According to this version, the prophet inserteth this passage in the midst of this prophecy against Babylon, as Jacob inserteth a like passage in the midst of his blessings and prophecies concerning his children, Genesis 49:18. And this may be here interposed, either,
1. As the reason why the judgment here denounced should be certainly inflicted, because he who had undertaken it was the Lord of hosts, and therefore able to effect it, and the Holy One, and the Redeemer of Israel, whom the Babylonians had cruelly oppressed, whose quarrel God would avenge upon them, and whom he had determined and promised to deliver out of their hands. Or,
2. As a pathetical exclamation or acclamation of God's people for this wonderful work of breaking the staff of their oppressors, which they here ascribe to God, as he is their God and Redeemer, whom they here make their boast of, and whom they celebrate for this glorious deliverance. But because these words, as for, are not in the Hebrew text, and therefore another word may be as conveniently supplied, this verse may be, and is by some learned interpreters, otherwise rendered, and joined with the foregoing words thus, I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man, saith our Redeemer, whose name is the Lord of Hosts, the Holy One of Israel. For the word saith or saying is frequently understood, and therefore supplied by translators, as 1 Kings 20:34 Psalms 27:8, Psalms 105:15, and in this very prophecy, as Isaiah 5:9, Isaiah 45:14, and elsewhere.