787. unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, A.C. About slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. g Ex. xxxiv. 6. Ps. lxxxvi. 14 h Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave 5, 15. Jonah a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink iv. 2. offering unto the LORD your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, solemn assembly: i sanctify a fast, call a 16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? h Jonah iii. 9. ich. i. 14. Or, use a byword against them. k Ps. xlii. 10. 18 Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity & Ixxix. 10. & his people. 19 Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen: 20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things. CXV. 2. +Heb. he hath magnified to 21 ¶ Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD do. will do great things. 22 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. tor, a teacher ness of righteous 23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain § moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. ing to righte 24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. 26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you and my people shall never be ashamed. 27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, Heb. accord ousness. 1 Lev. xxvi. 4. Deut. xi. 14. A.C. About and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. 787. Acts ii. 17. m m Is. xliv. 3. 28 ¶ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: n ch. iii. 15. o Rom. x. 13. Heb. desir able. 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31" The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. 32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. JOEL III. 1 God's judgments against the enemies of his people. God will be known in his judgment. 18 His blessing upon the church. 1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. 3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. 4 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; * 5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: 6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jeru+Heb. the sons salem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. of the Gre cians. 7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: 8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it. 9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; * Prepare war, A. C. About wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; + 787. *Heb. Sanc tify. let them come up: 10 P Beat your plowshares into swords, and your † prun- p See Is. ii. 4. ing hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. + Or, scythes. 11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy LORD'Shall mighty ones to come down, O LORD. 12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Or, the bring down. 13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, 4 Rev. xiv. 15. get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. or, threshing. 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of § decision: for Orconcision, the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the rch. ii. 31. stars shall withdraw their shining. Amos i. 2. 16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his Jer. xxv. 30. voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake but the LORD will be the || hope of his people, and place of the strength of the children of Israel. repair, or, harbour. 17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusa- Heb, holilem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her t Rev. xxi. 27. any more. ness. 18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall u Amos ix. 13. flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall † flow with + Heb. gr. waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim. 19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. 20 But Judah shall‡dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from Or, abide. generation to generation. 21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed : Sfor the LORD dwelleth in Zion. SECTION III. Uzziah struck with Leprosy. 2 CHRONICLES XXVI. VER. 16-22. Or, even I the LORD that dwelleth in Zion. 16 ¶ But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to 787 or 765. his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. 7. A. C. 787 or 765. 17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: X 18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto * Num. xviii. him, It * appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense y Ex. xxx. 7. unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. : 19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. 20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and z Esth. vi. 12. they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him. a 2 Kings xv. 5. b 21 And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his Lev. xiii. 46, death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the * Heb. free. 758. land. SECTION IV. Designation of Isaiah to the prophetic Office. ISAIAH I. VER. 1. 120 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 20 The question has been much controverted, whether the vision of Isaiah in the sixth chapter, was seen on his designation to the prophetic office, or after that time? Isaiah prophesied (i. 1.) in the days of Uzziah; and afterwards we find that he saw the vision in the year that king Uzziah died, (Isa. vi. 1.) Bishop Lowth is of opinion, that the first five chapters were delivered prior to the death of Uzziah, and the sixth immediately after it, and he interprets the phrase "in the year that king Uzziah died," to signify, after his death, in the year that he died. Dr. Wells and Lightfoot agree in this opinion. Bishop Horsley and Dr. Taylor unite in supposing that the first chapter is more descriptive of the reign of Ahaz than that of Uzziah; as in the reign of the latter the land was at rest, and the king good. It flourished likewise under the government of Jotham, who was also a good man; therefore, from its internal evidence, which is certainly the best, as well as from the opinion of many commentators, the first chapter of Isaiah is placed in the reign of Ahaz, with the exception of the first verse of that chapter, which may be considered as an introduction to the whole book. Isaiah was the greatest of all the prophets, through all ages of the church, and was in all probability appointed to his great office with more than usual solemnity. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, &c. all give some ISAIAH VI. 1 Isaiah, in a vision of the Lord in his glory, 5 being terrified, is confirmed for 9 He sheweth the obstinacy of the people unto their desolation. 13 A remnant shall be saved. his message. 1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. d 3 And + one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of glory. his 4 And the posts of the § door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 ¶ Then said I, Woe is me! for I am || undone; because || Heb. cut off. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. his hand a live 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, *having a live * Heb. and in coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from coal. off the altar : it to touch. 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath + Heb. caused touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. e 8 Also, I heard the voice of the LORD, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, + Here e Gen. i. 26. am I; send me. f me. Heb. Bchold 14. Mark iv. 12. Luke viii. 9¶ And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear yef Matt. xiii. § indeed, but understand not; and see ye* indeed, perceive not. 10. John xii. 40. Acts xxviii. 26. but ears and Rom. xi. 8. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, convert, and be healed. ceasing, &c. in hearing, &c. *Heb. in see Un-ing. 11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, til the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be † utterly desolate, account, in the beginning of their writings, of the manner, or of the circumstances under which they were respectively called to fill the prophetic office. We have every reason to suppose, therefore, that the chief prophet would likewise have been favoured with similar demonstrations of his divine appointment.Vide Lowth's Isaiah, note in loc.; Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 98.; Horsley's Bib. Crit. vol. ii. p. 4.; Vitringa, tom. i. p. 25-29.; Gray's and Horne's Introductions; Taylor's Scheme of Divinity, ch. xxxiv. + Heb. desolate with desolation. |