Albert Barnes

Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.

“Behold, I will make thee ... - The object of the illustration in this verse and the following is, to show that God would clothe them with power, and that all difficulties in their way would vanish.”

You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them.

“Thou shalt fan them - Keeping up the figure commenced in the previous verse. To fan here means to winnow, an operation which was performed by throwing the threshed grain up with a shovel into the air, so that the wind drove the chaff away.”

The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst.

“When the poor and needy seek water - Water is often used in the Scriptures as an emblem of the provisions of divine mercy.”

I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys.

“I will open rivers - That is, I will cause rivers to flow (see the note at Isa 35:7). The allusion here is doubtless to the miraculous supply of water in the desert when the Israelites had come out of Egypt.”

I will plant cedars in the wilderness, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees. I will set cypresses in the desert, elms and boxwood together,

“I will plant in the wilderness - The image in this verse is one that is frequent in Isaiah. It is designed to show that God would furnish for his people abundant consolations, and that he would furnish unanticipated sources of comfort, and would remove…”

“Present your case,” says the LORD. “Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.

“Produce your cause - This address is made to the same persons who are referred to in Isa 41:1 - the worshippers of idols; and the prophet here returns to the subject with reference to a further argument on the comparative power of Yahweh and…”

“Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell the former things, so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome.

“Let them bring them forth - Let the idols, or the worshippers of idols, bring forth the evidences of their divine nature and power. Or more probably it means, ‘let them draw near or approach.’”

I have raised up one from the north, and he has come—one from the east who calls on My name.

“I have raised up one - In the previous verses God had shown that the idols had no power of predicting future events.”

I was the first to tell Zion: ‘Look, here they are!’ And I gave to Jerusalem a herald of good news.

“The first shall say to Zion - This translation is unhappy. It does not convey any clear meaning, nor is it possible from the translation to conjecture what the word ‘first’ refers to.”

See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.

“Behold, they are all vanity - They are unable to predict future events; they are unable to defend their friends, or to injure their enemies.”

“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.

“Behold - This word is designed to call attention to the person that is immediately referred to. It is an intimation that the subject is of importance, and should command their regard.”

He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the streets.

“He shall not cry - He will not make a clamor or noise; he will not be boisterous, in the manner of a man of strife and contention. Nor lift up - That is, his voice.”

A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.

“A bruised reed - The word ‘reed’ means the cane or calamus which grows up in marshy or wet places (Isa 36:6; see the note at Isa 43:24).”

This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on…

“Thus saith God the Lord - This verse commences a new form of discourse. It is still Yahweh who speaks; but in the previous verses he had spoken of the Messiah in the third person; here he is introduced as speaking to him directly.”

to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.

“To open the blind eyes - This is equivalent to saying that he would impart instruction to those who were ignorant. It relates to the Jews as well as to the Gentiles. He would acquaint them with God, and with the way of salvation.”

Behold, the former things have happened, and now I declare new things. Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”

“Behold, the former things are come to pass - That is, the former things which he had foretold.”

Let the desert and its cities raise their voices; let the villages of Kedar cry aloud.

“Let the wilderness - (See the note at Isa 35:1). The word here denotes the most uncultivated countries, intimating that even the most rude and barbarous people would have occasion to rejoin, and would be interested in the mercy of God.”

The LORD goes forth like a mighty one; He stirs up His zeal like a warrior. He shouts; yes, He roars in triumph over His enemies:

“The Lord shall go forth - This and the following verses give the reasons why they should praise Yahweh. He would go forth in his might to overcome and subdue his foes, and to deliver his people.”

I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn the rivers into dry land and drain the marshes.

“I will make waste mountains - This verse denotes the utter desolation which God would bring upon his foes in his anger.”

But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.

“They shall be turned back - The phrases, to be turned back, and to be suffused with shame, are frequently used in the Scriptures to denote a state of disappointment in regard to an object of trust or confidence, and especially of those who had…”

Listen, you deaf ones; look, you blind ones, that you may see!

“Hear, ye deaf - This is evidently an address to the Jews, and probably to the Jews of the time of the prophet. He had been predicting the coming of the Messiah, and the influence of his religion on the Gentile world.”

Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like the messenger I am sending? Who is blind like My covenant partner, or blind like the servant of the LORD?

“Who is blind, but my servant? - Some of the Jewish expositors suppose that by ‘servant’ here, the prophet himself is intended, who, they suppose is here called blind and deaf by the impious Jews who rejected his message.”

The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.

“The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake - There is great variety in the translation and interpretation of this verse. Lowth renders it: Yet Yahweh was gracious unto him for his truth’s sake; He hath exalted his own praise, and made it glorious.”

Who among you will pay attention to this? Who will listen and obey hereafter?

“Who among you will give ear to this? - Who is there in the nation that will be so warned by the judgments of God, that he will attend to the lessons which he designs to teach, and reform his life, and return to him?”

So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle.

“Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger - His righteous indignation in the overturning of their nation, the destruction of their temple and city, and in carrying them captive into a distant land.”