Isaiah 59

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:8

Whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace "Whoever goeth in them knoweth not peace" - For בה bah , singular, read בם bam , plural, with the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Chaldee. The ה he is upon a rasure in one MS. Or, for נתיבתיהם nethibotheyhem , plural, we must read נתיבתם nethibatham , singular, as it is in an ancient MS., to preserve the grammatical concord. - L. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:10

We stumble at noon day as in the night "We stumble at mid-day, as in the twilight" - I adopt here an emendation of Houbigant, נשגגה nishgegah , instead of the second, נגששה negasheshah , the repetition of which has a poverty and inelegance extremely unworthy of the prophet, and unlike his manner. The mistake is of long standing, being prior to all the ancient versions. It was a very easy and obvious mistake, and I have little doubt of our having recovered the true reading in this... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:11

But it is far off from us "And it is far distant from us" - The conjunction ו vau must necessarily be prefixed to the verb, as the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate found it in their copies; ורחקה verachakah , "and far off." read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:14

Justice standeth afar off - צדקה tsedakah , righteousness, put here, says Kimchi, for alms to the poor. This casts some light on Matthew 6:1 ; : "Take heed that you do not your alms," ελεημοσυνην . But the best copies have δικαιοσυνην , righteousness; the former having been inserted in the text at first merely as the explanation of the genuine and original word. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:15

And the Lord saw it "And Jehovah saw it" - This third line of the stanza appears manifestly to me to be imperfect by the loss of a phrase. The reader will perhaps more perfectly conceive my idea of the matter if I endeavor to supply the supposed defect, I imagine it might have stood originally in this manner: - לו ויחר יהוה וירא lo veyachar Yehovah vaiyar משפט אין כי בעיניו וירע mishpat ein ki beeyinaiv veyera "And Jehovah saw it, and he was wroth; ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:16

And wondered that there was no intercessor - This and the following verses some of the most eminent rabbins understand as spoken of the Messiah. Kimchi says that Rabbi Joshua ben Levi proposes this objection: "It is written, 'Behold, he will come in the clouds of heaven as the son of man,' Daniel 7:13 ; and elsewhere it is written, 'He cometh lowly, and riding upon an ass,' Zechariah 9:9 . How can these texts be reconciled? Thus: If the Jews have merit, he will come unto them in the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:17

For clothing "For his clothing" - תלבשת tilbosheth . "I cannot but think that this word, תלבשת tilbosheth , is an interpolation. It is in no one ancient version. It is redundant in the sense, as it is before expressed in בגדי bigdey . It makes the hemistich just so much longer than it ought to be, if it is compared with the others adjoining. It makes a form of construction in this clause less elegant than that in the others. It might probably be in some margin a... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:18

According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay "He is mighty to recompense; he that is mighty to recompense will requite" - The former part of this verse, as it stands at present in the Hebrew text, seems to me to be very imperfect, and absolutely unintelligible. The learned Vitringa has taken a great deal of pains upon it after Cocceius, who he says is the only one of all the interpreters, ancient or modern, who has at all understood it, and has opened the way for him. He thinks that... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:19

When the enemy shall come in like a flood - This all the rabbins refer to the coming of the Messiah. If ye see a generation which endures much tribulation, then (say they) expect him, according to what is written: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." Kimchi says, he that was the standard-bearer always began the battle by first smiting at the enemy. Here then the Spirit of the Lord is the standard-bearer, and strikes the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:20

Unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob "And shall turn away iniquity from Jacob" - So the Septuagint and St. Paul, Romans 11:26 , reading instead of לשבי leshabey and ביעקב beyaacob , והשיב veheshib and מיעקב meyaacob . The Syriac likewise reads והשיב veheshib ; and the Chaldee, to the same sense, ולהשיב ulehashib . Our translators have expressed the sense of the present reading of the Hebrew text: "And unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob." read more

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