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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 34:1-8

Here we have a prophecy, as elsewhere we have a history, of the wars of the Lord, which we are sure are all both righteous and successful. This world, as it is his creature, he does good to; but as it is in the interest of Satan, who is called the god of this world, he fights against it. I. Here is the trumpet sounded and the war proclaimed, Isa. 34:1. All nations must hear and hearken, not only because what God is about to do is well worthy their remark (as Isa. 33:13), but because they are... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 34:9-17

This prophecy looks very black, but surely it looks so further than upon Edom and Bozrah. 1. It describes the melancholy changes that are often made by the divine Providence, in countries, cities, palaces, and families. Places that have flourished and been much frequented strangely go to decay. We know not where to find the places where many great towns, celebrated in history, once stood. Fruitful countries, in process of time, are turned into barrenness, and pompous populous cities into... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 34:1

Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people ,.... Not the people of the Jews, as some, whose utter destruction, after their rejection of the Messiah, is here thought to be prophesied of; and much less are these people called upon to hear the Gospel preached to them, as Cocceius thinks; for not good, but bad news they are called to hearken to, even the account of their utter ruin: let the earth hear, and all that is therein : not the land of Judea, but all the earth, and the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 34:2

For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations ,.... All the nations of the earth, which have committed fornication with the whore of Rome, or have given in to her false worship, superstition, and idolatry; which is the reason of God's wrath and indignation against them, and of such severe punishment being inflicted on them; see Revelation 18:3 , and his fury upon all their armies ; the armies of the kings of the earth, gathered together at Armageddon, to make war with Christ,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 34:3

Their slain also shall be cast out ,.... Upon the open fields, and there lie unburied, and become meat for the fowls of heaven, who are invited to them as to a supper, even the supper of the great God, Revelation 19:17 , and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses ; so that they shall become loathsome and abominable to the living, and none shall care to come near thereto bury them; an emblem of their loathsome and abominable sins, the cause of this destruction: and the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 34:4

And all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved ,.... "Pine away" F9 נמקו "tabescet", Vatablus; "centabescet", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "contabescent", Cocceius, Gataker. , as with sickness, grow languid, become obscure, lose their light, and be turned into blood and darkness; this figure is used to express the horror of this calamity, as if the very heavens themselves, and the sun, and moon, and stars, were affected with it; see Isaiah 13:10 . and the heavens shall be... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 34:5

For my sword shall be bathed in heaven ,.... That is, the sword of the Lord, as it is called in the next verse Isaiah 34:6 , and it is he that is speaking; it designs the vengeance of the Lord, the punishment he will inflict on the wicked, said to be "bathed in heaven", because determined and prepared there; the allusion may be to the bathing of swords in some sort of liquor, to harden or brighten them, and so fit them for use. Kimchi renders it, "my sword" which is "in heaven shall be... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 34:6

The sword of the Lord is filled with blood ,.... Multitudes being slain by it; the "Lord" here is that divine Person that is described as a warrior, as a General of an army, with a sharp sword, by whom many are slain, such a number as that it is filled with the blood of them, Revelation 19:11 , it is made fat with fatness : not only filled with the blood, but fattened by it; the allusion is to ravenous creatures gorged and sated with the blood of others, and thereby made fat; perhaps... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 34:7

And the unicorns shall come down with them ,.... With the lambs, goats, and rams; that is, either the rhinoceros, as some, there being no such creature as the unicorn; or the buffaloes, as F13 So Gussetius understands it of a larger sort of oxen, Comment. Ebr. p. 783. others; these "shall fall", as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it, they shall be slain, as well as the rest; meaning, that along with the common soldiers, and inferior officers, the general officers... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 34:8

For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance ,.... The time which he has appointed to take vengeance on antichrist, his 1260 days, or years; being up, in which he is to reign; these being expired, the time is come for the Lord to avenge the blood of his saints; see Revelation 18:20 , and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion ; the church of God, which has been for many ages abused and injured by the antichristian powers, for which the Lord will have a controversy with... read more

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