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
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
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
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
The separation of the soul from God. Why in the hour of need is there no deliverance? Why are prayers for aid unanswered? A theory might obtain, or an objection might be raised, that Divine power was not sufficient, that the Divine sensibility was dulled. And yet this cannot be. The simplest knowledge of what God is must contradict an assumption so foolish. There must be another explanation; and that, the conscience says, is to be found on the human side of the relation. I. THE ... read more
Therefore — i.e. on account of these sins— is judgment far from us ; i.e. "does God refrain from judging our enemies." Neither doth justice— i.e. the righting of the wrongs which we suffer at the hands of the heathen—overtake us. We are left by God unavenged, and our enemies are left unpunished on account of our many transgressions. We wait for light. We look for a bright dawn to succeed the night of our trouble; but we wait in vain—the obscurity continues. read more
The goal of guilt. A course of conduct or a principle of action is rightly judged by the issue to which it tends. All is well that ends well, and all is ill that ends ill. If we look far enough and deep enough in our estimate of consequences , we shall always find that the goal of guilt is wretchedness and ruin. It ends in— I. A SENSE OF WRONG . The nation feels that "judgment and justice" are lacking and the enemy is triumphant; the individual feels that he is injured, that... read more
ISRAEL HUMBLY CONFESSES ITS SIN 'S TO GOD . Isaiah, anxious to bring the people to confession and amendment, makes humble confession in their name, joining himself with them, as if he had been a participator in their iniquities. read more
We grope for the wall ; rather, we grope along the wall (comp. Deuteronomy 28:29 ; and for the "blindness that had happened unto Israel" see above, Isaiah 29:10 , Isaiah 29:18 ; Isaiah 35:5 ; Isaiah 42:16 , etc.). We stumble at noonday . It was not that light was really wanting, but they had no eyes to behold it. We are in desolate places; rather, in dark places (Vulgate, Rodiger, Kay, Knobel). The word occurs only in this place, and is of doubtful signification. read more
Get Bible verse every day in your inbox
Read on Mobile
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