Isaiah 49:17 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Bible Comments

Thy children Or, as some, with equal propriety, render בנין, thy builders; which rendering is favoured by the next clause, where the destroyers are opposed to them, but the following verse favours the former interpretation: the sense, however, is the same, for the church's children are her builders; shall make haste To repair thy ruins and desolations, and build thee up. Thy destroyers, &c., shall go forth of thee Shall be separated and driven from thee, and so shall neither hinder nor annoy thee. But this rendering, shall go forth of thee, says Bishop Lowth, “is very flat, after their zeal had been expressed by their being her builders: and as the opposition is kept up in one part of the sentence, one has reason to expect it in the other.” He, therefore, renders ממן יצאו, shall proceed, spring, or issue, from thee; namely, as thy children, and reads the whole verse thus: They that destroy thee shall soon become thy builders; and they that laid thee waste shall become thine offspring: the accession of the Gentiles to the church of God being properly considered as an addition made to the number of the family and children of Zion.

Isaiah 49:17

17 Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.