King James Version
Isaiah 18
7 verses with commentary
Prophecy Against Cush
Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.</strong> The Hebrew 'hoy' (woe) can function as call to attention rather than pure judgment pronouncement. 'Shadowing with wings' likely refers to the tsetse fly prevalent in the region, or metaphorically to Ethiopia's military protection. 'Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia' (Cush) indicates the region south of Egypt...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
**XVIII.**
(1) **Woe to the land shadowing with wings.**—A new kingdom, hitherto unnamed by Isaiah, comes now within his horizon. The movements of Tirhakah, king of Cush or Ethiopia, from the upper valley of the Nile, subduing Egypt, and prepared to enter into conflict with the great Assyrian king (Isaiah 37:9), had apparently excited the hopes of such of Hezekiah’s counsellors as put their trust ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
God's care for his people; and the increase of the church.
This chapter is one of the most obscure in Scripture, though more of it probably was understood by those for whose use it was first intended, than by us now. Swift messengers are sent by water to a nation marked by Providence, and measured out, trodden under foot. God's people are trampled on; but whoever thinks to swallow...
Read full commentary →That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled! scattered: or, outspread and polished meted: or, that meteth out and treadeth down: Heb. of line, line, and treading under foot have: or, despise
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KJV Study Commentary
'That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!' Ethiopia sends ambassadors in papyrus reed boats (Egyptian/Cushite watercraft) seeking alliances. The 'swift messengers' ca...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **That sendeth ambassadors . . .**—The words point to the embassies which the Ethiopian king had sent, in the papyrus boats used for the navigation of the Upper Nile, down that river to Hezekiah and other princes, inviting them to join the alliance against Assyria.
**Go, ye swift messengers . . .**—The interpolated “saying” being omitted, the words that follow are as the prophet’s address to t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
INTRODUCTION
The Hebrew title is Koheleth, which the speaker in it applies to himself (Ec 1:12), "I, Koheleth, was king over Israel." It means an Assembler or Convener of a meeting and a Preacher to such a meeting. The feminine form of the Hebrew noun, and its construction once (Ec 7:27) with a feminine verb, show that it not only signifies Solomon, the Preacher to assemblies (in which case it i...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
God's care for his people; and the increase of the church.
This chapter is one of the most obscure in Scripture, though more of it probably was understood by those for whose use it was first intended, than by us now. Swift messengers are sent by water to a nation marked by Providence, and measured out, trodden under foot. God's people are trampled on; but whoever thinks to swallow...
Read full commentary →All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
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KJV Study Commentary
'All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.' The universal address ('all inhabitants...all dwellers') indicates God's actions affect all nations, not just Israel/Judah. The 'ensign on mountains' (military banner/signal) and trumpet (shofar—warning/assembly call) announce divine action. G...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **When he lifteth up an ensign . . .**—Both clauses are better taken as indefinite, *when an ensign is set up ***. . .** *when a trumpet is sounded. *The prophet calls on all nations (Ethiopia being specially included) to watch for the signal that shall be given, distinct as the beacon-fire on the hill, or the alarm of the trumpet, to proclaim the downfall of Assyria.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
2. The theme proposed of the first part of his discourse.
**Vanity of vanities--**Hebraism for the most utter vanity. So "holy of holies" (Ex 26:33); "servant of servants" (Ge 9:25). The repetition increases the force.
**all--**Hebrew, "the all"; all without exception, namely, earthly things.
**vanity--**not in themselves, for God maketh nothing in vain (1Ti 4:4, 5), but vain when put in the...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
God's care for his people; and the increase of the church.
This chapter is one of the most obscure in Scripture, though more of it probably was understood by those for whose use it was first intended, than by us now. Swift messengers are sent by water to a nation marked by Providence, and measured out, trodden under foot. God's people are trampled on; but whoever thinks to swallow...
Read full commentary →For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. consider: or, regard my set dwelling upon: or, after rain
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KJV Study Commentary
'For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.' God speaks of calmly observing from His dwelling place—divine rest doesn't mean inaction but sovereign confidence. The similes describe God's watchful presence: 'clear heat upon herbs' (warm sunlight nurturing growth) and 'cloud...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4, 5) **I will take my rest . . .**—The words that follow paint with marvellous vividness the calmness and deliberation of the workings of Divine judgments. God is at once unhasting and unresting. He dwells in His resting-place (*i.e., *palace or throne), and watches the ripening of the fruit which He is about to gather. *While there is a clear heat in sunshine, while there is a dew-cloud in harv...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. What profit ... labour--**that is, "What profit" as to the chief good (Mt 16:26). Labor is profitable in its proper place (Ge 2:15; 3:19; Pr 14:23).
**under the sun--**that is, in this life, as opposed to the future world. The phrase often recurs, but only in Ecclesiastes.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
God's care for his people; and the increase of the church.
This chapter is one of the most obscure in Scripture, though more of it probably was understood by those for whose use it was first intended, than by us now. Swift messengers are sent by water to a nation marked by Providence, and measured out, trodden under foot. God's people are trampled on; but whoever thinks to swallow...
Read full commentary →For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
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KJV Study Commentary
'For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.' Before harvest (before plans mature), God intervenes with pruning. The imagery depicts viticulture—cutting off promising growth before fruit matures. This describes God's judgment on Ethiopian/Egyptian anti-Ass...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. earth ... for ever--**(Psa 104:5). While the earth remains the same, the generations of men are ever changing; what lasting profit, then, can there be from the toils of one whose sojourn on earth, as an individual, is so brief? The "for ever" is comparative, not absolute (Psa 102:26).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
God's care for his people; and the increase of the church.
This chapter is one of the most obscure in Scripture, though more of it probably was understood by those for whose use it was first intended, than by us now. Swift messengers are sent by water to a nation marked by Providence, and measured out, trodden under foot. God's people are trampled on; but whoever thinks to swallow...
Read full commentary →They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
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KJV Study Commentary
'They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.' The pruned branches become carrion for scavengers—complete waste and judgment. This depicts battlefield imagery: corpses left for birds and beasts, remaining through seasons ('summer...winter'). The comprehensiv...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains . . .**—The figure and the reality are strangely blended. The grapes of that vintage cut off by those pruning-hooks are none other than the carcases of the host of the Assyrians left unburied, to be devoured by the dogs and vultures.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5. (Psa 19:5, 6). "Panting" as the Hebrew for "hasteth"; metaphor, from a runner (Psa 19:5, "a strong man") in a "race." It applies rather to the rising sun, which seems laboriously to mount up to the meridian, than to the setting sun; the accents too favor Maurer, "And (that too, returning) to his place, where panting he riseth."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
God's care for his people; and the increase of the church.
This chapter is one of the most obscure in Scripture, though more of it probably was understood by those for whose use it was first intended, than by us now. Swift messengers are sent by water to a nation marked by Providence, and measured out, trodden under foot. God's people are trampled on; but whoever thinks to swallow...
Read full commentary →In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion. scattered: or, outspread and polished
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
'In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.' After judgment comes worship—Ethiopia brings tribute to Jerusalem's temple. The same descriptions f...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **In that time shall the present be brought . . .**—Not “of the people,” but *a people, *as being themselves the present. The prophet foresees, as one result of the defeat of the Assyrian armies, that the nation, which he again describes instead of naming, will offer themselves to the service of Jehovah. So taken the words have an interesting parallel in Psalm 68:31, “Ethiopia stretches out he...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. according to his circuits--**that is, it returns afresh to its former circuits, however many be its previous veerings about. The north and south winds are the two prevailing winds in Palestine and Egypt.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
God's care for his people; and the increase of the church.
This chapter is one of the most obscure in Scripture, though more of it probably was understood by those for whose use it was first intended, than by us now. Swift messengers are sent by water to a nation marked by Providence, and measured out, trodden under foot. God's people are trampled on; but whoever thinks to swallow...
Read full commentary →