wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

12 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.

13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon

thee.

14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of

[ruin predicted.

the flame; there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.

15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter: none shall save thee. (U)

CHAP. XLVIII.

HEAR ye this, O house of Jacob,

which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah; which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel; but not in truth, nor in righteousness.

2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.

3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

4 Because I knew that thou art ob

CHAP. XLVII.

(U) God's judgments against Babylon.The destruction of Babylon is denounced by a beautiful detail of particulars, in which her state of high prosperity is contrasted with her approaching adverse and miserable condition. She is represented as a tender and delicate virgin, reduced to the work and abject condition of a slave, and bereaved of every comfort and enjoyment. This reverse of circumstances is stated to be on account of her cruelty (particularly to God's people,) her pride, voluptuousness, Sorceries, and incantations. The folly of these superstitious practices, the Prophet

elegantly exposes in the latter part of the chapter, in terms strikingly applicable to our modern prognosticators and almanack makers-" the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators :"-Let them "stand up and save thee!"

As the deliverance of the Jews was intimately connected with the fall of Babylon, a chorus of that nation breaks in (ver. 4) in the very middle of the Prophet's denunciations, to praise God, in a distich (in the original) of a different measure and construction, which adds to its fine effect, considered in the light of poetry. "As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel."

Ver. 10. It hath perverted thee-Marg. “Caused

thee to turn away."

Ver. 11. Thou shalt not know from whence it riseth-Heb. The morning (or dawn) thereof." -Not be able to put it off-Heb. " To expiate it" that is, by any idolatrous sacritices.Which thou shalt not know-Lowth, "Of which thou shalt have no apprehension.'

Ver, 12. Stand now with, &c.— Lowth, "Persist now in," &c.

Ver. 13. The astrologers - Heb. "The observers of the heavens Monthly prognosticators-Lowth, "They that prognosucale at every new moon."

Ver. 14. Not a coal- that is, they shall all be quickly and entirely destroyed, like a blaze of stubble, not a coal; that is, no remains of them shall be left.

Ver. 15. Even thy merchants-that is, those (mean ing the astrologers, &c.) with whom thou hast trafficked (or done business) from thy youth.

CHAP. XLVIII. Ver. 1. And are come forth out of, &c.-Lowth, Ye that flow from," &c. See Deut. xxxiii. 28; Psalm 1xviii. 26.

Ver. 4. Obstinate-Heb. "Hard."

Israel reproved for not]

stinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

51 have even from the beginning declared it to thee: before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them. 6 Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.

7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.

8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.

9 For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.

10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right

hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up toge ther.

14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things! The LORD hath loved him he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

15 I, even I, have spoken: yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his spirit, hath sent me.

17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the

Ver. 6. Thou hast heard, &c.-that is, thou hast heard this aforetime; thou seest it accomplished, and will not ye declare it? or, acknowledge it? See Lowth.

Ver. 8. Thine ear was not opened. See 1 Sam. ix. 15; 2 Sam. vii. 27.

Ver. 10. Not with-Lowth, "Not as " silver; i. e. not with so great a heat as silver requires.--I have chosen thee-to choose, is to prefer one person before another; the great refiner tempers the heat to the metal. Some versions read with the Syriac and Chaldee, "I have tried;" so Lowth and Boothroyd.

Ver. 13. My right hand hath spanned- Marg. "The palm of my right hand bath spread out the heavens." They stand up together-that is, ready to attend the Almighty's call. See chap, xlv. 12.

Ver. 14. Which among them.—Twenty-one MSS. and two Editions read, among you."The Lord hath loved him-namely, Cyrus. See chap. xliv. 28. and xlv. 1, 2. Lowth, "He whom the Lord hath

loved,"

Ver. 16. The Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me. Some consider these as the words of the prephet; so Boothroyd. But Dr. Pye Smith (Messiah, i. 374.) contends, from a comparison of the preceding verses, 12-15, with chap. xiv. latter part, that they are the words of the Messiah, and Bp. Lowth quotes Origen, as thus applying them. So also Dr. Dwight.

Ver. 19. Like the gravel thereof-Lowth, "Like that of the bowels thereof," namely, the issue of the fishes, here called the bowels of the sea: so the most learned Rabbins. See Note on Gen. i, 21.

rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

[to his work.

CHAP. XLIX.

LISTEN, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;

3 And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

CHAP. XLVIII.

judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

5 And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.

6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

7 Thus saith the LORD, the Re

(X) Israel reproved for not attending to God's warning by his Prophets.-The Jews are reproved in this chapter for their obstinate attachment to idolatry, notwithstanding their experience of the divine providence over them, and of the divine prescience, which revealed by the Prophets the most remarkable events that concerned them. That they should have no pretext for ascribing the least of their success to their idols, they are challenged below, (ver. 14) to give the like proof of their knowledge of futurity. Yet God, after bringing them to the furnace for their perverseness, (in which he treats them with great tenderness) repeats his gracious promises of deliver ance and consolation from the benefits of which, however, the guilty and impenitent are, in the last verse, excluded. It is hardly necessary to observe, that many passages in this chapter, and indeed the general strain of these prophecies, have a plain aspect to some farther restoration of

the church in the latter times, when the fall of the mystical or spiritual Babylon, (Rev. xviii. 21,) of which the other was a type, shall introduce, by some great revolutions, the most glorious era of the gospel. -No person of sensibility can read this chapter without admiring that tender, beautiful and passionate exclamation put into the mouth of our heavenly Father, who afflicts his children only if need be, and who in all their afflictions is (himself) afflicted. "O that thou hadst observed my commandments!"

In the close of this chapter the protection afforded to the Jews in their return from Babylon, is compared to God's miraculous care over Israel in their passage through the wilderness: and it was only by faith in this protection, that Ezra and his company adventured to return without a guard for considering the strength of their enemies, and the treasures they carried with them, their safe arrival seems little short of miraculous. (See Ezra viii. 21, 22.)

CHAP. XLIX. Ver. 1. The Lord hath called me. This refers not to Isaiah, but to Messiah himself, as appears by the next verse.

Ver. 2. A sharp sword. - Compare Heb. iv. 12; Her. i. 16. In the shadow of his hand. - See eh. li. 16, compared with Exod. xxxiii. 22.

Ver. 3. 0Israel.-This" cannot (says Bp. Lowth) be Isaiah;" but it may apply to Messiah, who, in correspondence with the import of the name, 61 as a prince had power with God, and prevailed." Comp. Gen. xxxii. 28; and Hos. xii. 3, 4, with Heb. v.7. Ver. 4. My work-Marg. "My reward;" Lowth, "The reward of my work."

Ver. 5. Though Israel be not gathered.-Instead of the negative in this verse, the Keri (which is

confirmed by five MSS, two ancient) reads to him; so most of the ancient versions. Lowth therefore reads, ".... to bring back Jacob to him, and that to him Israel may be gathered: therefore shall I be glorious," &c. The latter part of this verse should be read in a parenthesis.

Ver. 6. It is a light thing-that is, comparatively, inasmuch as Israel is but a small nation, compared with the whole world. The preserved - Lowth, "The branches of Israel." So Boothroyd.

Ver. 7. To him whom man despiseth-Lowth, "To him whose person is despised." See ch. liii. 3 And arise Lowth," Rise up" in respect of him. See chap. lii. 15.And he shall choose t -Lowth, "For he hath chosen thee,"

deemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.

8 Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

9 That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.

10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.

11 And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.

12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.

13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth: and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

14 But Zion said, the LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath for gotten me.

[of both Jews and Gentiles.

15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

*

17 Thy children shall make haste: thy destroyers, and they that made thee waste, shall go forth of thee.

18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.

19 For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.

20 The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone: these, where had they been?

22 Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall

Ver. 9. Go forth.-Compare ch. xlii. 7.-In all high places. The best pastures, in the East, are in fertile mountains. See Orient. Lit. No. 937.

Ver. 15. Not have Heb. "From having" compassion.

Ver. 16. I have graven thee on the palms of my hands. This alludes to the eastern custom of tracing out on their hands the sketches of certain places, (with the points of needles) and then rubbing them with the powder of henna, or cypress, and thereby making them perpetual. Mr. Maundrell says, the modern pilgrims to Jerusalem have a similar way of marking their arms. See Orient. Cust. No. 265.Thy walls are continually before me that is, delineated on my hands, as just explained.

Ver. 17. Thy children shall make haste- that is,

to return home. - They that made thee wastethat is, thine enemies, shall go forth, or hasten to retreat. But Bp. Lowth, from a different pointing of the Hebrew, reads, "They that destroy thee, shall soon become thy builders, and they that laid thee waste shall become thine offspring." So Boothroyd. Ver. 18. As a bride doeth-what? The LXX sapplies "her jewels."

So Lowth. Ver. 21. Where had they been?-Lowth," These then, where were they?"

Ver. 22. In their arms-Heb. "Bosom." Ver. 23. Nursing-Literally, "Suckling mothers." See Exod. ii. 7, &c.—Lick up the dust. — See Ps.

lxxii. 9.

Ver. 24. Or the lanful captive delivered-Lowth reads, on authority of the Syriac and Vulgate, and verse following, "Or the prey seized by the terrible be reserved." So Boothroyd.

Ver. 26. Sweet wine-Marg. " New wine."

God justifies]

be carried upon their shoulders.

23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? 25 But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. (Y)

CHAP. L.

THUS saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement,

CHAP. XLIX.

[his own conduct. whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

2 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.

3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.

4 The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.

5 The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellions, neither turned away back.

6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the

(Y) The Messiah being rejected by the Jews, his Mission is directed to the Gentiles. -"Hitherto (says Bp. Lowth) the subject of the prophecy has been chiefly confined to the redemption from the captivity of Babylon, with strong intimations of a more important deliverance sometimes thrown in; to the refutation of idolatry, and the demonstration of the infinite power, wisdom and foreknowledge of God. The character and office of the Messiah was exhibited in general terms at the beginning of chap. xlii., but here he is introduced in person, declaring the full extent of his commission; which is not only to restore the Israelites, and reconcile them to their Lord and Father, from whom they had so often revolted; but to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, to call them to the knowledge and obedience of the true God, and to bring them to be one church together with

the Israelites, to partake with them of the same common salvation, procured for all by the great Redeemer and reconciler of man to God."

The Prophet then glancing towards the happy though distant period of these events, makes a beautiful apostrophe to heaven and earth, to shout forth the praises of God on the opening prospect. The tender mercies of God to his people, with the prosperity of his church in general, and the overthrow of all its enemies, make the subject of the remaining part of the chapter.-"Some of the images in this chapter are tender and pathetic in the highest degree. A whole volume could not express the love which God bears to his people, so well as the affecting image in the 15th verse.

Can a woman forget her sucking child,' &c. It is the same to the fainting soul, that a spring of water is to the weary traveller in the parched desert." Dr. J. Smith.

CHAP. L. Ver. 1. When I came - that is, into the public court. See Ruth iv. 1-4.

Ver. 7. Is my hand shortened?-See Num. xi. 23. I make the rivers a wilderness-that is, dry as a desert,Their fish stinketh. See Exod. vii. 21.

Ver. 4. The Lord hath given me-that is, Messiah. whose office it was to address the weary, Matt. xi -He wakeneth, &c.-this seems an allthe manner of prophetic inspiration. See 4-10.