as extended, without proper limitations, to those that are made for the public service of the church.

The design of the Notes is to give the reasons and authorities on which the Translation is founded; to rectify or to explain the words of the text; to illustrate the ideas, the images, and the allusions of the Prophet, by referring to objects, notions, and customs, which peculiarly belong to his age and his country; and to point out the beauties of particular passages. I sometimes indeed endeavour to open the design of the prophecy, to show the connexion between its parts, and to point out the event which it foretells; but in general I must entreat the reader to be satisfied with my endeavours faithfully to express the literal sense, which is all that I undertake. If he would go deeper into the mystical sense, into theological, historical, and chronological disquisitions, there are many learned expositors to whom he may have recourse, who have written full commentaries on this Prophet; to which title the present work has no pretensions. The sublime and spiritual uses to be made of this peculiarly evangelical Prophet, must, as I have observed, be all founded on a faithful representation, of the literal sense which his words contain. This is what I have endeavoured closely and exactly to express. And within the limits of this humble, but necessary province, my endeavours must be confined. proceed further, or even to execute this in the manner I could wish, were it within my abilities, yet would hardly be consistent with my present engagements; which oblige me to offer rather prematurely to the public, what further time, with more leisure, might perhaps enable me to render more worthy of their atten

tion.

To

ISAIAH.

CHAP. 1

I.

2

THE VISION OF ISAIAH THE SON OF AMOTS, WHICH
HE SAW CONCERNING JUDAH AND JERUSALEM; IN
THE DAYS OF UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AHaz, hezekiah,
KINGS OF JUDAH.

HEAR, O ye heavens; and give ear, O earth!
For it is JEHOVAH that speaketh.

I have nourished children, and brought them up;
And even they have revolted from me.

3 The ox knoweth his possessor;

And the ass the crib of his lord:
But Israel knoweth not Me;

Neither doth my people consider.

4 Ah, sinful nation! a people laden with iniquity!
A race of evil doers! children degenerate!

They have forsaken JEHOVAH;

They have rejected with disdain the Holy One of Israel; They are estranged from him; they have turned their back upon him.

5 On what part will ye smite again, will ye add correction?

The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint:

6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness therein;

It is wound, and bruise, and putrefying sore:

It hath not been pressed, neither hath it been bound;
Neither hath it been softened with ointment.

7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire; Your land, before your eyes strangers devour it;

And it is become desolate, as if destroyed by an inundation,

8 And the daughter of Sion is left, as a shed in a vineyard; As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a city taken by siege.

9 Had not JEHOVAH God of Hosts left us a remnant, We had soon become as Sodom; we had been like unto Gomorrah.

10

Hear ye the word of JEHOVAH, O ye princes of Sodom! Give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah!

11 What have I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices? saith JEHOVAH:

I am cloyed with the burnt-offerings of rams, and the
fat of fed beasts;

And in the blood of bullocks, and of lambs, and of goats,
I have no delight.

12 When ye come to appear before me,

Who hath required this at your hands?

13 Tread my courts no more; bring no more a vain obla-、 tion:

Incense! it is an abomination unto me.

The new moon, and the sabbath, and the assembly proclaimed,

I cannot endure; the fast, and the day of restraint. 14 Your months, and your solemnities, my soul hateth: They are a burden upon me; I am weary of bearing them.

15 When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes

from you;

Even when ye multiply prayer, I will not hear; hands are full of blood.

For your

16 Wash ye, make ye clean; remove ye far away The evil of your doings from before mine eyes:

17 Cease to do evil; learn to do well;

Seek judgment; amend that which is corrupted;

Do justice to the fatherless; defend the cause of the widow.

18

Come on now, and let us plead together, saith JE

HOVAH:

Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white

as snow;

Though they be red as crimson, they shall be like wool. 19 If ye shall be willing and obedient,

Ye shall feed on the good of the land;

20 But if ye refuse, and be rebellious,

21

Ye shall be food for the sword of the enemy :
For the mouth of JEHOVAH hath pronounced it.

How is the faithful city become a harlot!

She that was full of judgment, righteousness dwelled in her;

But now murderers!

22 Thy silver is become dross; thy wine is mixed with

water.

23 Thy princes are rebellious, associates of robbers;

24

Every one of them loveth a gift, and seeketh rewards:
To the fatherless they administer not justice;

And the cause of the widow cometh not before them.

Wherefore saith the Lord JEHOVAH God of Hosts, the mighty One of Israel:

Aha! I will be eased of mine adversaries:

I will be avenged of mine enemies.

25 And I will bring again mine hand over thee; And I will purge in the furnace thy dross; And I will remove all thine alloy;

26 And I will restore thy judges, as at the first; And thy counsellors, as at the beginning:

And after this thy name shall be called,

The city of righteousness, the faithful metropolis.

27 Sion shall be redeemed in judgment,

And her captives in righteousness:

28 But destruction shall fall at once on the revolters and the sinners;

And they that forsake JEHOVAH shall be consumed.

29 For ye shall be ashamed of the ilexes, which ye have

desired;

And ye shall blush for the gardens, which ye have chosen:

30. When ye shall be as an ilex, whose leaves are blasted; And as a garden, wherein is no water.

31 And the strong shall become tow, and his work a spark of fire;

CHAP. 1

II.

2

And they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

THE WORD WHICH WAS REVEALED TO ISAIAH, THE SON OF AMOTS, CONCERNING JUDAH AND JERUSALEM.

IT shall come to pass in the latter days;

The mountain of the house of JEHOVAH shall be estab-
lished on the top of the mountains;

And it shall be exalted above the hills:
And all nations shall flow unto it.

3 And many peoples shall go, and shall say,

Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of JEHO

VAH;

To the house of the God of Jacob:

And he will teach us of his ways;

And we will walk in his paths:

For from Sion shall go forth the law;

4 And the word of JEHOVAH from Jerusalem.
And he shall judge among the nations;
And shall work conviction in many peoples:
And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
And their spears into pruning-hooks:

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
Neither shall they learn war any more.

5

O house of Jacob, come ye,

And let us walk in the light of JEHOVAH!

6 Verily thou hast abandoned thy people, the house of

Jacob:

Because they are filled with diviners from the east;
And with soothsayers like the Philistines;

And they multiply a spurious brood of strange children.

7 And his land is filled with silver and gold;

And there is no end to his treasures:

And his land is filled with horses;

Neither is there any end to his chariots.