King James Version
Isaiah 24
23 verses with commentary
The Lord's Devastation of the Earth
Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. turneth: Heb. perverteth the face thereof
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste</strong>—the Hebrew <em>baqaq</em> (בָּקַק, "empty") and <em>balaq</em> (בָּלַק, "waste") are intensive verbs depicting violent devastation. The threefold action—emptying, wasting, and <strong>turneth it upside down</strong> (<em>avah</em>, עָוָה, "distort/overturn")—portrays complete reversal of creation order, undoing Genesis 1...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
XXIV.
(1) **Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty . . .**—The chapters from 24 to 27, inclusive, are to be taken as a continuous prophecy of the overthrow of the great world-powers which wore arrayed against Jehovah and His people. Of these Assyria was then the most prominent within the horizon of the prophet’s view; but Moab appears in Isaiah 25:10, and the language, with that exception, seems ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
12. Another argument against anxiety to gain riches. "Sleep ... sweet" answers to "quietness" (Ec 4:6); "not suffer ... sleep," to "vexation of spirit." Fears for his wealth, and an overloaded stomach without "laboring" (compare Ec 4:5), will not suffer the rich oppressor to sleep.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
**Verses 1-2**
Envy not sinners. And let not a desire ever come into thy mind, Oh that I could shake off restraints!
And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. priest: or, prince
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>As with the people, so with the priest</strong>—the sevenfold parallelism (people/priest, servant/master, maid/mistress, buyer/seller, lender/borrower, creditor/debtor) demolishes all social hierarchy. The Hebrew structure uses emphatic <em>ka</em> (כַּ, "as") seven times, signifying complete universality. No privilege exempts anyone from judgment—sacerdotal status, economic power, social ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **It shall be, as with the people . . .**—In the apparently general classification there is, perhaps, in the last two clauses a trace of the prophet’s indignation at the growing tendency of the people to the luxury which led to debt, and to the avarice which traded on the debtor’s necessities. Israel, it would seem, was already on the way to become a nation of money lenders.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-14. Proofs of God's judgments even in this world (Pr 11:31). The rich oppressor's wealth provokes enemies, robbers, &c. Then, after having kept it for an expected son, he loses it beforehand by misfortune ("by evil travail"), and the son is born to be heir of poverty. Ec 2:19, 23 gives another aspect of the same subject.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
**Verses 1-2**
Envy not sinners. And let not a desire ever come into thy mind, Oh that I could shake off restraints!
The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled</strong>—the Hebrew uses the infinitive absolute construction (<em>hibbaq tibbaq</em>, הִבּוֹק תִּבּוֹק and <em>hibbaz tibbaz</em>, הִבֹּז תִּבֹּז) for emphatic certainty: "it shall surely, surely be emptied and plundered." This grammatical intensification removes all doubt—judgment is decreed and irreversible. The doubling emphasizes ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-14. Proofs of God's judgments even in this world (Pr 11:31). The rich oppressor's wealth provokes enemies, robbers, &c. Then, after having kept it for an expected son, he loses it beforehand by misfortune ("by evil travail"), and the son is born to be heir of poverty. Ec 2:19, 23 gives another aspect of the same subject.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-6**
Piety and prudence in outward affairs, both go together to complete a wise man. By knowledge the soul is filled with the graces and comforts of the spirit, those precious and pleasant riches. The spirit is strengthened for the spiritual work and the spiritual warfare, by true wisdom.
The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. the haughty: Heb. the height of the people
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The earth mourneth and fadeth away</strong>—<em>abal</em> (אָבַל, "mourn") typically describes human grief but here personifies creation itself lamenting. The verb <em>nabel</em> (נָבֵל, "fade/wither") depicts vegetation dying, echoing the curse after Eden (Gen 3:17-18). Paul develops this in Romans 8:19-22: creation groans under sin's bondage, awaiting redemption. Isaiah envisions cosmic ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **The haughty people of the earth.**—Literally, *the heights, *or, to use an English term with a like history, “the *highnesses *of the people.”
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-6**
Piety and prudence in outward affairs, both go together to complete a wise man. By knowledge the soul is filled with the graces and comforts of the spirit, those precious and pleasant riches. The spirit is strengthened for the spiritual work and the spiritual warfare, by true wisdom.
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof</strong>—<em>chaneph</em> (חָנֵף, "defiled") denotes moral pollution, especially covenant violation. The preposition "under" (<em>tachat</em>, תַּחַת) indicates that earth suffers beneath the weight of human sin, recalling Numbers 35:33: bloodshed defiles the land. Creation groans under humanity's rebellion (Rom 8:20-22).<br><br>Three...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **The earth also is defiled.**—The verb is used of blood-guiltiness in Numbers 35:33, of impurity in Jeremiah 3:1-2; Jeremiah 3:9. It includes, therefore, all the sins that, in modern phrase, desecrate humanity. Taking the word in its wider range, each form of evil was a transgression of the “everlasting covenant” of Genesis 9:16.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
16. Even supposing that he loses not his wealth before death, then at least he must go stripped of it all (Psa 49:17).
**laboured for the wind--**(Ho 12:1; 1Co 9:26).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-6**
Piety and prudence in outward affairs, both go together to complete a wise man. By knowledge the soul is filled with the graces and comforts of the spirit, those precious and pleasant riches. The spirit is strengthened for the spiritual work and the spiritual warfare, by true wisdom.
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate.</strong> This verse describes the devastating consequences of humanity's covenant-breaking. The Hebrew <em>alah</em> (אָלָה, "curse") refers specifically to covenant curses—the promised consequences for violating God's law (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). The verb "devoured" (<em>akal</em>, אָכַל) suggests consum...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Therefore hath the curse . . .**—The definite article may be either generic, *the *curse which always follows on evil-doing, or, more specifically, *the *curse of the Book of the Covenant, as in Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28. The curse is personified as a beast of prey or a consuming fire, ready to devour. (Comp. Genesis 4:7; Genesis 4:11.)
**They that dwell therein are desolate.**—Better, *b...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. eateth--**appropriately put for "liveth" in general, as connected with Ec 5:11, 12, 18.
**darkness--**opposed to "light (joy) of countenance" (Ec 8:1; Pr 16:15).
**wrath--**fretfulness, literally, "His sorrow is much, and his infirmity (of body) and wrath."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-6**
Piety and prudence in outward affairs, both go together to complete a wise man. By knowledge the soul is filled with the graces and comforts of the spirit, those precious and pleasant riches. The spirit is strengthened for the spiritual work and the spiritual warfare, by true wisdom.
The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth</strong>—<em>tirosh</em> (תִּירוֹשׁ, "new wine") personified as mourning (<em>abal</em>, אָבַל) depicts failed harvest and agricultural collapse. The vine (<em>gephen</em>, גֶּפֶן) languishing reverses Edenic fruitfulness—judgment un-creates blessing. Wine symbolized joy and divine favor (Ps 104:15; Eccl 9:7); its absence signals covenant curse (...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **The new wine mourneth.**—Each feature takes its part in the picture of a land from which all sources of joy are taken away. The vine is *scorched *with the fire of the curse, there is no wine in the winepress, the song of the grape-gatherers (proverbially the type of the “merry-hearted”) is hushed in silence.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
18. Returns to the sentiment (Ec 3:12, 13, 22); translate: "Behold the good which I have seen, and which is becoming" (in a man).
**which God giveth--**namely, both the good of his labor and his life.
**his portion--**legitimately. It is God's gift that makes it so when regarded as such. Such a one will use, not abuse, earthly things (1Co 7:31). Opposed to the anxious life of the covetous (Ec ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-9**
A weak man thinks wisdom is too high for him, therefore he will take no pains for it. It is bad to do evil, but worse to devise it. Even the first risings of sin in the heart are sin, and must be repented of. Those that strive to make others hateful, make themselves so.
The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The mirth of tabrets ceaseth</strong>—<em>toph</em> (תֹּף, "tabret/tambourine"), used in celebration and worship (Ex 15:20, Ps 150:4), falls silent. The verb <em>shabat</em> (שָׁבַת, "cease") echoes Sabbath-rest language but here denotes cessation of joy, not holy rest. <strong>The noise of them that rejoice endeth</strong> uses <em>alizzim</em> (עַלִּיזִים, "exultant ones"), those who cel...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **The mirth of tabrets . . .**—The words point to the processions of women with timbrels (tambourines) and sacred harps or lyres, like those of Exodus 15:20; Judges 11:34; 1Samuel 18:6, as was customary in seasons of victory. (Comp. the striking parallel of 1 Maccabees 3:45.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19. As Ec 5:18 refers to the "laboring" man (Ec 5:12), so Ec 5:19 to the "rich" man, who gets wealth not by "oppression" (Ec 5:8), but by "God's gift." He is distinguished also from the "rich" man (Ec 6:2) in having received by God's gift not only "wealth," but also "power to eat thereof," which that one has not.
**to take his portion--**limits him to the lawful use of wealth, not keeping back f...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-9**
A weak man thinks wisdom is too high for him, therefore he will take no pains for it. It is bad to do evil, but worse to devise it. Even the first risings of sin in the heart are sin, and must be repented of. Those that strive to make others hateful, make themselves so.
They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They shall not drink wine with a song</strong>—the normal accompaniment of wine-drinking with singing (Isa 5:11-12, Amos 6:5-6) ceases. Wine (<em>yayin</em>, יַיִן), typically a blessing, becomes unavailable for festivity. The phrase <em>ba-shir</em> (בַּשִּׁיר, "with a song") indicates that even if wine were available, joy would be absent—sorrow has swallowed celebration.<br><br><strong>S...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **They shall not drink wine with** **a song . . .**—Literally, *in their song they drink no wine; i.e., *the music of the feasts (Amos 6:5) should cease, and if they sang at all it should be a chant of lamentation (Amos 8:10). The very appetite for “strong drink” (probably the palm-wine of the East) should pass away, and it would be bitter as the wine of gall (Deuteronomy 32:33).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
20. He will not remember much, looking back with disappointment, as the ungodly do (Ec 2:11), on the days of his life.
**answereth ... in the joy--**God answers his prayers in giving him "power" to enjoy his blessings. Gesenius and Vulgate translate, "For God (so) occupies him with joy," &c., that he thinks not much of the shortness and sorrows of life. Holden, "Though God gives not much (as...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-9**
A weak man thinks wisdom is too high for him, therefore he will take no pains for it. It is bad to do evil, but worse to devise it. Even the first risings of sin in the heart are sin, and must be repented of. Those that strive to make others hateful, make themselves so.
The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The city of confusion is broken down</strong>—<em>qiryat tohu</em> (קִרְיַת תֹּהוּ) literally means "city of emptiness/chaos." <em>Tohu</em> appears in Genesis 1:2 describing pre-creation chaos ("without form")—judgment returns creation to primordial disorder. The city represents human civilization organized in rebellion against God (Gen 11:4, Babel's tower-city). <strong>Broken down</stro...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **The city of confusion.**—Better, *the city of chaos, *the *tohu *of Genesis 1:2, “without form and void.” The world should be cast back out of its *cosmos *into its primeval chaos. The word is a favourite one with Isaiah (Isaiah 34:11; Isaiah 59:4, and nine other passages).
**Every house is shut up**—*i.e., *to complete the picture, not because its gates are barred, but because its own ruin...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 10**
Under troubles we are apt to despair of relief. But be of good courage, and God shall strengthen thy heart.
There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>There is a crying for wine in the streets</strong>—<em>tse'aqah</em> (צְעָקָה, "crying/outcry") in the <em>chutsot</em> (חוּצוֹת, "streets/public squares") indicates public lamentation. The cry is <em>al-yayin</em> (עַל־יַיִן, "concerning wine")—people wail over wine's absence, suggesting both literal shortage (failed harvest, disrupted trade) and symbolic loss of joy. This echoes Joel 1:5...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **There is a crying for wine in the streets.**—Literally, *because of wine in the fields. *The Hebrew noun for the latter word hovers between the meaning of an open place within and one without a city. The context seems in favour of the latter sense. Men weep in the fields because there is no vintage.
**All joy is darkened.**—The English verb exactly expresses the force of the Hebrew, which i...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 6
Ec 6:1-12.
**1. common--**or else more literally,--"great upon man," falls heavily upon man.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-12**
If a man know that his neighbour is in danger by any unjust proceeding, he is bound to do all in his power to deliver him. And what is it to suffer immortal souls to perish, when our persuasions and example may be the means of preventing it?
In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>In the city is left desolation</strong>—<em>nish'ar</em> (נִשְׁאַר, "is left/remains") with <em>shammah</em> (שַׁמָּה, "desolation/horror") indicates that devastation is the sole residue. What remains after judgment is not a remnant of people but a residue of ruin. <em>Shammah</em> denotes appalling waste, often used of land under divine curse (Lev 26:31-32, Jer 4:7). The city (<em>ir</em>...
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(12) **In the city is left desolation.**—Better, *of the city. *Nothing should be left but its crumbling ruins. The “gate,” usually, in an Eastern town, the pride of the city, and the chief place of concourse, had been battered till it lay in ruins.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. for his soul--**that is, his enjoyment.
**God giveth him not power to eat--**This distinguishes him from the "rich" man in Ec 5:19. "God hath given" distinguishes him also from the man who got his wealth by "oppression" (Ec 5:8, 10).
**stranger--**those not akin, nay, even hostile to him (Jr 51:51; La 5:2; Ho 7:9). He seems to have it in his "power" to do as he will with his wealth, but a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-12**
If a man know that his neighbour is in danger by any unjust proceeding, he is bound to do all in his power to deliver him. And what is it to suffer immortal souls to perish, when our persuasions and example may be the means of preventing it?
When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people</strong>—the phrase <em>ki koh yihyeh</em> (כִּי כֹה יִהְיֶה, "for thus it shall be") introduces a simile explaining judgment's scope. <em>Be-qerev ha'aretz</em> (בְּקֶרֶב הָאָרֶץ, "in the midst of the earth") and <em>be-tok ha'ammim</em> (בְּתוֹךְ הָעַמִּים, "among the peoples") indicate universal extent—the coming devastatio...
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(13) **There shall be as the shaking of an olive tree . . .**—The prophet’s characteristic thought of the “remnant” that should escape is presented under familiar imagery, that of the few olives on the olive tree, and the gleaning of the grapes when the vintage is over. (Comp. Isaiah 17:5-6; Judges 8:2.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3. Even if a man (of this character) have very many (equivalent to "a hundred," 2Ki 10:1) children, and not have a "stranger" as his heir (Ec 6:2), and live long ("days of years" express the brevity of life at its best, Ge 47:9), yet enjoy no real "good" in life, and lie unhonored, without "burial," at death (2Ki 9:26, 35), the embryo is better than he. In the East to be without burial is the grea...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-15** There shall be a remnant preserved from the general ruin, and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. These few are dispersed; like the gleanings of the olive tree, hid under the leaves. The Lord knows those that are his; the world does not. When the mirth of carnal worldlings ceases, the joy of the saints is as lively as ever, because the covenant of grace, the fountain of their ...
Read full commentary →They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD</strong>—Amid Isaiah's apocalyptic vision of worldwide judgment (24:1-13), this verse introduces a surprising note of praise from a faithful remnant. The Hebrew שָׂא (nasa, lift up) paired with קוֹל (qol, voice) indicates loud, public proclamation. <strong>They shall sing</strong> uses רָנַן (ranan), meaning to cry...
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(14) **They shall cry aloud from the sea . . .**—The utterers of the praise are obviously the remnant of the saved, whether of the “Jews of the dispersion,” or of the Gentiles. To them there appears in the midst of the desolation, the vision of the glory of the Lord, and far off, from *the *sea (the Mediterranean, as the great sea of the ancient world) they raise their song of praise.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. he--**rather "it," "the untimely birth." So "its," not "his name."
**with vanity--**to no purpose; a type of the driftless existence of him who makes riches the chief good.
**darkness--**of the abortive; a type of the unhonored death and dark future beyond the grave of the avaricious.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-15** There shall be a remnant preserved from the general ruin, and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. These few are dispersed; like the gleanings of the olive tree, hid under the leaves. The Lord knows those that are his; the world does not. When the mirth of carnal worldlings ceases, the joy of the saints is as lively as ever, because the covenant of grace, the fountain of their ...
Read full commentary →Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea. fires: or, valleys
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires</strong> (בָּאֻרִים, ba'urim)—This difficult phrase has sparked interpretive debate. The Hebrew אוּר (ur) can mean light, fire, or regions of light (east). Some translations render it 'in the east' (NIV), others 'in the fires' (KJV), still others 'in the valleys of light.' The ambiguity may be intentional: whether in fires of affliction or distant...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires.**—The last word, which is identical in form with the Urim of the high priest’s breastplate, has been very differently interpreted:—(1) Taking it in the sense of “light,” it has been taken as meaning the east, as contrasted with the “isles of the sea” as a synonym for the west, and so standing parallel to the familiar phrase “from the rising of the...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. this--**yet "it has more rest than" the toiling, gloomy miser.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-15** There shall be a remnant preserved from the general ruin, and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. These few are dispersed; like the gleanings of the olive tree, hid under the leaves. The Lord knows those that are his; the world does not. When the mirth of carnal worldlings ceases, the joy of the saints is as lively as ever, because the covenant of grace, the fountain of their ...
Read full commentary →From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. uttermost: Heb. wing My leanness: Heb. Leanness to me, or, My secret to me
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs</strong> (מִכְּנַף הָאָרֶץ, mik'naf ha'aretz, literally 'from the wing/edge of the earth')—The prophet hears praise echoing from earth's extremities. <strong>Even glory to the righteous</strong> (צְבִי לַצַּדִּיק, tsebi latsadiq) can mean 'glory to the Righteous One' (God) or 'glory belongs to the righteous.' Either way, it celebrate...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **From the uttermost part of the earth . . .**—The words “glory to the righteous” sound at first like a doxology addressed to Jehovah as essentially the Righteous One. Two facts militate, however, against this view. The word translated “glory” is not that commonly used in doxologies, but rather “honour” or “praise,” such as is applied to men (Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 23:9; Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 28:4-...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6. If the miser's length of "life" be thought to raise him above the abortive, Solomon answers that long life, without enjoying real good, is but lengthened misery, and riches cannot exempt him from going whither "all go." He is fit neither for life, nor death, nor eternity.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-23** Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners; the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; and the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evil pursues sinners. Unsteady, uncertain are all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in...
Read full commentary →Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Fear, and the pit, and the snare</strong> (פַּחַד וָפַחַת וָפָח, pachad vafachat vafach)—This alliterative triplet in Hebrew creates ominous rhythm: terror, trap, and snare await. פַּחַד (pachad) means sudden terror, dread. פַּחַת (pachat) is a pit or pitfall used to trap animals. פָּח (pach) is a snare or trap. Together they depict inescapable judgment—no matter which direction one flees,...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Fear, and the pit, and the snare . . .**—The words paint the rapid succession of inevitable calamities, in imagery drawn from the several forms of the hunter’s work. There is first the terror of the startled beast; then the pit dug that he might fall into it; then the snare, if he struggled out of the pit, out of which there was no escape (Isaiah 8:15). The passage is noticeable as having b...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. man--**rather, "the man," namely, the miser (Ec 6:3-6). For not all men labor for the mouth, that is, for selfish gratification.
**appetite--**Hebrew, "the soul." The insatiability of the desire prevents that which is the only end proposed in toils, namely, self-gratification; "the man" thus gets no "good" out of his wealth (Ec 6:3).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-23** Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners; the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; and the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evil pursues sinners. Unsteady, uncertain are all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in...
Read full commentary →And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>He who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit</strong>—Isaiah elaborates the previous verse's trap imagery: escaping one danger leads directly to another. The progressive verbs trace futile flight: flee, fall, climb up, get taken. This isn't theoretical possibility but stated certainty—every escape attempt ends in another trap.<br><br><strong>For the windows from on high...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **The windows from on high are open . . .**—The phrase reminds us of the narrative of the Flood in Genesis 7:11; Genesis 8:2. There was a second judgment on the defiled and corrupted land like that of the deluge. The next clause and the following verses were probably reminiscences of the earthquake in Uzziah’s reign, and of the panic which it caused (Isaiah 2:19; Amos 1:1; Zechariah 14:5).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. For--**"However" [Maurer]. The "for" means (in contrast to the insatiability of the miser), For what else is the advantage which the wise man hath above the fool?"
**What--**advantage, that is, superiority, above him who knows not how to walk uprightly
**hath the poor who knoweth to walk before the living?--**that is, to use and enjoy life aright (Ec 5:18, 19), a cheerful, thankful, godly...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-23** Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners; the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; and the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evil pursues sinners. Unsteady, uncertain are all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in...
Read full commentary →The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.</strong> This verse intensifies the apocalyptic description of divine judgment on the earth. The threefold repetition of "the earth" (<em>ha'aretz</em>, הָאָרֶץ) with escalating verbs creates a crescendo of catastrophic imagery. "Utterly broken down" translates <em>ro'ah hitro'a'ah</em> (רֹעָה ה...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **The earth is utterly broken . . .**—We note the characteristic form of Hebrew emphasis in the threefold iteration of “the earth.” (Comp. Isaiah 6:3; Jeremiah 22:29.) There the form (more visibly in the Hebrew than in the English) is a climax representing the three stages of an earthquake: the first cleavage of the ground; the wide open gaping; the final shattering convulsion. The rhythm of ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9. Answer to the question in Ec 6:8. This is the advantage:
**Better is the sight of the eyes--**the wise man's godly enjoyment of present seen blessings
**than the (fool's) wandering--**literally, walking (Psa 73:9), of the desire, that is, vague, insatiable desires for what he has not (Ec 6:7; He 13:5).
**this--**restless wandering of desire, and not enjoying contentedly the present (1Ti 6...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-23** Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners; the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; and the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evil pursues sinners. Unsteady, uncertain are all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in...
Read full commentary →The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard</strong> (נוֹעַ תָּנוּעַ אֶרֶץ כַּשִּׁכּוֹר)—The verb <em>nua</em> (stagger, reel) appears twice (intensified infinitive), conveying violent instability. The earth (<em>erets</em>) staggers like a <em>shikkor</em> (drunkard) who has lost all equilibrium. <strong>And shall be removed like a cottage</strong>—The Hebrew <em>melunah</em> refers t...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **The earth shall reel to and fro . . .**—The point of the first comparison is obvious. (Comp. the like illustration of a ship tossed by the waves in Psalm 107:27.) The second becomes clearer if we render *hammock *instead of cottage, a hanging mat, suspended from a tree, in which the keeper of the vineyard slept, moving with every breath of wind; the very type of instability. In the words th...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
10. Part II begins here. Since man's toils are vain, what is the chief good? (Ec 6:12). The answer is contained in the rest of the book.
**That which hath been--**man's various circumstances
**is named already--**not only has existed, Ec 1:9; 3:15, but has received its just name, "vanity," long ago,
**and it is known that it--**vanity
**is man--**Hebrew, "Adam," equivalent to man "of red d...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-23** Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners; the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; and the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evil pursues sinners. Unsteady, uncertain are all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in...
Read full commentary →And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. punish: Heb. visit upon
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>It shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high</strong>—The phrase <em>tseva ha-marom ba-marom</em> (host of the height in the height) refers to spiritual powers, not merely earthly rulers. These 'high ones' are likely the principalities and powers Paul describes: 'spiritual wickedness in high places' (Ephesians 6:12). The verb <em>...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **The Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high . . .**—The prophet’s utterance becomes more and more apocalyptic. He sees more than the condemnation of the kings of earth. Jehovah visits also the “principalities and powers in heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:10) or “on high” (Ephesians 6:12). Perhaps identifying these spiritual evil powers with the gods whom the nations worsh...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
11. "Seeing" that man cannot escape from the "vanity," which by God's "mighty" will is inherent in earthly things, and cannot call in question God's wisdom in these dispensations (equivalent to "contend," &c.),
**what is man the better--**of these vain things as regards the chief good? None whatever.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-23** Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners; the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; and the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evil pursues sinners. Unsteady, uncertain are all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in...
Read full commentary →And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. as prisoners: Heb. with the gathering of prisoners pit: or, dungeon visited: or, found wanting
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit</strong> (וְאֻסְּפוּ אֲסֵפָה אַסִּיר עַל־בּוֹר)—The verb <em>asap</em> (gather) intensified with cognate noun <em>asephah</em> (gathering) emphasizes comprehensive roundup. These rebellious powers, both spiritual and human, are gathered as <em>asir</em> (prisoners) into a <em>bor</em> (pit, dungeon, cistern). <strong>And...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **As prisoners are gathered in the pit . . .**—The imagery is drawn from the deep underground dungeons of Eastern prisons (Jeremiah 38:6), which are here the symbol of the abyss of Hades, in which the rebel powers of earth and heaven await the final judgment (2Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6).
**After many days shall they be visited.**—The verb is the same as that translated “punish” in the previous vers...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. For who knoweth, &c.--**The ungodly know not what is really "good" during life, nor "what shall be after them," that is, what will be the event of their undertakings (Ec 3:22; 8:7). The godly might be tempted to "contend with God" (Ec 6:10) as to His dispensations; but they cannot fully know the wise purposes served by them now and hereafter. Their sufferings from the oppressors are more...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-23** Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners; the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; and the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evil pursues sinners. Unsteady, uncertain are all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in...
Read full commentary →Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. before: or, there shall be glory before his ancients
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed</strong> (וְחָפְרָה הַלְּבָנָה וּבוֹשָׁה הַחַמָּה)—The verbs <em>chaphar</em> (be ashamed, abashed) and <em>bush</em> (be ashamed, embarrassed) personify celestial bodies experiencing humiliation. When God's glory appears, even sun and moon—sources of light—are 'ashamed' because their light pales into insignificance. Jesus described th...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **The moon shall be confounded . . .**—The thought implied is that the most glorious forms of created light will become dim, the moon red as with the blush of shame, the sun turning pale, before the glory of Jehovah’s presence.
**The Lord of hosts shall reign . . .**—Better, *hath become king, *the phrase being that used as in 2Samuel 5:4; 1Kings 15:1, for a king’s accession to his throne.
**...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-23** Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners; the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; and the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evil pursues sinners. Unsteady, uncertain are all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in...
Read full commentary →