Commentary on Isaiah - Volume 2

1Behold! a king shall reign in righteousness,
And princes shall rule in judgment.

2And that man shall be
As a hiding-place from the wind,
As a covert from the rain,
As streams of waters on dry ground,
As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

3Then the eyes of them that see shall not be closed up,
And the ears of them that hear shall hearken.

4And the heart of fools shall be eagerly directed to knowledge,
And the tongue of stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.

5No longer shall the base man be called liberal,
Nor shall the parsimonious man be called bountiful.

6For the vile person will speak vileness,
And his heart will contrive iniquity,
To commit wickedness,
That he may utter mockery against Jehovah,
That he may make empty the hungry soul,
And that he may withhold drink from him that is thirsty.

7The instruments of the covetous man are evil; ³⁹⁷
He contriveth wickednesses,
That he may deceive the simple by lying words,
And that he may speak against the poor man in judgment.

8But the liberal man shall devise liberal things,
And in acting liberally he shall make progress.

9Ye women at ease, arise;
Hear my voice, ye careless daughters;
Hearken to my speech.

10Days above a year shall ye tremble, ye careless women;
For the vintage shall fail,
And the gathering shall not come.

11Tremble, ye women that are at ease;
Be troubled, ye careless women;
Strip you, make you bare, gird your limbs.

12Mourning over the udders,
Over the pleasant fields,
Over the fruitful vine.

13There shall come up the thorn and brier
On the land of my people,
Even on all the houses of gladness in the city of rejoicing.

14For the palace shall be forsaken;
The noise of the city shall be left;
The tower and the fortress
Shall be reduced to dens for ever,
Where wild asses may delight themselves,
And where flocks may feed.

15Till the Spirit be poured out upon you from on high,
And the wilderness become a cultivated field,
And the cultivated field be reckoned like a forest.

16And judgment shall dwell in the wilderness,
And justice shall have its abode in the cultivated field.

17And the work of righteousness shall be peace;
The effect of righteousness shall be
Safety and quietness for ever.

18And my people shall dwell in a tabernacle of peace,
And in safe dwellings,
And in quiet resting-places.

19And in coming down the hail shall turn aside on the forest,
And the city shall be situated in a low place.

20Blessed are ye who sow on all waters,
Who send forth the feet of the ox and of the ass.

END OF VOLUME SECOND.