Notes on Isaiah

From the Original 1599 Geneva Bible Notes

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Isa 1:1

1:1 The {a} vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw {b} concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of {c} Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

The Argument - God, according to his promise in De 18:15 that he would never leave his Church destitute of a prophet, has from time to time accomplished the same: whose office was not only to declare to the people the things to come, of which they had a special revelation, but also to interpret and declare the law, and to apply particularly the doctrine contained briefly in it, for the use and profit of those to whom they thought it chiefly to belong, and as the time and state of things required. Principally in the declaration of the law, they had respect to three things which were the ground of their doctrine: first, to the doctrine contained briefly in the two tables: secondly to the promises and threatenings of the law: and thirdly to the covenant of grace and reconciliation grounded on our Saviour Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law. To which they neither added nor diminished, but faithfully expounded the sense and meaning of it. As God gave them understanding of things, they applied the promises particularly for the comfort of the Church and the members of it, and also denounced the menaces against the enemies of the same: not for any care or regard to the enemies, but to assure the Church of their safeguard by the destruction of their enemies. Concerning the doctrine of reconciliation, they have more clearly entreated it than Moses, and set forth more lively Jesus Christ, in whom this covenant of reconciliation was made. In all these things Isaiah surpassed all the prophets, and was diligent to set out the same, with vehement admonitions, reprehensions, and consolations: ever applying the doctrine as he saw that the disease of the people required. He declares also many notable prophecies which he had received from God, concerning the promise of the Messiah, his office and kingdom, the favour of God toward his Church, the calling of the Gentiles and their union with the Jews. Which are principal points contained in this book, and a gathering of his sermons that he preached. Which after certain days that they had stood upon the temple door (for the manner of the prophets was to post the sum of their doctrine for certain days, that the people might the better mark it as in Isa 8:1, Hab 2:2 ) the priests took it down and reserved it among their registers. By God's providence these books were preserved as a monument to the Church forever. Concerning his person and time he was of the king's stock for Amos his father was brother to Azariah king of Judah, as the best writers agree) and prophesied more than 64 years, from the time of Uzziah to the reign of Manasseh who was his son-in-law (as the Hebrews write) and by whom he was put to death. In reading of the prophets, this one thing among others is to be observed, that they speak of things to come as though they were now past because of the certainty of it, and that they could not but come to pass, because God had ordained them in his secret counsel and so revealed them to his prophets.

(a) That is, a revelation or prophecy, which was one of the two means by which God declared himself to his servants in old times, as in Nu 12:6 and therefore the prophets were called seers, 1Sa 9:9 .
(b) Isaiah was chiefly sent to Judah and Jerusalem, but not only: for in this book are prophecies concerning other nations also.
(c) Called also Azariah, 2Ki 15:1 of these kings read 2Ki 14:1-21:1, 2Ch 25:1-33:1 .

Isa 1:2

1:2 Hear, O {d} heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up {e} children, and they have rebelled against me.

(d) Because men were obstinate and insensible, he calls to the dumb creatures, who were more prompt to obey God's word, as in De 32:1 .
(e) He declares his great mercy toward the Jews as he chose them above all other nations to be his people and children as in De 10:15 .

Isa 1:3

1:3 The {f} ox knoweth his owner, and the donkey his master's crib: [but] Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

(f) The most dull and brute beasts acknowledge their duty more toward their masters, than my people do toward me, of whom they have received benefits without comparison.

Isa 1:4

1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a {g} seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the {h} Holy One of Israel to anger, they are gone away backward.

(g) They were not only wicked as were their fathers, but utterly corrupt and by their evil example infected others.
(h) That is, him that sanctifies Israel.

Isa 1:5

1:5 Why should ye be {i} stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole {k} head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

(i) What good is it to seek to mend you by punishment, seeing that the more I correct you, the more you rebel?
(k) By naming the chief parts of the body, he signifies that there was no part of the whole body of the Jews free from his rods.

Isa 1:6

1:6 From the {l} sole of the foot even to the head [there is] no soundness in it; [but] wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, {m} neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

(l) Every part of the body, the least as well as the chiefest was plagued.
(m) Their plagues were so grievous that they were incurable, and yet they would not repent.

Isa 1:7

1:7 Your country [is] desolate, your cities [are] burned with fire: your land, foreigners devour it in your presence, and [it is] desolate, as overthrown by {n} foreigners.

(n) Meaning, of them who dwell far off, who because they look for no advantage of that which remains destroy all before them.

Isa 1:8

1:8 And the daughter of {o} Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

(o) That is, Jerusalem.

Isa 1:9

1:9 Except the LORD of hosts {p} had left to us a very small remnant, we should have been {q} as Sodom, we should have been like Gomorrah.

(p) Because he will always have a Church to call on his Name.
(q) That is, all destroyed.

Isa 1:10

1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye {r} rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

(r) You who for your vices deserved to be destroyed, as they of Sodom, save that God from his mercy reserved a little number, La 3:22 .

Isa 1:11

1:11 To what purpose [is] the multitude of your sacrifices to me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I {s} delight not in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats.

(s) Although God commanded these sacrifices for a time, as aids and exercises of their faith, yet because the people did not have faith or repentance, God detests them, Ps 50:13, Jer 6:20, Am 5:22, Mic 6:7 .

Isa 1:13

1:13 {t} Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination to me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure; [it is] iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

(t) Without faith and repentance.

Isa 1:14

1:14 Your {u} new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble to me; I am weary of bearing [them].

(u) Your sacrifices offered in the new moons and feasts: he condemns by this hypocrites who think to please God with ceremonies and they themselves are void of faith and mercy.

Isa 1:15

1:15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full {x} of blood.

(x) He shows that where men are given to evil, deceit, cruelty and extortion, which is meant by blood, there God will show his anger and not accept them though they seem holy, as in Isa 59:3 .

Isa 1:16

1:16 {y} Wash ye, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil;

(y) By this outward washing, he means the spiritual: exhorting the Jews to repent and amend their lives.

Isa 1:17

1:17 Learn to {z} do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

(z) This kind of reasoning by the second table, the scriptures use in many places against the hypocrites who pretend holiness and religion in word, but when charity and love for their brethren should appear they declare that they have neither faith nor religion.

Isa 1:18

1:18 Come now, {a} and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be {b} white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

(a) To know if I accuse you without cause.
(b) Lest sinners should pretend any rigour on God's part, he only wills them to be pure in heart, and he will forgive all their sins, no matter how many or great.

Isa 1:19

1:19 If ye {c} are willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

(c) He shows that whatever adversity man endures, it ought to be attributed to his own incredulity and disobedience.

Isa 1:21

1:21 How is the {d} faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now {e} murderers.

(d) That is, Jerusalem, which had promised happiness to me, as a wife to her husband.
(e) Given to covetousness and extortion, which he signified before by blood, Isa 1:15 .

Isa 1:22

1:22 Thy {f} silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:

(f) Whatever was pure in you before, is now corrupt, though you have an outward show.

Isa 1:23

1:23 Thy princes [are] rebellious, and companions of {g} thieves: every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come to them.

(g) That is, they maintain the wicked and the extortioners: and not only do not punish them, but are themselves such.

Isa 1:24

1:24 Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the {h} mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will {i} rid myself of my adversaries, and avenge me of my enemies:

(h) When God will show himself merciful to his Church, he calls himself the Holy one of Israel, but when he has to do with his enemies, he is called Mighty, as against whom no power is able to resist.
(i) I will take vengeance of my adversaries the Jews and so satisfy my desire by punishing them.

Isa 1:25

1:25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and thoroughly purge away thy dross, {k} and take away all thy tin:

(k) Lest the faithful among them should be overcome with his threatening he adds this consolation.

Isa 1:26

1:26 {l} And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.

(l) It is once the work of God to purify the heart of man, which he does because of his promise, made concerning the salvation of his Church.

Isa 1:27

1:27 Zion shall be redeemed with {m} judgment, and her converts with righteousness.

(m) By justice is meant God's faithful promise, which is the reason for the deliverance of his Church.

Isa 1:28

1:28 And the {n} destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners [shall be] together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

(n) The wicked will not be partakers of God's promise, Ps 92:9 .

Isa 1:29

1:29 For they shall be ashamed of the {o} oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.

(o) That is, the trees and pleasant places where you commit idolatry which was forbidden De 16:22 .

Isa 1:31

1:31 And the strong shall be as a {p} wick, and its maker as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench [them].

(p) The false god's in which you put your confidence will be consumed as easily as a piece of wick.

Isa 2:2

2:2 And it {a} shall come to pass in the last days, [that] the mount of the LORD'S house {b} shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall {c} flow to it.

(a) The decree and ordinance of God, concerning the restoration of the Church, which is chiefly meant by the time of Christ.
(b) In an evident place to be seen and discerned.
(c) When the kingdom of Christ will be enlarged by the preaching of the doctrine. Here also is declared the zeal of the children of God when they are called.

Isa 2:3

2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to {d} the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the {e} law, and the word of the LORD from {f} Jerusalem.

(d) Alluding to mount Zion, where the visible Church then was.
(e) Meaning, the whole doctrine of salvation.
(f) This was accomplished when the gospel was first preached in Jerusalem, and from there went through all the world.

Isa 2:4

2:4 And {g} he shall judge among the nations, and shall {h} rebuke many people: and they shall {i} beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn {k} war any more.

(g) The Lord, who is Christ, will have all power given to him.
(h) That they may acknowledge their sins, and turn to him.
(i) He shows the fruit of the peace which the gospel should bring, that is, that men should do good to one another, while before they were enemies.
(k) He speaks not against the use of weapons and lawful war, but shows how the hearts of the godly will be affected one toward another, which peace and love begin and grow in this life, but will be perfected when we are joined with our head Jesus Christ.

Isa 2:5

2:5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us {l} walk in the light of the LORD.

(l) Seeing the Gentiles will be ready, make haste, and show them the way to worship God.

Isa 2:6

2:6 Therefore thou {m} hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they are {n} filled [with customs] from the east, and [are] soothsayers like the Philistines, {o} and they please themselves in the children of foreigners.

(m) The prophet seeing the small hope that the Jews would convert, complains to God as though he had utterly forsaken them for their sins.
(n) Full of the corruptions that reigned chiefly in the east parts.
(o) They altogether gave themselves to the fashions of other nations.

Isa 2:7

2:7 Their land also is full of {p} silver and gold, neither [is there any] end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither [is there any] end of their chariots:

(p) The prophet first condemned their superstition and idolatry next their covetousness and thirdly their vain trust in worldly means.

Isa 2:9

2:9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man {q} humbleth himself: therefore {r} forgive them not.

(q) He notes the nature of the idolaters who are never satisfied in their superstitions.
(r) Thus the prophet spoke being inflamed with the zeal of God's glory, and that he might fear them with God's judgment.

Isa 2:11

2:11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be abased, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in {s} that day.

(s) Meaning, as soon as God will begin to execute his judgments.

Isa 2:14

2:14 And upon all the high {t} mountains, and upon all the hills [that are] lifted up,

(t) By high trees and mountains are he means the proud and lofty, who think themselves most strong in this world.

Isa 2:16

2:16 And upon {u} all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.

(u) He condemns their vain confidence which they had in strongholds and in their rich merchandise which brought in vain pleasures with which men's minds became effeminate.

Isa 2:20

2:20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made [each one] for himself to worship, {x} to the moles and to the bats;

(x) They will cast them into vile and filthy places when they perceive that they are not able to help them.

Isa 2:22

2:22 Cease ye from man, whose {y} breath [is] in his nostrils: for why is he to be esteemed?

(y) Cast off your vain confidence in man, whose life is so frail that if his nose is stopped he is dead and consider that you are dealing with God.

Isa 3:1

3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the rod {a} and the staff, the whole support of bread, and the whole support of water,

(a) Because they trusted in their abundance and prosperity he shows that they should be taken from them.

Isa 3:2

3:2 The mighty man, and the man of war, {b} the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,

(b) The temporal governor and the minister.

Isa 3:3

3:3 The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the skilful craftsman, and the {c} eloquent orator.

(c) By these he means that God would take away everything that was of any value, and which they had any opportunity to want in themselves.

Isa 3:4

3:4 And I will give {d} children [to be] their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

(d) Not only in age: but in manners, knowledge and strength.

Isa 3:5

3:5 And the people shall be {e} oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the elder, and the base against the honourable.

(e) For lack of good regiment and order.

Isa 3:6

3:6 When a man shall {f} take hold of his brother of the house of his father, [saying], Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and [let] this ruin [be] under thy hand:

(f) He shows that this plague will be so horrible that contrary to the common manner of men, who by nature are ambitious, no one will be found able or willing to be their governor.

Isa 3:7

3:7 In that day shall he {g} swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house [is] neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.

(g) Fear will cause him to forswear himself, rather than to take such a dangerous charge upon himself.

Isa 3:9

3:9 The {h} show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide [it] not. Woe to their soul! for they have rewarded evil to themselves.

(h) When God examines their deed on which they now set an impudent face, he will find the mark of their impiety in their forehead.

Isa 3:10

3:10 {i} Say ye to the righteous, that [it shall be] well [with him]: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

(i) You that are godly be assured that God will defend you in the midst of these troubles.

Isa 3:12

3:12 [As for] my people, {k} children [are] their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they who lead thee cause [thee] to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

(k) Because the wicked people were more addicted to their princes than to the commandments of God, he shows that he would give them such princes, by whom they would have no help, but that they would be manifest tokens of his wrath, because they would be fools and effeminate.

Isa 3:14

3:14 The LORD will enter into judgment with the {l} elders of his people, and with their princes: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor [is] in your houses.

(l) Meaning that the rulers and governors had destroyed his Church and not preserved it, according to their duty.

Isa 3:15

3:15 What mean ye [that] ye beat my people to pieces, {m} and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

(m) That is, you show all cruelty against them.

Isa 3:16

3:16 Moreover the LORD saith, {n} Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with {o} extended necks and {p} wanton eyes, walking and {q} mincing [as] they go, and making a {r} tinkling with their feet:

(n) He means the people because of the arrogancy and pride of their women who gave themselves to all wantonness and dissolution.
(o) Which declared their pride.
(p) As a sign that they were not chaste.
(q) Which showed their wantonness.
(r) They delighted then in slippers that creaked or had little plates sewn on them which tinkled as they went.

Isa 3:23

3:23 The mirrors, and the fine linen, and the turbans, and the {s} veils.

(s) In rehearsing all these things particularly he shows the lightness and vanity of such as cannot be content with comely apparel according to their degree.

Isa 3:25

3:25 Thy men shall fall by the {t} sword, and thy mighty in the war.

(t) Meaning that God will not only punish the women but their husbands who have permitted this dissoluteness and also the commonwealth which has not remedied it.

Isa 4:1

4:1 And in that day {a} seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only {b} let us be called by thy name, to take away our {c} reproach.

(a) When God will executes this vengeance there will not be one man found to be the head to many women, and they contrary to womanly shamefacedness will seek men, and offer themselves under any condition.
(b) He our husband and let us be called your wives.
(c) For so they thought it to be without a head and husband.

Isa 4:2

4:2 In that day shall the {d} branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth [shall be] the pride and glory of them that have escaped of Israel.

(d) He comforts the Church in this desolation which will spring up like a bud signifying that God's graces should be as plentiful toward the faithful as though they sprang out of the earth, as in Isa 45:8 . Some by the bud of the Lord mean Christ.

Isa 4:3

4:3 And it shall come to pass, [that he that is] left in Zion, and [he that] remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, [even] every one that is {e} written among the living in Jerusalem:

(e) He alludes to the book of life, of which read Ex 32:32 meaning God's secret counsel, in which his elect are predestinated to life everlasting.

Isa 4:4

4:4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the {f} blood of Jerusalem from the midst of it by the spirit of {g} judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

(f) That is, the cruelty, extortion, malice and all wickedness.
(g) When things will be addressed that were amiss.

Isa 4:5

4:5 And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, {h} a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the {i} glory [shall be] a defence.

(h) He alludes to the pillar of the cloud, Ex 13:21 , meaning that God's favour and protection should appear in every place.
(i) The faithful are called the glory of God because his image and tokens of his grace shine in them.

Isa 4:6

4:6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm {k} and from rain.

(k) God promises to be the defence of his Church against all troubles and dangers.

Isa 5:1

5:1 Now will {a} I sing to my {b} wellbeloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a {c} vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

(a) The prophet by this song sets before the people's eyes their ingratitude and God's mercy.
(b) That is, to God.
(c) Meaning that he had planted his Church in a place most plentiful and abundant.

Isa 5:2

5:2 And he dug it, and removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, {d} and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress in it: and he expected that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth {e} wild grapes.

(d) He spared no diligence or cost.
(e) In Isa 5:7 he declares what they were.

Isa 5:3

5:3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, {f} between me and my vineyard.

(f) He makes them judges in their own cause, for as much as it was evident that they were the cause of their own ruin.

Isa 5:5

5:5 And now come; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I {g} will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten up; [and] break down the wall of it, and it shall be trodden down:

(g) I will take no more care for it: meaning, that he would take from them his word and ministers and all other comforts, and feed them contrary plagues.

Isa 5:7

5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for {h} judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold {i} a cry.

(h) Judgment and righteousness are true fruit of the fear of God and therefore in the cruel oppression there is no religion.
(i) Of them who are oppressed.

Isa 5:8

5:8 Woe to them that join house to house, [that] lay field to field, till [there is] no {k} place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

(k) That is, for the poor to dwell in.

Isa 5:9

5:9 In my {l} ears [said] the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, [even] great and fair, without inhabitant.

(l) I have heard the complaint and cry of the poor.

Isa 5:10

5:10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one {m} bath, and the seed of an {n} homer shall yield an {o} ephah.

(m) Which contains about 5 gallons, so that every acre would yield only half a gallon.
(n) Which contains 50 gallons.
(o) An ephah contains 5 gallons and is in dry things as much as a bath is in liquids.

Isa 5:11

5:11 Woe to them that {p} rise early in the morning, [that] they may follow strong drink; that continue until {q} night, [till] wine inflames them!

(p) Who spare no pain nor diligence to follow their lusts.
(q) Who are never weary of their rioting and excessive pleasures but use all means to provoke to the same.

Isa 5:12

5:12 And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the {r} work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

(r) They do not regard the provident care of God over them, nor for what end he has created them.

Isa 5:13

5:13 Therefore my people {s} have gone into captivity, because [they have] {t} no knowledge: and their honourable men [are] famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

(s) That is, will certainly go: for so the prophets use to speak as though the thing which will come to pass were done already.
(t) Because they would not obey the word of God.

Isa 5:14

5:14 Therefore {u} hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

(u) Meaning, the grave will swallow up them who will die for hunger and thirst, and yet for all this great destruction it will never be satisfied.

Isa 5:17

5:17 Then shall {x} the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

(x) God comforts the poor lambs of his Church, who had been strangers in other countries, promising that they would dwell in these places again, of which they had been deprived by the fat and cruel tyrants.

Isa 5:18

5:18 Woe to them that draw iniquity with {y} cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

(y) Who use all allurements, opportunities and excuses to harden their conscience in sin.

Isa 5:19

5:19 That say, {z} Let him make speed, [and] hasten his work, that we may see [it]: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know [it]!

(z) He shows what are the words of the wicked, when they are menaced by God's judgments, 2Pe 3:4 .

Isa 5:20

5:20 Woe to them that call evil good, {a} and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

(a) Who are not ashamed of sin, nor care for honesty but are grown to a desperate impiety.

Isa 5:21

5:21 Woe to [them that are] {b} wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

(b) Who contemn all doctrine and admonition.

Isa 5:22

5:22 Woe to [them that are] {c} mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mix strong drink:

(c) Who are never weary, but show their strength, and brag in gluttony and drunkenness.

Isa 5:24

5:24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, [so] their {d} root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

(d) Both they and their posterity so that nothing will be left.

Isa 5:25

5:25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his {e} hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills trembled, and their carcases [were] torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.

(e) He shows that God had so sore punished this people, that the dumb creatures if they had been so plagued would have been more sensible, and therefore his plagues must continue, till they begin to seal them.

Isa 5:26

5:26 And he will lift up an ensign {f} to the nations from afar, and will hiss to them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

(f) He will make the Babylonians come against them at his beck, and to fight under his standard.

Isa 5:27

5:27 None shall {g} be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their loins be loosed, nor {h} the latchet of their shoes be broken:

(g) They will be prompt and lusty to execute God's vengeance.
(h) The enemy will have no impediment.

Isa 5:29

5:29 Their roaring [shall be] like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall {i} roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry [it] away safe, and none shall deliver [it].

(i) By which is declared the cruelty of the enemy.

Isa 5:30

5:30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if {k} [one] looketh to the land, behold darkness [and] sorrow, and the light is darkened in its {l} heavens.

(k) The Jews will find no comfort.
(l) In the land of Judah.

Isa 6:1

6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died {a} I saw also the Lord sitting upon a {b} throne, high and lifted up, and his {c} train filled the temple.

(a) God does not show himself to man in his majesty but according as man's capacity to comprehend him, that is, by visible signs as John the Baptist saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.
(b) As a judge ready to give sentence.
(c) Of his garment, or of his throne.

Isa 6:2

6:2 Above it stood the {d} seraphims: each one had six wings; with two he covered his {e} face, and with two he covered his {f} feet, and with two he {g} flew.

(d) They were angels so called because they were of a fiery colour, to signify that they burnt in the love of God, or were light as fire to execute his will.
(e) Signifying that they were not able to endure the brightness of God's glory.
(f) By which it was declared that man was not able to see the brightness of God in them.
(g) Which declares the prompt obedience of the angels to execute God's commandment.

Isa 6:3

6:3 And one cried to another, and said, {h} Holy, holy, holy, [is] the LORD of hosts: the whole {i} earth [is] full of his glory.

(h) This often repetition signifies that the angels cannot satisfy themselves in praising God, to teach us that in all our lives we should give ourselves to the continual praise of God.
(i) His glory not only appears in the heavens but through all the world, and therefore all creatures are bound to praise him.

Isa 6:4

6:4 And the posts of the door {k} moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

(k) Which was to confirm the prophet, that it was not the voice of man: and by the smoke was signified the blindness that would come on the Jews.

Isa 6:5

6:5 Then said I, {l} Woe [is] me! for I am undone; because I [am] a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

(l) He speaks this for two reasons, the one because he who was a mortal creature and therefore had more need to glorify God than the angels, did not do it, and the other because the nearer that man approaches to God, the more he knows his own sin and corruption.

Isa 6:6

6:6 Then one of the seraphims flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, [which] he had taken with the tongs from off the {m} altar:

(m) Of the burnt offerings where the fire never went out.

Isa 6:7

6:7 And he laid [it] upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thy iniquity is taken away, and thy {n} sin purged.

(n) This declares that man cannot render due obedience to God, till he has purged us.

Isa 6:9

6:9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, {o} Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

(o) By which is declared that for the malice of man God will not immediately take away his word, but he will cause it to be preached to their condemnation, when as they will not learn by it to obey his will, and be saved: by this he exhorts the ministers to do their duty, and answers to the wicked murmurers, that through their own malice their heart is hardened, Mt 13:14, Ac 28:26, Ro 11:8 .

Isa 6:11

6:11 Then said I, Lord, {p} how long? And he answered, Until the cities shall be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,

(p) As he was moved with the zeal of God's glory, so was he touched with a charitable affection toward the people.

Isa 6:13

6:13 But yet in it [shall be] {q} a tenth, and [it] shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, {r} and as an oak, whose substance [is] in them, when they cast [their leaves: so] the holy seed [shall be] the substance of it.

(q) Meaning, the tenth part: or as some write, it was revealed to Isaiah for the confirmation of his prophecy that ten kings would come before their captivity, as were from Uzziah to Zedekiah.
(r) For the fewness of them they will seem to be eaten up: yet they will later flourish as a tree, which in winter loses leaves, and seems to be dead, yet in summer is fresh and green.

Isa 7:1

7:1 And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, [that] Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, {a} went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.

(a) That is, the second time: for in the first battle Ahaz was overcome.

Isa 7:2

7:2 And it was told the house of {b} David, saying, Syria is confederate with {c} Ephraim. And his heart was {d} moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest are moved with the wind.

(b) Meaning, the kings house.
(c) That is, Israel, because that tribe was the greatest, Ge 48:19 .
(d) For fear.

Isa 7:3

7:3 Then said the LORD to Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and {e} Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field;

(e) That is to say, the rest will return which name Isaiah gave his son, to signify that the rest of the people would return out of their captivity.

Isa 7:4

7:4 And say to him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking {f} firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.

(f) Which have but a little smoke and will quickly be quenched.

Isa 7:6

7:6 Let us go up against Judah, and trouble it, and let us conquer it for ourselves and set a king in the midst of it, [even] the son of {g} Tabeal:

(g) Who was an Israelite, and as it seems, enemy to the house of David.

Isa 7:8

7:8 For the head of Syria [is] Damascus, and the head of Damascus [is] Rezin; and within {h} sixty five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.

(h) Counting from the 25 years of the reign of Uzziah, at which time Amos prophesied this thing, and now Isaiah confirms that the Israelites would be led into perpetual captivity, which came to pass 20 years after Isaiah gave this message.

Isa 7:11

7:11 Ask thee {i} a sign from the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.

(i) For the confirmation of this thing that your enemies will be destroyed and you preserved.

Isa 7:12

7:12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I {k} tempt the LORD.

(k) Not to believe God's word without a sign, is to tempt God, but to refuse a sign when God offers it for the aid and help of our infirmity is to rebel against him.

Isa 7:13

7:13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; [Is it] a small thing for you to weary {l} men, but will ye weary my God also?

(l) You think you have to do with men when you contemn God's messengers but it is God against whom you bend yourselves.

Isa 7:14

7:14 Therefore the Lord {m} himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

(m) Forasmuch as you are unworthy, the Lord for his own promise sake will give a sign which will be that Christ the Saviour of his Church and the effect of all signs and miracles will be revealed.

Isa 7:15

7:15 {n} Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

(n) Meaning that Christ is not only God, but man also, because he will be nourished as other men until the age of discretion.

Isa 7:16

7:16 For before the {o} child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken by both her kings.

(o) Not meaning Christ, but any child: for before a child can come to the years of discretion, the kings of Samaria and Syria will be destroyed.

Isa 7:17

7:17 The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that {p} Ephraim departed from Judah; [even] the king of {q} Assyria.

(p) Since the time that the twelve tribes rebelled under Rehoboam.
(q) In whom you have put your trust.

Isa 7:18

7:18 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the LORD shall hiss for the {r} fly that [is] in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that [is] in the land of Assyria.

(r) Meaning, the Egyptians: for since the country is hot and moist, it is full of flies, as Assyria is full of bees.

Isa 7:19

7:19 And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the clefts of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all {s} bushes.

(s) Signifying that no place will be free from them.

Isa 7:20

7:20 In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, [namely], by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the {t} feet: and it shall also consume the beard.

{t} That is, that which is from the belly downward meaning that he would destroy both great and small.

Isa 7:21

7:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] a man shall {u} nourish a young cow, and two sheep;

(u) He who before had a great number of cattle will be content with one cow and two sheep.

Isa 7:22

7:22 And it shall come to pass, for the {x} abundance of milk [that] they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.

(x) The number of men will be so small that a few beasts will be able to nourish all abundantly.

Isa 7:24

7:24 With arrows and with {y} bows shall [men] come there; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.

(y) As they who go to seek wild beasts among the bushes.

Isa 7:25

7:25 And [on] {z} all hills that shall be dug with the mattock, there shall not come there the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

(z) The mountains contrary to their will, will be tilled by such as shall flee to them for comfort.

Isa 8:1

8:1 Moreover the LORD said to me, Take thee a {a} great roll, and write in it {b} with a man's pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz.

(a) That you may write in great letters to the intent that it may be more easily read.
(b) Meaning, after the common fashion, because all men might read it.

Isa 8:2

8:2 And I took to me {c} faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.

(c) Because the thing was of great importance, he took these two witnesses, who were of credit with the people, when he set this up upon the door of the temple, even though Uriah was a flattering hypocrite, 2Ki 16:11 .

Isa 8:3

8:3 And I went to the {d} prophetess; and she conceived, and bore a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz.

(d) Meaning, to his wife and this was done in a vision.

Isa 8:4

8:4 For before the {e} child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the {f} king of Assyria.

(e) Before any child is able to speak.
(f) That is, the army of Assyria.

Isa 8:6

8:6 Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of {g} Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;

(g) Which was a fountain at the foot of mount Zion, out of which ran a small river through the city: meaning, that they of Judah distrusting their own power which was small desired such power and riches as they saw in Syria and Israel.

Isa 8:7

8:7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of {h} the river, strong and many, [even] the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks:

(h) That is, the Assyrians who dwell beyond Euphrates.

Isa 8:8

8:8 And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach [even] to the {i} neck; and the spread of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O {k} Immanuel.

(i) It will be ready to drown them.
(k) He speaks this to Messiah, or Christ, in whom the faithful were comforted and who would not suffer his Church to be destroyed utterly.

Isa 8:9

8:9 Associate yourselves, O ye {l} people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.

(l) That is, you who are enemies to the Church, as the Assyrians, Egyptians, Syrians etc.

Isa 8:11

8:11 For the LORD spoke thus to me {m} with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,

(m) To encourage me that I should not shrink for the infidelity of this people, and so neglect my office.

Isa 8:12

8:12 Say ye not, A {n} confederacy, to all [them to] whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye {o} their fear, nor be afraid.

(n) Consent not you who are godly to the league and friendship that this people seek with strangers and idolaters.
(o) Meaning, that they should not fear the thing that they who have no hope in God feared.

Isa 8:13

8:13 {p} Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and [let] him [be] your fear, and [let] him [be] your dread.

(p) In putting your trust only in him, in calling on him in adversity, patiently looking for his help, and fearing to do anything contrary to his will.

Isa 8:14

8:14 And he shall be for a {q} sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

(q) He will defend you who are his elect, and reject all the rest, meaning Christ against whom the Jews would stumble and fall, Lu 2:23, Ro 9:33, 1Pe 2:7,8 .

Isa 8:16

8:16 {r} Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

(r) Though all forsake me, yet you who are mine keep my word sure sealed in your hearts.

Isa 8:18

8:18 Behold, I and the {s} children whom the LORD hath given me [are] for signs and for wonders in Israel {t} from the LORD of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Zion.

(s) Meaning, them who were willing to hear and obey the word of God whom the world hated, as though they were monsters and not worthy to live.
(t) This was a consolation in their troubles, knowing that nothing could come to them, but by the will of the Lord.

Isa 8:19

8:19 And when they shall say to you, Seek to them that are mediums, and to wizards that peep, and that mutter: {u} should not a people seek to their God? for the {x} living to the dead?

(u) Answer the wicked thus, should not God's people seek comfort only from him?
(x) That is, will they refuse to be taught by the prophet, who is the mouth of God, and seek help from the dead, which is the illusion of Satan?

Isa 8:20

8:20 To the {y} law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, [it is] because [there is] no {z} light in them.

(y) Seek remedy in the word of God, where his will is declared.
(z) They have no knowledge but are blind leaders of the blind.

Isa 8:21

8:21 And they shall pass through it, distressed and hungry: and it shall come to {a} pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, {b} and curse their king and their God, and look upward.

(a) That is, in Judah, where they would have had rest, if they had not thus grievously offended God.
(b) In whom before they put their trust.

Isa 8:22

8:22 And they shall look to the earth; and behold trouble and {c} darkness, dimness of anguish; and [they shall be] driven to darkness.

(c) They will think that heaven and earth and all creatures are bent against them to trouble them.

Isa 9:1

9:1 Nevertheless {a} the dimness [shall] not [be] such as [was] in her distress, {b} when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict [her by] the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of {c} the nations.

(a) He comforts the Church again after these great threatenings promising to restore them to great glory in Messiah.
(b) With which Israel was punished, first by Tiglath-pilesar, which was a light scourge in respect to that which they suffered afterward by Shalmaneser, who carried the Israelites away captive.
(c) While the Jews and Gentiles dwelt together by reason of those twenty cites, which Solomon gave to Hiram.

Isa 9:2

9:2 The people that {d} walked in darkness have seen a great {e} light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the {f} light shined.

(d) Which were in captivity in Babylon and the prophets speaks of that thing which would come to pass 60 years later as though it were now done.
(e) Meaning, the comfort of their deliverance.
(f) This captivity and deliverance were figures of our captivity by sin and of our deliverance by Christ through the preaching of the Gospel, Mt 4:15,16 .

Isa 9:3

9:3 Thou hast {g} multiplied the nation, [and] increased the joy: they rejoice before thee according to the joy in harvest, [and] as [men] rejoice when they divide the spoil.

(g) Their number was greater when they went into captivity then when they returned but their joy was greater at their return, Hag 2:9 .

Isa 9:4

9:4 For thou hast broken the {h} yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

(h) You gave them perfect joy by delivering them, and by destroying the tyrants, that had kept them in cruel bondage, as you delivered them by Gideon from the Midianites, Jud 7:21 .

Isa 9:5

9:5 For every battle of the warrior [is] with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but [this] shall be {i} with burning [and] fuel of fire.

(i) He speaks of the deliverance of his Church, which he has delivered miraculously from his enemies, but especially by the coming of Christ of whom he prophecies in the next verse.

Isa 9:6

9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting {k} Father, The Prince of Peace.

(k) The author of eternity, and by whom the Church and every member of it will be preserved forever, and have immortal life.

Isa 9:7

9:7 Of the increase of [his] government and peace [there shall be] no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. {l} The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

(l) His singular love and care for his elect.

Isa 9:8

9:8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon {m} Israel.

(m) This is another prophecy against them of Samaria who were mockers and contemners of God's promises and menaces.

Isa 9:10

9:10 The {n} bricks have fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change [them into] cedars.

(n) We were but weak, when the enemy overcame us, but we will make ourselves so strong, that we will neither care for our enemies, nor fear God's threatenings.

Isa 9:11

9:11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of {o} Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;

(o) Rezin king of Syria, who was in league with Israel, was slain by the Assyrians, after whose death, Aram that is, the Syrians were against Israel, who on the other side were assailed by the Philistines.

Isa 9:18

9:18 For wickedness {p} burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up [like] the rising of smoke.

(b) Wickedness as a bellows kindles the fire of God's wrath which consumes all his obstinate enemies.

Isa 9:19

9:19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall {q} spare his brother.

(q) Though there was no foreign enemy, yet they will destroy one another.

Isa 9:20

9:20 And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the {r} flesh of his own arm:

(r) Their greediness will be insatiable, so that one brother will eat up another, as though he should eat his own flesh.

Isa 10:1

10:1 Woe to them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that {a} write grievousness [which] they have prescribed;

(a) Who write and pronounce a wicked sentence to oppress the people: meaning, that the wicked magistrate, who were the chief cause of mischief, would be first punished.

Isa 10:3

10:3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation [which] shall come from {b} far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your {c} glory?

(b) That is, from Assyria.
(c) Your riches and authority, that they may be safe and that you may receive them again.

Isa 10:4

10:4 {d} Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.

(d) Because they have forsaken me, some will go into captivity and the rest will be slain.

Isa 10:5

10:5 O {e} Assyrian, the rod of my anger, and the staff in their hand is my indignation.

(e) God calls for the Assyrians to be the executioners of his vengeance.

Isa 10:6

10:6 I will send {f} him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I command him, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

(f) That is, the Assyrians against the Jews who are hypocrites. In the sixth and seventh verse is declared the difference of the work of God and of the wicked in one very thing and act: for God's intention is to chastise them for their amendment, and the Assyrians purpose is to destroy them to enrich themselves. Thus in respect to God's justice, it is God's work, but in respect to their own malice, it is the work of the devil.

Isa 10:9

10:9 [Is] not Calno as {g} Carchemish? [is] not Hamath as Arpad? [is] not Samaria as Damascus?

(g) Seeing that I have overcome one city as well as another, so that none could resist, shall Jerusalem be able to escape my hands?

Isa 10:12

10:12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, [that] when the Lord hath performed {h} his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart {i} of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

(h) When he has sufficiently chastised his people (for he begins at his own house) then will he burn the rods.
(i) Meaning of Sennacherib.

Isa 10:15

10:15 Shall the {k} axe boast itself against him that heweth with it? [or] shall the saw magnify itself against him that moveth it? as if the rod should shake [itself] against them that lift it, [or] as if the staff should lift [itself, as if it were] no wood.

(k) Here we see that no creature is able to do anything, but as God appoints him, and that they are all his instruments to do his work though the intentions are diverse, as in Isa 10:6 .

Isa 10:17

10:17 And the light of Israel shall be for a {l} fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour {m} his thorns and his briers in one day;

(l) Meaning that God is a light to comfort his people and a fire to burn his enemies.
(m) That is, the Assyrians.

Isa 10:18

10:18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul {n} and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer {o} fainteth.

(n) That is, body and soul utterly.
(o) When the battle is lost and the standard taken.

Isa 10:20

10:20 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean upon him that smote them; but shall {p} lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

(p) This is the end of God's plagues toward his, to bring them to him, and to forsake all trust in others.

Isa 10:22

10:22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, [yet] a remnant of them shall return: the full end {q} decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

(q) This small number which seemed to be consumed and yet according to God's decree is saved, will be sufficient to fill all the world with righteousness.

Isa 10:23

10:23 For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a full end, even {r} determined, in the midst of all the land.

(r) God will destroy this land as he has determined and later save a small portion.

Isa 10:24

10:24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of {s} Egypt.

(s) As the Egyptians punished you.

Isa 10:26

10:26 And the LORD of hosts shall raise up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of {t} Midian at the rock of Oreb: and [as] his rod [was] upon the {u} sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.

(t) Read Isa 9:4 .
(u) When the Israelites passed through by the lifting up of Moses' rod, and the enemies were drowned, Ex 14:28 .

Isa 10:27

10:27 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of {x} the anointing.

(x) Because of the promise made to that kingdom, by which Christ's kingdom was prefigured.

Isa 10:28

10:28 He is come to {y} Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath attended to his carriages:

(y) He describes by what way the Assyrians would come against Jerusalem, to confirm the faithful, when it would come to pass, that as their plague was come, so should they be delivered.

Isa 10:33

10:33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the {z} bough with terror: and the high ones of stature [shall be] hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.

(z) Fear and destruction will come on Judah for the princes and the people will all be led away captive.

Isa 11:1

11:1 And there shall come forth a {a} rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

(a) Because the captivity of Babylon was a figure of the spiritual captivity under sin, he shows that our true deliverance must come by Christ: for as David came out of Jesse, a man without dignity, so Christ would come of a poor carpenter's house as out of a dead stock, Isa 53:2 .

Isa 11:4

11:4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall {b} smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

(b) All these properties can agree to no one, but only to Christ: for it is he who touches the hearts of the faithful and mortifies their concupiscence: and to the wicked he is the favour of death and to them who will perish, so that all the world will be smitten with his rod, which is his word.

Isa 11:6

11:6 The {c} wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

(c) Men because of their wicked affections are named by the names of beasts, in which the same affections reign: but Christ by his Spirit will reform them, and work in them such mutual charity, that they will be like lambs, favouring and loving one another and cast off all their cruel affections, Isa 65:25 .

Isa 11:9

11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as {d} the waters cover the sea.

(d) It will be in as great abundance as the waters in the sea.

Isa 11:10

11:10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the {e} people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his {f} rest shall be glorious.

(e) He prophecies of the calling of the Gentiles.
(f) That is, the Church which he also calls his rest, Ps 132:14 .

Isa 11:11

11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the Lord shall set his hand {g} again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the isles of the sea.

(g) For God first delivered his people out of Egypt and now promises to deliver them out of their enemies hands as from the Parthians, Persians, Chaldeans and them of Antioch among whom they were dispersed and this is chiefly meant of Christ, who calls his people being dispersed through all the world.

Isa 11:13

11:13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of {h} Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not distress Ephraim.

(h) Here he describes the consent that will be in his Church and their victory against their enemies.

Isa 11:15

11:15 And the LORD shall utterly destroy the {i} tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand {k} over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make [men] go over dryshod.

(i) Meaning a corner of the sea that enters into the land and has the form of a tongue.
(k) That is, Nile, the great river of Egypt which enters into the sea with seven streams.

Isa 12:1

12:1 And in that day thou {a} shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thy anger is turned away, and thou didst comfort me.

(a) He shows how the Church will praise God, when they are delivered from their captivity.

Isa 12:2

12:2 Behold, God [is] my {b} salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD [is] my strength and [my] song; he also is become my salvation.

(b) Our salvation stands only in God, who gives us an assured confidence, constancy and opportunity to praise him for the same.

Isa 12:3

12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye {c} draw water out of the wells of salvation.

(c) The graces of God will be so abundant that you may receive them in as great plenty as waters out of a fountain that is full.

Isa 12:6

12:6 Cry aloud and shout, {d} thou inhabitant of Zion: for great [is] the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

(d) You who are of the Church.

Isa 13:1

13:1 The {a} burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

(a) That is, the great calamity which was prophesied to come on Babel, a grievous burden which they were not able to bear. In these twelve chapters following he speaks of the plagues with which God would smite the strange nations (whom they knew) to declare that God chastised the Israelites as his children and these others as his enemies: and also that if God does not spare these who are ignorant, they must not think strange if he punishes them who have knowledge of his Law, and do not keep it.

Isa 13:2

13:2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice to them, shake the {b} hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

(b) That is, the Medes and Persians.

Isa 13:3

13:3 I have commanded my {c} sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for my anger, [even] them that rejoice in my {d} highness.

(c) That is, prepared and appointed to execute my judgments.
(d) Who willingly go about to the work to which I appoint them, but how the wicked do this, read Isa 10:6 .

Isa 13:5

13:5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, [even] the LORD, and the {e} weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.

(e) The army of the Medes and the Persians against Babylon.

Isa 13:6

13:6 Wail {f} ye; for the day of the LORD [is] at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

(f) You Babylonians.

Isa 13:8

13:8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces [shall be as] {g} flames.

(g) The Babylonians anger and grief will be so much that their faces will burn as fire.

Isa 13:10

13:10 For the {h} stars of heaven and its constellations shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

(h) They who are overcome will think that all the powers of heaven and earth are against them, Eze 32:7, Joe 3:15, Mt 24:29 .

Isa 13:11

13:11 And I will punish the {i} world for [their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the {k} proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

(i) He compares Babylon to the whole world because they so esteemed themselves by reason of their great empire.
(k) He notes the principal vice, to which they are most given as are all that abound in wealth.

Isa 13:12

13:12 I will make a {l} man more rare than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

(l) He notes the great slaughter that will be, seeing the enemy will neither for gold or silver spare a man's life as in Isa 13:17 .

Isa 13:14

13:14 And {m} it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one to his own land.

(m) Meaning the power of Babylon with their hired soldiers.

Isa 13:16

13:16 Their {n} children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished.

(n) This was not accomplished when Cyrus took Babylon, but after the death of Alexander the great.

Isa 13:20

13:20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the {o} Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

(o) Who used to go from country to country to find pasture for their beasts, but they will find none.

Isa 13:21

13:21 But {p} wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.

(p) Who were either wild beasts or fools, or wicked spirits, by which Satan deluded man, as by the fairies, goblins, and such like fantasies.

Isa 14:1

14:1 For {a} the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers {b} shall be joined with them, and they shall unite with the house of Jacob.

(a) He shows why God will haste to destroy his enemies, that is, because he will deliver his Church.
(b) Meaning that the Gentiles will be joined with the Church and worship God.

Isa 14:2

14:2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for {c} servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.

(c) Signifying that the Jews would be superior to the Gentiles and that they would be brought under the service of Christ by the preaching of the Apostles, by which all are brought to the subjection of Christ, 2Co 10:5 .

Isa 14:6

14:6 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, [and] {d} none hindereth.

(d) That is, he permitted all violence and injuries to be done.

Isa 14:7

14:7 The whole earth is at {e} rest, [and] is quiet: they break forth into singing.

(e) Meaning that where tyrants reign, there can be no rest or quietness and also how detestable a thing tyranny is, seeing the insensible creatures have opportunity to rejoice at their destruction.

Isa 14:9

14:9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to {f} meet [thee] at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, [even] all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

(f) As though they feared, lest you should trouble the dead, as you did the living and here he derides the proud tyranny of the wicked, who know not that all creatures wish their destruction, that they may rejoice.

Isa 14:11

14:11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, [and] the noise of thy viols: the worm {g} is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

(g) Instead of your costly carpets and coverings.

Isa 14:12

14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O {h} Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

(h) You who thought yourself most glorious and as it were placed in the heaven for the morning star that goes before the sun, is called Lucifer, to whom Nebuchadnezzar is compared.

Isa 14:13

14:13 For thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the {i} north:

(i) Meaning, Jerusalem of which the temple was of the north side, Ps 48:2 .

Isa 14:16

14:16 They that see thee shall narrowly {k} look upon thee, [and] consider thee, [saying, Is] this the man that made the earth to tremble, that shook kingdoms;

(k) In marvelling at you.

Isa 14:17

14:17 [That] made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed its cities; [that] opened not {l} the house of his prisoners?

(l) To set them free, noting his cruelty.

Isa 14:19

14:19 But thou art {m} cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, [and as] the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

(m) You were not buried in the sepulchre of your fathers, your tyranny was so abhorred.

Isa 14:21

14:21 {n} Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they may not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

(n) He called to the Medes and Persians, and all those who would execute God's vengeance.

Isa 14:25

14:25 {o} That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off {p} them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

(o) As I have begun to destroy the Assyrians in Sennacherib: so will I continue and destroy them wholly, when I will deliver you from Babylon.
(p) From the Jews.

Isa 14:28

14:28 In the year that king Ahaz died was this {q} burden.

(q) Read Geneva "Isa 13:1"

Isa 14:29

14:29 Rejoice not thou, all {r} Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth an adder, and his fruit [shall be] a fiery flying serpent.

(r) He wills the Philistines not to rejoice because the Jews are diminished in their power, for their strength will be greater than it ever was.

Isa 14:30

14:30 And the {s} firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and {t} he shall slay thy remnant.

(s) The Israelites who were brought to most extreme misery.
(t) That is, my people.

Isa 14:31

14:31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, all Palestina, [art] dissolved: for there shall come from the {u} north a smoke, and none [shall be] {x} alone in his appointed times.

(u) That is, from the Jews or Assyrians: for they were brought to extreme misery.

Isa 14:32

14:32 What shall [one] then answer the {y} messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded {z} Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

(y) Who will come to enquire of the state of the Church.
(z) They will answer that the Lord defends his Church and those that join themselves to it.

Isa 15:1

15:1 The {a} burden of Moab. Because in the night {b} Ar of Moab is laid waste, [and] brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, [and] brought to silence;

(a) Read Geneva "Isa 13:1"
(b) The chief city by which the whole country was meant.

Isa 15:2

15:2 {c} He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall wail over {d} Nebo, and over Medeba: on all {e} their heads [shall be] baldness, [and] every beard shorn.

(c) The Moabites will flee to their idols for comfort but it will be too late.
(d) Which were cites of Moab.
(e) For as in the west parts the people used to let their hair grow long when they mourned, so in the East part they cut it off.

Isa 15:5

15:5 My {f} heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives [shall flee] to Zoar, {g} an heifer of three years old: for they shall go up the ascent of Luhith with weeping for in the way of Horonaim they {h} shall raise a cry of destruction.

(f) The prophet speaks this in the person of the Moabites: or as one who felt the great judgment of God that God would come on them.
(g) Meaning that it was a city that always lived in pleasure and never felt sorrow.
(h) He describes the miserable dissipation and flight of the Moabites.

Isa 15:7

15:7 Therefore the abundance they have gained, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the {i} brook of the willows.

(i) To hide themselves and their goods there.

Isa 15:9

15:9 For the waters of Dimon shall be full {k} of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions {l} upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.

(k) Of them who are slain.
(l) So that by no means would they escape the hand of God: thus will God punish the enemies of his Church.

Isa 16:1

16:1 Send {a} ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion.

(a) That is, offer a sacrifice, by which he derides their long delay, who would not repent when the Lord called them, showing them that it is now too late seeing the vengeance of God is on them.

Isa 16:2

16:2 For it shall be, [that], as a {b} wandering bird cast out of the nest, [so] the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.

(b) There is no remedy but that you must flee.

Isa 16:3

16:3 Take counsel, execute judgment; {c} make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; discover not him that wandereth.

(c) He shows what Moab would have done, when Israel their neighbour was in affliction, to whom because they would give no shadow or comfort, they are now left comfortless.

Isa 16:4

16:4 Let my outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner {d} is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.

(d) The Assyrians will oppress the Israelites but for a while.

Isa 16:5

16:5 And in mercy shall the throne be established: {e} and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and swiftly executing righteousness.

(e) Meaning, Christ.

Isa 16:6

16:6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; [he is] very proud: [even] of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: [but] his {f} lies [shall] not [be] so.

(f) Their vain confidence and proud bragging will deceive them, Jer 48:2 .

Isa 16:7

16:7 Therefore shall Moab wail for Moab, every one shall wail: for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn; surely [they are] {g} stricken.

(g) For all your mourning, yet the city will be destroyed even to the foundation.

Isa 16:8

16:8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, [and] the vine of Sibmah: {h} the lords of the nations have broken down her principal plants, they have come [even] to {i} Jazer, they wandered [through] the wilderness: her branches are extended, they have gone over the sea.

(h) That is, the Assyrians and other enemies.
(i) Meaning that the country of Moab was now destroyed, and all the precious things of it were carried into the borders yea into other countries and over the sea.

Isa 16:9

16:9 Therefore I will {k} bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy {l} harvest is fallen.

(k) He shows that their plague was so great that it would have moved any man to lament with them, as in Ps 141:5 .
(l) The enemies are come upon you, and shout for joy when they carry your conveniences from you as in Jer 48:33 .

Isa 16:11

16:11 Wherefore my {m} heart shall sound like an harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kirharesh.

(m) For sorrow and compassion.

Isa 16:12

16:12 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his {n} sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.

(n) They will use all means to seek help for their idols, and all in vain: for Chemosh their great god will not be able to help them.

Isa 16:14

16:14 But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, {o} Within three years, as the years of an {p} hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be despised, with all that great multitude; and the remnant [shall be] very small [and] feeble.

(o) He appointed a certain time to punish the enemies in.
(p) Who will observe justly the time for which he is hired and serve no longer but will ever long for it.

Isa 17:1

17:1 The {a} burden of {b} Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

(a) Read Geneva "Isa 13:1"
(b) The chief city of Syria.

Isa 17:2

17:2 The cities of {c} Aroer [are] forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make [them] afraid.

(c) It was a country of Syria by the river Arnon.

Isa 17:3

17:3 The fortress also shall cease from {d} Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the {e} glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.

(d) It seems that the prophet would comfort the Church in declaring the destruction of these two kings of Syria and Israel, when as they had conspired the overthrow of Judah.
(e) The ten tribes gloried in their multitude and alliance with other nations: therefore he says that they will be brought down and the Syrians also.

Isa 17:4

17:4 And in that day it shall come to pass, [that] the glory of {f} Jacob shall be diminished, and the fatness of his flesh shall become lean.

(f) Meaning, of the ten tribes who boasted themselves of their nobility, prosperity, strength and multitude.

Isa 17:5

17:5 And it shall be as when the reaper gathereth {g} the grain, and reapeth the heads with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth heads in the valley of {h} Rephaim.

(g) As the abundance of corn does not fear the harvest men that would cut it down: no more will the multitude of Israel make the enemies shrink, whom God will appoint to destroy them.
(h) A valley which was plentiful and fertile.

Isa 17:6

17:6 Yet gleaning grapes shall {i} be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two [or] three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four [or] five in the outmost fruitful branches of it, saith the LORD God of Israel.

(i) Because God would have his covenant stable, he promises to reserve some of this people, and to bring them to repentance.

Isa 17:7

17:7 At that day shall a man look to his {k} Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

(k) He shows that God's corrections always bring fruit, and cause his to turn from their sins and to humble themselves to him.

Isa 17:9

17:9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which {l} they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.

(l) As the Canaanites left their cities when God placed the Israelites there, so the cities of Israel will not be able to defend their inhabitants any more than bushes, when God will send the enemy to plague them.

Isa 17:10

17:10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with foreign {m} slips:

(m) Which are excellent and brought out of other countries.

Isa 17:11

17:11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: [but] the harvest [shall be] a heap in the day {n} of grief and of desperate sorrow.

(n) As the Lord threatens the wicked in his law, Le 26:16 .

Isa 17:12

17:12 {o} Woe to the multitude of many people, [who] make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, [that] make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

(o) The prophet laments, considering the horrible plague that was prepared against Israel by the Assyrians, who were infinite in number, and gathered from many nations.

Isa 17:13

17:13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but [God] shall {p} rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

(p) He adds this for the consolation of the faithful who were in Israel.

Isa 17:14

17:14 And behold at the time of evening {q} trouble; [and] before the morning he [is] not. This [is] the portion of them that plunder us, and the lot of them that rob us.

(q) He compares the Assyrians to a tempest which rises overnight and in the morning is gone.

Isa 18:1

18:1 Woe to the {a} land shadowing with wings, which [is] beyond the rivers of Cush:

(a) He means that part of Ethiopia which lies toward the sea, which was so full of ships that the sails (which he compares to wings) seemed to shadow the sea.

Isa 18:2

18:2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of {b} bulrushes upon the waters, [saying], {c} Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and stripped, to a {d} people terrible from their beginning to this time; a nation measured by line and trodden down, whose land the {e} rivers have laid waste!

(b) Which is those countries were great, so much so that they made ships from them for swiftness.
(c) This may be taken that they sent others to comfort the Jews and to promise them help against their enemies, and so the Lord threatened to take away their strength, that the Jews should not trust in it: or that they solicited the Egyptians and promised them aid to go against Judah.
(d) That is, the Jews who because of God's plague made all other nations afraid of the same, as God threatened in De 28:37 .
(e) Meaning the Assyrians, Isa 8:7 .

Isa 18:3

18:3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when {f} he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.

(f) When the Lord prepared to fight against the Ethiopians.

Isa 18:4

18:4 For so the LORD said to me, I will take my {g} rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a {h} clear heat upon herbs, [and] like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

(g) I will stay a while from punishing the wicked.
(h) Which two seasons are profitable for the ripening of fruit, by which he means that he will seem to favour them and give them abundance for a time, but he will suddenly cut them off.

Isa 18:6

18:6 They shall be left together to the fowls of the mountains, and to the {i} beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

(i) Not only men will contemn them, but the brute beast.

Isa 18:7

18:7 In that time shall the {k} present be brought to the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and stripped, and from a people terrible from their beginning to this time; a nation measured by line and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.

(k) Meaning that God will pity his Church, and receive that little remnant as an offering to himself.

Isa 19:1

19:1 The {a} burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD {b} rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

(a) Read Isa 13:7 .
(b) Because the Egyptians trusted in the defence of their country, in the multitude of their idols and in the valiantness of their men the Lord shows that he will come over all their munitions in a swift cloud, and that their idols will tremble at his coming and that men's hearts will faint.

Isa 19:2

19:2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall {c} fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, [and] kingdom against kingdom.

(c) As he caused the Ammonites, Moabites and Idumeans to kill one another, when they came to destroy the Church of God, 2Ch 20:22, Isa 49:26 .

Isa 19:3

19:3 And the {d} spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst of her; and I will destroy her counsel: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to the mediums, and to the wizards.

(d) Meaning, their policy and wisdom.

Isa 19:5

19:5 And the waters shall {e} fail from the sea, and the rivers shall be wasted and dried up.

(e) He shows that the sea and their great river Nile by which they thought themselves most sure, would not be able to defend them but that he would send the Assyrians among them, that would keep them under as slaves.

Isa 19:6

19:6 And they shall turn the {f} rivers far away; [and] the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.

(f) For the Nile ran into the sea by seven streams, as though they were many rivers.

Isa 19:7

19:7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the {g} mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no [more].

(g) The Hebrew word is mouth, by which they mean the spring out of which the water gushes as out of a mouth.

Isa 19:8

19:8 The fishermen also shall {h} mourn, and all they that cast hook into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.

(h) The Scriptures describe the destruction of a country by the taking away of the conveniences of it, as by vines, flesh, fish and such other things by which countries are enriched.

Isa 19:11

19:11 Surely the princes of {i} Zoan [are] fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become senseless: how say ye to Pharaoh, I {k} [am] the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?

(i) Called also Tanes, a famous city on the Nile.
(k) He notes the flatterers of Pharaoh: who persuaded the king that he was wise and noble, and that his house was ancient and so he flatters himself, saying I am wise.

Isa 19:13

19:13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of {l} Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, [even they that are] the {m} support of its tribes.

(l) Or Memphis, Alexandria, and now called the great Cairo.
(m) The principal upholders of it are the main cause of their destruction.

Isa 19:14

19:14 The LORD hath mingled a {n} perverse spirit in the midst of it: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work of it, as a drunken [man] staggereth in his vomit.

(n) For the spirit of wisdom he has made them drunken and giddy with the spirit of error.

Isa 19:15

19:15 Neither shall there be [any] work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may {o} perform.

(o) Neither the great or the small, the strong or the weak.

Isa 19:17

19:17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror {p} to Egypt, every one that maketh mention of it shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.

(p) Considering that through their opportunity the Jews did not make God their defence but put their trust in them, and were therefore now punished, they will fear least the same light on them.

Isa 19:18

19:18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt {q} speak the language of Canaan, and {r} swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of {s} destruction.

(q) Will make one confession of faith with the people of God, by the speech of Canaan, meaning the language in which God was then served.
(r) Will renounce their superstitions and protest to serve God correctly.
(s) Meaning of six cities, five would serve God, and the sixth would remain in their wickedness: and so there would be but one lost.

Isa 19:19

19:19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and {t} a pillar at its border to the LORD.

(t) There will be evident signs and tokens, that God's religion is there: which manner of speech is taken of the patriarchs and ancient time, when God has not as yet appointed the place, and full manner how he would be worshipped.

Isa 19:20

19:20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry to the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them {u} a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.

(u) This declares that this prophecy would be accomplished in the time of Christ.

Isa 19:21

19:21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do {x} sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow to the LORD, and perform [it].

(x) By these ceremonies he comprehends the spiritual service under Christ.

Isa 19:23

19:23 In that day shall there be a highway from {y} Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.

(y) By these two nations, which were then chief enemies of the Church, he shows that the Gentiles and the Jews would be joined together in one faith and religion, and would all be one fold under Christ their shepherd.

Isa 20:1

20:1 In the year that {a} Tartan came to {b} Ashdod, (when {c} Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;

(a) Who was captain of Sennacherib, 2Ki 18:17 .
(b) A city of the Philistines.
(c) The Hebrews write that Sennacherib was so called.

Isa 20:2

20:2 At the same time spoke the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the {d} sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

(d) Which signifies that the prophet lamented the misery that he saw prepared before the three years that he went naked and barefooted.

Isa 20:5

20:5 And they shall be afraid and ashamed of {e} Cush their expectation, and of Egypt their {f} glory.

(e) In whose aid they trusted.
(f) Of whom they boasted and gloried.

Isa 20:6

20:6 And the inhabitant of this {g} isle shall say in that day, Behold, such [is] our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?

(g) Meaning Judea which was encompassed by their enemies as an isle with waters.

Isa 21:1

21:1 The burden of the {a} desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; [so] it cometh from the desert, {b} from a terrible land.

(a) On the seaside between Judea and Caldea was a wilderness, by which he means Caldea.
(b) That is, the ruin of Babylon by the Medes and Persians.

Isa 21:2

21:2 A grievous vision is declared to me; the {c} treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O {d} Elam: besiege, O Media; all her sighing have I made {e} to cease.

(c) The Assyrians and Chaldeans who had destroyed other nations will be overcome by the Medes and Persians: and this he prophesied a hundred years before it came to pass.
(d) By Elam he means the Persians.
(e) Because they will find no comfort, they will mourn no more, or I have caused them to cease mourning, whom Babylon had afflicted.

Isa 21:3

21:3 Therefore are my {f} loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing [of it]; I was dismayed at the seeing [of it].

(f) This the prophet speaks in the person of the Babylonians.

Isa 21:4

21:4 My heart panted, fearfulness terrified me: the night {g} of my pleasure hath he turned into fear to me.

(g) He prophecies the death of Belshazzar as in Dan 5:30 who in the midst of his pleasures was destroyed.

Isa 21:5

21:5 Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: {h} arise, ye princes, [and] anoint the shield.

(h) While they are eating and drinking, they will be commanded to run to their weapons.

Isa 21:6

21:6 For thus hath the {i} Lord said to me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.

(i) That is, in a vision by the spirit of prophecy.

Isa 21:7

21:7 And he saw a chariot [with] a couple of horsemen, a chariot of donkeys, [and] {k} a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed:

(k) Meaning, chariots of men of war, and others that carried the baggage.

Isa 21:8

21:8 And he cried, A {l} lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my post whole nights:

(l) Meaning, Darius who overcame Babylon.

Isa 21:9

21:9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, [with] a couple of horsemen. And {m} he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken to the ground.

(m) The watchman whom Isaiah set up, told him who came toward Babylon, and the angel declared that it would be destroyed: all this was done in a vision.

Isa 21:10

21:10 O {n} my threshing, and the grain of my floor: that which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared to you.

(n) Meaning, Babylon.

Isa 21:11

21:11 The burden of {o} Dumah. He calleth to me out of {p} Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?

(o) Which was a city of the Ishmaelites and was so named by Dumah, Ge 25:14 .
(p) A mountain of the Idumeans.

Isa 21:12

21:12 The watchman said, The {q} morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.

(q) He describes the unquietness of the people of Dumah, who were night and day in fear of their enemies, and ever ran to and fro to enquire news.

Isa 21:13

21:13 The burden upon Arabia. In {r} the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.

(r) For fear, the Arabians will flee into the woods and he appoints the way they will take.

Isa 21:14

21:14 The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought {s} water to him that was thirsty, they met with their bread him that fled.

(s) Signifying that for fear they will not tarry to eat or drink.

Isa 21:16

21:16 For thus hath the Lord said to me, Within a year, {t} according to the years of an {u} hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:

(t) He appoints them respite for one year only, and then they would be destroyed.
(u) Read Isa 16:14 .

Isa 21:17

21:17 And the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of {x} Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken [it].

(x) Which was the name of a people of Arabia: and by the horrible destruction of all these nations, he teaches the Jews that there is no place for refuge or to escape God's wrath, but only to remain in his Church, and to live in his fear.

Isa 22:1

22:1 The burden of the {a} valley of vision. What {b} aileth thee now, that thou hast wholly gone up to the housetops?

(a) Meaning, Judea, which was compassed about with mountains, and was called the valley of visions, because of the prophets, who were always there, whom they named Seers.
(b) He speaks to Jerusalem, whose inhabitants fled up to the housetops for fear of their enemies.

Isa 22:2

22:2 Thou that art full of {c} shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain [men are] not slain {d} with the sword, nor dead in battle.

(c) Which was wont to be full of people and joy.
(d) But for hunger.

Isa 22:3

22:3 All thy rulers have fled together, they are {e} bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, [who] have fled from {f} far.

(e) And led into captivity.
(f) Who have fled from other places to Jerusalem for comfort.

Isa 22:4

22:4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep {g} bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.

(g) He shows what is the duty of the godly, when God's plagues hang over the Church, and especially of the ministers, Jer 9:1 .

Isa 22:5

22:5 For [it is] a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of {h} crying to the mountains.

(h) That is, the shout of the enemies whom God had appointed to destroy the city.

Isa 22:6

22:6 And Elam {i} bore the quiver with chariots of men [and] horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

(i) He reminds them how God delivered them once from Sennacherib, who brought the Persians and Syrians with him, that they might by returning to God avoid that great plague which they would suffer by Nebuchadnezzar.

Isa 22:8

22:8 And he uncovered the {k} coverings of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

(k) The secret place where the armour was: that is, in the house of the forest, 1Ki 7:2 .

Isa 22:9

22:9 Ye have seen also {l} the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

(l) You forfeited the ruinous places which were neglected in times of peace: meaning, the whole City, and the City of David, which was within the compass of the other.

Isa 22:10

22:10 And ye have numbered the houses {m} of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.

(m) Either to pull down such as might hurt, or else to know what men they were able to make.

Isa 22:11

22:11 Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the {n} water of the old pool: but ye have not looked to {o} its maker, neither had respect to him that fashioned it long ago.

(n) To provide if need should be of water.
(o) To God who made Jerusalem: that is, they trusted more in these worldly means than in God.

Isa 22:13

22:13 And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us {p} eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

(p) Instead of repentance you were joyful and made great cheer, contemning the admonitions of the prophets saying Let us eat and drink for our prophets say that we will die tomorrow.

Isa 22:15

22:15 Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, repair to this {q} treasurer, [even] to Shebna, who [is] over the house, [and say],

(q) Because the Hebrew word also signifies one who nourishes and cherishes, there are those of the scholars who think that this wicked man nourished a secret friendship with the Assyrians and Egyptians to betray the Church and to provide for himself against all dangers: in the mean season he packed craftily, and got of the best offices into his hand under Hezekiah, ever aspiring to the highest.

Isa 22:16

22:16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre {r} here, [as] he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, [and] that cut out an habitation {s} for himself in a rock?

(r) Meaning, that he was a stranger, and came up of nothing.
(s) While he thought to make his name immortal by his famous sepulchre, he died most miserably among the Assyrians.

Isa 22:18

22:18 With violence he will surely turn and toss thee [like] a ball into a wide country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory [shall be] the {t} shame of thy lord's house.

(t) Signifying that whatever dignity the wicked attain to, at length it will turn to the shame of those princes by whom they are preferred.

Isa 22:20

22:20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will {u} call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:

(u) To be steward again, out of which office he had been put, by the craft of Shebna.

Isa 22:22

22:22 And the {x} key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

(x) I will commit to him the full charge and government of the king's house.

Isa 22:23

22:23 And I will fasten him [as] a {y} nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.

(y) I will establish him, and confirm him in his office, of this phrase read Ezr 9:9 .

Isa 22:24

22:24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, {z} all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.

(z) Meaning that both small and great who will come from Eliakim, will have praise and glory by his faithful officer.

Isa 22:25

22:25 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the {a} nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that [was] upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken [it].

(a) He means Shebna, who in man's judgment should never have fallen.

Isa 23:1

23:1 The {a} burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of {b} Tarshish; for {c} it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of {d} Chittim it is {e} revealed to them.

(a) Read Geneva "Isa 13:1"
(b) You of Cilicia that come here for merchandise.
(c) Tyrus is destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.
(d) By Chittim they meant all the isles and countries west of Palestine.
(e) All men know of this destruction.

Isa 23:2

23:2 Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have {f} replenished.

(f) Have hunted and enriched you.

Isa 23:3

23:3 And by great waters the {g} seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, [is] her revenue; and she is a merchandise of nations.

(g) Meaning, the corn of Egypt which was fed by the overflowing of the Nile.

Isa 23:4

23:4 Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the {h} sea hath spoken, [even] the strength of the sea, saying, I {i} travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish young men, [nor] bring up virgins.

(h) That is, Tyrus, which was the chief part of the sea.
(i) I have no people left in me, and am as a barren woman, that never had children.

Isa 23:5

23:5 As at the report concerning Egypt, [so] shall they be {k} greatly pained at the report of Tyre.

(k) Because these two countries were joined in league together.

Isa 23:6

23:6 Pass ye over to {l} Tarshish; wail, ye inhabitants of the isle.

(l) Tyrus wills other merchants to go to Cilicia, and to come no more there.

Isa 23:8

23:8 Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the {m} crowning [city], whose merchants [are] princes, whose traders [are] the honourable of the earth?

(m) Who makes her merchants like princes.

Isa 23:10

23:10 Pass through thy land as a river, O {n} daughter of Tarshish: [there is] no more strength.

(n) Your strength will no more serve you: therefore flee to other countries for comfort.

Isa 23:12

23:12 And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed {o} virgin, {p} daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.

(o) For Tyre was never touched nor afflicted before.
(p) Because Tyrus was built by them of Zidon.

Isa 23:13

23:13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, [till] the {q} Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up its towers, they raised up its palaces; [and] he {r} brought it to ruin.

(q) The Chaldeans who dwelt in tents in the wilderness were gathered by the Assyrians into cities.
(r) The people of the Chaldeans destroyed the Assyrians: by which the prophet means that seeing the Chaldaeans were able to overcome the Assyrians who were so great a nation, much more will these two nations of Chaldea and Assyria be able to overthrow Tyrus.

Isa 23:14

23:14 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your {s} strength is laid waste.

(s) That is, Tyrus by whom you are enriched.

Isa 23:15

23:15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of {t} seventy years shall Tyre {u} sing as an harlot.

(t) Tyrus will lie destroyed seventy years which he calls the reign of one king, or a man's age.
(u) Will use all craft and subtilty to entice men again to her.

Isa 23:16

23:16 Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; {x} make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.

(x) She will labour by all means to recover her first credit, as a harlot when she is long forgotten, seeks by all means to entertain her lovers.

Isa 23:17

23:17 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her {y} hire, and shall play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.

(y) Though she has been chastised by the Lord, yet she will return to her old wicked practises and for gain will give herself to all men's lusts like a harlot.

Isa 23:18

23:18 And her merchandise and her hire shall be {z} holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, for sufficient food and for durable clothing.

(z) He shows that God yet by the preaching of the gospel will call Tyre to repentance and turn her heart from evil and filthy gain, to the true worshipping of God, and liberality toward his saints.

Isa 24:1

24:1 Behold, the LORD maketh the {a} earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad its inhabitants.

(a) This prophecy is as a conclusion of that which has been threatened to the Jews and other nations from the 13th chapter and therefore by the earth he means those lands which were named before.

Isa 24:2

24:2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the {b} 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 interest, so with the giver of interest to him.

(b) Because this was a name of dignity it was also applied to them who were not of Aaron's family, and so signifies also a man of dignity, as in 2Sa 8:18, 20:25, 1Ch 18:17 and by these words the prophet signifies a horrible confusion, where there will be neither religion, order nor policy, Ho 4:9 .

Isa 24:5