Isaiah 9:3

Thou hast multiplied the nation - Thou hast rendered the nation strong, powerful, mighty. Several interpreters, as Calvin, Vitringa, and Le Clerc, suppose that the prophet here, and in the two following verses, speaks in the first instance of the prosperity near at hand, and of the rapid increase of the Israelites after the return from the Babylonian exile, in which the inhabitants of Galilee must have participated, as may be inferred from the accounts of Josephus respecting the great population of that province in his time; see Jewish Wars, i. 20,

multiplied . . . nation--primarily, the rapid increase of Israelites after the return from Babylon; more fully and exhaustively the rapid spread of Christianity at first. not increased the joy--By a slight change in the Hebrew, its (joy) is substituted by some for not, because "not increased the joy" seems opposite to what immediately follows, "the joy," &c.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

HARVEST crowns the year with God's goodness. When the harvest is abundant, there is universal joy. Everybody rejoices. The owner of the land is glad because he sees the recompense of reward. The laborers are glad for they see the fruit of their toil. Even those to whom not a single ear may belong, nevertheless sympathize in the common joy because a rich harvest is a gift to all the nation.

NOTICE that I make a correction in the version from which I am reading. The Authorized Version has it, "You have multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy." This is not consistent with the connection. The Revised Version has very properly put it, "You have multiplied the nation, You have increased their joy."

NOTICE that I make a correction in the version from which I am reading. The Authorized Version has it, "You have multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy." This is not consistent with the connection. The Revised Version has very properly put it, "You have multiplied the nation, You have increased their joy." I have not any learning to display, but I think I could show it to you, if this were the proper time, how the passage came to be read with a, "not," and I could also prove to you that, in this instance, the Revisers were right in making their alteration. Tonight, there are about 82 persons who have confessed Christ before the Church, have been baptized and who are to be received into our fellowship. We feel very grateful for this large addition to our members and, all the more so, because it is no strange thing, but month by month, all the year round, they continue to come, though not in such large numbers as at this time. God be thanked for thus blessing us! We cannot allow these occasions to pass over without joying before the Lord as men rejoice when they gather in their sheaves of corn! To bring out your joy, think of how we would feel if we did not have an increase in the Church, or very few were ever added. The good old people seem quite content to be very few. Their notion is that the way to Heaven is very narrow, as, indeed, it is, and that, therefore, they must not expect many to find their way. I remember a Church where the good old deacons used to say of the converts, "Summer them and winter them. Keep them out till we have tried them for a very long time." It came to pass, after the process of, "summering and wintering," that a great many of them never came forward at all! Though they were very excellent people, they never summoned courage enough to join such a Church.

HARVEST crowns the year with God's goodness. When the harvest is abundant, there is universal joy. Everybody rejoices. The owner of the land is glad because he sees the recompense of reward. The laborers are glad for they see the fruit of their toil. Even those to whom not a single ear may belong, nevertheless sympathize in the common joy because a rich harvest is a gift to all the nation. It is a joyous sight to see the last loaded wagon come creaking down the village road, to note the youngsters who shout so loudly yet know so little what they are shouting about, to mark the peasant on the top of the wagon as he waves his hat and gives vent to some gleeful exclamation—and to see them taking it all to the stack or barn. There is joy throughout the village! There is joy throughout the land when the harvest time comes! They that divide the spoil shout loudly, their joyous clamor reaches the heavens! A better joy than this, however, greets the more auspicious season when a sinner finds his Savior, when the prayers that he has sown, like handfuls of seed, come up and the good yellow ears of confidence in his Savior are brought to maturity. The joy of those who have found the Savior is greater than harvest time—they can say with the Psalmist, "You are more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey." Burst, you barns! Overflow, you wine vats! But you cannot give such joy to your possessors as Christ, really grasped and laid hold upon, can give to a soul that feels its need of Him! The joy of harvest is far exceeded by the joy of simple faith! We, as a Church, like Christian Churches in all ages, have had times of ingathering when we have rejoiced before God as with the joy of harvest.

[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon harvest subjects are as follows—#2896, Volume 50—HARVEST TIME (the first of his Sermons that was ever published); #2265, Volume 39—HARVEST JOY (a Sermon upon the whole of Isaiah 9:3); #1127, Volume 19—HARVEST MEN NEEDED; #1562, Volume 26— HARVEST PAST, SUMMER ENDED AND MEN UNSAVED; #706, Volume 12—FIELDS WHITE FOR HARVEST; #880, Volume 15— THE FORMER AND THE LATTER RAIN and #3058, Volume 53—THE JOY OF HARVEST.] THE other day I was one of a glad company who kept the feast with great rejoicing, and together we shouted, "Harvest Home."

[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon harvest subjects are as follows—#2896, Volume 50—HARVEST TIME (the first of his Sermons that was ever published); #2265, Volume 39—HARVEST JOY (a Sermon upon the whole of Isaiah 9:3); #1127, Volume 19—HARVEST MEN NEEDED; #1562, Volume 26— HARVEST PAST, SUMMER ENDED AND MEN UNSAVED; #706, Volume 12—FIELDS WHITE FOR HARVEST; #880, Volume 15— THE FORMER AND THE LATTER RAIN and #3058, Volume 53—THE JOY OF HARVEST.] THE other day I was one of a glad company who kept the feast with great rejoicing, and together we shouted, "Harvest Home." It was a deep delight to see the rich and poor rejoicing together—and when the cheerful meal was ended, I was greatly glad to turn one of the tables into a temporary pulpit—and in the fine large barn be privileged to preach to an earnest, eager audience, the glorious Gospel of the ever-blessed God! My heart was truly merry, in harmony with the happy occasion, and I shall now try to keep in the same key and talk to you a little upon the joy in harvest. Londoners, and other city dwellers are apt to forget that it is harvest time, or to forget to render special praise to God for it. Living in these great deserts of dingy bricks we scarcely know what an ear of corn is like, except as we see it dried and white in the window of a corn-dealer's shop. Yet let us all remember that there is such a season as harvest when, by God's goodness, the fruits of the earth are gathered in for the food of man. We begin to study our theme by seeing—I. WHAT THE JOY OF HARVEST IS which is here taken as the simile of the joy of the saints before God. I am afraid that to the more selfish order of spirits, the joy of harvest is simply, or chiefly, that of personal gratification at the increase of wealth. Sometimes the farmer only rejoices because he sees the reward of his toils and is so much the richer man.

And not increased the joy “Thou hast increased their joy” - Eleven MSS. of Kennicott’s and six of De Ross’s, two ancient, read לו lo, it, according to the Masoretical correction, instead of לא lo, not. To the same purpose the Targum and Syriac. The joy in harvest - כשמחת בקציר kesimchath bakkatsir. For בקציר bakkatsir one MS. of Kennicott’s and one of De Rossi’s have קציר katsir, and another הקציר hakkatsir, “the harvest;” one of which seems to be the true, reading, as the noun preceding is in regimine.