Isaiah 45:16,17 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Bible Comments

They The idolatrous Gentiles, as it is explained in the end of the verse, opposed to Israel in the beginning of the next verse, shall be ashamed, &c. Hebrew, בושׁו וגם גכלמר כלם, They are ashamed, they are even confounded, all of them; that is, after the completion of this prophecy. They shall go Hebrew, הלכו, they go, to confusion together, the makers of idols Both the artificers, and the masters that set them on work, and consequently all their worshippers. “The reader cannot but observe the sudden transition from the solemn adoration of the secret and mysterious nature of God's counsels in regard to his people, to the spirited denunciation of the confusion of idolaters, and the final destruction of idolatry; contrasted (Isa 45:17) with the salvation of Israel, not from temporal captivity, but the eternal salvation by the Messiah, strongly marked by the repetition and augmentation of the phrase, עד עולמי עד, usque ad secula eternitatis, to the ages of eternity.” Bishop Lowth.

Isaiah 45:16-17

16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.

17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.