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3,811 commentary entries
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible
The Power of God; Encouragement to the People of God. (b. c. 708.)
THE POWER OF GOD; ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD. (B. C. 708.) The people of God in captivity, who reconciled themselves to the will of God in their affliction and were content to wait his time for their deliverance…
The Folly of Idolatry; Salvation in Christ. (b. c. 708.)
THE FOLLY OF IDOLATRY; SALVATION IN CHRIST. (B. C. 708.) What here is said is intended, as before, I. For the conviction of idolators, to show them their folly in worshipping gods that cannot help them, and neglecting a…
The Folly of Idolatry. (b. c. 708.)
THE FOLLY OF IDOLATRY. (B. C. 708.) We are here told, I. That the false gods will certainly fail their worshippers when they have most need of them, Isaiah 46:1-2. Bel and Nebo were two celebrated idols of Babylon. Some…
The Folly of Idolatry; The Divine Prerogative Asserted. (b. c. 708.)
THE FOLLY OF IDOLATRY; THE DIVINE PREROGATIVE ASSERTED. (B. C. 708.) The deliverance of Israel by the destruction of Babylon (the general subject of all these chapters) is here insisted upon, and again promised, for the…
Babylon Threatened. (b. c. 708.)
BABYLON THREATENED. (B. C. 708.) In these verses God by the prophet sends a messenger even to Babylon, like that of Jonah to Nineveh: "The time is at hand when Babylon shall be destroyed." Fair warning is thus given her…
Babylon Threatened. (b. c. 708.)
BABYLON THREATENED. (B. C. 708.) Babylon, now doomed to ruin, is here justly upbraided with her pride, luxury, and security, in the day of her prosperity, and the confidence she had in her own wisdom and forecast, and p…
God's Expostulation with His People. (b. c. 708.)
GOD'S EXPOSTULATION WITH HIS PEOPLE. (B. C. 708.) We may observe here, I. The hypocritical profession which many of the Jews made of religion and relation to God. To those who made such a profession the prophet is here…
Encouragement to God's People. (b. c. 708.)
ENCOURAGEMENT TO GOD'S PEOPLE. (B. C. 708.) The deliverance of God's people out of their captivity in Babylon was a thing upon many accounts so improbable that there was need of line upon line for the encouragement of t…
Encouragement to God's People. (b. c. 708.)
ENCOURAGEMENT TO GOD'S PEOPLE. (B. C. 708.) Here, as before, Jacob and Israel are summoned to hearken to the prophet speaking in God's name, or rather to God speaking in and by the prophet, and that as a type of the gre…
Encouragement to the Gentiles. (b. c. 706.)
ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE GENTILES. (B. C. 706.) Here, I. An auditory is summoned together and attention demanded. The sermon in the foregoing chapter was directed to the house of Jacob and the people of Israel, Isaiah 49:1.…
Encouragement to the Gentiles. (b. c. 706.)
ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE GENTILES. (B. C. 706.) In these verses we have, I. The humiliation and exaltation of the Messiah (Isaiah 49:7): The Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and Israel's Holy One, who had always taken care of…
Encouragement to Zion. (b. c. 706.)
ENCOURAGEMENT TO ZION. (B. C. 706.) The scope of these verses is to show that the return of the people of God out of their captivity, and the eternal redemption to be wrought out by Christ (of which that was a type), wo…
Encouragement to Zion. (b. c. 706.)
ENCOURAGEMENT TO ZION. (B. C. 706.) Two things are here promised, which were to be in part accomplished in the reviving of the Jewish church after its return out of captivity, but more fully in the planting of the Chris…
Encouragement to Zion. (b. c. 706.)
ENCOURAGEMENT TO ZION. (B. C. 706.) Here is, I. An objection started against the promise of the Jews' release out of their captivity in Babylon, suggesting that it was a thing not to be expected; for (Isaiah 49:24) they…
Expostulations with Israel. (b. c. 706.)
EXPOSTULATIONS WITH ISRAEL. (B. C. 706.) Those who have professed to be the people of God, and yet seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain of God, and to lay the fault upon him, as if he had been hard with t…
Work and Sufferings of the Messiah. (b. c. 706.)
WORK AND SUFFERINGS OF THE MESSIAH. (B. C. 706.) Our Lord Jesus, having proved himself able to save, here shows himself as willing as he is able. We suppose the prophet Isaiah to say something of himself in these verses…
The Disconsolate Encouraged. (b. c. 706.)
THE DISCONSOLATE ENCOURAGED. (B. C. 706.) The prophet, having the tongue of the learned given him, that he might give to every one his portion, here makes use of it, rightly dividing the word of truth. It is the summary…
Encouragement to the Disconsolate. (b. c. 706.)
ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE DISCONSOLATE. (B. C. 706.) Observe, 1. How the people of God are here described, to whom the word of this consolation is sent and who are called upon to hearken to it, Isaiah 51:1. They are such as…
Encouragement to the Disconsolate. (b. c. 706.)
ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE DISCONSOLATE. (B. C. 706.) Both these proclamations, as I may call them, end alike with an assurance of the perpetuity of God's righteousness and his salvation; and therefore we put them together, b…
Prayer in Behalf of Israel; Encouragement to the People of God. (b. c. 706.)
PRAYER IN BEHALF OF ISRAEL; ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD. (B. C. 706.) In these verses we have, I. A prayer that God would, in his providence, appear and act for the deliverance of his people and the mortification…
Jerusalem's Affliction. (b. c. 706.)
JERUSALEM'S AFFLICTION. (B. C. 706.) God, having awoke for the comfort of his people, here calls upon them to awake, as afterwards, Isaiah 52:1. It is a call to awake not so much out of the sleep of sin (though that als…
Encouragement to Jerusalem. (b. c. 706.)
ENCOURAGEMENT TO JERUSALEM. (B. C. 706.) Here, I. God's people are stirred up to appear vigorous for their own deliverance, Isaiah 52:1-2. They had desired that God would awake and put on his strength, Isaiah 51:9. Here…
The Approach of the Messiah. (b. c. 706.)
THE APPROACH OF THE MESSIAH. (B. C. 706.) The removal of the Jews from Babylon to their own land again is here spoken of both as a mercy and as a duty; and the application of Isaiah 52:7 to the preaching of the gospel (…
The Humiliation of the Messiah. (b. c. 706.)
THE HUMILIATION OF THE MESSIAH. (B. C. 706.) Here, as in other places, for the confirming of the faith of God's people and the encouraging of their hope in the promises of temporal deliverances, the prophet passes from…