King James Version
Isaiah 29
24 verses with commentary
Woe to Jerusalem
Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. Woe: or, O Ariel, that is, the lion of God the city: or, of the city kill: Heb. cut off the heads of
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!</strong> The name אֲרִיאֵל (<em>Ariel</em>) carries layered meaning: 'lion of God' or 'altar hearth.' Isaiah employs this cryptic designation for Jerusalem, the city David established as Israel's capital. The repetition intensifies the lament—God Himself pronounces woe upon His own sanctuary city. The phrase <strong>add ye year to year; l...
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XXIX.
(1) **Woe to Ariel, to Ariel.**—The name belongs to the same group of poetic synonyms as Rahab (Psalm 87:4; Psalm 89:10) and the Valley of Vision (Psalm 22:1). It may have been coined by Isaiah himself. It may have been part of the secret language of the prophetic schools, as Sheshach stood for Babel (Jer ), Rahab for Egypt (Isaiah 51:9), and in the language of later Rabbis, Edom, and in tha...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. removeth stones--**namely, of an ancient building [Weiss]. His neighbor's landmarks [Holden]. Cuts out from the quarry [Maurer].
**endangered--**by the splinters, or by the head of the hatchet, flying back on himself. Pithy aphorisms are common in the East. The sense is: Violations of true wisdom recoil on the perpetrators.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 29
**Verse 1**
If God wounds, who can heal? The word of God warns all to flee from the wrath to come, to the hope set before us in Jesus Christ.
Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Yet I will distress Ariel</strong> (וַהֲצִיקוֹתִי לַאֲרִיאֵל, <em>vahatsiqothi la'Ariel</em>)—the verb צוק (<em>tsûq</em>) means to press, constrain, bring into straits. The Lion of God will be pressed into narrow places by God Himself. <strong>And there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel</strong> establishes a grim wordplay: Jerusalem will become to Yahweh lik...
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(2) **And it shall be unto me as Ariel.**—Better, *But she *(the city) *shall be unto me as Ariel. *That name would not falsify itself. In the midst of all her “heaviness and sorrow,” Jerusalem should still be as “the lion of God,” or, taking the other meaning, as the “altar-hearth” of God. (Comp. Ezekiel 43:15.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. iron ... blunt--**in "cleaving wood" (Ec 10:9), answering to the "fool set in dignity" (Ec 10:6), who wants sharpness. More force has then to be used in both cases; but "force" without judgment "endangers" one's self. Translate, "If one hath blunted his iron" [Maurer]. The preference of rash to judicious counsellors, which entailed the pushing of matters by force, proved to be the "hurt" of ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 2**
The people have cause to rejoice or mourn, as their rulers are righteous or wicked.
And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I will camp against thee round about</strong> (וְחָנִיתִי כַדּוּר עָלָיִךְ, <em>vechaniti khadur alayikh</em>)—the verb חנה (<em>chanah</em>, to encamp) appears throughout the conquest narratives when Israel besieged Canaanite cities. Now Yahweh Himself becomes the besieger. The phrase <strong>and will lay siege against thee with a mount</strong> (וְצַרְתִּי עָלַיִךְ מֻצָּב, <em>vetsar...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **I will encamp against thee . . .**—The words describe the strategy of an Eastern siege, as we see it in the Assyrian sculptures—the mound raised against the walls of the city, the battering-ram placed upon the mound, and brought to bear upon the walls. (See Jeremiah 33:4; Ezekiel 4:2.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
11. A "serpent will bite" if "enchantment" is not used; "and a babbling calumniator is no better." Therefore, as one may escape a serpent by charms (Psa 58:4, 5), so one may escape the sting of a calumniator by discretion (Ec 10:12), [Holden]. Thus, "without enchantment" answers to "not whet the edge" (Ec 10:10), both expressing, figuratively, want of judgment. Maurer translates, "There is no gain...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 3**
Divine wisdom best keeps us from ruinous lusts.
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. whisper: Heb. peep, or, chirp
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And thou shalt be brought down</strong> (וְשָׁפַלְתְּ, <em>veshafalt</em>)—the verb שפל (<em>shafal</em>) means to be humbled, abased, brought low. Jerusalem's proud elevation, both geographically and spiritually, will be reversed. <strong>And shalt speak out of the ground</strong> (מֵאֶרֶץ תְּדַבֵּרִי, <em>me'erets tedaberi</em>)—like a ghost speaking from <em>Sheol</em>, the city's voice...
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(4) **Shalt speak out of the ground.**—The words paint the panic of the besieged, the words pointing probably to Sennacherib’s invasion. They spoke in whispers, like the voice of the spectres which men heard in the secret chambers of the soothsayers. The war-cry of the brave was changed into the feeble tones of those that “peep and mutter.” (See Note on Isaiah 8:19.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. gracious--**Thereby he takes precaution against sudden injury (Ec 10:11).
**swallow up himself--**(Pr 10:8, 14, 21, 32; 12:13; 15:2; 22:11).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 4**
The Lord Jesus is the King who will minister true judgment to the people.
Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust</strong> (וְהָיָה כְּאָבָק דַּק הֲמוֹן זָרָיִךְ, <em>vehayah ke'avaq daq hamon zarayikh</em>)—the זָרִים (<em>zarim</em>, strangers/enemies) who attack Jerusalem will themselves be reduced to fine dust. <strong>And the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away</strong> (וּכְמֹץ עֹבֵר הֲמוֹן עָרִיצִים,...
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(5) **Moreover the multitude . . .**—Better, *But. *The words interpret those of Isaiah 30:28. The tribulation should be great, but it should last but for a while. As in Isaiah 25:5, the “strangers”—*i.e.,* the “enemies,” and the “terrible ones”—should be brought low. A sudden catastrophe, pointing, probably, to the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, should bring them low. They, too, should pass u...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13. Illustrating the folly and injuriousness of the fool's words; last clause of Ec 10:12.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 5**
Flatterers put men off their guard, which betrays them into foolish conduct.
Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts</strong> (מֵעִם יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת תִּפָּקֵד, <em>me'im YHWH tseva'ot tippaqed</em>)—the verb פקד (<em>paqad</em>) means to attend to, visit, intervene. Here it signals divine intervention for deliverance. <strong>With thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise</strong> (בְּרַעַם וּבְרַעַשׁ וְקוֹל גָּדוֹל, <em>bera'am uvera'ash veqol gadol</em>)—t...
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(6) **Thou shalt be visited . . .**—Better, *She *(*i.e., *Jerusalem). The words may be figurative, but they may also be literal. Some terrific storm, acting as an “angel of the Lord” (Isaiah 37:36; Psalm 104:4), should burst at once upon Jerusalem and the hosts that were encamped against her, bringing to her safety, but to them destruction. As in the next verse, the “multitude of all nations” of ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. full of words--**(Ec 5:2).
**a man cannot tell what shall be--**(Ec 3:22; 6:12; 8:7; 11:2; Pr 27:1). If man, universally (including the wise man), cannot foresee the future, much less can the fool; his "many words" are therefore futile.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 6**
Transgressions always end in vexations. Righteous men walk at liberty, and walk in safety.
And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel</strong> (וְהָיָה כַּחֲלוֹם חֲזוֹן לַיְלָה הֲמוֹן כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם הַצֹּבְאִים עַל־אֲרִיאֵל, <em>vehayah kachalom chazon laylah hamon kol-hagoyim hatsobim al-Ariel</em>)—the attacking nations will become <strong>as a dream of a night vision</strong>. The phrase employs two words for visionary experience: חֲלוֹם (<em>chalom</em>, d...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Against her and her munition.**—The word is a rare one, but probably stands here for the new fortifications by which Uzziah and Hezekiah had defended Jerusalem.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. labour ... wearieth--**(Is 55:2; Ha 2:13).
**knoweth not how to go to the city--**proverb for ignorance of the most ordinary matters (Ec 10:3); spiritually, the heavenly city (Psa 107:7; Mt 7:13, 14). Maurer connects Ec 10:15 with the following verses. The labor (vexation) caused by the foolish (injurious princes, Ec 10:4-7) harasses him who "knows not how to go to the city," to ingratiate...
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**Verse 7**
This verse is applicable to compassion for the distress of the poor, and the unfeeling disregard shown by the wicked.
It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty</strong> (וְהָיָה כַּאֲשֶׁר יַחֲלֹם הָרָעֵב וְהִנֵּה אוֹכֵל וְהֵקִיץ וְרֵיקָה נַפְשׁוֹ, <em>vehayah ka'asher yachalom hara'ev vehineh okhel veheyqits vereyqah nafsho</em>). Isaiah intensifies the dream metaphor with visceral hunger imagery. The ravenous man dreams of feasting but ...
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(8) **It shall even be as when an hungry man . . .** **eateth.**—The foes of Jerusalem were greedy of their prey, eager to devour; they thought it was already theirs. The rude awakening found them still empty. The lion of Judah was not to be devoured even by the strong bull of Assyria.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. a child--**given to pleasures; behaves with childish levity. Not in years; for a nation may be happy under a young prince, as Josiah.
**eat in the morning--**the usual time for dispensing justice in the East (Jr 21:12); here, given to feasting (Is 5:11; Ac 2:15).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 8**
The scornful mock at things sacred and serious. Men who promote religion, which is true wisdom, turn away the wrath of God.
Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. cry ye: or, take your pleasure, and riot
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry</strong> (הִתְמַהְמְהוּ וּתְמָהוּ הִשְׁתַּעַשְׁעוּ וָשֹׁעוּ, <em>hitmahmehu utmahu hishta'ash'u vasho'u</em>)—a cascade of imperatives calling for astonishment and dismay. The verb מהה (<em>mahah</em>) means to delay, linger in stunned amazement. <strong>They are drunken, but not with wine</strong> (שָׁכְרוּ וְלֹא יַיִן, <em>shakhru velo yay...
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(9) **Stay yourselves . . .**—Better, *Astonish yourselves. *We can perhaps best understand the words by picturing to ourselves the prophet as preaching or reciting the previous prediction to his disciples and to the people. They are staggered, startled, incredulous, and he bursts into words of vehement reproof. The form of the verb implies that their astonished unbelief was self-caused. The chang...
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**17. son of nobles--**not merely in blood, but in virtue, the true nobility (So 7:1; Is 32:5, 8).
**in due season--**(Ec 3:1), not until duty has first been attended to.
**for strength--**to refresh the body, not for revelry (included in "drunkenness").
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-16** The security of sinners in sinful ways, is cause for lamentation and wonder. The learned men, through prejudice, said that the Divine prophecies were obscure; and the poor urged their want of learning. The Bible is a sealed book to every man, learned or unlearned, till he begins to study it with a simple heart and a teachable spirit, that he may thence learn the truth and the will ...
Read full commentary →For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. rulers: Heb. heads
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep</strong> (כִּי נָסַךְ עֲלֵיכֶם יְהוָה רוּחַ תַּרְדֵּמָה, <em>ki nasakh aleykhem YHWH ruach tardemah</em>)—the verb נסך (<em>nasakh</em>) means to pour out (like a drink offering). God pours out רוּחַ תַּרְדֵּמָה (<em>ruach tardemah</em>), a spirit of deep sleep. The word תַּרְדֵּמָה (<em>tardemah</em>) appears when God put Adam...
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(10) **The Lord hath poured out upon you . . .**—The prophet sees in the stupor and panic of the chief of the people what we call a judicial blindness, the retribution of those who had wilfully closed their eyes against the light. (Comp. Romans 11:8.)
**Your rulers.**—Literally, *your heads, *the word being in apposition with the *seers. *The word is emphasised with a keen irony, precisely because...
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**18. building--**literally, "the joining of the rafters," namely, the kingdom (Ec 10:16; Is 3:6; Am 9:11).
**hands--**(Ec 4:5; Pr 6:10).
**droppeth--**By neglecting to repair the roof in time, the rain gets through.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-16** The security of sinners in sinful ways, is cause for lamentation and wonder. The learned men, through prejudice, said that the Divine prophecies were obscure; and the poor urged their want of learning. The Bible is a sealed book to every man, learned or unlearned, till he begins to study it with a simple heart and a teachable spirit, that he may thence learn the truth and the will ...
Read full commentary →And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: book: or, letter
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed</strong> (וַתְּהִי לָכֶם חָזוּת הַכֹּל כְּדִבְרֵי הַסֵּפֶר הֶחָתוּם, <em>vatehi lakhem chazut hakol kedivrey hasefer hechatom</em>)—all prophetic חָזוּת (<em>chazut</em>, vision) becomes like a sealed סֵפֶר (<em>sefer</em>, scroll/book). The verb חתם (<em>chatam</em>) means to seal, make inaccessible. <strong>Wh...
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(11) **The vision of all . . .**—Better, *the whole vision, i.e., *the entire substance of Isaiah’s teaching. The words perhaps imply that this had been committed to writing, but that to the unbelievers they were as “the roll of a sealed book.” The same imagery meets us in Revelation 5:2. The wise of this world treated its dark sayings as seals, which forbade their making any attempt to study it. ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19. Referring to Ec 10:18. Instead of repairing the breaches in the commonwealth (equivalent to "building"), the princes "make a feast for laughter (Ec 10:16), and wine maketh their life glad (Psa 104:15), and (but) money supplieth (answereth their wishes by supplying) all things," that is, they take bribes to support their extravagance; and hence arise the wrongs that are perpetrated (Ec 10:5, 6;...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-16** The security of sinners in sinful ways, is cause for lamentation and wonder. The learned men, through prejudice, said that the Divine prophecies were obscure; and the poor urged their want of learning. The Bible is a sealed book to every man, learned or unlearned, till he begins to study it with a simple heart and a teachable spirit, that he may thence learn the truth and the will ...
Read full commentary →And the book is delivered to him that is not learned , saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned</strong> (וְנִתַּן הַסֵּפֶר עַל לֹא־יָדַע סֵפֶר לֵאמֹר קְרָא נָא־זֶה וְאָמַר לֹא יָדַעְתִּי סֵפֶר, <em>venitan hasefer al lo-yada sefer lemor qera na-zeh ve'amar lo yadati sefer</em>)—the unlearned (לֹא־יָדַע סֵפֶר, <em>lo yada sefer</em>, one not knowing books) pleads illit...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**20. thought--**literally, "consciousness."
**rich--**the great. The language, as applied to earthly princes knowing the "thought," is figurative. But it literally holds good of the King of kings (Psa 139:1-24), whose consciousness of every evil thought we should ever realize.
**bed-chamber--**the most secret place (2Ki 6:12).
**bird of the air, &c.--**proverbial (compare Ha 2:11; Lu 19...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-16** The security of sinners in sinful ways, is cause for lamentation and wonder. The learned men, through prejudice, said that the Divine prophecies were obscure; and the poor urged their want of learning. The Bible is a sealed book to every man, learned or unlearned, till he begins to study it with a simple heart and a teachable spirit, that he may thence learn the truth and the will ...
Read full commentary →Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me</strong> (וַיֹּאמֶר אֲדֹנָי יַעַן כִּי נִגַּשׁ הָעָם הַזֶּה בְּפִיו וּבִשְׂפָתָיו כִּבְּדוּנִי, <em>vayomer Adonai ya'an ki nigash ha'am hazeh befiw uvisefataw kibeduni</em>)—they נִגַּשׁ (<em>nigash</em>, draw near) with פֶּה (<em>peh</em>, mouth) and שְׂפָתַיִם (<em>sefatayim...
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(13) **Wherefore the Lord said . . .**—We pass from the effect to the cause. The blind stupor was the outcome of a long hypocrisy. Lip-homage and an estranged heart had been the notes of the religious life of Israel, and they could bear no other fruit.
**Their fear toward me . . .**—The words point to what we may call an anticipated Pharisaism. Side by side with the great commandments of the Law a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-16** The security of sinners in sinful ways, is cause for lamentation and wonder. The learned men, through prejudice, said that the Divine prophecies were obscure; and the poor urged their want of learning. The Bible is a sealed book to every man, learned or unlearned, till he begins to study it with a simple heart and a teachable spirit, that he may thence learn the truth and the will ...
Read full commentary →Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. proceed: Heb. add
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder</strong> (לָכֵן הִנְנִי יוֹסִף לְהַפְלִיא אֶת־הָעָם־הַזֶּה הַפְלֵא וָפֶלֶא, <em>lakhen hineni yosif lehafli et-ha'am-hazeh hafle vafele</em>)—God will יוֹסִף (<em>yosif</em>, continue, add to, proceed) to do הַפְלֵא וָפֶלֶא (<em>hafle vafele</em>, a wonder and a wonder), an emph...
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(14) **I will proceed to do a marvellous work . . .**—The sure doom of hypocrisy would come upon the hypocrites: not loving the light, they would lose the light they had, and be left to their self-chosen blindness. Here, again, history was to repeat itself, and the words of Isaiah were to be fulfilled in an age and in a manner that lay beyond the horizon of his thoughts.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 11
Ec 11:1-10.
1. Ec 11:2 shows that charity is here inculcated.
**bread--**bread corn. As in the Lord's prayer, all things needful for the body and soul. Solomon reverts to the sentiment (Ec 9:10).
**waters--**image from the custom of sowing seed by casting it from boats into the overflowing waters of the Nile, or in any marshy ground. When the waters receded, the grain in the all...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-16** The security of sinners in sinful ways, is cause for lamentation and wonder. The learned men, through prejudice, said that the Divine prophecies were obscure; and the poor urged their want of learning. The Bible is a sealed book to every man, learned or unlearned, till he begins to study it with a simple heart and a teachable spirit, that he may thence learn the truth and the will ...
Read full commentary →Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD</strong> (הוֹי הַמַּעֲמִיקִים מֵיהוָה לַסְתִּר עֵצָה, <em>hoy hama'amikim meYHWH lastir etsah</em>)—they הַמַּעֲמִיקִים (<em>hama'amikim</em>, seek deep, burrow down) to לַסְתִּר (<em>lastir</em>, hide, conceal) their עֵצָה (<em>etsah</em>, counsel, plans). <strong>And their works are in the dark</strong> (וְהָיָה בְמַחְשָׁךְ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Woe unto them . . .**—The words sound like an echo of Isaiah 5:8; Isaiah 5:11; Isaiah 5:18, and show that Isaiah had not lost the power of adding to that catalogue of woes. The sins of which he speaks here may have been either the dark sensualities which lay beneath the surface of religion, or, more probably, their clandestine intrigues with this or that foreign power—Egypt, Ethiopia, Babyl...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. portion--**of thy bread.
**seven--**the perfect number.
**eight--**even to more than seven; that is, "to many" (so "waters," Ec 11:1), nay, even to very many in need (Job 5:19; Mi 5:5).
**evil--**The day may be near, when you will need the help of those whom you have bound to you by kindnesses (Lu 16:9). The very argument which covetous men use against liberality (namely, that bad times...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-16** The security of sinners in sinful ways, is cause for lamentation and wonder. The learned men, through prejudice, said that the Divine prophecies were obscure; and the poor urged their want of learning. The Bible is a sealed book to every man, learned or unlearned, till he begins to study it with a simple heart and a teachable spirit, that he may thence learn the truth and the will ...
Read full commentary →Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay</strong> (הַפְכְּכֶם אִם־כְּחֹמֶר הַיֹּצֵר יֵחָשֵׁב, <em>hafkekhem im-kechomer hayotser yechasev</em>)—their הֶפֶךְ (<em>hefekh</em>, overturning, perversion) treats God like חֹמֶר (<em>chomer</em>, clay) to be molded. <strong>For shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not?</strong> (כִּי־יֹאמַר מַ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Surely your turning of things upside down.**—The words are better taken as exclamatory, *O your perversity! *Isaiah was indignant at that habit of always taking things at their wrong end, and looking on them from the wrong side.
**Shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay . . .**—Better, *Shall the potter be counted as the clay? *The Authorised version is scarcely intelligible. Taken as a ques...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. clouds--**answering to "evil" (Ec 11:2), meaning, When the times of evil are fully ripe, evil must come; and speculations about it beforehand, so as to prevent one sowing seed of liberality, are vain (Ec 11:4).
**tree--**Once the storm uproots it, it lies either northward or southward, according as it fell. So man's character is unchangeable, whether for hell or heaven, once that death over...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-16** The security of sinners in sinful ways, is cause for lamentation and wonder. The learned men, through prejudice, said that the Divine prophecies were obscure; and the poor urged their want of learning. The Bible is a sealed book to every man, learned or unlearned, till he begins to study it with a simple heart and a teachable spirit, that he may thence learn the truth and the will ...
Read full commentary →Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field</strong> (הֲלוֹא־עוֹד מְעַט מִזְעָר וְשָׁב לְבָנוֹן לַכַּרְמֶל, <em>halo-od me'at miz'ar veshav Levanon lakkarmel</em>)—in a מְעַט מִזְעָר (<em>me'at miz'ar</em>, very little while) לְבָנוֹן (<em>Levanon</em>, Lebanon, representing barrenness or cedar-covered mountains) becomes כַּרְמֶל (<em>karmel</em>, f...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Is it not yet a very little while . . .?**—The image of the potter does not suggest to Isaiah the thought of an arbitrary sovereignty, but of a love which will in the long run fulfil itself. He paints as not far off the restoration at once of the face of nature and of the life of man. Lebanon, that had been stripped of its cedars by the Assyrian invader (Isaiah 10:34), so as to be as the wi...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
4. Therefore sow thy charity in faith, without hesitancy or speculation as to results, because they may not seem promising (Ec 9:10). So in Ec 11:1, man is told to "cast his bread corn" on the seemingly unpromising "waters" (Psa 126:5, 6). The farmer would get on badly, who, instead of sowing and reaping, spent his time in watching the wind and clouds.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-24** The wonderful change here foretold, may refer to the affairs of Judah, though it looks further. When a great harvest of souls was gathered to Christ from among the Gentiles, then the wilderness was turned into a fruitful field; and the Jewish church, that had long been a fruitful field, became as a deserted forest. Those who, when in trouble, can truly rejoice in God, shall soon h...
Read full commentary →And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
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<strong>And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book</strong> (וְשָׁמְעוּ בַיּוֹם־הַהוּא הַחֵרְשִׁים דִּבְרֵי־סֵפֶר, <em>veshame'u vayom-hahu hachereshim divrey-sefer</em>)—the חֵרְשִׁים (<em>chereshim</em>, deaf) will שָׁמַע (<em>shama</em>, hear) the sealed book's דִּבְרֵי (<em>divrey</em>, words). <strong>And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness</st...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) I**n that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book.**—The open vision of the future is contrasted with the self-chosen ignorance of Isaiah 29:11. The “book” (the Hebrew has, however, no definite article) is, perhaps, the prophet’s own message, or the book of the law of the Lord, which will then be understood in all its spiritual fulness. The doom of the “closed eyes” of Isaiah 6:10 shall...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. spirit--**How the soul animates the body! Thus the transition to the formation of the body "in the womb" is more natural, than if with Maurer we translate it "wind" (Ec 1:6; Joh 3:8).
**bones ... grow--**(Job 10:8, 9; Psa 139:15, 16).
**knowest not the works of God--**(Ec 3:11; 8:17; 9:12).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-24** The wonderful change here foretold, may refer to the affairs of Judah, though it looks further. When a great harvest of souls was gathered to Christ from among the Gentiles, then the wilderness was turned into a fruitful field; and the Jewish church, that had long been a fruitful field, became as a deserted forest. Those who, when in trouble, can truly rejoice in God, shall soon h...
Read full commentary →The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. increase: Heb. add
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD</strong> (וְיָסְפוּ עֲנָוִים בַּיהוָה שִׂמְחָה, <em>veyasfu anavim baYHWH simchah</em>)—the עֲנָוִים (<em>anavim</em>, meek, humble, afflicted) will יָסַף (<em>yasaf</em>, increase, add, multiply) in שִׂמְחָה (<em>simchah</em>, joy). <strong>And the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel</strong> (וְאֶבְיוֹנֵי אָדָם בִּקְדו...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord.**—A new element enters into the ideal restoration of the future. Men had been weary of the name of the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 30:11). In that better time it should be the source of joy and peace for the poor and the lowly, on whom Isaiah looked with all the yearnings of a prophet’s sympathy.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. morning ... evening--**early and late; when young and when old; in sunshine and under clouds.
**seed--**of godly works (Ho 10:12; 2Co 9:10; Ga 6:7).
**prosper--**(Is 55:10, 11).
**both ... alike--**Both the unpromising and the promising sowing may bear good fruit in others; certainly they shall to the faithful sower.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-24** The wonderful change here foretold, may refer to the affairs of Judah, though it looks further. When a great harvest of souls was gathered to Christ from among the Gentiles, then the wilderness was turned into a fruitful field; and the Jewish church, that had long been a fruitful field, became as a deserted forest. Those who, when in trouble, can truly rejoice in God, shall soon h...
Read full commentary →For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
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<strong>For the terrible one is brought to nought</strong> (כִּי־אָפֵס עָרִיץ, <em>ki-afes arits</em>)—the עָרִיץ (<em>arits</em>, ruthless one, tyrant) is אָפֵס (<em>afes</em>, brought to nought, ceases, ends). <strong>And the scorner is consumed</strong> (וְכָלָה לֵץ, <em>vekhalah lets</em>)—the לֵץ (<em>lets</em>, scoffer, mocker) is כָּלָה (<em>kalah</em>, finished, consumed). <strong>And all ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **The terrible one.**—The word stands, as in Isaiah 29:5, for the Assyrian invader; the “scorner,” for the prophet’s enemies who derided his message, and sought, “watching for iniquity,” to find an accusation against him.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. light--**of life (Ec 7:11; Psa 49:19). Life is enjoyable, especially to the godly.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-24** The wonderful change here foretold, may refer to the affairs of Judah, though it looks further. When a great harvest of souls was gathered to Christ from among the Gentiles, then the wilderness was turned into a fruitful field; and the Jewish church, that had long been a fruitful field, became as a deserted forest. Those who, when in trouble, can truly rejoice in God, shall soon h...
Read full commentary →That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>That make a man an offender for a word</strong> (מַחֲטִיאֵי אָדָם בְּדָבָר, <em>machati'ey adam bedavar</em>)—those who make (חָטָא, <em>chata</em>, to sin) a man an offender for a דָּבָר (<em>davar</em>, word). <strong>And lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate</strong> (וְלַמּוֹכִיחַ בַּשַּׁעַר יְקֹשׁוּן, <em>velammokhiach basha'ar yeqoshun</em>)—they lay יָקֹשׁ (<em>yaqosh</em>,...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **That make a man an offender for a word . . .**—The words indicate that Isaiah had been accused, as Jeremiah was afterwards (Jeremiah 37:13), of being unpatriotic, because he had rebuked the sins of Israel and its rulers. Another interpretation gives, “that make men sinners in word,” *i.e., *suborn false witnesses against him. The former seems preferable, but the general drift of the passage...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
8. But while man thankfully enjoys life, "let him remember" it will not last for ever. The "many days of darkness," that is, the unseen world (Job 10:21, 22; Psa 88:12), also days of "evil" in this world (Ec 11:2), are coming; therefore sow the good seed while life and good days last, which are not too long for accomplishing life's duties.
**All that cometh--**that is, All that followeth in the ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-24** The wonderful change here foretold, may refer to the affairs of Judah, though it looks further. When a great harvest of souls was gathered to Christ from among the Gentiles, then the wilderness was turned into a fruitful field; and the Jewish church, that had long been a fruitful field, became as a deserted forest. Those who, when in trouble, can truly rejoice in God, shall soon h...
Read full commentary →Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham</strong> (לָכֵן כֹּה־אָמַר יְהוָה אֶל־בֵּית יַעֲקֹב אֲשֶׁר פָּדָה אֶת־אַבְרָהָם, <em>lakhen koh-amar YHWH el-beyt Ya'akov asher padah et-Avraham</em>)—Yahweh identifies as the One who פָּדָה (<em>padah</em>, redeemed) אַבְרָהָם (<em>Avraham</em>). <strong>Concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his fac...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **Thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham.**—The words gain in vividness if we think of them as referring to the Jewish tradition that Abraham had been accused by his kinsmen before Nimrod for not worshipping the host of heaven. That history was for the prophet the assurance that Jehovah would not abandon him to his accusers.
**Jacob shall not now be ashamed . . .**—The patriarch appears, a...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. Rejoice--**not advice, but warning. So 1Ki 22:15, is irony; if thou dost rejoice (carnally, Ec 2:2; 7:2, not moderately, as in Ec 5:18), &c., then "know that ... God will bring thee into judgment" (Ec 3:17; 12:14).
**youth ... youth--**distinct Hebrew words, adolescence or boyhood (before Ec 11:10), and full-grown youth. It marks the gradual progress in self-indulgence, to which the you...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-24** The wonderful change here foretold, may refer to the affairs of Judah, though it looks further. When a great harvest of souls was gathered to Christ from among the Gentiles, then the wilderness was turned into a fruitful field; and the Jewish church, that had long been a fruitful field, became as a deserted forest. Those who, when in trouble, can truly rejoice in God, shall soon h...
Read full commentary →But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him</strong> (כִּי בִרְאֹתוֹ יְלָדָיו מַעֲשֵׂה יָדַי בְּקִרְבּוֹ, <em>ki vir'oto yeladaw ma'aseh yaday beqirbo</em>)—when he sees his יְלָדִים (<em>yeladim</em>, children), the מַעֲשֵׂה יָדַי (<em>ma'aseh yaday</em>, work of my hands), in his בְּקִרְבּוֹ (<em>beqirbo</em>, midst, inner parts). <strong>They shall sancti...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **The work of mine hands.**—Possibly the direct object of the verb “seeth,” the word “his children” being an interpretative insertion, to explain the change from the singular to the plural. The joy of the patriarch as he watched his people centred in the fact that they repented, and once more worshipped God as the Holy and the Dread, entering at last into that true fear of the Lord which is t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. sorrow--**that is, the lusts that end in "sorrow," opposed to "rejoice," and "heart cheer thee" (Ec 11:9), Margin, "anger," that is, all "ways of thine heart"; "remove," &c., is thus opposed to "walk in," &c. (Ec 11:9).
**flesh--**the bodily organ by which the sensual thoughts of the "heart" are embodied in acts.
**childhood--**rather, "boyhood"; the same Hebrew word as the first...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-24** The wonderful change here foretold, may refer to the affairs of Judah, though it looks further. When a great harvest of souls was gathered to Christ from among the Gentiles, then the wilderness was turned into a fruitful field; and the Jewish church, that had long been a fruitful field, became as a deserted forest. Those who, when in trouble, can truly rejoice in God, shall soon h...
Read full commentary →They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine. come: Heb. know understanding
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding</strong> (וְיָדְעוּ תֹעֵי־רוּחַ בִּינָה, <em>veyade'u to'ey-ruach binah</em>)—those who תָּעָה (<em>ta'ah</em>, erred, wandered, strayed) in רוּחַ (<em>ruach</em>, spirit) will יָדַע (<em>yada</em>, know) בִּינָה (<em>binah</em>, understanding, discernment). <strong>And they that murmured shall learn doctrine</strong> (וְרֹגְנִים י...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **They that murmured shall learn doctrine.**—Better, *instruction. *The word is prominent in the sapiential books of Israel, and is therefore adapted to describe the process of growth and education that followed on conversion. The word, too, “murmured” is noticeable, as occurring only in Deuteronomy 1:27; Psalm 106:25, of which its use here may be an echo.
**Ellicott's Commentary for English ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-24** The wonderful change here foretold, may refer to the affairs of Judah, though it looks further. When a great harvest of souls was gathered to Christ from among the Gentiles, then the wilderness was turned into a fruitful field; and the Jewish church, that had long been a fruitful field, became as a deserted forest. Those who, when in trouble, can truly rejoice in God, shall soon h...
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