10 If favour be shewn to the wicked, he doth not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness he dealeth unjustly, and beholdeth not the majesty of Jehovah.
And the Father who has sent me himself has borne witness concerning me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor have seen his shape, and ye have not his word abiding in you; for whom *he* hath sent, him ye do not believe.
Yea, my people are bent upon backsliding from me: though they call them to the Most High, none at all exalteth [him].
And I gave her time that she should repent, and she will not repent of her fornication.
or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads thee to repentance? but, according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up to thyself wrath, in [the] day of wrath and revelation of [the] righteous judgment of God,
that build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with unrighteousness. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet do they lean upon Jehovah, and say, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed [as] a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
Arise ye, and depart; for this is not the resting-place, because of defilement that bringeth destruction, even a grievous destruction.
They shall not dwell in Jehovah's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and in Assyria shall they eat that which is unclean.
And thou, son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? Yea, cause her to know all her abominations, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: A city that sheddeth blood in her midst, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself. Thou art become guilty by thy blood which thou hast shed, and hast defiled thyself with thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the nations, and a mocking unto all countries. Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall mock thee, who art infamous [and] full of tumult. Behold, the princes of Israel have been in thee to shed blood, each according to his power. In thee have they made light of father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger; in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow. Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths. In thee there have been slanderous men to shed blood; and in thee have they eaten upon the mountains; in the midst of thee they have committed lewdness; in thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was unclean in her separation. And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter. In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast overreached thy neighbours by oppression, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord Jehovah. And behold, I have smitten mine hand at thine overreaching which thou hast done, and at thy bloodshed which hath been in the midst of thee. Shall thy heart endure, shall thy hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I Jehovah have spoken, and will do [it]. And I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee through the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee. And thou shalt be polluted through thyself in the sight of the nations, and thou shalt know that I [am] Jehovah.
And I brought you into a fruitful land, to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof; and ye entered and defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.
In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the Angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved his holy Spirit: and he turned to be their enemy; himself, he fought against them.
And Pharaoh saw that there was respite; and he hardened his heart, and hearkened not to them, as Jehovah had said.
And the land is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; for they have violated the laws, changed the statute, broken the everlasting covenant.
And in that day did the Lord Jehovah of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth; and behold joy and rejoicing, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: -- Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.
And harp and lyre, tambour and flute, and wine are in their banquets; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, nor do they see the operation of his hands.
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of the foolish shall cause them to perish.
Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: let thy good Spirit lead me in a plain country.
And he brought them to his holy border, this mountain, which his right hand purchased; And he drove out the nations before them, and allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. But they tempted and provoked God, the Most High, and kept not his testimonies, And they drew back and dealt treacherously like their fathers: they turned like a deceitful bow. And they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
Give them according to their doing, and according to the wickedness of their deeds; give them after the work of their hands, render to them their desert. For they regard not the deeds of Jehovah, nor the work of his hands: he will destroy them, and not build them up.
Then Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked -- Thou art waxen fat, Thou art grown thick, And thou art covered with fatness; -- He gave up +God who made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
And Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders had ceased, and he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he, and his bondmen.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 26
Commentary on Isaiah 26 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 26
This chapter is a song of holy joy and praise, in which the great things God had engaged, in the foregoing chapter, to do for his people against his enemies and their enemies are celebrated: it is prepared to be sung when that prophecy should be accomplished; for we must be forward to meet God with our thanksgivings when he is coming towards us with his mercies. Now the people of God are here taught,
And this is written for the support and assistance of the faith and hope of God's people in all ages, even those upon whom the ends of the world have come.
Isa 26:1-4
To the prophecies of gospel grace very fitly is a song annexed, in which we may give God the glory and take to ourselves the comfort of that grace: In that day, the gospel day, which the day of the victories and enlargements of the Old-Testament church was typical of (to some of which perhaps this has a primary reference), in that day this song shall be sung; there shall be persons to sing it, and cause and hearts to sing it; it shall be sung in the land of Judah, which was a figure of the gospel church; for the gospel covenant is said to be made with the house of Judah, Heb. 8:8. Glorious things are here said of the church of God.
Isa 26:5-11
Here the prophet further encourages us to trust in the Lord for ever, and to continue waiting on him; for,
Isa 26:12-19
The prophet in these verses looks back upon what God had done with them, both in mercy and judgment, and sings unto God of both, and then looks forward upon what he hoped God would do for them. Observe,
Isa 26:20-21
These two verses are supposed not to belong to the song which takes up the rest of the chapter, but to begin a new matter, and to be rather an introduction to the following chapter than the conclusion of this. Of whereas, in the foregoing song, the people of God had spoken to him, complaining of their grievances, here he returns an answer to their complaints, in which,