Isaiah 1:4-7

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 1:2-9

We will hope to meet with a brighter and more pleasant scene before we come to the end of this book; but truly here, in the beginning of it, every thing looks very bad, very black, with Judah and Jerusalem. What is the wilderness of the world, if the church, the vineyard, has such a dismal aspect as this? I. The prophet, though he speaks in God's name, yet, despairing to gain audience with the children of his people, addresses himself to the heavens and the earth, and bespeaks their attention... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 1:4

Ah sinful nation ,..... Or "sinning nation" F25 גוי חטא "gens peccatrix", Sept. V. L. Syr. Ar. ; that was continually sinning, doing nothing else but sin, the reverse of what they were chosen to be, Deuteronomy 7:6 . These words are said, either as calling and crying to them, to cause them to hear and hearken to what is said, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe, and as הוי is used in Isaiah 55:1 or by way of complaint and lamentation, as Jarchi thinks, because of their general... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 1:5

Why should ye be stricken any more ?.... Or "for what are ye stricken again" F1 על מה תכו "super quo", V. L. "ad quid", Ar. ? with afflictions and chastisements, with which God smites his people by way of correction for their sins, Isaiah 57:17 and the sense is, either that they did not consider what they were afflicted for, that it was for their sins and transgressions; they thought they came by chance, or imputed them to second causes, and so went on in sin, and added sin to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 1:6

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it ,.... Every member of the body politic was afflicted in one way or another, or sadly infected with the disease of sin; see Psalm 28:3 . So the Targum, "from the rest of the people, even unto the princes, there is none among them who is perfect in my fear;' see Daniel 9:8 . but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores ; to which either public calamities on a city or nation may be compared, Hosea 5:13 ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 1:7

Your country is desolate ,.... Or "shall be"; this is either a declaration in proper terms of what is before figuratively expressed, or rather a prophecy of what would be their case on account of transgressions; and which had its accomplishment partly in the Babylonish captivity, and fully in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; when not only their city and temple, called their house, Matthew 23:38 , were left unto them desolate, but the whole land; and they were carried captive,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 1:4

Ah sinful nation "Degenerate" - Five MSS., one of them ancient, read משחתים moschathim , without the first י yod, in hophal corrupted, not corrupters. See the same word in the same form, and in the same sense, Proverbs 25:26 . Are corrupters "Are estranged" - Thirty-two MSS., five ancient, and two editions, read נזורו nazoru ; which reading determines the word to be from the root זור zur , to alienate, not from נזר nazar , to separate; so Kimchi understands it. See... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 1:5

Why should ye be stricken any more "On what part," etc.? - The Vulgate renders מה על al meh , super quo , (see Job 38:6 ; 2 Chronicles 32:10 ;), upon what part. And so Abendana on Sal. Den Melech: "There are some who explain it thus: Upon what limb shall you be smitten, if you add defection? for already for your sins have you been smitten upon all of them; so that there is not to be found in you a whole limb on which you can be smitten." Which agrees with what follows: "From the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 1:6

They have not been closed, etc. "It hath not been pressed," etc. - The pharmaceutical art in the East consists chiefly in external applications: accordingly the prophet's images in this place are all taken from surgery. Sir John Chardin, in his note on Proverbs 3:8 , "It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones," observes that "the comparison is taken from the plasters, ointments, oils, and frictions, which are made use of in the East upon the belly and stomach in most... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 1:7

At the end of the verse, זרים zarim . This reading, though confirmed by all the ancient versions, gives us no good sense; for "your land is devoured by strangers; and is desolate, as if overthrown by strangers," is a mere tautology, or, what is as bad, an identical comparison. Aben Ezra thought that the word in its present form might be taken for the same with זרם zerem , an inundation: Schultens is of the same opinion; (see Taylor's Concord.); and Schindler in his Lexicon explains it... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 1:7-9

Your country is desolate - The description of the ruined and desolate state of the country in these verses does not suit with any part of the prosperous times of Uzziah and Jotham. It very well agrees with the time of Ahaz, when Judea was ravaged by the joint invasion of the Israelites and Syrians, and by the incursions of the Philistines and Edomites. The date of this prophecy is therefore generally fixed to the time of Ahaz. But on the other hand it may be considered whether those... read more

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