And this shall be a sign unto thee. — The prophet now addresses Hezekiah.
A sign. — Rather, the sign; namely, of the truth of this prophetic word. “The sign consists in the foretelling of natural and nearer events, which serve to accredit the proper prediction. The purport of it is that this and the next year the country will be still occupied by the enemy, so that men cannot sow and reap as usual, but must live on that which grows without sowing. In the third year, they will again be able to cultivate their fields and vineyards, and reap the fruits of them” (Keil). The prophecy was probably uttered in the autumn, so that only one full year from that time would be lost to husbandry.
Ye shall eat. — Or, eat ye.
Such things as grow of themselves. — The Hebrew is a single word, sâphîah, “the after-growth” (Cheyne; see Leviticus 25:5; Leviticus 25:11).
That which springeth of the same. — Again one word in the Hebrew, sâhîsh, or as in Isaiah, shâhîs probably synonymous with the preceding term, “after-shoot,” i.e., the growth from old roots left in the ground.