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is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst; but I Jehovah will answer them, the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the desert to be a pool of water, and the dry land to be springs of water. I will plant in the desert the cedar, the acacia tree, and the myrtle, and the olive tree; 1 will set in the barren valley the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together; so that men may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

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Bring forward your cause, saith Jehovah; produce 21 your defence, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring 22 it forth, and shew us what will happen. Let them shew the former things, what they were, that we may lay it to heart, and know the latter end of them; or declare to us what is coming. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods. Yea, make good, or make evil, that we may look about, and behold it together. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.

I HAVE RAISED UP one [Cyrus] from the north, and he cometh; from the rising of the sun he will call upon my name, and he shall come upon the Sagins [servants

Cyrus.

25 I have raised up one from the north.] In verse 2 it was said to be from the east. The difference in the words is important as showing how very little regard the Jews paid to scientific exactness. Many passages tell us that Solomon built his Temple to face the east, while the shape of the ground seems to tell us that it faced the north.

Shall come upon the Sagins as upon mortar.] The Sagin, or deputy, was a Babylonian officer in rank beneath a Pasha. In the Babylonian army we meet with Pashas and Sagins as captains and lieutenants. See Ezek. xxiii. 6. The Sagins here spoken of were Jews who had accepted office under their Babylonian conquerors, pro

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of Babylon] as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth the clay.

Who declared this from the beginning, that we might know? and beforetime, that we might say, 'It is right'? Yea, there was none that shewed it; yea, there was none that declared it. Yea, there was none that hearkened to your words, when at first saying to Zion, 27 Behold, behold them;' and 'I will give to Jerusalem 286 one that bringeth good tidings.' For I beheld, and there was no man, even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a 29 word. Behold, they are all vanity; their works are -nothing; their molten images are wind and confusion.

1

Behold my servant [Zerubbabel], whom I will uphold; my chosen one in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him; he shall bring forth 'judgment upon the Nations. He shall not cry, nor lift

bably as tax-gatherers; and they were hated by their countrymen accordingly. At a later time, under the milder government of the Persians, the Jewish Sagins did not meet with the same hatred. See Ezra ix. 2 and Neh. ii. 16.

26 There was none that shewed it.] He thus lets us understand that there had been no prophecies whatever of the return of the captives. Those passages added to the Book of Jeremiah, relating to the return home after seventy years, are thus declared to be spurious.

There was none that hearkened to your words.] Here he quotes chap. xl. 9, showing that this chapter was published later than the former.

1

XLII. Behold my servant.] Prince Zerubbabel. Iben Ezra, in his commentary on Isaiah liii. 12, rightly explains this passage (xlii. 1), as also xlix. 3, liii. 13, and liii. 11, as all pointing to the same person. With these he joins 1. 6, unnecessarily. He quotes R. Moses Hakkohen as thinking that this part of the Book of Isaiah relates to Zerubbabel.

2 He shall not cry.] Zerubbabel seems to have been a mild, quiet young man, of little personal weight.

up, nor cause his voice to be heard abroad. A bruised 3 reed shall he not break, and the dimly burning flax shall he not quench; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set up judgment on the land; and the isles shall wait for his law.

7

Thus saith the God Jehovah, he that created the 5 heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and its offspring; he that giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk thereon; I Jehovah have called thee in righteousness, and I will hold thy hand, and will guard thee, and give thee for a covenant to the people, for a light to the Nations; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am Jehovah; that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass; and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Sing ye to Jehovah a new song, and his praise from 10 'the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all 'that is therein; the isles and the inhabitants thereof. Let the desert and its cities lift up a voice, the villages 'that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of Sela

He may have been a little over twenty years of age. One or more children had been born to him, who may have been left behind in Babylon as hostages for his good behaviour. Compare 1 Chron. iii. 20, where his children are named, and Ezra viii. 3, where one of his grandchildren returns from Babylon. He may have held the post of Pasha of Judea for the long time of forty-eight years. See Dan. ix. 25: "While there is

an anointed ruler shall be seven weeks."

To bring out the prisoners.] From Babylon. This was the particular duty placed upon him by Cyrus. See Ezra i. 8, where he bears the foreign name of Sheshbazzar, but is called Zerubbabel in the next chapter.

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'[or Petra] sing, let them shout from the top of the 12 mountains. Let them give glory to Jehovah, and 13 declare his praise in the islands. Jehovah goeth forth as a mighty man, he stirreth up jealousy like a man of war; he will cry out, yea, he will shout; he will pre'vail against his enemies.'

14 I have for a long time held my peace; I have been still, and restrained myself. Now I cry aloud like a travailing_woman; I will at once both destroy and 15 devour. I will make waste the mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers 16 to become islands, and I will dry up the pools. And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; in paths that they know not will I lead them; I will make darkness to become light before them, and crooked things to become straight. These things will I do for 17 them, and I will not forsake them. Those shall be turned back, those shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, ‘Ye are our Gods.' Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

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Who was so blind as my Servant [Zerubbabel] ? or so deaf as my messenger [Jeshua] whom I am sending? Who was so blind as he that hath been recompensed, 20 even so blind as Jehovah's Servant? Thou hast seen many things, but thou observest not; he hath opened the ears, but he heareth not.

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Jehovah is well pleased because of his righteousness; he magnifieth the Law, and maketh it honourable. But this is a people robbed and plundered; they are all of

14 I cry aloud.] Jehovah speaks. Thus the distinction is not clearly kept between the prophet and Jehovah. 19 My servant my messenger.] Prince Zerubbabel and the chief priest Jeshua. See Ezra ii. 2. The title of messenger, for a priest, comes into use after the Captivity. It tells us that, as the value of ceremonies was lessened, the priests had become preachers. The prophet blames both Zerubbabel and Jeshua for their inactivity.

them ensnared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses. They are become a prey, and none delivereth; a spoil, and none saith, 'Restore.'

Which among you will give ear to this, and will 23 hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave 24 Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not Jehovah, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient to his Law. Therefore he hath poured upon 25 him the wrath of his anger, and the strength of the battle. And it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew it not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

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But now, thus saith Jehovah that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel. Fear not; for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the 2 waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be scorched; neither shall the flame burn thee. For I Jehovah am thy God, 3 the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. I have given Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba [or Nubia] in

3

XLIII. Egypt for thy ransom.] Cyrus had no sooner made himself master of Babylon than he adopted the policy of the Babylonian kings, and proposed to conquer Egypt. For this purpose he began by making the Jews his friends, and sending them home under Zerubbabel.

Ethiopia and Seba.] Seba is sometimes explained as Meroë, a country to which Hebrew knowledge did not as yet reach. It more probably meant Nubia, so named from the town of Seboua. This latter opinion is further supported by remarking that by Ethiopia was probably meant, not the country afterwards so called, but Upper Egypt. Thus, in 2 Chron. xii. 3, the Ethiopians in Shishak's army are Thebans; he did not rule over Ethiopia proper. His Egyptians were from Lower Egypt. In 2 Chron. xiv. 9, Zerah the Ethiopian is a Theban king.