50:2 Declare ye among the nations, and proclaim, and set up a
standard; proclaim, [and] conceal not: say, a Babylon is
taken, Bel is confounded, b Merodach is broken in pieces;
her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
(a) After God had used the Babylonian's service to punish
other nations, this shows that their turn will come to
be punished.
(b) These were two of their chief idols.
50:3 For out of the north c there cometh a nation against her,
which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell in
it: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and
beast.
(c) That is, the Medes and the Persians.
50:4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the
children of Israel shall d come, they and the children of
Judah together, going and e weeping: they shall go, and
seek the LORD their God.
(d) When Cyrus will take Babel.
(e) Read (Jer 31:9).
50:6 My people have been lost sheep: their f shepherds have
caused them to go astray, they have turned them away [on]
the mountains: they have gone from g mountain to hill,
they have forgotten their restingplace.
(f) Their governors and ministers by their examples have
provoked them to idolatry.
(g) They have committed idolatry in every place.
50:7 All that found them have devoured them: and their
adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned
against the LORD, h the habitation of justice, even the
LORD, the hope of their fathers.
(h) For the Lord dwelt among them in his temple and would
have maintained them by his justice against their
enemies.
50:8i Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth from the
land of the Chaldeans, and be as the male goats k before
the flocks.
(i) When God will deliver you by Cyrus.
(k) That is, most forward and without fear.
50:10 And Chaldea shall be a prey: all that spoil her l shall
be satisfied, saith the LORD.
(l) Shall be made rich by it.
50:11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers
of my heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at
grass, m and bellow as bulls;
(m) For joy of the victory that you had against my people.
50:13 Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be
inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that
goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, n and hiss at all
her plagues.
(n) In sign of contempt and disdain.
50:14o Put yourselves in array against Babylon on every side:
all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows:
for she hath p sinned against the LORD.
(o) He speaks to the enemies the Medes and Persians.
(p) Though the Lord called the Babylonians his servants
and their work his work in punishing his people, yet
because they did it not to glorify God, but for their
own malice and to profit themselves, it is here called
sin.
50:16 Cut off the q sower from Babylon, and him that handleth
the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the
oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people,
and they shall flee every one to his own land.
(q) Destroy her so that no one is left to work the ground
or to take the fruit of it.
50:17 Israel [is] a scattered sheep; the lions have driven [him]
away: first the king of r Assyria hath devoured him; and
last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath broken his
s bones.
(r) Meaning Tiglath-pilesar who carried away the ten
tribes.
(s) He carried away the rest, that is Judah and Benjamin.
50:21 Go up against the land of t Merathaim, [even] against
it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and
utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do
according to all that I have commanded thee.
(t) That is, Babylon: thus the Lord raised up Cyrus.
50:23 How is the u hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and
broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the
nations!
(u) Nebuchadnezzar, who had smitten down all the princes
and people of the world.
50:27 Slay all her x bulls; let them go down to the slaughter:
woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their
judgment.
(x) Her princes and mighty men.
50:28 The voice of them that y flee and escape from the land
of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD
our God, the vengeance of his temple.
(y) Of the Jews who would be delivered by Cyrus.
50:34 Their Redeemer [is] strong; the LORD of hosts [is] his
name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may
give rest to the land, z and disquiet the inhabitants
of Babylon.
(z) He shows that when God executes his judgments against
his enemies, that his Church will then have rest.
50:38 A a drought [is] upon her waters; and they shall be
dried up: for it [is] the land of graven images, and they
are mad over [their] idols.
(a) For Cyrus cut the river Euphrates and divided the
course of it into many streams, so that it might be
passed over as though there had been no water: which
he did by the counsel of two of Belshazzar's captains,
who conspired against their king, because he had
gelded one of them in spite and slain the son of the
other.
50:39 Therefore the b wild beasts of the desert with the wild
beasts of the isles shall dwell [there], and the owls
shall dwell in it: and it shall be no more inhabited for
ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to
generation.
50:41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great
nation, and many kings shall be raised up from c the
ends of the earth.
(c) Meaning, that the Persians would gather their army
from many nations.
50:43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his
hands d became feeble: anguish took hold of him, [and]
pangs as of a woman in travail.
50:44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of
Jordan to the habitation of the strong: but I will make
them suddenly run away from her: and who [is] a chosen
[man, that] I may appoint over her? for who [is] like me?
and who will appoint me the time? and who [is] that e
shepherd that will stand before me?
