Worthy.Bible » STRONG » Isaiah » Chapter 32 » Verse 1-20

Isaiah 32:1-20 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

1 Behold, a king H4428 shall reign H4427 in righteousness, H6664 and princes H8269 shall rule H8323 in judgment. H4941

2 And a man H376 shall be as an hiding place H4224 from the wind, H7307 and a covert H5643 from the tempest; H2230 as rivers H6388 of water H4325 in a dry place, H6724 as the shadow H6738 of a great H3515 rock H5553 in a weary H5889 land. H776

3 And the eyes H5869 of them that see H7200 shall not be dim, H8159 and the ears H241 of them that hear H8085 shall hearken. H7181

4 The heart H3824 also of the rash H4116 shall understand H995 knowledge, H1847 and the tongue H3956 of the stammerers H5926 shall be ready H4116 to speak H1696 plainly. H6703

5 The vile person H5036 shall be no more called H7121 liberal, H5081 nor the churl H3596 said H559 to be bountiful. H7771

6 For the vile person H5036 will speak H1696 villany, H5039 and his heart H3820 will work H6213 iniquity, H205 to practise H6213 hypocrisy, H2612 and to utter H1696 error H8442 against the LORD, H3068 to make empty H7324 the soul H5315 of the hungry, H7457 and he will cause the drink H4945 of the thirsty H6771 to fail. H2637

7 The instruments H3627 also of the churl H3596 are evil: H7451 he deviseth H3289 wicked devices H2154 to destroy H2254 the poor H6041 H6035 with lying H8267 words, H561 even when the needy H34 speaketh H1696 right. H4941

8 But the liberal H5081 deviseth H3289 liberal things; H5081 and by liberal things H5081 shall he stand. H6965

9 Rise up, H6965 ye women H802 that are at ease; H7600 hear H8085 my voice, H6963 ye careless H982 daughters; H1323 give ear H238 unto my speech. H565

10 Many days H3117 and years H8141 shall ye be troubled, H7264 ye careless women: H982 for the vintage H1210 shall fail, H3615 the gathering H625 shall not come. H935

11 Tremble, H2729 ye women that are at ease; H7600 be troubled, H7264 ye careless ones: H982 strip H6584 you, and make you bare, H6209 and gird H2290 sackcloth upon your loins. H2504

12 They shall lament H5594 for the teats, H7699 for the pleasant H2531 fields, H7704 for the fruitful H6509 vine. H1612

13 Upon the land H127 of my people H5971 shall come up H5927 thorns H6975 and briers; H8068 yea, upon all the houses H1004 of joy H4885 in the joyous H5947 city: H7151

14 Because the palaces H759 shall be forsaken; H5203 the multitude H1995 of the city H5892 shall be left; H5800 the forts H6076 and towers H975 shall be for dens H4631 for H5704 ever, H5769 a joy H4885 of wild asses, H6501 a pasture H4829 of flocks; H5739

15 Until the spirit H7307 be poured H6168 upon us from on high, H4791 and the wilderness H4057 be a fruitful field, H3759 and the fruitful field H3759 be counted H2803 for a forest. H3293

16 Then judgment H4941 shall dwell H7931 in the wilderness, H4057 and righteousness H6666 remain H3427 in the fruitful field. H3759

17 And the work H4639 of righteousness H6666 shall be peace; H7965 and the effect H5656 of righteousness H6666 quietness H8252 and assurance H983 for H5704 ever. H5769

18 And my people H5971 shall dwell H3427 in a peaceable H7965 habitation, H5116 and in sure H4009 dwellings, H4908 and in quiet H7600 resting places; H4496

19 When it shall hail, H1258 coming down H3381 on the forest; H3293 and the city H5892 shall be low H8213 in a low place. H8218

20 Blessed H835 are ye that sow H2232 beside all waters, H4325 that send forth H7971 thither the feet H7272 of the ox H7794 and the ass. H2543

Commentary on Isaiah 32 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 32

Isa 32:1-20. Messiah's Kingdom; Desolations, to Be Succeeded by Lasting Peace, the Spirit Having Been Poured Out.

The times of purity and happiness which shall follow the defeat of the enemies of Jehovah's people (Isa 32:1-8). The period of wrath before that happy state (Isa 32:9-14). The assurance of the final prosperity of the Church is repeated (Isa 32:15-20).

1. king—not Hezekiah, who was already on the throne, whereas a future time is contemplated. If he be meant at all, it can only be as a type of Messiah the King, to whom alone the language is fully applicable (Ho 3:5; Zec 9:9; see on Isa 11:3-5). The kingdom shall be transferred from the world kings, who have exercised their power against God, instead of for God, to the rightful King of kings (Eze 21:27; Da 7:13, 14).

princes—subordinate; referring to all in authority under Christ in the coming kingdom on earth, for example, the apostles, &c. (Lu 22:30; 1Co 6:2; 2Ti 2:12; Re 2:26, 27; 3:21).

2. a man—rather, the man Christ [Lowth]; it is as "the Son of man" He is to reign, as it was as Son of man He suffered (Mt 26:64; Joh 5:27; 19:5). Not as Maurer explains, "every one of the princes shall be," &c.

rivers—as refreshing as water and the cool shade are to the heated traveller (Isa 35:6, 7; 41:18).

3. them that see—the seers or prophets.

them that hear—the people under instruction (Isa 35:5, 6).

4. rash—rather, "the hasty"; contrast "shall not make haste" (Isa 28:16); the reckless who will not take time to weigh religious truth aright. Or else, the well-instructed [Horsley].

stammers—those who speak confusedly on divine things (compare Ex 4:10-12; Jer 1:6; Mt 10:19, 20). Or, rather, those drunken scorners who in stammering style imitated Isaiah's warnings to mock them [Maurer] (Isa 28:7-11, 13, 14, 22; 29:20); in this view, translate, "speak uprightly" (agreeably to the divine law); not as English Version, referring to the distinctness of articulation, "plainly."

5. vile—rather, "fool" [Lowth]; that is, ungodly (Ps 14:1; 74:18).

liberal—rather, "noble-minded."

churl—rather, "fraudulent" [Gesenius].

bountiful—religiously. The atheistic churl, who envies the believer his hope "full of immortality," shall no longer be held as a patriot struggling for the emancipation of mankind from superstition [Horsley].

6. vile … villainy—rather, "the (irreligious) fool … (his) folly."

will speak—rather, "present"; for (so far is the "fool" from deserving the epithet "noble-minded") the fool "speaketh" folly and "worketh," &c.

hypocrisy—rather, "profligacy" [Horsley].

error—impiety, perverse arguments.

hungry—spiritually (Mt 5:6).

7. churl—"the fraudulent"; this verse refers to the last clause of Isa 32:5; as Isa 32:6 referred to its first clause.

speaketh right—pleadeth a just cause (Isa 29:21); spiritually, "the poor man's cause" is the divine doctrine, his rule of faith and practice.

8. liberal—rather, "noble-minded."

stand—shall be approved under the government of the righteous King.

9-20. Address to the women of Jerusalem who troubled themselves little about the political signs of the times, but lived a life of self-indulgence (Isa 3:16-23); the failure of food through the devastations of the enemy is here foretold, being what was most likely to affect them as mothers of families, heretofore accustomed to every luxury. Vitringa understands "women—daughters" as the cities and villages of Judea (Eze 16:1-63). See Am 6:1.

10. Many days and years—rather, "In little more than a year" [Maurer]; literally, "days upon a year" (so Isa 29:1).

vintage shall fail—through the arrival of the Assyrian invader. As the wheat harvest is omitted, Isaiah must look for the invasion in the summer or autumn of 714 B.C., when the wheat would have been secured already, and the later fruit "gathering," and vintage would be still in danger.

11. strip you—of your gay clothing. (See Isa 2:19, 21).

12. lament for … teats—rather, shall smite on their breasts in lamentation "for thy pleasant fields" (Na 2:7) [Maurer]. "Teats" in English Version is used for fertile lands, which, like breasts, nourish life. The transition from "ye" to "they" (Isa 32:11, 12) is frequent.

13. (Isa 5:6; 7:23).

houses of joy—pleasure-houses outside of Jerusalem, not Jerusalem itself, but other cities destroyed by Sennacherib in his march (Isa 7:20-25). However, the prophecy, in its full accomplishment, refers to the utter desolation of Judea and its capital by Rome, and subsequently, previous to the second coming of the King (Ps 118:26; Lu 13:35; 19:38); "the joyous city" is in this view, Jerusalem (Isa 22:2).

14. palaces—most applicable to Jerusalem (see on Isa 32:13).

multitude … left—the noisy din of the city, that is, the city with its noisy multitude shall lie forsaken [Maurer].

forts—rather, "Ophel" (that is, the mound), the term applied specially to the declivity on the east of Zion, surrounded with its own wall (2Ch 27:3; 33:14; 2Ki 5:24), and furnished with "towers" (or watchtowers), perhaps referred to here (Ne 3:26, 27).

for ever—limited by thee, "until," &c., Isa 32:15, for a long time.

15. This can only partially apply to the spiritual revival in Hezekiah's time; its full accomplishment belongs to the Christian dispensation, first at Pentecost (Joe 2:28; Ac 2:17), perfectly in coming times (Ps 104:30; Eze 36:26; 39:29; Zec 12:10), when the Spirit shall be poured on Israel, and through it on the Gentiles (Mic 5:7).

wilderness … fruitful field … forest—when Judea, so long waste, shall be populous and fruitful, and the land of the enemies of God shall be desolate. Or, "the field, now fruitful, shall be but as a barren forest in comparison with what it shall be then" (Isa 29:17). The barren shall become fruitful by regeneration; those already regenerate shall bring forth fruits in such abundance that their former life shall seem but as a wilderness where no fruits were.

16. judgment—justice.

wilderness—then reclaimed.

fruitful field—then become more fruitful (Isa 32:15); thus "wilderness" and "fruitful field" include the whole land of Judea.

17. work—the effect (Pr 14:34; Jas 3:18).

peace—internal and external.

18. sure … quiet—free from fear of invasion.

19. Literally, "But it shall hail with coming down of the forest, and in lowness shall the city (Nineveh) be brought low; that is, humbled." The "hail" is Jehovah's wrathful visitation (Isa 30:30; 28:2, 17). The "forest" is the Assyrian host, dense as the trees of a forest (Isa 10:18, 19, 33, 34; Zec 11:2).

20. While the enemy shall be brought "low," the Jews shall cultivate their land in undisturbed prosperity.

all waters—well-watered places (Isa 30:25). The Hebrew translation, "beside," ought rather to be translated, "upon" (Ec 11:1), where the meaning is, "Cast thy seed upon the waters when the river overflows its banks; the seed will sink into the mud and will spring up when the waters subside, and you will find it after many days in a rich harvest." Before sowing, they send oxen, &c., into the water to tread the ground for sowing. Castalio thinks there is an allusion to the Mosaic precept, not to plough with an ox and ass together, mystically implying that the Jew was to have no intercourse with Gentiles; the Gospel abolishes this distinction (Col 3:11); thus the sense here is, Blessed are ye that sow the gospel seed without distinction of race in the teachers or the taught. But there is no need of supposing that the ox and ass here are yoked together; they are probably "sent forth" separately, as in Isa 30:24.