Isaiah 51:1-8 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Reader Related Verse
Bible Comments

A Heartening Consolation. Yahweh, in words that echo Isaiah 50:4-9, bids His people, who seek the victory which ever eludes them, consider their origin. Abraham was but one; yet He made him a great people: how much more from a people, though their numbers be decreased, can He make a mighty nation. He will comfort Zion the perfects of Isaiah 51:3 are perfects of certainty her ruins shall be rebuilt and her waste places made fruitful as Eden. Instruction in the true religion shall go forth from Him as a light for the nations. His vindicating victory is near at hand; His power shall judge the nations. Though heaven and earth pass away, and men perish like gnats (mg.), His victory shall be eternal. Let not His people, who know His vindicating power and understand His instruction, fear the taunts of men. Their oppressors shall vanish like moth-eaten garments, but His victory shall endure for ever.

Isaiah 51:1. Read, and to the quarry whence ye were digged.

Isaiah 51:4 b - Isaiah 51:5 a. Read, for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgement for a light of the peoples. Suddenly I bring near my victory, etc.

Isaiah 51:6. Translate, and the earth as a garment; the world shall fall to pieces and they, etc. be abolished: read fail (LXX, Vulg.).

Related Commentaries of Isaiah 51:1

Isaiah 51:1-8

1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.

2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.

3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

4 Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.

5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.