A.C. 742.

* Or, commendable trees.

15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

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 Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

19 And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all * bushes.

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 feet: and it shall also consume the beard.

21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;

22 And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give that he shall eat butter: for butter and +Heb. in the honey shall every one eat that is left † in the land.

midst of the

land.

+ Heb. in

making speed

23 And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns.

24 With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.

25 And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

ISAIAH VIII.

1 In Maher-shalal-hash-baz, he prophesieth that Syria and Israel shall be subdued by Assyria. 5 Judah likewise for their infidelity. 9 God's judgments shall be unresistible. 11 Comfort shall be to them that fear God. 19 Great afflictions

to idolaters.

1 Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great to the spoil he roll, and write in it with a man's pen concerning + Maher

hasteneth the

prey, or, make shalal-hash-baz.

speed, &c.

prediction of the prophet; which strengthened their expectation of the future Saviour, and at the same time convinced them that their kingdom should last till his birth.-Vide Lowth's notes to Isaiah, 4to. edit. p. 62; Prideaux, Connect. vol. i. p. 5; Horsley's Biblical Criticisms, vol. ii. p. 46, &c.

2 And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, A. C. 742. Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.

proached unto.

3 And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, Heb. apand bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

4 For before the child shall have knowlege to cry, My father, and my mother, † the riches of Damascus and the + Or, he that spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Ássyria.

5 The LORD spake also unto me again, saying,

6 Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Resin and Remaliah's son; 7 Now therefore, behold, the LORD bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:

the

8 And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.

9 Associate yourselves, O ye 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.

is before the

king of Assy

ria shall take away the riches, &c.

10 Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand for God is with us. 11 For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong || Heb. in hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way and of this people, saying,

12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

f

14 And he shall be for a sanctuary: but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

strength of

fch. xxviii. 34. Rom. ix.

16. Luke ii.

33. 1 Pet. ii. 8

44. Luke xx.

15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and g Matt. xxi. be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face

from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

18.

18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath h Heb. ii. 13. given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the

LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

A. C. 742.

i Lukexvi. 29.

* Heb. no morning.

19¶ And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?

i

20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in

them.

21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.

22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

ISAIAH IX.

1 What joy shall be in the midst of afflictions, by the kingdom and birth of Christ. 8 The judgments upon Israel for their pride, 13 for their hypocrisy, 18 and for their impenitency.

1 Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, 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, +Or, populous. in Galilee † of the nations.

k Matt. iv. 16. Eph. v. 8, 14.

Or, to him.

Or, When thou brakest.

1 Judg. vii. 22.

ch. x. 26.

Or, When the whole battle of the warrior was, &c.

*Or, and it

was, &c.

+ Heb. meat.

in John iii.

n Luke i. 32,

33.

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

3 Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

4 § For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of1 Midian.

*

5 || For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and + fuel of fire.

:

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a " son is given: 16. and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

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 juso2 Kings xix. tice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

31. ch. xxxvii.

32.

8 ¶ The LORD sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.

9 And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the A.C. 742. inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,

10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.

11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together; 12 The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel + with open mouth.

* Heb. min

gle.

P For all this + Heb. with

his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

13 For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.

14 Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.

15 The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

whole mouth.

pch. v. 25. &

x. 4.

16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and tor, they that they that are led of them are destroyed.

call them
blessed.
Or, they that

blessed of

17 Therefore the LORD shall have no joy in their young are called men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and wi- them. dows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and swal every mouth speaketh * folly. For all this his anger is not * Or, villany. turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

18 For wickedness 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 lifting up of smoke.

lowed up.

19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: + He, meat. no man shall spare his brother.

20 And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be Heb. cut. hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his

own arm:

21 Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

ISAIAH X. VER. 1-5.

The woe of tyrants.

1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and §that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

Or, to the writers that

ness.

2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take write grievousaway the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!

A. C. 742.

flee

3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye for help? and where will ye leave your glory? 4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, 4 For all this his anger 9 ch. v. 25. & and they shall fall under the slain. is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

íx. 12, 17.

SECTION III.

Isaiah's Prophecy of the Ruin of Damascus, and of the Ten
Tribes 28.

ISAIAH XVII.

1 Syria and Israel are threatened. 6 A remnant shall forsake idolatry. 9 The rest shall be plagued for their impiety. 12 The woe of Israel's enemies.

1.The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

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

28 This prophecy was probably delivered soon after those of the seventh and eighth chapters, in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz; and was fulfilled when Tiglath-pileser, after having slain Rezin its king in battle, took Damascus, (2 Kings xvi. 9.) reduced all that country under his dominion, and put an end to the kingdom of the Syrians in Damascus ; after it had lasted there for ten generations, that is, from the time of Rezin, the son of Ehadah, who first founded it, while Solomon was king of Israel. After this, Tiglath-pileser marched against Pekah, and seized all that belonged to Israel beyond Jordan, and also all the land of Galilee, and carried a great number of the Israelites captives to Assyria. This prophecy was still more fully accomplished in regard to Israel, by the conquest of the kingdom, and the captivity of the people a few years after by Shalmaneser. (2 Kings xviii. 11.)—Bishop Lowth's notes on Isaiah, 4to. edit. p. 205. Prideaux's Connection, vol. i. p. 6.

Bishop Horsley observes, "I think, with Casaubon, that the threatenings against the Jews in this chapter, though the captivity of the ten tribes might be the more immediate object; have a distant reference, however, to the final dispersion of the whole nation by the Romans, which seems particularly to be the subject of the eleventh verse."

After the mention of this ruin of the Jewish nation, the prophet goes on to declare, that, notwithstanding this visitation of God's people, the schemes of the heathen, who thought, in their destruction, to triumph over the true religion, would be disappointed: and the fourteenth verse gives the Jews hope of recovery from the calamities threatened in the eleventh.