16 I have put my words in your mouth, and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, You are my people.
As for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh: my Spirit who is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed's seed, says Yahweh, from henceforth and forever.
and he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand has he hid me: and he has made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he kept me close:
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says Yahweh, so shall your seed and your name remain.
The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
For thus says Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn't create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited: I am Yahweh; and there is no one else.
The earth and all its inhabitants quake. I firmly hold its pillars. Selah.
I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father." They answered him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham didn't do this.
This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John,
But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.
for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came forth from you, and they have believed that you sent me.
It will happen, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by;
I will bring the third part into the fire, And will refine them as silver is refined, And will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, 'It is my people;' And they will say, 'Yahweh is my God.'"
and I will bring them, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness."
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Your people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending to you; and all those who despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The city of Yahweh, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no man passed through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
They are planted in Yahweh's house. They will flourish in our God's courts.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 51
Commentary on Isaiah 51 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 51
This chapter is designed for the comfort and encouragement of those that fear God and keep his commandments, even when they walk in darkness and have no light. Whether it was intended primarily for the support of the captives in Babylon is not certain, probably it was; but comforts thus generally expressed ought not to be so confined. Whenever the church of God is in distress her friends and well-wishers may comfort themselves and one another with these words,
The first three paragraphs of this chapter begin with, "Hearken unto me,' and they are God's people that are all along called to hearken; for even when comforts are spoken to them sometimes they "hearken not, through anguish of spirit' (Ex. 6:9); therefore they are again and again called to hearken (v. 1, 4, 7). The two other paragraphs of this chapter begin with "Awake, awake;' in the former (v. 9) God's people call upon him to awake and help them; in the latter (v. 17) God calls upon them to awake and help themselves.
Isa 51:1-3
Observe,
Isa 51:4-8
Both these proclamations, as I may call them, end alike with an assurance of the perpetuity of God's righteousness and his salvation; and therefore we put them together, both being designed for the comfort of God's people. Observe,
Isa 51:9-16
In these verses we have,
Isa 51:17-23
God, having awoke for the comfort of his people, here calls upon them to awake, as afterwards, ch. 52:1. It is a call to awake not so much out of the sleep of sin (though that also is necessary in order to their being ready for deliverance) as out of the stupor of despair. When the inhabitants of Jerusalem were in captivity they, as well as those who remained upon the spot, were so overwhelmed with the sense of their troubles that they had no heart or spirit to mind any thing that tended to their comfort or relief; they were as the disciples in the garden, sleeping for sorrow (Lu. 22:45), and therefore, when the deliverance came, they are said to have been like those that dream, Ps. 136:1. Nay, it is a call to awake, not only from sleep, but from death, like that to the dry bones to live, Eze. 37:9. "Awake, and look about thee, that thou mayest see the day of thy deliverance dawn, and mayest be ready to bid it welcome. Recover thy senses; sink not under thy load, but stand up, and bestir thyself for thy own help.' This may be applied to the Jerusalem that was in the apostle's time, which is said to have been in bondage with her children (Gal. 4:25), and to have been under the power of a spirit of slumber (Rom. 11:8); they are called to awake, and mind the things that belonged to their everlasting peace, and then the cup of trembling should be taken out of their hands, peace should be spoken to them, and they should triumph over Satan, who had blinded their eyes and lulled them asleep. Now,