Isaiah 49:24

As to the justice of God, we were lawful captives, and yet delivered by a price of inestimable value. This objection answered by an express promise, and a further promise; for God's promises being all yea, and amen, they may well serve to corroborate one another. Here is an express promise with a non-obstante--notwithstanding to the strength of the enemy (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty,....

IN the days when this prophecy was written, there were certain great nations of the earth that sought and obtained their wealth, not by commerce, but by force—not by fair trading, but by fiercely invading their richer neighbors. The Babylonians and the Chaldeans gathered together great armies and then pounced upon small territories, such as those at Israel and Judea, and carried off all the substance of the inhabitants as a prey. When the marauding host, flushed with victory, was returning home with its booty, it would have been a very dangerous thing to attempt to rescue the spoil.

Secondarily, Satan and Death are "the mighty" conquerors of man, upon whom his sin give them their "lawful" claim. Christ answers that claim for the sinners, and so the captive is set free (Job 19:25; Ho 6:2, where Isa 49:4 shows the primary reference is to Israel's restoration, to which the resurrection corresponds;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

IN the days when this prophecy was written, there were certain great nations of the earth that sought and obtained their wealth, not by commerce, but by force—not by fair trading, but by fiercely invading their richer neighbors. The Babylonians and the Chaldeans gathered together great armies and then pounced upon small territories, such as those at Israel and Judea, and carried off all the substance of the inhabitants as a prey. When the marauding host, flushed with victory, was returning home with its booty, it would have been a very dangerous thing to attempt to rescue the spoil. "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty?" What a great king has captured and what his mighty hosts have fought for— shall this be taken from them? Where are the warriors that have strength and numbers enough to attack the victors as they return with the spoil? Sometimes treaties were broken and then the Babylonians made that a pretext for taking the people away captive. They were "lawful captives," as they had broken certain conditions and made themselves subject, according to the articles of war, to be lawfully taken prisoners. Now where such is the case, when enraged kings and princes have taken cities which have proved traitorous to them, shall anybody deliver the prisoners? Who shall step in between the monarch and his righteous captive? That is the literal meaning of the verse, "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive be delivered?" It was first applicable to the Jewish people. They were taken into captivity in Babylon. Shall they ever be set free? God declared that they should be delivered, and so they were. In due time they came up without price or reward into their own land. God had promised it by His Word, and by His Providence He performed it.

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty? - This seems to be the language of Zion. It is not exactly the language of incredulity; it is the language of amazement and wonder. God had made great promises. He had promised a restoration of the captive Jews to their own land, and of their complete deliverance from the power of the Chaldeans. He had still further promised that the blessings of the true religion should be extended to the Gentiles, and that kings and queens should come and show the profoundest adoration for God and for his cause. With amazement and wonder at the greatness of these promises, with a full view of the difficulties to be surmounted, Zion asks here how it can be accomplished. It would involve the work of taking the prey from a mighty conqueror, and delivering the captive from the hand of the strong and the terrible - a work which had not been usually done. Or the lawful captive delivered? - Margin, ‘The captivity of the just.’ Lowth reads this, ‘Shall the prey seized by the terrible be rescued?’ So Noyes. Lowth says of the present Hebrew text, that the reading is a ‘palpable mistake;’ and that instead of צדיק tsadiyq (“the just”), the meaning should be עריץ ‛ârı̂yts (“the terrible”). Jerome so read it, and renders it, A robusto - ‘The prey taken by the strong.’ So the Syriac reads it. The Septuagint renders it, ‘If anyone is taken captive unjustly (ἀδίκως adikōs), shall he be saved?’ But there is no authority from the manuscripts for changing the present reading of the Hebrew text; and it is not necessary. […]