Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth in song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.

“God will have mercy on the afflicted, because of His compassion; on His afflicted, because of His covenant.”

Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. So who has reared them?

“Secondarily, the accession of spiritual Israelites to the mother church of Jerusalem from the Gentiles is meant. This created surprise at first (Ac 10:45; 15:3, 4). lost . . . am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro--rather, "bereaved of . . .”

This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you?

“GESENIUS thinks that God means by the question to deny that He had given "a bill of divorcement" to her, as was often done on slight pretexts by a husband (De 24:1), or that He had "sold" His and her "children," as a poor parent…”

Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you?

“I--Messiah. no man--willing to believe in and obey Me (Isa 52:1, 3). The same Divine Person had "come" by His prophets in the Old Testament (appealing to them, but in vain, Jer 7:25, 26), who was about to come under the New Testament.”

The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word.

“13:54). speak a word in season-- (Pr 15:23; Literally, "to succor by words," namely, in their season of need, the "weary" dispersed ones of Israel (De 28:65-67).”

Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light?

“Messiah exhorts the godly after His example (Isa 49:4, 5; 42:4) when in circumstances of trial ("darkness," Isa 47:5), to trust in the arm of Jehovah alone. Who is, &c.--that is, Whosoever (Jud 7:3). obeyeth . . . servant--namely, Messiah.”

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its…

“JEROME translates, as English Version, and infers that "in like manner" as man, the heavens (that is, the sky) and earth are not to be annihilated, but changed for the better (Isa 65:17). righteousness--My faithfully fulfilled promise (see on Isa 51:5).”

So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

“There shall be a second exodus (Isa 11:11-16; 27:12, 13). singing--image from the custom of singing on a journey when a caravan is passing along the extended plains in the East. everlasting joy-- (Jude 24). sorrow . . . flee away-- (Re 21:4).”

For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”

“As you became your foes' servants, without their paying any price for you (Jer 15:13), so they shall release you without demanding any price or reward (Isa 45:13), (where Cyrus is represented as doing so: a type of their final restoration gratuitously in like manner).”

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God…

“Fully, and antitypically, the Gospel (Lu 2:10, 11), "beginning at Jerusalem" (Lu 24:47), "the city of the great King" (Mt 5:35), where Messiah shall, at the final restoration of Israel, "reign" as peculiarly Zion's God ("Thy God reigneth"; compare Ps 2:6).”

Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.

“Long residence in Babylon made many loath to leave it: so as to mystical Babylon (Re 18:4). ye . . . that bear . . .”

Behold, My Servant will prosper; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

“The genuineness of the passage is certain; for the Jews would not have forged it, since it is opposed to their notion of Messiah, as a triumphant temporal prince.”

so He will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him.

“The antithesis is sufficient without any forced rendering. Many were astonished; so many (not merely men, but) nations shall be sprinkled. They were amazed at such an abject person claiming to be Messiah; yet it is He who shall justify and purify.”

Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.

“Jas 5:15). we did esteem him stricken--judicially [LOWTH], namely, for His sins; whereas it was for ours. "We thought Him to be a leper" [JEROME, Vulgate], leprosy being the direct divine judgment for guilt (Le 13:1-59; 2Ch 26:18-21). smitten--by divine judgments.”

By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants?

“Rather, JEHOVAH speaks in the person of His prophet, "My people," by the election of grace (Heb 2:13). was he stricken--Hebrew, "the stroke (was laid) upon Him."”

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

“Jer 26:23). and with . . . rich--rather, "but He was with a rich man," &c. GESENIUS, for the parallelism to "the wicked," translates "ungodly" (the effect of riches being to make one ungodly); but the Hebrew everywhere means "rich," never by itself ungodly; the…”

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He…

“They were voluntarily borne by Messiah, in order that thereby He might "do Jehovah's will" (Joh 6:38; Heb 10:7, 9), as to man's redemption; so at the end of the verse, "the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand."”

Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He…

“Understand because before "He was numbered . . . He bare . . . made intercession." His meritorious death and intercession are the cause of His ultimate triumph. MAURER, for the parallelism, translates, "He was put on the same footing with the transgressors."”

“For to Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.

“As I swore then that it should not return (Ge 8:21; 9:11), and I kept that promise, so I swear now to My people, and will perform My promise, that there shall be no return of the deluge of My wrath upon them.”

Then all your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their prosperity.

“Quoted by the Saviour (Joh 6:45), to prove that in order to come to Him, men must be "drawn" by the Father. 1Jo 2:20. great . . . peace--generally (Ps 119:165).”

Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.

“David--God's covenant is with the antitypical David, Messiah (Eze 34:23), and so with us by our identification with Him. sure--answering to "everlasting," irrevocable, unfailing, to be relied on (Ps 89:2-4, 28, 29, 34-36; 2Co 1:18-20).”

Behold, I have made him a witness to the nations, a leader and commander of the peoples.

“Revelation is a "testimony"; because it is propounded to be received on the authority of the Giver, and not merely because it can be proved by arguments. commander--"preceptor" [HORSLEY]; "lawgiver" [BARNES]. to the people--rather, "peoples."”

Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any…

“A proof that the Sabbath, in the spirit of its obligation, was to be binding under the Gospel (Isa 66:23).”

Let no foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will utterly exclude me from His people.”

“This barrier between Jews and Gentiles was to be broken down (Eph 2:14-16). eunuch-- (Ac 8:27, &c.). Eunuchs were chamberlains over harems, or court ministers in general. dry tree--barren (compare Lu 23:31); not admissible into the congregation of Israel (De 23:1-3).”

I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer.

“Jer 3:17). joyful-- (Ro 5:11). burnt offerings . . . sacrifices--spiritual, of which the literal were types (Ro 12:1; 1Pe 2:5). accepted-- (Eph 1:6). altar-- (Heb 13:10), spiritually, the Cross of Christ, which sanctifies our sacrifices of prayer and praise. house . . .”