Isaiah 33 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

Bible Comments
  • Isaiah 33:1 open_in_new

    Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. And deadest treacherously "Thou plunderer" - See note on Isaiah 21:2 (note).

    When thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously "When thou art weary of plundering" - "כנלתך cannelothecha, alibi non extat in s. s. nisi f. Job 15:29 - simplicius est legere ככלתך kechallothecha. Vid. Capell.; nec repugnat Vitringa. Vid. Daniel 9:24. כלה calah התים hatim." - Secker.

  • Isaiah 33:2 open_in_new

    O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. Be thou their arm every morning "Be thou our strength every morning" - For זרעם zeroam, their arm, the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate read זרענו zeroenu, our arm, in the first person of the pronoun, not the third: the edition of Felix Pratensis has זרעתינו zerootheynu in the margin.

    The prophet is here praying against the enemies of God's people; and yet this part of the prayer seems to be in their behalf: but from the above authorities it appears that Our arm is the true reading, though I do not find it confirmed by any of Kennicott's, De Rossi's, or my own MSS. My old MS. Bible has, - Be thou oure arm in erly.

  • Isaiah 33:3 open_in_new

    At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered. "But now will I arise, saith Jehovah; Now will I be exalted."

    Isaiah 33:3At the noise of the tumult "From thy terrible voice" - For המון hamon, "multitude," the Septuagint and Syriac read אמיך amica, "terrible," whom I follow.

  • Isaiah 33:4 open_in_new

    And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.

  • Isaiah 33:6 open_in_new

    And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure. His treasure "Thy treasure" - Ὁ θησαυρος σου, Sym. He had in his copy אצרך otsarcha, "thy treasure, "not אצרו otsaro, "his treasure."

  • Isaiah 33:7 open_in_new

    Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. Their valiant ones shall cry without "The mighty men raise a grievous cry" - Three MSS. read אראלים erelim, that is, lions of God, or strong lions. So they called valiant men heroes; which appellation the Arabians and Persians still use. See Bochart. Hieroz. Part 1 lib. 3 cap. 1. "Mahomet, ayant reconnu Hamzeh son oncle pour homme de courage et de valeur, lui donne le titre ou surnom d'Assad Allah, qui signifie le lion de Dieu. "D'Herbelot, p. 427. And for חצה chatsah, the Syriac and Chaldee, read קשה kashah, whom I follow. The Chaldee, Syriac, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion read אראה להם ereh lahem, or יראה yireh, with what meaning is not clear.

    The word אראלם erellam, which we translate valiant ones, is very difficult; no man knows what it means. Kimchi supposes that it is the name of the angel that smote the Assyrian camp! The Vulgate, and my old MS., translate it seers; and most of the Versions understand it in this way. None of the MSS. give us any help, but as we see above in Lowth.

  • Isaiah 33:8 open_in_new

    The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.

  • Isaiah 33:9 open_in_new

    The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits. Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits "Bashan and Carmel are stripped of their beauty" - Φανερα εσται, made manifest. Sept. They read ונערה veneerah.

  • Isaiah 33:10 open_in_new

    Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. And thus Joel, Joel 2:20, Joel 2:21 : -

    "His stink shall come up, and his ill savor shall ascend; Though he hath done great things. Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice; For Jehovah will do great things." - L.

  • Isaiah 33:11 open_in_new

    Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. Your breath "And my spirit" - "For רוחכם ruchechem, your spirit, read רוחי כמו ruchi kemo. "Secker. Which reading is confirmed by the Chaldee, where מימרי meymri, "my word, "answers to רוחי ruchi, "my spirit."

  • Isaiah 33:14 open_in_new

    The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? The sinners in Zion are afraid - Zion has been generally considered as a type of the Church of God. Now all the members of God's Church should be holy, and given to good works; sinners in Zion, therefore, are portentous beings! but, alas! where are they not? The Targum on this verse is worthy of notice: "The sinners in Zion are broken down; fear hath seized the ungodly, who are suffering for their ways. They say, Who among us shall dwell in Zion, where the splendor of the Divine Majesty is like a consuming fire? Who of us shall dwell in Jerusalem, where the ungodly are judged and delivered into hell for an eternal burning?" Everdurynge brennyngis. Old MS. Bible.

  • Isaiah 33:15 open_in_new

    He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood "Who stoppeth his ears to the proposal of bloodshed" - A MS. reads בדמים bedamim, "in blood."

  • Isaiah 33:16 open_in_new

    He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

  • Isaiah 33:18 open_in_new

    Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers? Where is the scribe? - The person appointed by the king of Assyria to estimate their number and property in reference to their being heavily taxed.

    Where is the receiver? - Or he who was to have collected this tribute.

    Where is he that counted the towers? - That is, the commander of the enemy's forces, who surveyed the fortifications of the city, and took an account of the height, strength, and situation of the walls and towers, that he might know where to make the assault with the greatest advantage; as Capaneus before Thebes is represented in a passage of the Phoenissae of Euripides, which Grotius has applied as an illustration of this place: -

    Εκεινος ἑπτα προσβασεις τεκμαιρεται

    Πυργων, ανω τε και κατω τειχη μετρων.

    Ver. 187.

    "To these seven turrets each approach he marks;

    The walls from their proud summit to their base

    Measuring with eager eye."

    He that counted the towers "Those who were ordered to review the fortified places in Judea, that they might be manned and provisioned for the king of Assyria. So sure was he of gaining Jerusalem and subduing the whole of Judea, that he had already formed all these arrangements." - Dodd's notes.

  • Isaiah 33:19 open_in_new

    Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

  • Isaiah 33:20 open_in_new

    Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. Look upon Zion "Thou shalt see Zion" - For חזה chazeh, "see," read תחזה techezeh, "thou shalt see," with the Chaldee. - Houbigant. At the end of this verse we find in the Masoretic Bibles this note, חצי הספר chatsi hassepher, "the middle of the book;" that is the middle of the book of Isaiah.

  • Isaiah 33:21 open_in_new

    But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. The glorious Lord "The glorious name of Jehovah" - I take שם shem for a noun, with the Septuagint and Syriac. See Psalms 20:1; Proverbs 18:10.

  • Isaiah 33:23 open_in_new

    Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey. Thy tacklings are loosed - Here the Assyrians are represented under the figure of a ship wrecked by a violent storm; and the people on the beach, young, old, feeble, and diseased, gathering the spoil without any to hinder them. Kimchi, who understands the whole of this chapter of Hezekiah and the king of Assyria, says, "There are others of our rabbins who apply it all to the days of the Messiah."

    Their mast "Thy mast" - For תרנם tornam, "their mast, "the Syriac reads תרניך torneycha, "thy mast;" the Septuagint and Vulgate, תרנך tornecha, ὁ ἱστος σου εκλινεν, "thy mast is fallen aside." - Septuagint.

    They seem to have read נטה natah or פנה panah, תרנך tornecha, or rather, לא כן lo con, "is not firm," the negative having been omitted in the present text by mistake. However, I have followed their sense, which seems very probable, as the present reading is to me extremely obscure.

  • Isaiah 33:24 open_in_new

    And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. And the inhabitant shall not say - This verse is somewhat obscure. The meaning of it seems to be, that the army of Sennacherib shall by the stroke of God be reduced to so shattered and so weak a condition, that the Jews shall fall upon the remains of them, and plunder them without resistance; that the most infirm and disabled of the people of Jerusalem shall come in for their share of the spoil; the lame shall seize the prey; even the sick and the diseased shall throw aside their infirmities, and recover strength enough to hasten to the general plunder. See above.

    The last line of the verse is parallel to the first, and expresses the same sense in other words. Sickness being considered as a visitation from God. a punishment of sin; the forgiveness of sin is equivalent to the removal of a disease. Thus the psalmist: -

    "Who forgiveth all thy sin; And healeth all thine infirmities."

    Commentary on the Bible, by Adam Clarke [1831].