Isaiah 51:4

Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. HEARKEN UNTO ME, MY PEOPLE; AND GIVE EAR UNTO ME, O MY NATION - the Jews. This reading `amiy (H5971) uwl'uwmiy (H3816), is better than that of Gesenius, who takes the -iy termination to be the old one for the plural, not the possessive pronoun suffix. 'O peoples ... nations'-namely, the Gentiles. The Jews are called on to hear and rejoice in the extension of the true religion to the nations; because, at the flint preaching of the Gospel, as in the final age to come, it was from Jerusalem that the Gospel law was and is to go forth (Isaiah 2:3)....

4._Attend to me, my people. _There are good reasons why the Lord so frequently demands that he shall be heard. We know by experience how slow we are to hear him, especially in adversity; and even when we would have great need of consolation, we reject it by our impatience, and faint. Each of us, therefore, the sorer are the afflictions which press upon him, ought to endeavor more earnestly to enlarge his heart, and in this way to arouse himself, and to shake off his slothfulness, that he may receive consolation. What is here demanded is _attention, _to sustain our hearts by patience, till the season of grace be fully come. _For the law shall go forth from me. _The meaning is, that the Lord will again reign, and will arouse his Church to call on his name. Though the word _Law _is equivalent to the edict which God shall order to be proclaimed, when he shall be pleased to gather his Church,...

4-8 The gospel of Christ shall be preached and published. How shall we escape if we neglect it? There is no salvation without righteousness. The soul shall, as to this world, vanish like smoke, and the body be thrown by like a worn-out garment. But those whose happiness is in Christ's righteousness and salvation, will have the comfort of it when time and days shall be no more. Clouds darken the sun, but do not stop its course. The believer will enjoy his portion, while revilers of Christ are in darkness...

Verse Isaiah 51:4. _MY PEOPLE - O MY NATION_ - "O ye peoples - O ye nations"] For עמי _ammi, my people_, the Bodleian MS. and another read עמים _ammim, ye peoples_; and for לאומי _leumi, my nation_, the Bodleian MS. and _eight_ others, (_two_ of them ancient,) and _four_ of _De_ _Rossi's_, read לאמים _leummim, ye nations_; and so the _Syriac_ in both words. The difference is very material; for in this case the address is made not to the Jews, but to the Gentiles, as in all reason it ought to be; for this and the two following verses express the call of the Gentiles, the islands, or the distant lands on the coasts of the Mediterranean and other seas. It is also to be observed that God in no other place calls his people לאמי _leummi, my nation_. It has been before remarked that transcribers frequently omitted the final מ _mem_ of...

HEARKEN UNTO ME, MY PEOPLE - Lowth reads this; Attend unto me, O ye people, And give ear unto me, O ye nations. The reason why he proposes this change is, that he supposes the address here is made to the Gentiles and not to the Jews, and in favor of the change he observes, that two manuscripts read it in this manner. Gesenius (Commentary) says that three codices read עמים _‛__ammiym_ (“peoples”), instead of עמי _‛__amiy_ (“my people”); and that thirteen MSS. read לאוּמים _le'ûmiym_ (“nations”), instead of לאוּמי _l__e__ûmiy_ (“my nation”). Noyes also has adopted this reading. But the authority is too slight to justify a change in

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 51:1 AN ADDRESS TO FAITHFUL ISRAEL, SUGGESTING TOPICS OF COMFORT. The address consists of three nearly equal strophes or stanzas, each commencing with a call, _Shim'u elai_,_ _"Hearken unto me," or _Haqshibu elai_,_ _"Attend to me." The prophet appears to be the speaker, and to address himself to the more faithful portion of the people. ISAIAH 51:1 YE THAT FOLLOW AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS; _i.e. _"ye that endeavour to lead righteous lives" (comp....

HEARKEN UNTO ME, MY PEOPLE,.... His special people, whether Jews or Gentiles, chosen by him, taken into covenant with him; given to Christ, redeemed by him as a peculiar people, and called by his grace; these are exhorted to hearken to him; to his word, as the Targum; see Isaiah 51:1: AND GIVE EAR UNTO ME, O MY NATION; not the nation of the Jews only, but the Gentiles; a nation taken out of a nation, even out of all nations; a chosen and a holy nation. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it "kings"; such are made kings and priests unto God: see 1 Peter 2:9, FOR A LAW SHALL PROCEED FROM ME; not the Sinai law, but the Gospel; that doctrine that is said to go out of Zion, Isaiah 2:3

Isaiah 51:1. _Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him._ This is for your comfort, dear friends. If God could make out of Abraham and Sarah so great a nation as that of Israel, what is there that he cannot do? Do you say that the cause of God is brought very low in these evil days? It is not so low as when there seemed to be none but Abraham faithful in the whole world; yet God made that one mighty man to be like a foundation upon which he built up the chosen people, to whose keeping he committed the sacred oracles; and if he did that, what can he not do? However low you may individually sink, or however weak you may feel, look back to Abraham,

CHAPTER 51 Jehovah Encourages His Faithful People, the Remnant of Israel 1. _The call to remember Abraham (Isaiah 51:1)_ 2. _Zion to be comforted (Isaiah 51:3)_ 3. _His righteousness near and His arm to judge the people (Isaiah 51:4)_ 4. _Fear ye not (Isaiah 51:7)_ 5. _The prayer of faith (Isaiah 51:9)_ 6. _Jehovah answers (Isaiah 51:12)_ 7. The suffering of the nation to end ...

A HEARTENING CONSOLATION. Yahweh, in words that echo Isaiah 50:4, bids His people, who seek the victory which ever eludes them, consider their origin. Abraham was but one; yet He made him a great people: how much more from a people, though their numbers be decreased, can He make a mighty nation. He will comfort Zion the perfects of Isaiah 51:3 are perfects of certainty her ruins shall be rebuilt and her waste places made fruitful as Eden. Instruction in the true religion shall go forth from Him as a light for the nations. His vindicating victory is near at hand; His power shall judge the nations. Though heaven and earth pass away, and men perish like gnats (_mg.),_ His victory shall be eternal. Let not His people, who know His vindicating power and understand His instruction, fear the taunts of men. Their