Isaiah 8:21

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 8:16-22

In these verses we have, I. The unspeakable privilege which the people of God enjoy in having the oracles of God consigned over to them, and being entrusted with the sacred writings. That they may sanctify the Lord of hosts, may make him their fear and find him their sanctuary, bind up the testimony, Isa. 8:16. Note, It is a great instance of God's care of his church and love to it that he has lodged in it the invaluable treasure of divine revelation. 1. It is a testimony and a law; not only... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 8:21

And they shall pass through it ,.... The land, as the Targum and Kimchi supply it; that is, the land of Judea, as Aben Ezra interprets it. Here begins an account of the punishment that should be inflicted on the Jews, for their neglect of the prophecies of the Old Testament, and their rejection of the Messiah: hardly bestead and hungry ; put to the greatest difficulty to get food to eat, and famishing for want of it; which some understand of the time when Sennacherib's army was before... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 8:21

Hardly bestead "Distressed" - Instead of נקשה niksheh , distressed, the Vulgate, Chaldee, and Symmachus manifestly read נכשל nichshal , stumbling, tottering through weakness, ready to fall; a sense which suits very well with the place. And look upward "And he shall cast his eyes upward" - The learned professor Michaelis, treating of this place (Not. in de Sacr. Poes. Hebr. Prael. ix.) refers to a passage in the Koran which is similar to it. As it is a very celebrated passage, and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 8:16-22

The helplessness of superstition. Here a mass of thought is found, struggling for expression as the new-lighted fuel struggles into flame. I. THE ORACLE SEALED . 'Tis time to make an end. Let what has been written remain, rolled up and sealed and kept, until the day when those taciturn letters shall find their tongue and burst into flame. And, indeed, every true thing may be said to be "written down for the time to come, forever and ever." It may be lost sight of for a time, but... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 8:19-22

ISAIAH RECOMMENDS LOOKING TO GOD AND THE REVEALED WORD RATHER THAN TO NECROMANCY . AFFLICTION WILL BRING ISRAEL TO GOD . Isaiah returns, in verse 19, to the consideration of his disciples. In the terrible times impending, they will be recommended to have recourse to necromancy; he urges that they should look to God and the Law. He then further suggests that, in the coming affliction which he describes (verses 21, 22), men will generally turn for relief to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 8:19-22

The confession of ungodliness, etc. The prevalence of the evil and sinister arts of necromancy is exceedingly significant. The attempt to supply knowledge for the living by appealing to the dead ( Isaiah 8:19 ) has been made in every latitude and longitude, in every age, in every condition of society. What is the significance of this fact? We have here— I. THE CONFESSION OF UNGODLINESS AND ITS DEGRADATION . When men have thrown off their allegiance to God, when they have... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 8:21

They shall pass through it . "It," which is feminine, must mean "the land." The Jews left in it shall wander about it (comp. Isaiah 7:21-25 ), seeking pasture for the remnant of their cattle. They shall fret themselves ; rather, they shall be deeply angered (Cheyne). And curse their king and their God . As the causes of their sufferings. And look upward . Not in hope, but in rage and defiance. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 8:21-22

are supposed by some to be cut of place, and to belong properly to the description of the Assyrian invasion, given in Isaiah 8:7 , Isaiah 8:8 . But this bold solution of a difficulty is scarcely to be commended, there being no limit to its use. An order followed in all the manuscripts should not be disturbed, if it gives any tolerable sense. Such a sense can, it is thought, be found here by regarding the two verses as exegetical of the last clause of Isaiah 8:20 —"when there is no dawn... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 8:21

And they shall pass - The people who have been consulting necromancers. This represents the condition of these who have sought for counsel and direction, and who have not found it. They shall be conscious of disappointment, and shall wander perplexed and alarmed through the land.Through it - Through the land. They shall wander in it from one place to another, seeking direction and relief.Hardly bestead - Oppressed, borne down, agitated. The meaning is, that the people would wander about,... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 8:21-22

Isaiah 8:21-22 . And they The idolatrous and apostate Israelites; shall pass through it Namely, their own land, into captivity; or, as עבר בה may be rendered, shall pass to and fro, or wander hither and thither, in it, like distracted men, not knowing whither to go, or what to do; whereas, if they had not forsaken God, they might have had a quiet and settled abode in it. Hardly bestead and hung r y Hebrew, נקשׁה ורעב , distressed and famished, as Bishop Lowth translates the... read more

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