Matthew Henry

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

“When God turned the waters of Egypt into blood he slew the fish, Ps. cv. The expression our Saviour sometimes used concerning the power of faith, that it will remove mountains and plant sycamores in the sea, is not unlike this; if their faith could…”

I clothe the heavens in black and make sackcloth their covering.”

“We suppose the prophet Isaiah to say something of himself in these verses, engaging and encouraging himself to go on in his work as a prophet, notwithstanding the many hardships he met with, not doubting but that God would stand by him and strengthen him…”

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

“God, who made man's mouth, gave Moses the tongue of the learned, to speak for the terror and conviction of Pharaoh, Exod. iv.”

Surely the Lord GOD helps Me. Who is there to condemn Me? See, they will all wear out like a garment; the moths will devour them.

“Those whom God employs he will assist, and will take care they want not any help that they or their work call for.”

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

“They then tremble at his word ( ch. lxvi. 2 ) and are afraid of his judgments, Ps. cxix.”

Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who array yourselves with firebrands, walk in the light of your fire and of the firebrands you have lit!

“They kindle a fire, and walk in the light of that fire. They depend upon their own righteousness, offer all their sacrifices, and burn all their incense, with that fire (as Nadab and Abihu) and not with the fire from heaven.”

“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were hewn.

“They are such as follow after righteousness, such as are very desirous and solicitous both to be justified and to be sanctified, are pressing hard after this, to have the favour of God restored to them and the image of God renewed on them.”

For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the…

“What the comfort is that belongs to God's people. That the gospel of Christ shall be preached and published to the world: A law shall proceed from me, an evangelical law, the law of Christ, the law of faith, ch. ii.”

Listen to Me, you who know what is right, you people with My law in your hearts: Do not fear the scorn of men; do not be broken by their…

“It is a disparagement to us to give way to them: Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid? In the original, the pronoun is feminine, Who art thou, O woman! unworthy the name of a man?”

For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations.”

“But when heaven and earth pass away, when all flesh and the glory of it wither as grass, the word of the Lord endures for ever, and not one iota or tittle of that shall fall to the ground.”

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old.

“The arm of the Lord is Christ, or it is put for God himself, as Ps. xliv. Awake! why sleepest thou?”

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.

“10 , where we find this promise, that the redeemed of the Lord, when they are released out of their captivity in Babylon, shall come with singing unto Zion.”

The captive will soon be freed; he will not die in the dungeon, and his bread will not be lacking.

“The Lord of hosts is his name, his name for ever, the name by which his people have long known him. And, as he is able to help them, so he is willing and engaged to do it; for he is thy God, O captive-exile!”

Thus says your Lord, the LORD, even your God, who defends His people: “See, I have removed from your hand the cup of staggering.

“"That he is the God who pleads the cause of his people, as their patron and protector, who takes what is done against them a done against himself."”

I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground…

“Babylon's case shall be as bad as ever Jerusalem's was. Daniel's persecutors shall be thrown into Daniel's den; let them see how they like it. And the Lord is known by these judgments which he executes.”

Break forth in joy, sing together, O ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem.

“He has redeemed Jerusalem (the inhabitants of Jerusalem that were sold into the hands of their enemies) and thereby he has comforted his people that were in sorrow.”

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

“The unbelief of the Jews in our Saviour's time is expressly said to be the fulfilling of this word, John xii. And it is applied likewise to the little success which the apostles' preaching met with among Jews and Gentiles, Rom. x.”

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

“Wounds and bruises were the consequences of sin, what we deserved and what we had brought upon ourselves, ch. i.”

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

“He was stricken to death, to the grave which he made with the wicked (for he was crucified between two thieves, as if he had been the worst of the three) and yet with the rich, for he was buried in a sepulchre that belonged…”

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

“He was delivered to death for our offences, Rom. iv. Hence it is said to be according to the scriptures, according to this scripture, that Christ died for our sins, 1 Cor. xv.”

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.

“He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. He never offended either in word or deed, nor could any of his enemies take up that challenge of his, Which of you convinceth me of sin?”

For your husband is your Maker—the LORD of Hosts is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.

“(2.) He is the Holy One of Israel, the same that presided in the affairs of the Old-Testament church and was the Mediator of the covenant made with it.”

“O afflicted city, lashed by storms, without solace, surely I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires.

“It is often the condition of Christian churches and of particular believers; without are fightings, within are fears; they are like the disciples in a storm, ready to perish; and where is their faith?”

I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.

“(2.) It is here promised in the particular instances of those things that shall be the beauty and honour of the church, which are knowledge, holiness, and love, the very image of God, in which man was created, renewed, and restored.”

In righteousness you will be established, far from oppression, for you will have no fear. Terror will be far removed, for it will not come near you.

“The reformation of manners, the restoration of purity, the due administration of public justice, and the prevailing of honesty and fair dealing among men, are the strength and stability of any church or state.”