1The church is roused with God's promise of free redemption. 7The welcome news of Christ's kingdom: 9the church is exhorted to rejoice therein; 11and to flee from bondage and its defilements. 13A prophecy of the glory of Christ after his sufferings.
1AWAKE, awake; 1put on thy strength, 2O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, 3the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come 4into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
1 That is, take heart; take courage. See Isa. 51:17.
2 That is, ye citizens and inhabitants of the temporal, and especially of the spiritual Jerusalem.
3 Hebr. thou city of holiness.
4 That is, thou shalt henceforth be no more overpowered by wicked and pagan tyrants, whether Babylonians or others. This is mainly to be understood of the heavenly Jerusalem, as Rev. 21:27.
25Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: 6loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive 7daughter of Zion.
5 That is, be joyful and mourn no more.
6 That is, serve God in holiness and righteousness since you are delivered from the hands of your enemies. See Isa. 42:7; Luke 1:74, 75.
7 That is, ye people of Zion, that is, of Jerusalem.
3For thus saith the LORD, 8Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be 9redeemed without money.
8 The Lord wants to say: The Babylonians gave me nothing that I would deliver you unto them as servants and bondmen forever; therefore I am at liberty when I please to redeem you out of their hand without any ransom at all. See Psalm 44:12, and compare Isa. 45:13.
9 Namely, from the Babylonian bondage or servitude. See further on verse 1.
4For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people wenta down 10aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them 11without cause.
a Gen. 46:6.
10 Or, formerly, in former times, heretofore. Hebr. in the first. The sense is: I have sorely plagued the Egyptians, because they had grievously afflicted My people, who, notwithstanding voluntarily and of their own accord went down into Egypt, how much more will I grievously plague the Assyrians and the Babylonians who have carried them away out of the land of Canaan, which I gave them for an inheritance, and have dealt so cruelly and barbarously with them?
11 Or, for nought.
5Now therefore, 12what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people 13is taken away for nought? 14they that rule over them make 15them to howl, saith the LORD; and 16my name continually every day is blasphemed.b
12 Hebr. what unto me here? That is, what have I here to do, or, what am I to do now? As if the Lord said: I will stay here no longer, but I will forthwith go to Babel to deliver My people, seeing the Babylonians have now filled up their measure. It is spoken of God after the manner of men.
13 That is, is carried away captive by the Babylonians.
14 Other, and their rulers howl. As if He said: The Babylonians do not spare even the rulers of the Jews, much less do they spare the common people.
15 Since they plague them so heavily and so unmercifully.
16 As if I was not able to defend and protect My people against their violence and cruelty, and were not able for the present to deliver them out of their hands.
b Ezek. 36:20, 23; Rom. 2:24.
6Therefore my people shall know 17my name: therefore they shall know 18in that day 19that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.
17 That is, Me. See Psalm 9 on verse 10.
18 Namely, when I shall deliver them from the Babylonian captivity, corporally; but it is also especially to be understood of the spiritual deliverance from the power of the devil.
19 That is, that My promise concerning their deliverance is true.
7 ¶ 20Howc beautiful 21upon the mountains are the feet of him 22that bringeth good tidings, 23that 24publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that 25publisheth salvation; that saith 26unto Zion, 27Thy God reigneth!
20 Or, How pleasant. Hebr. How beautiful. Words of admiration, with gladness, looking not so much at the proclamation of the deliverance out of the Babylonian captivity, as well at the preaching of the apostles and other teachers of the New Testament, who would preach both to Jews and Gentiles the spiritual redemption from the power of the devil.
c Nah. 1:15; Rom. 10:15.
21 Understand the mountains of the mountainous country of the Jews; and by them the church of God both within and without Jerusalem and Judea.
22 That is, they who bring glad tidings, namely first, the deliverance from the Babylonian captivity, and secondly, the spiritual redemption by Jesus Christ. Compare Rom. 10:15.
23 In this verse the prophet relates often one and the same thing in different ways, as being not able to find words sufficient to express that exceeding great mercy and benefit of God shown to us in Christ.
24 That is, proclaimeth.
25 That is, proclaimeth.
26 That is, unto the congregation of God.
27 Namely, Christ Jesus, Who is our everlasting King, and governs His church with his Word and Spirit. See the annotation at Psalm 93 on verse 1. Other, Thy God reigneth as King.
828Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall 29see 30eye to eye, when the LORD 31shall bring again Zion.
28 That is, of your prophets and apostles, etc.
29 Namely, with delight.
30 That is, distinctly, plainly. Compare Num. 14:14. Or, eye by eye, that is, all eyes.
31 From the Babylonian captivity; as also from the power of the devil and sin. Other, shall convert Zion.
9¶Break forth into joy, sing together, 32ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
32 Understand here those places, which had now lain a good while waste about Jerusalem and elsewhere in the land of the Jews, having been wasted by their enemies, and by them the waste and desolate condition of the church, when Christ gathered it.
10The LORD hath 33made bare 34his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; andd35all the ends of the earth shall see 36the salvation of our God.
33 That is, has stretched it forth, to smite the Babylonians, and to redeem and deliver His people out of their hand, and the christian church from their spiritual enemies.
34 Hebr. the arm of his holiness, that is, His Divine omnipotence, which He manifested in delivering His people. Compare herewith Luke 1:51.
d Psalm 98:2; Luke 3:6.
35 That is, all people, dwelling in the utmost ends of the world. This came to pass when Christ sent forth His apostles to go and preach the Gospel throughout the entire world, Matthew 28.
36 That is, the salvation, which our God shall effect and work for us.
11 ¶ 37Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out 38from thence, 39touche no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, 40that bear the vessels of the LORD.
37 An exhortation unto the people of God to depart speedily out of corporal and spiritual Babel.
38 From Babel in Chaldea, as Isa. 48:20; also from spiritual Babel, namely, from the realm of the devil and of the antichrist.
39 Understand additionally: but give thyself unto holiness. See verse 1.
e 2 Cor. 6:17; Rev. 18:4.
40 That is, ye priests and Levites; and in the New Testament, all ye believers, as being spiritual priests. See 1 Thes. 4:4; 2 Tim. 2:21; 1 Peter 2:5; Rev. 1:6.
1241For ye shall not go out 42with haste, nor 43go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your 44rereward.
41 A description of the departure of the people of God, and the grace which God would show them in it.
42 Namely, as your fathers had to do when they went forth out of Egypt, from where as it were they were driven forth, Exod. 12:33. Understand additionally: but ye shall go out with ease and without fear, yea, with joy. See the fulfillment thereof in Ezra 1.
43 Namely, out of corporal and spiritual Babel.
44 Or, be your hinder-guard. Hebr. will assemble you or gather you together, that is, He will defend and protect you on every side. See Num. 10 on verse 25.
13 ¶ 45Behold, 46my 47servant shall deal 48prudently, 49he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
45 Some begin the 53rd chapter here.
46 This speaks God the Father.
47 Namely, Christ, as Isa. 42:1.
48 Or, deal happily, understandingly, prosperously, that is, He shall perform the office duly and well, which I have placed upon Him.
49 See Philip. 2:9.
14As many 50were astoniedf at 51thee; 52his visage was 53so marredg more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
50 Or, were amazed, or, became amazed.
f astonished*
51O Jesus Christ.
52 Or, his face, namely, of My Servant, Jesus Christ.
53 Or, his visage shall be so horribly deformed, namely, by reason of the crowning with a crown of thorns, the scourging and crucifying, whereof is spoken more at large in the next chapter. See Philip. 2:7. These are the words of God, speaking in the third person, wherein He shows a reason why many would be astonished at Christ. Some conceive that they are the prophet’s words inserted here.
g Isa. 53:3.
15So shall 54he 55sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths 56at him: for 57that 58which had noth been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
54 Namely, Christ.
55 Namely, with His blood that was shed, and with the sending forth of the gifts of His Spirit by the preaching of the Holy Gospel, and by the use of the holy sacraments.
56 Or, before him, or, for him, that is, for His sake, namely, when He shall, by the preaching of the Holy Gospel, be proclaimed in their presence and in their kingdoms, and when they shall hear and understand that He is King of all the world.
57 Or, whereof, as the apostle Paul expounds it in Rom. 15:21.
58 That is, the Gentiles, from whom had at first been hidden the secret of the Holy Gospel. See Rom. 15:21.
h Rom. 15:21.