they shall take them captives, *whose captives they were; A.C. 715. and they shall rule over their oppressors. * Heb. that them captives. 3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD had taken shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, 4 That thou shalt take up this + proverb against the +Or, taunting king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! speech. the golden city ceased! 5 The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. + Or, exactress of gold. 6 He who smote the people in wrath with § a continual ◊ Heb. a stroke stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. 7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. 8 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. 9 without removing. grave. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at Or, The thy coming it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the *+chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their Heb.leaders. thrones all the kings of the nations. 10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? 11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. + Or, great goats. star. 12 How art thou fallen from heaven, ‡O Lucifer, son of Or, 0 day the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; 17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that § opened not the house of his pri- Or, did not soners? 18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. let his prisoners loose homewards. A. C. 715. 19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet. 20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because Job xviii. 19. thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the xxxvii. 28. & seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. Ps. xxi. 10. & cix. 13. $ Ex. xx. 5. Matt.xxiii.35. t 2 Chron. xx. 6. Job ix. 12. 21 Prepare slaughter for his children * for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. 22 For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD. 23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts. 24 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: 25 That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. 26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. 27 For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall Prov. xxi. 30. disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back 45? Dan. iv, 31. 45 Bishop Lowth remarks, that this chapter contains a poem superior to any thing of its kind extant in any language. For beauty of disposition, strength of colouring, greatness of sentiment, brevity, perspicuity, and force of expression, it stands among all the monuments of antiquity unrivalled. Chap. xiii. opens with the gathering together of the different nations, appointed to execute the divine wrath on Babylon; and from ver. 11. to the end predicts the dreadful destruction of its inhabitants, and the everlasting desolation to which that great city was doomed. It is one of the most beautiful examples of variety of image, sublimity of sentiment, and diction, that can be given in the prophetic style. The deliverance of Judah from captivity, the immediate consequence of this great event is celebrated in ver, 1, 2. chap. xiv, The ode then commences with a chorus of Jews rejoicing in the downfall of the oppressor, and the destruction of the "golden city.” The whole earth shouteth for joy, and the cedars of Lebanon; (or all those rulers, or kingdoms, who had been harassed or oppressed) utter a severe taunt over the fallen tyrant. The regions of the dead are then laid open, ver. 9.; and Hades is represented as rousing up the shades of the departed monarchs, to receive the king of Babylon on his SECTION VIII. General Prophecy of the Desolation and Recovery of Judea. ISAIAH XXIV 46. 1 The doleful judgments of God upon the land. 13 A remnant shall joyfully praise him. 16 God in his judgments shall advance his kingdom. 1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh A. C. 714. it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. * Heb. perverteth the face thereof. u Hos. iv. 9. 2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with +"the priest; +Or, prince. as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. 3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word. 4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth Heb. the do languish. entrance, and to insult him on being reduced to the same miserable state of impotence and dissolution with themselves. The Jews now resume the speech, ver. 12. and address the king of Babylon as the morning star fallen from heaven; and compare, in bitter terms of reproach, his former arrogant boasts of power, with his present low and abject condition. His body is then represented as being cast out, and lying naked on the ground, with the common slain, just after the taking of the city; and he is again reproached, with the severest taunts, for his cruel usage of the conquered, which deservedly brought upon him this ignominious treatment. To complete the whole, God is introduced, declaring the fate of Babylon, the utter extirpation of the royal family, the total dissolution of the city, the deliverance of his people, and the destruction of their enemies; confirming the irreversible decree by the awful sanction of his oath. This prophecy was delivered one hundred and eighty years before its accomplishment; and the Medes, who are expressly mentioned, chap. xiii. 7. as the principal agents in the overthrow of Babylon, were at that time an inconsiderable people, having been in a state of anarchy ever since the fall of the Assyrian empire, of which they had made a part, under Sardanapalus, and did not become a kingdom under Deioces till about the 17th of Hezekiah.-Notes on Isaiah, in loc. Lowth. 46 These chapters are generally supposed to allude to Sennacherib's invasion. Bishop Lowth is of opinion, that they refer to the three great desolations of Judea, by Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, and the Romans.-Bishop Horsley, to the general tribulation of the latter ages, and the succeeding prosperity of the Church in the end of the world. They are placed here chiefly on the authority of Lightfoot; and seem to have been written to console the faithful people of Judea, in the desolation caused by Sennacherib's army. height of the people. A.C. 714. x Jer. vii. 34. & xvi. 9. & 5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. 7 The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. X 8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that xxv. 10. Ezek. rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. xxvi. 13. Hos. ii. 11. *Or, valley. + Heb. wing. 9 They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. 10 The city of confusion is broken down every house is shut up that no man may come in. 11 There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. 12 In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction. 13When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. 14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea. 15 Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea. My 16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we Heb. Lean- heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, Motor leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. My secret me. y Jer. xlviii. 43, 44. 17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. 18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare : for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. 19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. 20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. 21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD Heb. visit shall § punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. upon. 22 And they shall be gathered together, * as prisoners are A. C. 714. gathered in the † pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited." 23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and § before his ancients gloriously. ISAIAH XXV. * Heb. with the gathering of prisoners. for, dungeon. + Or, found Or, there shall be glory before his an 1 The prophet praiseth God, for his judgments, 6 for his saving benefits, 9 and cients. for his victorious salvation. 1 O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. 2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin; a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built, 3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. 4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. 5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. 6 ¶ And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. . 7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the Heb. swallow covering * cast over all people, and the veil that is spread "Heb.covered. over all nations. 54. 8 He will a swallow up death in victory; and the Lord a 1 Cor. xv. GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the bre- b Rev. vii. 17. buke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth : & xxi. 4. for the LORD hath spoken it. 9 ¶ And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation, 10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be + trodden down under him, even as straw + Or, thresh is trodden down for the dunghill. ed. + Or, thresh nah. 11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of ed in Madme. them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to |