Chapter 35

30:27. Behold the name of the Lord cometh from afar, his wrath burneth, and is heavy to bear: his lips are filled with indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire.

30:28. His breath as a torrent overflowing even to the midst of the neck, to destroy the nations unto nothing, and the bridle of error that was in the jaws of the people.

30:29. You shall have a song as in the night of the sanctified solemnity, and joy of heart, as where one goeth with a pipe, to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.

30:30. And the Lord shall make the glory of his voice to be heard, and shall shew the terror of his arm, in the threatening of wrath, and the flame of devouring fire: he shall crush to pieces with whirlwind, and hailstones.

30:31. For at the voice of the Lord the Assyrian shall fear being struck with the rod.

30:32. And the passage of the rod shall be strongly grounded, which the Lord shall make to rest upon him with timbrels and harps, and in great battles he shall overthrow them.

30:33. For Topheth is prepared from yesterday, prepared by the king, deep, and wide. The nourishment thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord as a torrent of brimstone kindling it.

Topheth. . .It is the same as Gehenna, and is taken for hell.

Isaias Chapter 31

The folly of trusting to Egypt, and forgetting God. He will fight for his people against the Assyrians.

31:1. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, trusting in horses, and putting their confidence in chariots, because they are many: and in horsemen, because they are very strong: and have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel, and have not sought after the Lord.

31:2. But he that is the wise one hath brought evil, and hath not removed his words: and he will rise up against the house of the wicked, and against the aid of them that work iniquity.

31:3. Egypt is man, and not God: and their horses, flesh, and not spirit: and the Lord shall put down his hand, and the helper shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall, and they shall all be confounded together.

31:4. For thus saith the Lord to me: Like as the lion roareth, and the lions whelp upon his prey, and when a multitude of shepherds shall come against him, he will not fear at their voice, nor be afraid of their multitude: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight upon mount Sion, and upon the hill thereof.

31:5. As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem, protecting and delivering, passing over and saving.

31:6. Return as you had deeply revolted, O children of Israel.

31:7. For in that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you to sin.

31:8. And the Assyrian shall fall by the sword not of a man, and the sword not of a man shall devour him, and he shall flee not at the face of the sword, and his young men shall be tributaries.

31:9. And his strength shall pass away with dread, and his princes fleeing shall be afraid: the Lord hath said it, whose fire is in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.

Isaias Chapter 32

The blessings of the reign of Christ. The desolation of the Jews, and prosperity of the church of Christ.

32:1. Behold a king shall reign in justice, and princes shall rule in judgment.

32:2. And a man shall be as when one is hid from the wind, and hideth himself from a storm, as rivers of waters in drought, and the shadow of a rock that standeth out in a desert land.

32:3. The eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken diligently.

32:4. And the heart of fools shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of stammerers shall speak readily and plain.

32:5. The fool shall no more be called prince: neither shall the deceitful be called great:

32:6. For the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and speak to the Lord deceitfully, and to make empty the soul of the hungry, and take away drink from the thirsty.

32:7. The vessels of the deceitful are most wicked: for he hath framed devices to destroy the meek, with lying words, when the poor man speaketh judgment.

32:8. But the prince will devise such things as are worthy of a prince, and he shall stand above the rulers.

32:9. Rise up, ye rich women, and hear my voice: ye confident daughters, give ear to my speech.

32:10. For after days and a year, you that are confident shall be troubled: for the vintage is at an end, the gathering shall come no more.

32:11. Be astonished, ye rich women, be troubled, ye confident ones: strip you, and be confounded, gird your loins.

32:12. Mourn for your breasts, for the delightful country, for the fruitful vineyard.

32:13. Upon the land of my people shall thorns and briers come up: how much more upon all the houses of joy, of the city that rejoiced?

32:14. For the house is forsaken, the multitude of the city is left, darkness and obscurity are come upon its dens for ever. A joy of wild asses, the pastures of flocks.

32:15. Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high: and the desert shall be as a charmel, and charmel shall be counted for a forest.

32:16. An judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and justice shall sit in charmel.

32:17. And the work of justice shall be peace, and the service of justice quietness, and security for ever.

32:18. And my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the tabernacles of confidence, and in wealthy rest.

32:19. But hail shall be in the descent of the forest, and the city shall be made very low.

32:20. Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters, sending thither the foot of the ox and the ass.

Isaias Chapter 33

God's revenge against the enemies of his church. The happiness of the heavenly Jerusalem.

33:1. Woe to thee that spoilest, shalt not thou thyself also be spoiled? and thou that despisest, shalt not thyself also be despised? when thou shalt have made an end of spoiling, thou shalt be spoiled: when being wearied thou shalt cease to despise, thou shalt be despised.

That spoilest, etc. . .This is particularly directed to Sennacherib.

33:2. O Lord, have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou our arm in the morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble.

33:3. At the voice of the angel the people fled, and at the lifting up thyself the nations are scattered.

33:4. And your spoils shall be gathered together as the locusts are gathered, as when the ditches are full of them.

33:5. The Lord is magnified, for he hath dwelt on high: he hath filled Sion with judgment and justice.

33:6. And there shall be faith in thy times: riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.

33:7. Behold they that see shall cry without, the angels of peace shall weep bitterly.

The angels of peace. . .The messengers or deputies sent to negotiate a peace.

33:8. The ways are made desolate, no one passeth by the road, the covenant is made void, he hath rejected the cities, he hath not regarded the men.

33:9. The land hath mourned, and languished: Libanus is confounded, and become foul, and Saron is become as a desert: and Basan and Carmel are shaken.

33:10. Now will I rise up, saith the Lord: now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself.

33:11. You shall conceive heat, you shall bring forth stubble: your breath as fire shall devour you.

33:12. And the people shall be as ashes after a fire, as a bundle of thorns they shall be burnt with fire.

33:13. Hear, you that are far off, what I have done, and you that are near know my strength.

33:14. The sinners in Sion are afraid, trembling hath seized upon the hypocrites. Which of you can dwell with devouring fire? which of you shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

33:15. He that walketh in justices, and speaketh truth, that casteth away avarice by oppression, and shaketh his hands from all bribes, that stoppeth his ears lest he hear blood, and shutteth his eyes that he may see no evil.

33:16. He shall dwell on high, the fortifications of rocks shall be his highness: bread is given him, his waters are sure.

33:17. His eyes shall see the king in his beauty, they shall see the land far off.

33:18. Thy heart shall meditate fear: where is the learned? where is he that pondered the words of the law? where is the teacher of little ones?

33:19. The shameless people thou shalt not see, the people of profound speech: so that thou canst not understand the eloquence of his tongue, in whom there is no wisdom.

33:20. Look upon Sion the city of our solemnity: thy eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich habitation, a tabernacle that cannot be removed: neither shall the nails thereof be taken away for ever, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.

33:21. Because only there our Lord is magnificent: a place of rivers, very broad and spacious streams: no ship with oars shall pass by it, neither shall the great galley pass through it.

Of rivers. . .He speaks of the rivers of endless joys that flow from the throne of God to water the heavenly Jerusalem, where no enemy's ship can come, etc.

33:22. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king: he will save us.

33:23. Thy tacklings are loosed, and they shall be of no strength: thy mast shall be in such condition, that thou shalt not be able to spread the flag. Then shall the spoils of much prey be divided: the lame shall take the spoil.

Thy tacklings. . .He speaks of the enemies of the church, under the allegory of a ship that is disabled.

33:24. Neither shall he that is near, say: I am feeble. The people that dwell therein, shall have their iniquity taken away from them.

Isaias Chapter 34

The general judgment of the wicked.

34:1. Come near, ye Gentiles, and hear, and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein, the world, and every thing that cometh forth of it.

34:2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath killed them, and delivered them to slaughter.

34:3. Their slain shall be cast forth, and out of their carcasses shall rise a stink: the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

34:4. And all the host of the heavens shall pine away, and the heavens shall be folded together as a book: and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine, and from the fig tree.

And all the host of the heavens. . .That is, the sun, moon, and stars.

34:5. For my sword is inebriated in heaven: behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my slaughter unto judgment.

Idumea. . .Under the name of Idumea, or Edom a people that were enemies of the Jews, are here understood the wicked in general, the enemies of God and his church.

34:6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with the blood of lambs and buck goats, with the blood of rams full of marrow: for there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

34:7. And the unicorns shall go down with them, and the bulls with the mighty: their land shall be soaked with blood, and their ground with the fat of fat ones.

The unicorns. . .That is, the great and mighty.

34:8. For it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord, the year of recompenses of the judgment of Sion.

The year of recompenses, etc. . .When the persecutors of Sion, that is, of the church, shall receive their reward.

34:9. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the ground thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

34:10. Night and day it shall not be quenched, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste, none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

34:11. The bittern and ericius shall possess it: and the ibis and the raven shall dwell in it: and a line shall be stretched out upon it, to bring it to nothing, and a plummet, unto desolation.

34:12. The nobles thereof shall not be there: they shall call rather upon the king, and all the princes thereof shall be nothing.

34:13. And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses, and the thistle in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be the habitation of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches.

34:14. And demons and monsters shall meet, and the hairy ones shall cry out one to another, there hath the lamia lain down, and found rest for herself.

34:15. There hath the ericius had its hole, and brought up its young ones, and hath dug round about, and cherished them in the shadow thereof: thither are the kites gathered together one to another.

34:16. Search ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one of them was wanting, one hath not sought for the other: for that which proceedeth out of my mouth, he hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.

34:17. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation they shall dwell therein.

Isaias Chapter 35

The joyful flourishing of Christ's kingdom: in his church shall be a holy and secure way.

35:1. The land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad, and the wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily.

35:2. It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it: the beauty of Carmel, and Saron, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God.

35:3. Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm the weak knees.

35:4. Say to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not: behold your God will bring the revenge of recompense: God himself will come and will save you.

35:5. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

35:6. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free: for waters are broken out in the desert, and streams in the wilderness.

35:7. And that which was dry land, shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the dens where dragons dwelt before, shall rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush.

35:8. And a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called the holy way: the unclean shall not pass over it, and this shall be unto you a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein.

35:9. No lion shall be there, nor shall any mischievous beast go up by it, nor be found there: but they shall walk there that shall be delivered.

35:10. And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and shall come into Sion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

Isaias Chapter 36

Sennacherib invades Juda: his blasphemies.

36:1. And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, that Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against all the fenced cities of Juda, and took them.

36:2. And the king of the Assyrians sent Rabsaces from Lachis to Jerusalem, to king Ezechias with a great army, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the way of the fuller's field.

36:3. And there went out to him Eliacim the son of Helcias, who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder.

36:4. And Rabsaces said to them: Tell Ezechias: Thus saith the great king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this confidence wherein thou trustest?

36:5. Or with what counsel or strength dost thou prepare for war? on whom dost thou trust, that thou art revolted from me?

36:6. Lo thou trustest upon this broken staff of a reed, upon Egypt: upon which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharao king of Egypt to all that trust in him.

36:7. But if thou wilt answer me: We trust in the Lord our God: is it not he whose high places and altars Ezechias hath taken away, and hath said to Juda and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar?

36:8. And now deliver thyself up to my lord the king of the Assyrians, and I will give thee two thousand horses, and thou wilt not be able on thy part to find riders for them.

36:9. And how wilt thou stand against the face of the judge of one place, of the least of my master's servants? But if thou trust in Egypt, in chariots and in horsemen:

36:10. And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up against this land, and destroy it.

36:11. And Eliacim, and Sobna, and Joahe said to Rabsaces: Speak to thy servants in the Syrian tongue: for we understand it: speak not to us in the Jews' language in the hearing of the people, that are upon the wall.

36:12. And Rabsaces said to them: Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee, to speak all these words; and not rather to the men that sit on the wall; that they may eat their own dung, and drink their urine with you?

36:13. Then Rabsaces stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said: Hear the words of the great king, the king of the Assyrians.

36:14. Thus saith the king: Let not Ezechias deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you.

36:15. And let not Ezechias make you trust in the Lord, saying: The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.

36:16. Do not hearken to Ezechias: for thus said the king of the Assyrians: Do with me that which is for your advantage, and come out to me, and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the water of his cistern,

36:17. Till I come and take you away to a land, like to your own, a land of corn and of wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

36:18. Neither let Ezechias trouble you, saying: The Lord will deliver us. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their land out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians?

36:19. Where is the god of Emath and of Arphad? where is the god of Sepharvaim? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

36:20. Who is there among all the gods of these lands, that hath delivered his country out of my hand, that the Lord may deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

36:21. And they held their peace, and answered him not a word. For the king had commanded, saying: Answer him not.

36:22. And Eliacim the son of Helcias, that was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder, went in to Ezechias with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rabsaces.

Isaias Chapter 37

Ezechias, his mourning and prayer. God's promise of protection. The Assyrian army is destroyed. Sennacherib is slain.

37:1. And it came to pass, when king Ezechias had heard it, that he rent his garments and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

37:2. And he sent Eliacim who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and the ancients of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaias the son of Amos the prophet.

37:3. And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

37:4. It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent to blaspheme the living God, and to reproach with words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up by prayer for the remnant that is left.

37:5. And the servants of Ezechias came to Isaias.

37:6. And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.

37:7. Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a message, and shall return to his own country, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own country.

37:8. And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians besieging Lobna. For he had heard that he was departed from Lachis.

37:9. And he heard say about Tharaca the king of Ethiopia: He is come forth to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Ezechias, saying:

37:10. Thus shall you speak to Ezechias the king of Juda, saying: Let not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying: Jerusalem shall not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.

37:11. Behold thou hast heard all that the kings of the Assyrians have done to all countries which they have destroyed, and canst thou be delivered?

37:12. Have the gods of the nations delivered them whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozam, and Haram, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, that were in Thalassar?

37:13. Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava?

37:14. And Ezechias took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it, and went up to the house of the Lord, and Ezechias spread it before the Lord.

37:15. And Ezechias prayed to the Lord, saying:

37:16. Lord of hosts, God of Israel who sitteth upon the cherubims, thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth.

37:17. Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to blaspheme the living God.

37:18. For of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste lands, and their countries.

37:19. And they have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the works of men's hands, of wood and stone: and they broke them in pieces.

37:20. And now, O Lord our God, save us out of his hand: and let all the kingdoms of the earth know, that thou only art the Lord.

37:21. And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: For the prayer thou hast made to me concerning Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians:

37:22. This is the word which the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin the daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath wagged the head after thee.

37:23. Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

37:24. By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord: and hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the top of Libanus: and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees, and will enter to the top of its height, to the forest of its Carmel.

Carmel. . .See these figurative expressions explained in the annotations on the nineteenth chapter of the fourth book of Kings.

37:25. I have digged, and drunk water, and have dried up with the sole of my foot, all the rivers shut up in banks.

37:26. Hast thou not heard what I have done to him of old? from the days of old I have formed it: and now I have brought it to effect: and it hath come to pass that hills fighting together, and fenced cities should be destroyed.

37:27. The inhabitants of them were weak of hand, they trembled, and were confounded: they became like the grass of the field, and the herb of the pasture, and like the grass of the housetops, which withered before it was ripe.

37:28. I know thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

37:29. When thou wast mad against me, thy pride came up to my ears: therefore I will put a ring in thy nose, and a bit between thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

37:30. But to thee this shall be a sign: Eat this year the things that spring of themselves, and in the second year eat fruits: but in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.