John Wesley

And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the…

“Her hire - The Hebrew word properly signifies, the hire of an harlot. Fornication - Shall trade promiscuously with people of all nations, as harlots entertain all comers.”

Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the…

“Holiness - This is a prophecy concerning the conversion of the Tyrians to the true religion. Laid up - Either out of covetousness, or for their pride and luxury, as they formerly did; but now they shall freely lay it out upon pious and charitable…”

The earth is defiled by its people; they have transgressed the laws; they have overstepped the decrees and broken the everlasting covenant.

“Covenant - The covenant made between God and Abraham, and all his posterity, which was everlasting, both on God's part, who, upon the conditions therein expressed, engaged himself to be a God to them and to their seed forever; and on Israel's part, who were…”

In the streets they cry out for wine. All joy turns to gloom; rejoicing is exiled from the land.

“A crying - Such was their gross sensuality and sottishness, that instead of crying for their sins, they did only howl for their corn, and wine, and oil, Hosea vii, 14.”

They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days.

“Shut up - As malefactors, which are taken in several places, are usually brought to one common prison. After - After the apostate Jews shall have been shut up in unbelief, and in great tribulations for many ages together, they shall be convinced of their…”

The moon will be confounded and the sun will be ashamed; for the LORD of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders with great…

“The Lord - The Messiah, who, tho' man, yet is also God, and the Lord of hosts. Shall reign - Shall come in the flesh, and set up his kingdom, first in Jerusalem, and afterward in all other nations.”

Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.

“A city - Which is put for cities: or of enemies of God and his people. And under the name cities he comprehends their countries and kingdoms. Strangers - The royal cities, in which were the palaces of strangers, of Gentiles.”

On this mountain the LORD of Hosts will prepare a banquet for all the peoples, a feast of aged wine, of choice meat, of finely aged wine.

“All people - Both Jews and Gentiles. A feast - A feast made up of the most delicate provisions, which is manifestly meant of the ordinances, graces, and comforts given by God in his church.”

He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth.

“He - Christ will by his death destroy the power of death, take away the sting of the first death, and prevent the second. In victory - Hebrew.”

And in that day it will be said, “Surely this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.

“Our God - Our Messiah, long since promised, and for whom we have waited long, is come into the world, bringing salvation with him.”

My soul longs for You in the night; indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn. For when Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

“Early - Betimes in the morning. For - And good reason it is that we should thus desire and seek thee in the way of thy judgments, because this is the very design of thy judgments, that men should thereby be awakened to learn and…”

Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD.

“In the land - Even in God's church, and among his people, where righteousness is taught and practiced.”

Or let them lay claim to My protection; let them make peace with Me—yes, let them make peace with Me.”

“Or - Or if at any time fury seem to be in me against my people. Take hold - Which he may by humble prayer not only restrain from doing him hurt, but engage to do him good.”

By warfare and exile You contended with her and removed her with a fierce wind, as on the day the east wind blows.

“Contend - God is said to contend with men, when he executes his judgments upon them, Amos vii, 4. Stayeth - He mitigates the severity of the judgment.”

Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits…

“When - Which sin of Jacob's shall be purged, when he shall truly repent of all his sins, and especially of his idolatry. Altar - Their idolatrous altars.”

For the fortified city lies deserted—a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken. There the calves graze, and there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.

“Yet - Yet before this glorious promise be fulfilled, a dreadful and desolating judgment shall come. The city - Jerusalem and the rest of the defensed cities in the land.”

When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding.

“Broken - That there may be no hopes of their recovery. Women - He mentions women, because the men would be destroyed. Not understanding - They know not the things which concerns their peace, but they blindly and wilfully go on in sin.”

In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered one by one.

“Beat out - It is a metaphor from grain which was beaten out with a rod or staff, and then carefully gathered and laid up. From - From Euphrates to the Nile, which were the two borders of the land of promise.”

Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of his glorious splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, the pride of those overcome by…

“Ephraim - Of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Who are - Who have their common abode. The head - Samaria, might well be called the head, as being seated upon a mountain, and the head of the kingdom, and the head of the fat…”

The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards will be trampled underfoot.

“Trodden - The expression is emphatical; the crown which was upon their own heads, shall be trodden under the feet of others; and they, whose drunkenness made them fall to the ground, shall be trodden down there.”

For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform…

“Perazim - Where he fought against the Philistines, 2 Sam. v, 20. Gibeon - Where he fought against the Canaanites, Josh. x, 10, &c. and afterwards against the Philistines, 1 Chron. xiv, 16.”

Does the plowman plow for planting every day? Does he continuously loosen and harrow the soil?

“Therefore those scoffing Israelites were guilty of great folly, in flattering themselves, because of God's long patience towards them; for God will certainly take a time to thresh, and break them with his judgments, as at present he plowed and harrowed them, and so prepared…”

Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”

“Of all - Of all, your prophets. As a book - In which no man can read, while it is sealed up, as books then sometimes were, being made in the form of rolls.”

The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

“Meek - The humble and meek believers. Poor - Mean and despicable people, such as the Gentiles were in the opinion of the Jews, and such as the greatest part of the first Christians were.”

those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.

“For him - For God's faithful prophets and ministers. The gate - There the people used to assemble, both upon civil and sacred accounts, and there prophets used to deliver their prophecies. The just - The faithful ministers of God.”