte na poušti cestu Hospodinovu, vyrovnejte v pustině stezku Bohu našemu! 4Každé údolí ať je vyvýšeno, každá hora a výšina ať poklesnou; co je hrbolaté, ať je vyrovnáno, pahorkatina ať je planinou. 5Neboť se zjeví sláva Hospodinova a všichni lidé naráz uvidí, že ústa Hospodinova mluvila.“ 6Hlas říká: „Volej!“ A já se ptám: „Co volat mám?“ Každý člověk je jako tráva, všechen jeho půvab jako polní květ. 7Usychá tráva, kvítí uvadá, jak na něj zavane Hospodinův dech. Lidé jsou zajisté ta tráva. 8Usychá tráva, kvítí uvadá, slovo našeho Boha však věky přetrvá. 9Na vysokou horu vystup si, kdo neseš dobré zprávy Sionu; hlasitě volej ze všech sil, kdo neseš dobré zprávy Jeruzalému! Hlasitě volej, nic se nestrachuj, řekni judským městům: „Hle, váš Bůh!“ 10Hle, Panovník Hospodin v moci přichází a jeho paže bude vládnout s ním. Hle, jeho odplata jde s ním, jeho odměna ho předchází. 11Jako pastýř bude své stádo pást, shromáždí do náručí beránky, bude je nosit na rukách, zvolna povede březí ovečky. 12Kdo shrnul vody do hrsti a nebe prsty rozměřil? Kdo prach země vsypal do mírky, kdo vložil hory na váhy a zvážil je i s pahorky? 13Kdo Hospodinova ducha usměrnil a stal se mu rádcem, aby ho poučil? 14S kým se radil, aby mu něco vysvětlil, aby ho stezce práva naučil, aby mu předal vědění a seznámil ho s cestou moudrosti? 15Hle, národy jsou jako kapka do vědra, neváží víc než smítko na vahách, on zvedá ostrovy jako prach. 16Libanon by nevystačil ani na podpal, k oběti by nestačila jeho zvířena. 17Všechny národy jsou před ním jako nic, jsou pro něj nicota a ještě míň! 18Ke komu chcete Boha přirovnat? Čemu se podle vás podobá? 19Odlité modle řemeslníka, pozlacené od zlatníka, s řetízky tepanými ze stříbra? 20Anebo obětnímu daru chudáka, jenž trvanlivé dřevo vybírá a hledá zručného řemeslníka, ať postaví modlu, co se nehýbá? 21Copak to nevíte? Copak neslyšíte? Copak se vám to od počátku neoznamuje? Copak od založení země nerozumíte? 22On se nad obzorem na trůn usadil, obyvatelé země jsou pro něj kobylky. On prostírá nebe jako baldachýn, roztahuje je jako stan k bydlení. 23On panovníky vniveč obrací, soudcové země jsou pro něj nicotní. 24Sotva jsou zasazeni, sotva zaseti, sotva zapustí v zemi kořeny, jak na ně zavane, uschnou hned, jak plevy odnáší je vichřice. 25Ke komu mě tedy chcete přirovnat? Svatý říká: Kdo se mi vyrovná? 26Zvedněte oči a pohleďte: Kdo stvořil toto vše? Kdo koná přehlídku hvězdných zástupů, kdo je volá jménem, všechny do počtu? Má nesmírnou sílu, jeho moc je úžasná – nikdy mu nechybí ani jediná! 27Proč tedy říkáš, Jákobe, proč si, Izraeli, stěžuješ: „Má cesta je Hospodinu ukrytá, můj Bůh si nevšímá mých práv“? 28Copak to nevíš? Copak neslyšíš? Hospodin, Bůh věčnosti, jenž stvořil zemské končiny, není unaven ani vyčerpán – jeho moudrost je nezměrná! 29On dává sílu znaveným a vysílené umí posílit. 30Mladí jsou unavení, zesláblí, mládenci klopýtají a padají, 31kdo ale v Hospodina doufají, ti nabývají nových sil: Vznášejí se jako na orlích perutích, běží a nejsou vyčerpáni, kráčí a nejsou znaveni.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 SECOND PART OF THE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH. (Isa. 40:1-31)
Comfort ye, comfort ye--twice repeated to give double assurance. Having announced the coming captivity of the Jews in Babylon, God now desires His servants, the prophets (
Isa 52:7), to comfort them. The scene is laid in Babylon; the time, near the close of the captivity; the ground of comfort is the speedy ending of the captivity, the Lord Himself being their leader.
my people . . . your God--correlatives (
Jer 31:33;
Hos 1:9-
Hos 1:10). It is God's covenant relation with His people, and His "word" of promise (
Isa 40:8) to their forefathers, which is the ground of His interposition in their behalf, after having for a time chastised them (
Isa 54:8).
2 comfortably--literally, "to the heart"; not merely to the intellect.
Jerusalem--Jerusalem though then in ruins, regarded by God as about to be rebuilt; her people are chiefly meant, but the city is personified.
cry--publicly and emphatically as a herald cries aloud (
Isa 40:3).
warfare--or, the appointed time of her misery (
Job 7:1, Margin;
Job 14:14;
Dan 10:1). The ulterior and Messianic reference probably is the definite time when the legal economy of burdensome rites is at an end (
Gal 4:3-
Gal 4:4).
pardoned--The Hebrew expresses that her iniquity is so expiated that God now delights in restoring her.
double for all her sins--This can only, in a very restricted sense, hold good of Judah's restoration after the first captivity. For how can it be said her "warfare was accomplished," when as yet the galling yoke of Antiochus and also of Rome was before them? The "double for her sins" must refer to the twofold captivity, the Assyrian and the Roman; at the coming close of this latter dispersion, and then only, can her "iniquity" be said to be "pardoned," or fully expiated [HOUBIGANT]. It does not mean double as much as she deserved, but ample punishment in her twofold captivity. Messiah is the antitypical Israel (compare
Matt 2:15, with
Hos 11:1). He indeed has "received" of sufferings amply more than enough to expiate "for our sins" (
Rom 5:15,
Rom 5:17). Otherwise (cry unto her) "that she shall receive (blessings) of the Lord's hand double to the punishment of all her sins" (so "sin" is used,
Zech 14:19, Margin) [LOWTH]. The English Version is simpler.
3 crieth in the wilderness--So the Septuagint and
Matt 3:3 connect the words. The Hebrew accents, however, connect them thus: "In the wilderness prepare ye," &c., and the parallelism also requires this, "Prepare ye in the wilderness," answering to "make straight in the desert." Matthew was entitled, as under inspiration, to vary the connection, so as to bring out another sense, included in the Holy Spirit's intention; in
Matt 3:1, "John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness," answers thus to "The voice of one crying in the wilderness." MAURER takes the participle as put for the finite verb (so in
Isa 40:6), "A voice crieth." The clause, "in the wilderness," alludes to Israel's passage through it from Egypt to Canaan (
Ps 68:7), Jehovah being their leader; so it shall be at the coming restoration of Israel, of which the restoration from Babylon was but a type (not the full realization; for their way from it was not through the "wilderness"). Where John preached (namely, in the wilderness; the type of this earth, a moral wilderness), there were the hearers who are ordered to prepare the way of the Lord, and there was to be the coming of the Lord [BENGEL]. John, though he was immediately followed by the suffering Messiah, is rather the herald of the coming reigning Messiah, as
Mal 4:5-
Mal 4:6 ("before the great and dreadful day of the Lord"), proves.
Matt 17:11 (compare
Acts 3:21) implies that John is not exclusively meant; and that though in one sense Elias has come, in another he is yet to come. John was the figurative Elias, coming "in the spirit and power of Elias" (
Luke 1:17);
John 1:21, where John the Baptist denies that he was the actual Elias, accords with this view.
Mal 4:5-
Mal 4:6 cannot have received its exhaustive fulfilment in John; the Jews always understood it of the literal Elijah. As there is another consummating advent of Messiah Himself, so perhaps there is to be of his forerunner Elias, who also was present at the transfiguration.
the Lord--Hebrew, Jehovah; as this is applied to Jesus, He must be Jehovah (
Matt 3:3).
4 Eastern monarchs send heralds before them in a journey to clear away obstacles, make causeways over valleys, and level hills. So John's duty was to bring back the people to obedience to the law and to remove all self-confidence, pride in national privileges, hypocrisy, and irreligion, so that they should be ready for His coming (
Mal 4:6;
Luke 1:17).
crooked--declivities.
5 see it--The Septuagint for "it," has "the salvation of God." So
Luke 3:6 (compare
Luke 2:30, that is, Messiah); but the Evangelist probably took these words from
Isa 52:10.
for--rather, "All flesh shall see that the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it" [BENGEL].
6 The voice--the same divine herald as in
Isa 40:3.
he--one of those ministers or prophets (see on
Isa 40:1) whose duty it was, by direction of "the voice," to "comfort the Lord's afflicted people with the promises of brighter days."
All flesh is grass--The connection is, "All human things, however goodly, are transitory: God's promises alone steadfast" (
Isa 40:8,
Isa 40:15,
Isa 40:17,
Isa 40:23-
Isa 40:24); this contrast was already suggested in
Isa 40:5, "All flesh . . . the mouth of the Lord."
1Pet 1:24-25 applies this passage distinctly to the gospel word of Messiah (compare
John 12:24;
Jas 1:10).
7 spirit of the Lord--rather, "wind of Jehovah" (
Ps 103:16). The withering east wind of those countries sent by Jehovah (
Jonah 4:8).
the people--rather, "this people" [LOWTH], which may refer to the Babylonians [ROSENMULLER]; but better, mankind in general, as in
Isa 42:5, so
Isa 40:6, "all flesh"; this whole race, that is, man.
9 Rather, "Oh, thou that bringest good things to Zion; thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem." "Thou" is thus the collective personification of the messengers who announce God's gracious purpose to Zion (see on
Isa 40:1);
Isa 52:7 confirms this [Vulgate and GESENIUS]. If English Version be retained, the sense will be the glad message was first to be proclaimed to Jerusalem, and then from it as the center to all "Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth" (
Luke 24:47,
Luke 24:49;
Acts 1:8) [VITRINGA and HENGSTENBERG].
mountain--It was customary for those who were about to promulgate any great thing, to ascend a hill from which they could be seen and heard by all (
Judg 9:7;
Matt 5:1).
be not afraid--to announce to the exiles that their coming return home is attended with danger in the midst of the Babylonians. The gospel minister must "open his mouth boldly" (
Pro 29:25;
Eph 6:19).
Behold--especially at His second coming (
Zech 12:10;
Zech 14:5).
10 with strong hand--or, "against the strong"; rather, "as a strong one" [MAURER]. Or, against the strong one, namely, Satan (
Matt 12:29;
Rev 20:2-
Rev 20:3,
Rev 20:10) [VITRINGA].
arm--power (
Ps 89:13;
Ps 98:1).
for him--that is, He needs not to seek help for Himself from any external source, but by His own inherent power He gains rule for Himself (so
Isa 40:14).
work--or, "recompense for his work"; rather, "recompense which He gives for work" (
Isa 62:11;
Rev 22:12).
11 feed--including all a shepherd's care--"tend" (
Ezek 34:23;
Ps 23:1;
Heb 13:20;
1Pet 2:25).
carry--applicable to Messiah's restoration of Israel, as sheep scattered in all lands, and unable to move of themselves to their own land (
Ps 80:1;
Jer 23:3). As Israel was "carried from the womb" (that is, in its earliest days) (
Isa 63:9,
Isa 63:11-
Isa 63:12;
Ps 77:20), so it shall be in "old age" (that is, its latter days) (
Isa 46:3-
Isa 46:4).
gently lead--as a thoughtful shepherd does the ewes "giving suck" (Margin) (
Gen 33:13-
Gen 33:14).
12 Lest the Jews should suppose that He who was just before described as a "shepherd" is a mere man, He is now described as GOD.
Who--Who else but GOD could do so? Therefore, though the redemption and restoration of His people, foretold here, was a work beyond man's power, they should not doubt its fulfilment since all things are possible to Him who can accurately regulate the proportion of the waters as if He had measured them with His hand (compare
Isa 40:15). But MAURER translates: "Who can measure," &c., that is, How immeasurable are the works of God? The former is a better explanation (
Job 28:25;
Pro 30:4).
span--the space from the end of the thumb to the end of the middle finger extended; God measures the vast heavens as one would measure a small object with his span.
dust of the earth--All the earth is to Him but as a few grains of dust contained in a small measure (literally, "the third part of a larger measure").
hills in a balance--adjusted in their right proportions and places, as exactly as if He had weighed them out.
13 Quoted in
Rom 11:34;
1Cor 2:16. The Hebrew here for "directed" is the same as in
Isa 40:12 for "meted out"; thus the sense is, "Jehovah measures out heaven with His span"; but who can measure Him? that is, Who can search out His Spirit (mind) wherewith He searches out and accurately adjusts all things? MAURER rightly takes the Hebrew in the same sense as in
Isa 40:12 (so
Pro 16:2;
Pro 21:2), "weigh," "ponder." "Direct," as in English Version, answers, however, better to "taught" in the parallel clause.
14 path of judgment--His wisdom, whereby He so beautifully adjusts the places and proportions of all created things.
15 of--rather, (hanging) from a bucket [MAURER].
he taketh up . . . as a very little thing--rather, "are as a mere grain of dust which is taken up," namely, by the wind; literally, "one taketh up," impersonally (
Exod 16:14) [MAURER].
isles--rather, "lands" in general, answering to "the nations" in the parallel clause; perhaps lands, like Mesopotamia, enclosed by rivers [JEROME] (so
Isa 42:15). However, English Version, "isles" answers well to "mountains" (
Isa 40:12), both alike being lifted up by the power of God; in fact, "isles" are mountains upheaved from the bed of the sea by volcanic agency; only that he seems here to have passed from unintelligent creatures (
Isa 40:12) to intelligent, as nations and lands, that is, their inhabitants.
16 All Lebanon's forest would not supply fuel enough to burn sacrifices worthy of the glory of God (
Isa 66:1;
1Kgs 8:27;
Ps 50:8-
Ps 50:13).
beasts--which abounded in Lebanon.
17 (
Ps 62:9;
Dan 4:35).
less than nothing--MAURER translates, as in
Isa 41:24, "of nothing" (partitively; or expressive of the nature of a thing), a mere nothing.
vanity--emptiness.
18 Which of the heathen idols, then, is to be compared to this Almighty God? This passage, if not written (as BARNES thinks) so late as the idolatrous times of Manasseh, has at least a prospective warning reference to them and subsequent reigns; the result of the chastisement of Jewish idolatry in the Babylonish captivity was that thenceforth after the restoration the Jews never fell into it. Perhaps these prophecies here may have tended to that result (see
2Kgs 23:26-27).
19 graven--rather, an image in general; for it is incongruous to say "melteth" (that is, casts out of metal) a graven image (that is, one of carved wood); so
Jer 10:14, "molten image."
spreadeth it over--(See on
Isa 30:22).
chains--an ornament lavishly worn by rich Orientals (
Isa 3:18-
Isa 3:19), and so transferred to their idols. Egyptian relics show that idols were suspended in houses by chains.
20 impoverished--literally, "sunk" in circumstances.
no oblation--he who cannot afford to overlay his idol with gold and silver (
Isa 40:19).
tree . . . not rot--the cedar, cypress, oak, or ash (
Isa 44:14).
graven--of wood; not a molten one of metal.
not be moved--that shall be durable.
21 ye--who worship idols. The question emphatically implies, they had known.
from the beginning-- (
Isa 41:4,
Isa 41:26;
Isa 48:16). God is the beginning (
Rev 1:8). The tradition handed down from the very first, of the creation of all things by God at the beginning, ought to convince you of His omnipotence and of the folly of idolatry.
22 It is he--rather, connected with last verse, "Have ye not known?"--have ye not understood Him that sitteth . . .? (
Isa 40:26) [MAURER].
circle--applicable to the globular form of the earth, above which, and the vault of sky around it, He sits. For "upon" translate "above."
as grasshoppers--or locusts in His sight (
Num 13:33), as He looks down from on high (
Ps 33:13-
Ps 33:14;
Ps 113:4-
Ps 113:6).
curtain--referring to the awning which the Orientals draw over the open court in the center of their houses as a shelter in rain or hot weather.
23 (
Ps 107:4;
Dan 2:21).
judges--that is, rulers; for these exercised judicial authority (
Ps 2:10). The Hebrew, shophtee, answers to the Carthaginian chief magistrates, suffetes.
24 they--the "princes and judges" (
Isa 40:23) who oppose God's purposes and God's people. Often compared to tall trees (
Ps 37:35;
Dan 4:10).
not . . . sown--the seed, that is, race shall become extinct (
Nah 1:14).
stock--not even shall any shoots spring up from the stump when the tree has been cut down: no descendants whatever (
Job 14:7; see on
Isa 11:1).
and . . . also--so the Septuagint. But MAURER translates, "They are hardly (literally, 'not yet', as in
2Kgs 20:4) planted (&c.) when He (God) blows upon them."
blow--The image is from the hot east wind (simoon) that "withers" vegetation.
whirlwind . . . stubble-- (
Ps 83:13), where, "like a wheel," refers to the rotatory action of the whirlwind on the stubble.
25 (Compare
Isa 40:18).
26 bringeth out . . . host--image from a general reviewing his army: He is Lord of Sabaoth, the heavenly hosts (
Job 38:32).
calleth . . . by names--numerous as the stars are. God knows each in all its distinguishing characteristics--a sense which "name" often bears in Scripture; so in
Gen 2:19-
Gen 2:20, Adam, as God's vicegerent, called the beasts by name, that is, characterized them by their several qualities, which, indeed, He has imparted.
by the greatness . . . faileth--rather, "by reason of abundance of (their inner essential) force and firmness of strength, not one of them is driven astray"; referring to the sufficiency of the physical forces with which He has endowed the heavenly bodies, to prevent all disorder in their motions [HORSLEY]. In English Version the sense is, "He has endowed them with their peculiar attributes ('names') by the greatness of His might," and the power of His strength (the better rendering, instead of, "for that He is strong").
27 Since these things are so, thou hast no reason to think that thine interest ("way," that is, condition,
Ps 37:5;
Jer 12:1) is disregarded by God.
judgment is passed over from--rather, "My cause is neglected by my God; He passes by my case in my bondage and distress without noticing it."
my God--who especially might be expected to care for me.
28 known--by thine own observation and reading of Scripture.
heard--from tradition of the fathers.
everlasting, &c.--These attributes of Jehovah ought to inspire His afflicted people with confidence.
no searching of his understanding--therefore thy cause cannot, as thou sayest, escape His notice; though much in His ways is unsearchable, He cannot err (
Job 11:7-
Job 11:9). He is never "faint" or "weary" with having the countless wants of His people ever before Him to attend to.
29 Not only does He "not faint" (
Isa 40:28) but He gives power to them who do faint.
no might . . . increaseth strength--a seeming paradox. They "have no might" in themselves; but in Him they have strength, and He "increases" that strength (
2Cor 12:9).
30 young men--literally, "those selected"; men picked out on account of their youthful vigor for an enterprise.
31 mount up-- (
2Sam 1:23). Rather, "They shall put forth fresh feathers as eagles" are said to renovate themselves; the parallel clause, "renew their strength," confirms this. The eagle was thought to moult and renew his feathers, and with them his strength, in old age (so the Septuagint, Vulgate,
Ps 103:5). However, English Version is favored by the descending climax, mount up--run--walk; in every attitude the praying, waiting child of God is "strong in the Lord" (
Ps 84:7;
Mic 4:5;
Heb 12:1).
