17 And the work of righteousness will be peace; and the effect of an upright rule will be to take away fear for ever.
Great peace have lovers of your law; they have no cause for falling.
For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
For this reason, my brothers, take all the more care to make your selection and approval certain; for if you do these things you will never have a fall: For so the way will be open to you into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
But the wisdom which is from heaven is first holy, then gentle, readily giving way in argument, full of peace and mercy and good works, not doubting, not seeming other than it is. And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace for those who make peace.
Have no cares; but in everything with prayer and praise put your requests before God. And the peace of God, which is deeper than all knowledge, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. For the rest, my brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things have honour, whatever things are upright, whatever things are holy, whatever things are beautiful, whatever things are of value, if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, give thought to these things. The things which came to you by my teaching and preaching, and which you saw in me, these things do, and the God of peace will be with you.
The man whose heart is unmoved you will keep in peace, because his hope is in you.
In this way love is made complete in us, so that we may be without fear on the day of judging, because as he is, so are we in this world.
My little children, do not let our love be in word and in tongue, but let it be in act and in good faith. In this way we may be certain that we are true, and may give our heart comfort before him, When our heart says that we have done wrong; because God is greater than our heart, and has knowledge of all things. My loved ones, if our heart does not say that we have done wrong, we have no fear before him; And he gives us all our requests, because we keep his laws and do the things which are pleasing in his eyes. And this is his law, that we have faith in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love for one another, even as he said to us. He who keeps his laws is in God and God is in him. And the Spirit which he gave us is our witness that he is in us.
And the peoples will say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will give us knowledge of his ways, and we will be guided by his word; for out of Zion the law will go out, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he will be the judge between the nations, and the peoples will be ruled by his decisions: and their swords will be turned into plough-blades, and their spears into vine-knives: no longer will the nations be turning their swords against one another, and the knowledge of war will be gone for ever.
And my face will no longer be covered from them: for I have sent the out-flowing of my spirit on the children of Israel, says the Lord.
For our glory is in this, in the knowledge which we have that our way of life in the world, and most of all in relation to you, has been holy and true in the eyes of God; not in the wisdom of the flesh, but in the grace of God.
And he will be judge between great peoples, and strong nations far away will be ruled by his decisions; their swords will be hammered into plough-blades and their spears into vine-knives: nations will no longer be lifting up their swords against one another, and knowledge of war will have gone for ever. But every man will be seated under his vine and under his fig-tree, and no one will be a cause of fear to them: for the mouth of the Lord of armies has said it.
And they will be living in the land which I gave to Jacob, my servant, in which your fathers were living; and they will go on living there, they and their children and their children's children, for ever: and David, my servant, will be their ruler for ever.
And say to them, These are the words of the Lord: See, I am taking the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will get them together on every side, and take them into their land: And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king over them all: and they will no longer be two nations, and will no longer be parted into two kingdoms:
I will give the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is near and to him who is far off, says the Lord; and I will make him well.
For you will go out with joy, and be guided in peace: the mountains and the hills will make melody before you, and all the trees of the fields will make sounds of joy.
If only you had given ear to my orders, then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea:
For the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, said, In quiet and rest is your salvation: peace and hope are your strength: but you would not have it so.
And the wolf will be living with the lamb, and the leopard will take his rest with the young goat; and the lion will take grass for food like the ox; and the young lion will go with the young ones of the herd; and a little child will be their guide. And the cow and the bear will be friends while their young ones are sleeping together. And the child at the breast will be playing by the hole of the snake, and the older child will put his hand on the bright eye of the poison-snake. There will be no cause of pain or destruction in all my holy mountain: for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is covered by the waters.
Of the increase of his rule and of peace there will be no end, on the seat of David, and in his kingdom; to make it strong, supporting it with wise decision and righteousness, now and for ever. By the fixed purpose of the Lord of armies this will be done.
He will not ever be moved; the memory of the upright will be living for ever. He will have no fear of evil news; his heart is fixed, for his hope is in the Lord. His heart is resting safely, he will have no fear, till he sees trouble come on his haters. He has given with open hands to the poor; his righteousness is for ever; his horn will be lifted up with honour.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 32
Commentary on Isaiah 32 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 32
This chapter seems to be such a prophecy of the reign of Hezekiah as amounts to an abridgment of the history of it, and this with an eye to the kingdom of the Messiah, whose government was typified by the thrones of the house of David, for which reason he is so often called "the Son of David.' Here is,
Isa 32:1-8
We have here the description of a flourishing kingdom. "Blessed art thou, O land! when it is thus with thee, when kings, princes, and people, are in their places such as they should be.' It may be taken as a directory both to magistrates and subjects, what both ought to do, or as a panegyric to Hezekiah, who ruled well and saw something of the happy effects of his good government, and it was designed to make the people sensible how happy they were under his administration and how careful they should be to improve the advantages of it, and withal to direct them to look for the kingdom of Christ, and the times of reformation which that kingdom should introduce. It is here promised and prescribed, for the comfort of the church,
Isa 32:9-20
In these verses we have God rising up to judgment against the vile persons, to punish them for their villainy; but at length returning in mercy to the liberal, to reward them for their liberality.