Isaiah 59:15-21 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

Isaiah 59:15 b - Isaiah 59:21. Yahweh Himself Becomes the Champion of the Right. Yahweh is indignant that Right is absent. He sees there is none to interpose (mg.) for her, so His own power brings the deliverance He desires, His victorious might sustaining Him in His strife. He arrays Himself as a warrior, Victory His cuirass, Deliverance His helmet, Vengeance His garments, and the Wrath of Indignation His cloak. Thus equipped, He proceeds to render to every deed its recompence, fury to His foes, shame (LXX) to His enemies. His administration of justice among His people shall bring Him world-wide glory, for His vengeance shall be swift and sudden like the movement of a stream pent in a gorge (cf. mg.) and driven fiercely before the breath of Yahweh. To Zion He shall come as a redeemer to remove rebellion from Jacob (LXX, and Romans 11:26).

Isaiah 59:16. unto him: rather, for him, in accord with his wish. righteousness: here and in Isaiah 59:17 the power to make things right = might.

Isaiah 59:18. According to. repay: read probably, according to deserts so is their recompence. to the islands... recompence: an incorrect gloss on enemies, absent from LXX.

Isaiah 59:19. fear: read, see, with many MSS. he: rather, it, the recompence.

Isaiah 59:21. A late gloss, asserting the permanence of the covenant with the reformed community.

Related Commentaries of Isaiah 59:15

Isaiah 59:15-21

15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.

17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.

18 According to their deeds,d accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.

19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.

21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.