Commentary on Isaiah - Volume 2

1Jehovah will now pity Jacob,
And will yet choose Israel,
And will cause them to rest in their own land;
And the stranger shall be joined to them;
They shall be allied to the house of Jacob.

2And the peoples shall take them,
And shall bring them to their own place,
And in the land of Jehovah shall the house of Israel
Possess them for servants and for handmaids;
And they shall take them whose captives they were,
And shall rule over their oppressors.

3And it shall be in the day,
When Jehovah shall have given thee rest
From thy labour,
And from thy trembling,
And from the hard bondage which had been laid on thee.

4Then against the king of Babylon
Shalt thou take up this proverb, and shalt say,
How hath the oppressor ceased!
How hath the city covetous of gold ceased!

5Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked,
The sceptre of the rulers,

6Which smote the nations in anger,
With an incurable wound;
Which ruled over the nations with anger;
If any one suffered persecution,
He did not hinder it.

7The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet;
They have sung praise.

8Yea, the fir-trees rejoice over thee,
And the cedars of Lebanon:
Since thou art laid down,
No feller hath come up against us.

9Hell from beneath is moved on account of thee;
To meet thy coming
He hath stirred up the dead for thee,
And hath made to rise from their thrones
All the leaders of the earth,
All the kings of the nations.

10All shall speak, and say to thee:
Art thou also become weak as we?
And art thou become like to us?

11In the grave is laid thy splendour,
And the noise of thine instruments of music;
The worm is spread under thee,
And reptiles cover thee.

12How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the dawn!
How art thou thrown down to the earth,
That didst cast the lot upon the nations! ³⁷¹

13But thou saidst in thy heart,
I will ascend to heaven;
In high places near the stars of God
Will I place my throne,
And will sit on the mountain of the testimony,
On the sides of the north.

14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
And will be like the Most High.

15But thou art brought down to the grave,
To the sides of the pit.

16They that see thee shall bend forward,
And shall view thee attentively.
Is this the man that made the earth to tremble?
That shook the kingdoms?

17That made the world as a wilderness;
That destroyed its cities?
That opened not the house to his prisoners?

18All the kings of the nations, all of them,
Lie in glory, each in his own house.

19But thou art cast out of thy grave,
As an abominable branch,
As the garments of the slain
Who were killed with the sword,
Who go down to the pit;
As a carcase trodden under foot.

20Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial;
Because thou hast laid waste thy land,
Thou hast slain thy people;
The seed of wicked men shall not be continually remembered.

21Prepare slaughter for his children,
For the iniquity of their fathers;
That they may not rise, and possess the land,
And fill the face of the world with cities.

22For I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts,
And the name and the remnant,
The son and the grandson,
Will I cut off, saith Jehovah.

23And I will make it to be a possession of the hedgehog,
And pools of water;
And I will sweep it with a besom, emptying it,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.

24Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying,
If it hath not been as I thought,
And if it shall not stand as I purposed,

25That in my land I will crush the Assyrian,
And on my mountains will tread him under foot;
And that his yoke shall depart from them,
And his burden be removed from their shoulder.

26This is the purpose which is purposed on the whole earth;
And this hand is stretched out on all the nations.

27For Jehovah of hosts hath decreed, and who shall disannul it?
His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

28In the year in which Ahaz the king died, was this burden.

29Rejoice not, thou whole Palestina,
Because the rod of him that smote thee is broken;
For from the root of the adder shall spring a cockatrice,
And his fruit shall be a fiery serpent.

30And the first-born of the poor shall feed,
And the needy shall lie down in safety;
And I will cause thy root to die with famine,
And he shall slay thy remnant.

31Howl, O gate! cry, O city!
Thou whole Palestina art dissolved;
For smoke cometh from the north;
And no one shall be alone in his appointed day.

32And what shall be answered to the messengers of the nations?
That Jehovah hath founded Zion,
And the poor of his people shall have confidence in her.