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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 44:21-28

In these verses we have, I. The duty which Jacob and Israel, now in captivity, were called to, that they might be qualified and prepared for the deliverance designed them. Our first care must be to get good by our afflictions, and then we may hope to get out of them. The duty is expressed in two words: Remember and return, as in the counsel to Ephesus, Rev. 2:4, 5. 1. ?Remember these, O Jacob! Remember what thou hast been told of the folly of idolatry, and let the convictions thou art now... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 44:22

I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins ,.... Sins and transgressions are compared to clouds, for the number of them, they being many as the fleeting clouds of the air; and for the nature and quality of them: as clouds are vapours rising out of the earth and sea, so these arise out of the earthly and corrupt heart of man, which is as a troubled sea; and, like the clouds, they reach up to the heavens, and the cry of them calls aloud for vengeance from... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 44:23

Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it ,.... Done what he promised, the forgiveness of the sins of his people, and the redemption of them. So the Targum, "because the Lord hath wrought redemption for his people.' The Vulgate Latin version adds, "mercy" F15 "Quia fecit misericordiam", V. L. ; and so the Septuagint version, "because God hath had mercy on Israel" F16 οτι ηλεησεν ο θεος τον ισραηλ , Sept. ; and therefore the heavens are called upon to sing on this... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 44:22

I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins "I have made thy transgressions vanish away like a cloud, and thy sins like a vapor" - Longinus admired the sublimity of the sentiment, as well as the harmony of the numbers, in the following sentence of Demosthenes: Τουτο το ψηφισμα τον τοτε τῃ πολει τερισταντα κινδυνον παρελθειν εποιησεν ὡσπερ νεφος . "This decree made the danger then hanging over the city pass away like a cloud." Probably Isaiah... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 44:6-28

Jehovah and the images. I. SELF - MANIFESTATION OF JEHOVAH . He is the First and the Last, Alpha and Omega. Existing before the creation, he will endure when it shall have passed away ( Isaiah 48:12 ). It is a thought which strikes us at once by its sublimity, anal, what is better, with its truth. Men sometimes speak of the material world as real, of the world of faith and imagination as dreamy. Not so the greatest prophets and poets. Shakespeare describes the globe and all its... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 44:21-28

ISRAEL ONCE MORE PROMISED DELIVERANCE , AND THE DELIVERER MENTIONED BY NAME . Israel, having been exhorted never to forget the impotency of idols ( Isaiah 44:21 ), is promised forgiveness and deliverance ( Isaiah 44:21 , Isaiah 44:22 ). Then, heaven and earth are called upon to join in rejoicing over the announcement ( Isaiah 44:23 ). Finally, in a noble burst of poetry, God is represented as solemnly declaring his intention of frustrating all the false sayings of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 44:22

I have blotted out … thy sins (comp. Isaiah 43:25 ). The promise there made is here represented as having its fulfilment. Before God reverses his sentence and restores his people, he must first forgive them. As a thick cloud … as a cloud . It would be better to translate, as a cloud … as a thick cloud. The latter of the two Hebrew words used is the more emphatic. Return unto me. This is an underlying condition, both of restoration and of forgiveness. Only the penitent can be received... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 44:22

God's way of pleading with men. Put in other words, the statement of this text is, "As a cloud is blotted out of the heavens, so have I blotted out thy transgressions." But it is difficult for us to realize what is meant by "blotting out a cloud." So far as we have to do with clouds, we cannot speak of them as "blotted out." Some swiftly hurry by; others move majestically along,—they go out of sight into some other quarter of the heavens; but we do not see them vanish from their place in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 44:23

Sing, O ye heavens . The sympathy of external nature with the fortunes of Israel is assumed throughout Isaiah, as it is throughout the Psalms (see Psalms 11:6 -8; Psalms 24:4-7 ; Psalms 29:1-11 :17; 30:25, 26; Psalms 33:9 ; Psalms 35:1 , Psalms 35:2 , Psalms 35:7 , etc.). If Israel is depressed, the earth must "mourn and languish," the heavens grow dark; the mountains shrink and "be ashamed." If, on the contrary, Israel prospers, heaven and earth, mountain and forest, must... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 44:23-28

Joy in God's redeeming power. We have here— I. THE REACH OF ALMIGHTY POWER . It extends: 1 . Over all visible nature. ( Isaiah 44:24 .) He makes "all things." The heavens and the earth are the work of his hand. 2 . Over individual men. He can 3 . Over men in their collective capacity. Jehovah had fashioned Israel, making her all she had become, giving her strength to do all she had accomplished; it was he that "formed" her from the beginning, that shaped her... read more

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