13 Sing, O heavens, and joy, O earth, And break forth, O mountains, with singing, For comforted hath Jehovah His people, And His afflicted ones He doth pity.
After these things I saw, and lo, a great multitude, which to number no one was able, out of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands, and crying with a great voice, saying, `The salvation `is' to Him who is sitting upon the throne -- to our God, and to the Lamb!' And all the messengers stood around the throne, and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell upon their face, and bowed before God, saying, `Amen! the blessing, and the glory, and the wisdom, and the thanksgiving, and the honour, and the power, and the strength, `are' to our God -- to the ages of the ages! Amen!'
And when he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, having each one harps and golden vials full of perfumes, which are the prayers of the saints, and they sing a new song, saying, `Worthy art thou to take the scroll, and to open the seals of it, because thou wast slain, and didst redeem us to God in thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and didst make us to our God kings and priests, and we shall reign upon the earth.' And I saw, and I heard the voice of many messengers round the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders -- and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands -- saying with a great voice, `Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing!' and every creature that is in the heaven, and in the earth, and under the earth, and the things that are upon the sea, and the all things in them, heard I saying, `To Him who is sitting upon the throne, and to the Lamb, `is' the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the might -- to the ages of the ages!'
And suddenly there came with the messenger a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, `Glory in the highest to God, and upon earth peace, among men -- good will.'
The heavens joy, and the earth is joyful, The sea and its fulness roar. The field exulteth, and all that `is' in it, Then sing do all trees of the forest, Before Jehovah, for He hath come, For He hath come to judge the earth. He judgeth the world in righteousness, And the peoples in His faithfulness!
As one whom his mother comforteth, so do I comfort you, Yea, in Jerusalem ye are comforted. And ye have seen, and rejoiced hath your heart, And your bones as tender grass do flourish, And the hand of Jehovah hath been known unto His servants, And He hath been indignant with His enemies.
To proclaim the year of the good pleasure of Jehovah, And the day of vengeance of our God, To comfort all mourners. To appoint to mourners in Zion, To give to them beauty instead of ashes, The oil of joy instead of mourning, A covering of praise for a spirit of weakness, And He is calling to them, `Trees of righteousness, The planting of Jehovah -- to be beautified.'
Sing to Jehovah a new song, His praise from the end of the earth, Ye who are going down to the sea, and its fulness, Isles, and their inhabitants. The wilderness and its cities do lift up `the voice', The villages Kedar doth inhabit, Sing do the inhabitants of Sela, From the top of mountains they cry.
Shout to Jehovah, all the earth, Break forth, and cry aloud, and sing. Sing to Jehovah with harp, With harp, and voice of praise, With trumpets, and voice of a cornet, Shout ye before the king Jehovah. Roar doth the sea and its fulness, The world and the inhabitants in it. Floods clap hand, together hills cry aloud, Before Jehovah, For He hath come to judge the earth, He judgeth the world in righteousness, And the people in uprightness!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 49
Commentary on Isaiah 49 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 49
Glorious things had been spoken in the previous chapters concerning the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon; but lest any should think, when it was accomplished, that it looked much greater and brighter in the prophecy than in the performance, and that the return of about 40,000 Jews in a poor condition out of Babylon to Jerusalem was not an event sufficiently answering to the height and grandeur of the expressions used in the prophecy, he here comes to show that the prophecy had a further intention, and was to have its full accomplishment in a redemption that should as far outdo these expressions as the other seemed to come short of them, even the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, of whom not only Cyrus, who was God's servant in foretelling it, was a type. In this chapter we have,
If this chapter be rightly understood, we shall see ourselves to be more concerned in the prophecies relating to the Jews' deliverance out of Babylon than we thought we were.
Isa 49:1-6
Here,
Isa 49:7-12
In these verses we have,
Isa 49:13-17
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), would be great occasions of joy to the church and great proofs of the tender care God has of the church.
Isa 49:18-23
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 Christian church by the preaching of the gospel of Christ; and we may take the comfort of these promises.
Isa 49:24-26
Here is,