1Rejoice, O barren one, you who have not borne; break forth into screams of delight, you who have not writhed in pangs. For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the one who is married, says Jehovah. 2Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes; 3for you shall burst forth on the right hand and on the left. And your seed shall inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited. 4Do not fear, for you shall not be ashamed; nor be humiliated, for you shall not be put to shame. For you shall forget the shame of your youth, and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more. 5For your Maker is your husband; Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. He shall be called, GOD OF THE WHOLE EARTH. 6For Jehovah has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth, when you were rejected, says your God. 7For a brief moment I have left you; but with great mercies I will gather you. 8In overflowing wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy upon you, says Jehovah your Redeemer. 9For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should never again overflow the earth, so I have sworn to not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. 10For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed, says Jehovah, who has mercy on you. 11O you afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires. 12And I will make your pinnacles of ruby, and your gates of sparkling stones, and all your borders of delightful stones. 13And all your children shall be taught of Jehovah, and great shall be the peace of your children. 14In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression; for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. 15Indeed, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me; whoever shall gather against you, by you he shall fall. 16Behold, I have created the smith who blows the coals in the fire, and who brings out a tool for his work; and I have created the one who ruins to destroy. 17No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment, you shall condemn. This is the inheritance of the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness is from Me, says Jehovah.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE FRUIT OF MESSIAH'S SUFFERINGS, AND OF ISRAEL'S FINAL PENITENCE AT HER PAST UNBELIEF (
Isa 53:6): HER JOYFUL RESTORATION AND ENLARGEMENT BY JEHOVAH, WHOSE WRATH WAS MOMENTARY, BUT HIS KINDNESS EVERLASTING. (Isa. 54:1-17)
Sing--for joy (
Zeph 3:14).
barren--the Jewish Church once forsaken by God, and therefore during that time destitute of spiritual children (
Isa 54:6).
didst not bear--during the Babylonian exile primarily. Secondarily, and chiefly, during Israel's present dispersion.
the children--the Gentiles adopted by special grace into the original Church (
Isa 54:3;
Isa 49:20-
Isa 49:21).
than . . . married wife--than were her spiritual children, when Israel was still a married wife (under the law, before the Babylonian exile), before God put her away [MAURER]. So Paul contrasts the universal Church of the New Testament with the Church of the Old Testament legal dispensation, quoting this very passage (
Gal 4:27). But the full accomplishment of it is yet future.
2 (
Isa 49:19-
Isa 49:20;
Jer 31:31-
Jer 31:36,
Jer 31:38-
Jer 31:39). Thy children shall be so many that thy borders must be extended to contain them.
curtains--the cloth forming the covering of the tent.
spare not--give abundantly the means for the enlargement of the Church (
2Cor 9:5-7).
cords . . . stakes--The more the tent is enlarged by lengthening the cords by which the cloth covering is fastened to the ground, the more the stakes supporting the tent need to be strengthened; the Church is not merely to seek new converts, but to strengthen those she has in the faith. The image is appropriate, as the tabernacle was the symbol of the old Israelitish Church (see on
Isa 33:20).
3 break forth--rather, "burst forth" with increase; thy offspring shall grow, answering to "thy seed" in the parallel clause.
thy seed--Israel and her children, as distinguished from "the Gentiles."
desolate cities--of Israel (
Isa 44:26).
4 (
Isa 41:10,
Isa 41:14).
shame of thy youth--Israel's unfaithfulness as wife of Jehovah, almost from her earliest history.
reproach of widowhood--Israel's punishment in her consequent dismissal from God and barrenness of spiritual children in Babylon and her present dispersion (
Isa 54:1;
Isa 49:21;
Jer 3:24-
Jer 3:25;
Jer 31:19;
Hos 2:2-
Hos 2:5).
5 (
Isa 62:5;
Jer 3:14). That God was Israel's "Maker," both as individuals and as the theocratic kingdom, is the pledge of assurance that He will be her Redeemer (
Isa 43:1-
Isa 43:3). Hebrew, "makers . . . husbands"; plural for singular, to denote excellency.
of Israel . . . whole earth--Not until He manifests Himself as God of Israel shall He appear as God of the whole earth (
Ps 102:13,
Ps 102:15-
Ps 102:16;
Zech 14:5,
Zech 14:9).
6 called--that is, recalled: the prophetic past for the future.
forsaken--that had been forsaken.
when thou--or, "when she was rejected"; one who had been a wife of youth (
Ezek 16:8,
Ezek 16:22,
Ezek 16:60;
Jer 2:2) at the time when (thou, or) she was rejected for infidelity [MAURER]. "A wife of youth but afterwards rejected" [LOWTH].
7 small moment--as compared with Israel's coming long prosperity (
Isa 26:20;
Isa 60:10). So the spiritual Israel (
Ps 30:5;
2Cor 4:17).
gather thee--to Myself from thy dispersions.
8 In a little wrath--rather, "In the overflowing of wrath"; as
Pro 27:4, Margin, [GESENIUS]. The wrath, though but "for a moment," was overflowing while it lasted.
hid . . . face-- (
Isa 8:17;
Ps 30:7).
everlasting--in contrast to "for a moment."
9 I am about to do the same in this instance as in Noah's flood. As I swore then that it should not return (
Gen 8:21;
Gen 9:11), and I kept that promise, so I swear now to My people, and will perform My promise, that there shall be no return of the deluge of My wrath upon them. LOWTH, on insufficient authority, reads (the same will I do now as), "in the days of Noah."
10 (
Isa 51:6;
Ps 89:33-
Ps 89:34;
Rom 11:29).
covenant of my peace-- (
2Sam 23:5). The covenant whereby I have made thee at peace with Me.
11 not comforted--by anyone; none gave her help or comfort.
lay . . . with fair colours--rather, "lay . . . in cement of vermilion" [LOWTH]. The Hebrew for "fair colors" means stibium, the paint with which Eastern women painted their eyelids and eyelashes (
2Kgs 9:30). The very cement shall be of the most beautiful color (
Rev 21:18-
Rev 21:21).
12 windows--rather, "battlements"; literally, "suns"; applied to battlements from their radiated appearance.
agates--rather, "rubies."
carbuncles--literally, "sparkling gems"; the carbuncle when held to the sun becomes like a burning coal.
all thy borders--rather, "thy whole circuit," consisting of precious stones. The glory of the Church on earth, when the Hebrew Church, according to the original design, shall be the metropolis of Christendom.
13 Quoted by the Saviour (
John 6:45), to prove that in order to come to Him, men must be "drawn" by the Father. So
Jer 31:34;
Mic 4:2;
1Cor 2:10;
Heb 8:10;
Heb 10:16;
1John 2:20.
great . . . peace--generally (
Ps 119:165). Specially referring to the peaceful prosperity which shall prevail under Messiah in the latter days (
Isa 2:4,
Isa 9:6).
14 righteousness--the characteristic of the reign of Messiah (
Isa 11:4-
Isa 11:5;
Ps 72:2,
Ps 72:4;
Rev 19:11).
far from oppression, &c.--far from suffering oppression; "for thou shall have nothing to fear."
15 gather together, &c.--that is, If it should happen that enemies "gather together" against thee (
Ps 2:2), they will not have been sent by Me (compare
Hos 8:4) as instruments of My wrath (nay, it will be with My disapproval); for "whosoever shall gather together," &c. (
Ps 59:3).
fall for thy sake--rather, "shall come over to thy side" [LOWTH]. Literally, "fall to thee" (
Jer 21:9;
Jer 39:9). To be fully fulfilled to Jerusalem hereafter (
Zech 14:16).
16 The workman that forms "weapons against thee" (
Isa 54:17) is wholly in My power, therefore thou needest not fear, having Me on thy side.
for his work--rather, "by his labor [HORSLEY]. "According to the exigencies of his work" [MAURER].
waster to destroy-- (
Isa 10:5-
Isa 10:7;
Isa 37:26-
Isa 37:27;
Isa 45:1-
Isa 45:6). Desolating conquerors who use the "instruments" framed by "the smith." The repetition of the "I" implies, however, something in the latter half of the verse contrasted with the former understand it, therefore, thus: "I have in My power both him who frames arms and him who destroys them (arms)" [ROSENMULLER].
17 tongue . . . condemn--image from a court of justice. Those who desire to "condemn" thee thou shalt "condemn" (
Exod 11:7;
Josh 10:21;
Ps 64:8;
Rom 8:1,
Rom 8:33).
righteousness . . . of me-- (
Isa 45:24;
Isa 46:13). Rather, "(this is) their justification from Me." Their enemies would "condemn" them, but I justify and vindicate them, and so they condemn their enemies.