1o selves, but ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, but it shall come to nought; speak the word, but it shall not stand; for-God is with us.

11

For Jehovah spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, 'There is a confederacy.' 12 Of all them of whom this people shall say, 'There is a 'confederacy;' neither fear ye their fear, nor be in dread. 13 Sanctify Jehovah of hosts himself; and let him be your 14 fear, and let him be your dread; and he shall be for a Sanctuary. But he shall be for a stone to strike against, and for a stumbling-block to both the houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be ensnared, and be taken.

16

17

Bind up the Testimony, set a seal upon the Law among my disciples. And I will wait upon Jehovah, who hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah hath given me, are for signs and for wonders in [northern] Israel

10 For God is with us.] This is a play upon the name Immanuel of chap. vii. 14 and viii. 8. 11 There is a confederacy.]

The union of the invaders is so called. Possibly some may have thought that Assyria had joined those very enemies whom she came in to oppose.

12 Neither fear ye.] Ye need not fear even Assyria,

this new danger. Such seems to be the meaning. 16 Bind up the testimony.] Lay by until a future time this promise of safety.

18 I and the children.] The imaginary children of chap. vii. 3 and viii. 3, the one name meaning "Spoil hasteneth," and the other an escaped "remnant returneth." This continuous piece of writing shows thoughts belonging to different times in Isaiah's life. He may have added to it and altered it many years after it was first written.

For wonders in Israel.] It is of Northern Israel that the prophet is speaking.

C

19

20

from Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth on Mount Zion. And when they shall say to you, 'Seek to the speaking 'bottles [or the ventriloquists], and to wizards that 'chirp, and that mutter;'-should not a people seek unto their God on behalf of the living? [Should they seek] unto the dead for the law and for the testimony? If they speak not according to this word, it is because light dawneth not on them. And they shall pass through it, 21 distressed and hungry. And it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry they shall fret themselves, and curse their king [Hoshea] and their God, and they shall look upward. And they shall look to the earth; 22 and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish ;and they shall be driven into darkness. For the dimness 1 shall not be such as was her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict the

19 Seek to the speaking bottles.] The Greek of the LXX. tells us that these bottles were used by ventriloquists, who pretended by means of them to obtain answers from the dead. Such a bottle was used at king Saul's request to obtain an answer from Samuel. See 1 Sam. xxviii.

Wizards that chirp.] The magicians spoke to the serpents in a whisper. Eccles. x. 11 says:

"If the serpent bite because not whispered to,
There is no gain in having a tongue."

20 Unto the dead for the law?] Should we seek knowledge from the voices of the dead by means of the speaking bottles of the foregoing verse?

21 Curse their king and their God.] Their king Hoshea, and their God, El or Baal-that is, not Jehovah.

When at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun.] This is the invasion by Pul, king of Assyria, in the reign of Menahem of Israel and Uzziah of Judah (2 Kings xv. 20).

And afterwards did more grievously afflict.] This second trouble on Israel is the invasion by Tiglath

2

land by the way of the Sea, and that beyond the Jordan, and Galilee [or the Circle] of the nations.

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, 3 upon them hath the light shined. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and increased its joy. They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when 'they divide the spoil. For thou hast broken the yoke of its burden, and the staff on its shoulder, the rod of its 5 taskmaster, as in the day of Midian. For every soldier's shoe is muddied in the confusion, and his garments are

4

pilezer spoken of above, towards the end of Ahaz's reign, while Pekah was yet king of Israel (2 Kings xv. 29). The third and yet more severe trouble threatened upon Israel is the invasion by Shalmanezer, at the very end of Ahaz's reign or the beginning of Hezekiah's (2 Kings xvii. 3).

The land by the way of the sea, and that beyond the Jordan]. Thus two Assyrian armies marched southward, sent by Tiglath-pilezer, one by the coast of the Mediterranean and the other through Gilead, neither of them attacking Judea, but, as Joel thought, of very doubtful value as pretended friends.

4 Thou hast broken the yoke of its burden.] Possibly the Assyrian army sent by Tiglath-pilezer as an ally, but which had become a severe oppression, had at this time retreated. Tiglath-pilezer had professed to be a friend; and Joel says of him in ii. 14: Who knoweth but he will turn back and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering unto Jehovah your God?"

66

As in the day of Midian.] When Israel was relieved by Gideon from the Midianite invasion. See Judges vi.-viii., and also Num. xxxi. This last chapter may have been written in the reign of Ahaz. The ornaments taken from the Midianites are among those worn by the Jewish ladies, as described above, in chap. iii.; and among the metals is the same alloy, which we translate mixed metal in chap. i. 25.

rolled in blood; and this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son hath been given [Hezekiah's son]; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. To the greatness of his government and to peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with justice, and with righteousness from henceforth, even for ever. The jealousy of Jehovah of hosts

will perform this.

7

9

10

THE LORD SENT A WORD unto Jacob, and it hath fallen upon [northern] Israel. And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, for their pride and stoutness of heart in saying, 'The bricks are 'fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them for "1 'cedars.' But Jehovah will set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and will arm his enemies, the Syrians 12

6 Unto us a son hath been given.] This is the child hoped for in chap. vii. 14. It proves to be a boy, and, therefore, heir to David's throne. If this child is Hezekiah's son, he must have died before his father, as he never was king of Judah. He may have been the father of Manasseh, the child who succeeded to Hezekiah.

6 His name shall be called Wonderful.]

The names

here given to him are not more remarkable than those borne by many others, such as Adonijah, the Lord Jehovah, one of David's sons. They might, perhaps, be left untranslated, like the names proposed by the prophet for his own sons.

8 The Lord sent a word unto Jacob, and it hath fallen upon Israel.] Punishment was threatened upon both kingdoms, Israel and Judah, but it hath fallen upon Israel only. See note on chap. ii. 5 for the use of the name Jacob.

11 The adversaries of Rezin.] These are the Assyrians, under Tiglath-pilezer. Against him.] Northern Israel.

before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth.

XIV.

28 IN THE YEAR that king Ahaz died [B.C. 726] was this burden.

30

29 Rejoice not, all thou Land of the Philistines, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken; for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a viper, and its fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. And the firstborn of the poor shall be fed, and the needy shall lie down in safety; and I will kill thy root with famine, and the remnant of thee 31 shall be slain. Howl, O city gate; cry, O city; thou,

No. 5. [Chap. xiv. 28—xvii. 3.]

AGAINST THE PHILISTINES, MOAB, AND DAMASCUS.

28 The year that king Ahaz died.] B.C. 726, when he was succeeded by his son Hezekiah.

This Burden.] Or message from Jehovah. At a later time, when danger from Babylon pressed upon the nation, and men's minds were much stirred by fear and anxiety, so many advisers pretended to have a Burden from Jehovah, that Jeremiah charged them to drop the use of the word, and to give their advice as their own, or to relate their dreams, but to leave off saying that they have a Burden (Jer. xxiii. 36).

29

Rejoice not, all thou land of the Philistines.] From chap. ix. 1 we learn that Tiglath-pilezer, while in alliance with Judah, had sent one of his armies southward along the coast of the Mediterranean. From this the Philistines may have suffered, and they may have rejoiced at his death.

Out of the serpent's root shall come forth a viper.] The viper is Shalmanezer, the successor to Tiglath-pilezer on the Assyrian throne. He carried on the war against northern Israel, and completed its conquest. The

neighbouring tribes all suffered at the same time.

30 The firstborn of the poor shall be fed.] The very poorest of the poor, who gained by the oppression which fell upon their masters.