Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

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

“Isa 42:13, 14, here, and Mt 12:32, 36, 41, 42, show that there is reference to the judicial aspect of the Gospel, especially finally: besides the mild triumph of Jesus coming in mercy to the penitent now (Isa 42:2), there shall be finally the judgment…”

He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”

“ROSENMULLER not so well translates, "He shall not be too slow on the one hand, nor run too hastily on the other." judgment--His true religion, the canon of His judgments and righteous reign. isles . . .”

“I, the LORD, have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will take hold of your hand.

“50:8, 9). hold . . . hand--compare as to Israel, the type of Messiah, Ho 11:3. covenant--the medium of the covenant, originally made between God and Abraham (Isa 49:8). "The mediator of a better covenant" (Heb 8:6) than the law (see Isa 49:8;”

I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.

“God turns from addressing Messiah to the people. Lord--JEHOVAH: God's distinguishing and incommunicable name, indicating essential being and immutable faithfulness (compare Ex 6:3; Ho 12:5). my--that is due to Me, and to Me alone.”

Sing to the LORD a new song—His praise from the ends of the earth—you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all…

“The new song shall be sung when the Lord shall reign in Jerusalem, and all "nations shall flow unto it" (Isa 2:2; 14:3). ye that go down to the sea--whose conversion will be the means of diffusing the Gospel to distant lands. all . .”

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 destroy all My foes. mountains--in Palestine usually planted with vines and olives in terraces, up to their tops. islands--rather, "dry lands."”

I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths.

“"Blind," they are called, as not having heretofore seen God's ways in ordering His Church. make darkness light, &c.--implies that the glorious issue would only be known by the event itself [VITRINGA].”

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

“In this they differ from "the blind" (Isa 42:16). The Jews are referred to. He had said, God would destroy the heathen idolatry; here he remembers that even Israel, His "servant" (Isa 42:19), from whom better things might have been expected, is tainted with this…”

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?

“Or translate, the friend of God, which Israel was by virtue of descent from Abraham, who was so called (Isa 41:8), [GESENIUS].”

Though seeing many things, you do not keep watch. Though your ears are open, you do not hear.”

“105:1-45). he--transition from the second to the third person. "Opening . . . ears," that is, though he (Israel) hath his ears open (see on Isa 6:10). This language, too (see on Isa 42:19), applies to Messiah as Jehovah's servant (Isa 50:5;”

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

“Perhaps in God's "righteousness" here is included His faithfulness to His promises given to Israel's forefathers [ROSENMULLER]; because of this He is well pleased with Israel, even though displeased with their sin, which He here reproves; but that promise could only be based on the…”

But this is a people plundered and looted, all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons.

“The connection is: Notwithstanding God's favor to His people for His righteousness' sake (Isa 42:21), they have fallen into misery (the Babylonish and Romish captivities and their present dispersion), owing to their disregard of the divine law: spiritual imprisonment is included (Isa 42:7).”

Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned?

“Who--Their calamity was not the work of chance, but God's immediate act for their sins. Israel . . . we--change from the third to the first person; Isaiah first speaking to them as a prophet, distinct from them; then identifying himself with them, and acknowledging…”

Now this is what the LORD says— He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have…

“The Hebrew means to ransom by a price paid in lieu of the captives (compare Isa 43:3). Babylon was to be the ransom in this case, that is, was to be destroyed, in order that they might be delivered; so Christ became a curse, doomed…”

For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.

“God chose that Egypt, though so much more mighty, should be destroyed, in order that His people might be delivered; thus Egypt stood, instead of Israel, as a kind of "ransom."”

Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life.

“Since--All along from the beginning; for there was never a time when Israel was not Jehovah's people. The apodosis should be at, "I will give." "Since ever thou wast precious in My sight, honorable, and that I loved thee, I will give," &c. [MAURER].”

Bring out a people who have eyes but are blind, and who have ears but are deaf.

“Solemn challenge given by God to the nations to argue with Him the question of His superiority to their idols, and His power to deliver Israel (Isa 41:1).”

“You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe Me and understand that I am He.

“Ye--the Jews, to whom I have given predictions, verified by the event; and in delivering whom I have so often manifested My power (see Isa 43:3, 4; Isa 44:8). and my servant--that is, the whole Jewish people (Isa 41:8). believe--trust in.”

Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake, I will send to Babylon and bring them all as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the…

“Babylon was on the Euphrates, which was joined to the Tigris by a canal, and flowed into the Persian Gulf.”

“Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to the things of old.

“Plainly the future restoration of Israel is the event ultimately meant. Thus the "former things" are such events as the destruction of Sennacherib and the return from Babylon.”

Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it?

“"I will open a way, not merely in the Red Sea, but in the wilderness of the whole world; and not merely one river shall gush out of the rock, but many, which shall refresh, not the bodies as formerly, but the souls of the…”

I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.

“(Isa 44:22). for mine own sake-- (Isa 48:9, 11). How abominable a thing sin is, since it is against such a God of grace!”

Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated.

“So Jacob did at Mahanaim and Peniel (Ge 32:9, 12). God, then, instead of "pleading against us with His great power," "will put His strength" in us (Job 23:6); we thus become "the Lord's remembrancers" (Isa 62:6, Margin).”

So I will disgrace the princes of your sanctuary, and I will devote Jacob to destruction and Israel to reproach.”

“I have esteemed, or treated, them as persons not sacred. I have left them to suffer the same treatment as the common people, stripped of their holy office and in captivity. princes of the sanctuary--"governors of" it (1Ch 24:5); directing its holy services; priests.”

This is the word of the LORD, your Maker, who formed you from the womb and who will help you: “Do not be afraid, O Jacob My servant, Jeshurun, whom…

“The sense is similar to that in Isa 1:2, "I have nourished and brought up children." Jesurun--A diminutive term of endearment applied to Israel.”