*H Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God.
Ver. 1. Be. Sept. "comfort my people." Let them not be dejected. H. — The end of the captivity, and still more the coming of the Messias, afford consolation, (C.) and to this the prophet chiefly alludes. W.
*H Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.
Ver. 2. Evil. Heb. and some Latin copies have, "warfare." — Double. A rigorous chastisement. Apoc. xviii. 6. C.
* Footnote * Apocalypse 18 : 1
And after these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power: and the earth was enlightened with his glory.*H The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God.
Ver. 3. God, that he may conduct his people from Babylon. Sanchez. — Yet the prophet speaks chiefly of the baptist, (Mat. iii. 3. C.) who is evidently foretold. W.
* Footnote * Matthew 3 : 3
For this is he that was spoken of by Isaias the prophet, saying: A voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.* Footnote * Mark 1 : 3
A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight his paths.* Footnote * Luke 3 : 4
As it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.* Footnote * John 1 : 23
He said: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaias.*H Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways plain.
Ver. 4. Plain. For the captives, or the conversion of the world. Bar. v. 6.
*H And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.
Ver. 5. Glory. God will rescue his people. Christ will redeem mankind.
*H The voice of one, saying: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field.
Ver. 6. Field. On the downfall of the empire of Babylon, the Jews were liberated.
* Footnote * James 1 : 10
And the rich, in his being low: because as the flower of the grass shall he pass away.* Footnote * 1_Peter 1 : 24
For all flesh is as grass and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass is withered and the flower thereof is fallen away.*H Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda: Behold your God:
Ver. 9. Thou, female. How beautiful are the feet of those who announce good tidings! Rom. x. 15. H. — Thus a fem. noun is applied to Solomon. Eccle. i. Prophets make known to all the coming of the Saviour. C. — Christ preaches from the mountain, and his apostles over the world. W.
*H Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule: Behold his reward is with him and his work is before him.
Ver. 10. Him. Christ will reward and punish. Jer. xxxi. 16. Lu. ii. 34.
*H He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.
Ver. 11. Young, or have lately had young lambs, fœtas. Jesus is the good shepherd. Jo. x. 14.
* Footnote * Ezechiel 34 : 23
And I WILL SET UP ONE SHEPHERD OVER THEM, and he shall feed them, even my servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.* Footnote * Ezechiel 37 : 24
And my servant David shall be king over them, and they shall have one shepherd: they shall walk in my judgments, and shall keep my commandments, and shall do them.* Footnote * John 10 : 11
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep.*H Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weighed the heavens with his palm? who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
Ver. 12. Who. He now proceeds to shew the difference between God and idols. — Fingers, is not expressed in Heb. which may denote the epha. Ps. lxxix. 6. C. — God's power and goodness in the works of the creation, shew what he will do for man. W.
* Footnote * Wisdom 9 : 13
For who among men is he that can know the counsel of God? or who can think what the will of God is?* Footnote * Romans 11 : 34
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor?*H Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little dust.
Ver. 15. Dust. Heb. caddak, (H.) "as dok fallen." Sym. — It may signify an atom. S. Jer. — If all nations be only like a drop, what portion of it do I occupy? C. v. 17.
*H To whom then have you likened God? or what image will you make for him?
Ver. 18. Image. Catholics never pretend to represent the Deity, when they depict the Father as a venerable old man, &c. They do not adore pictures, as our adversaries would insinuate. If we were disposed to cavil, we might bring the same charge against them. For a few weeks ago, "a beautiful altar-piece, painted and presented by the lady of major general Cheney, was put in Hornsea church, representing Christ blessing the bread and wine." But Protestants can confine such things to their proper use, and Catholic must adore them. H. — "Such things the Jew, Apella, may believe: not I." Horace.
* Footnote * Acts 7 : 40
Saying to Aaron: Make us gods to go before us. For as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.*H Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?
Ver. 19. Silver. Is God like these idols? H. — Who knows not that the workman is better than they are? Wis. xiii. 11. C.
*H He hath chosen strong wood, and that will not rot: the skilful workman seeketh how he may set up an idol that may not be moved.
Ver. 20. Wood. Heb. hamsuccan, (H.) which Sept. Chal. and S. Jerom explain of a sort of wood used for idols. Moderns take it to be "a rich," or rather "a poor man. He who is mean in his offering, chooses wood that," &c. C. Prot.
*H Do you not know? hath it not been heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood the foundations of the earth?
Ver. 21. Beginning, by the light of nature, and (W.) has not Moses declared that God alone created the world? H. — His power and goodness herein convince us that he will not deny grace. W.
*H It is he that sitteth upon the globe of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.
Ver. 22. Locusts, compared with the greatest animals. — Nothing. Heb. "a curtain." Sept. Syr. "vault, (C.) or chamber," καμαραν. par
* Footnote * Genesis 1 : 6
And God said: Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters.* Footnote * Psalms 14 : 2
He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice:*H He that bringeth the searchers of secrets to nothing, that hath made the judges of the earth as vanity.
Ver. 23. Searchers. Heb. "princes to nothing." Prot. H. — Philosophers know nothing independently of God, nor can they subsist without him. W.
*H Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these things: who bringeth out their host by number, and calleth them all by their names: by the greatness of his might, and strength, and power, not one of them was missing.
Ver. 26. Host of heaven, the stars, &c. Gen. ii. 1. Ps. cxlvi. 4.
*H Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
Ver. 27. Judgment, or conduct, (Gen. xl. 13. C.) as if God minded not our affairs.
*H But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Ver. 31. Eagles, who grow young, when they get new feathers. Ps. cii. 5. S. Jer. — In this and the following 26 chapters the prophet chiefly comforts his people, as he had rebuked them for their crimes in the first part. W.