John Wesley (NT Notes)

“Who - Whence have I this numberless issue? Seeing - Seeing I was in a manner left childless. Desolate - Without an husband, being forsaken by God, who formerly owned himself for my husband.”

“Lick the dust - They shall highly reverence and honour thee. These expressions are borrowed from the practice of the eastern people, who bowed so low as to touch the ground.”

“Shall the prey - Here is a double impediment to their deliverance, the power of the enemy who kept them in bondage, and the justice of God which pleads against their deliverance.”

“Thus saith the Lord - The scope of this and the next chapter, is to vindicate God's justice and to convince the Jews that they were the causes of their own calamities. Behold - You can blame none but yourselves and your own sins, for all your captivities and m…”

“To answer - To come at my call. Is my hand - What is the reason of this contempt? Is it because you think I am either unwilling or unable to save you?”

“Given me - This and the following passages may be in some sort understood of the prophet Isaiah, but they are far more evidently and eminently verified in Christ, and indeed seem to be meant directly of him.”

“Justifieth - God will clear up my righteousness, and shew by many and mighty signs and wonders, that I lived and died his faithful servant. Let him come - l am conscious of mine own innocency, and I know that God will give sentence for me.”

“In darkness - Not in sin, but in misery, that lives in a disconsolate and calamitous condition. Trust - Let him fix his faith and hope in the mercy, and faithfulness, of the Lord, declared in his word, and in his interest in God, who by the mediation of this s…”

“Him alone - To follow me to an unknown land: him only of all his kindred. Increased - Into a vast multitude, when his condition was desperate in the eye of reason. And therefore God can as easily raise his church when they are in the most forlorn condition.”

“My people - Ye Jews, whom I chose to be my peculiar people. A law - A new law, even the doctrine of the gospel. Judgment - Judgment is here the same thing with law, the word of God, or the evangelical doctrine, of which he saith that he will make it to rest, t…”

“My righteousness - My salvation, the redemption of all my people, Jews and Gentiles, which is the effect of his righteousness, his justice, faithfulness, or mercy. Is gone - Shall shortly go forth.”

“The heavens - The heavens and earth shall pass away, in regard of their present state, and properties, and use, as smoak is said to vanish, tho' the substance of it be not destroyed.”

“Therefore - This verse contains an answer to the prophet's prayer. I did these great things, and I will do the like again. Joy - Like a crown of glory.”

“For God's word is frequently said to be put into the mouths, not only of the prophets, but of the people also. Covered - Have protected thee by my almighty power, that I may bring thee to that perfect and blessed estate which is reserved for the days of the Me…”

“So famine and sword are not named as new evils, but only as the particular ways of bringing the destruction. By whom - I cannot find any man who is able to comfort and relieve thee.”

“Fainted - They are so far from being able to comfort thee, that they themselves faint away. They lie - Dead by famine or the sword. As a bull - Those of them who are not slain are struggling for life.”

“Awake - This is a prediction and promise what she should do, that she should awake or arise out of her low estate, and be strong and courageous. Beautiful garments - Thy sorrows shall be ended, and thou shalt be advanced into a glorious condition.”

“Sold yourselves - By your sins, without any valuable consideration paid by them either to you, or to your Lord and owner. Without money - Without paying any ransom.”

“And yet when he oppressed them, I punished him severely, and delivered them out of his hands. The Assyrian - The king of Babylon, who is called the king of Assyria, 2 Kings xxiii, 29, as also the Persian emperor is called, Ezra vi, 22, because it was one and t…”

“Shall know - They shall experience my power and goodness in fighting for them. In that day - When I shall redeem my people: which work was begun by the return of the Jews from Babylon, and perfected by the coming of the Messiah. Behold - That all these promise…”

“Of him - Or, of them; the singular number being put for the plural. Returneth - In the days of the Messiah, God did discover and exercise his dominion over the world far more eminently than ever he had done from the beginning of the world until that time.”

“Lift up thy voice - To give notice to all people of these glad tidings; and by way of exultation, to sing forth the praises of God for this glorious day. Eye - Distinctly and familiarly, their eyes beholding the eyes of this king of glory. They shall be eye an…”

“My servant - That it is Christ who is here spoken of, is so evident, that the Chaldee paraphrast, and other ancient, and some later Hebrew doctors, understand it directly of him, and that divers Jews have been convinced and converted to the Christian faith, by…”

“His countenance also was so marred with frequent watchings, and fastings, and troubles, that he was thought to be near fifty years old when he was but about thirty, John viii, 57, and was farther spoiled with buffetings, and crowning with thorns, and other cru…”

“Kings - Shall be silent before him out of profound humility, reverence, and admiration of his wisdom. For - They shall hear from his mouth many excellent doctrines, which will be new and strange to them. And particularly that comfortable doctrine of the salvat…”