64:5. Thou hast met him that rejoiceth, and doth justice: in thy ways they shall remember thee: behold thou art angry, and we have sinned: in them we have been always, and we shall be saved.
64:6. And we are all become as one unclean, and all our justices as the rag of a menstruous woman: and we have all fallen as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Our justices, etc... That is, the works by which we pretended to make ourselves just. This is spoken particularly of the sacrifices, sacraments, and ceremonies of the Jews, after the death of Christ, and the promulgation of the new law.
64:7. There is none that calleth upon thy name: that riseth up, and taketh hold of thee: thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us in the hand of our iniquity.
64:8. And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we are clay: and thou art our maker, and we all are the works of thy hands.
64:9. Be not very angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity: behold, see we are all thy people.
64:10. The city of thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made a desert, Jerusalem is desolate.
64:11. The house of our holiness, and of our glory, where our fathers praised thee, is burnt with fire, and all our lovely things are turned into ruins.
64:12. Wilt thou refrain thyself, O Lord, upon these things, wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us vehemently?
Isaias Chapter 65
The Gentiles shall seek and find Christ, but the Jews will persecute him, and be rejected, only a remnant shall be reserved. The church shall multiply, and abound with graces.
65:1. They have sought me that before asked not for me, they have found me that sought me not. I said: Behold me, behold me, to a nation that did not call upon my name.
65:2. I have spread forth my hands all the day to an unbelieving people, who walk in a way that is not good after their own thoughts.
65:3. A people that continually provoke me to anger before my face, that immolate in gardens, and sacrifice upon bricks.
65:4. That dwell in sepulchres, and sleep in the temple of idols: that eat swine"s flesh, and profane broth is in their vessels.
65:5. That say: Depart from me, come not near me, because thou art unclean: these shall be smoke in my anger, a fire burning all the day.
65:6. Behold it is written before me: I will not be silent, but I will render and repay into their bosom.
65:7. Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, who have sacrificed upon the mountains, and have reproached me upon the hills; and I will measure back their first work in their bosom.
65:8. Thus saith the Lord: As if a grain be found in a cl.u.s.ter, and it be said: Destroy it not, because it is a blessing: so will I do for the sake of my servants, that I may not destroy the whole.
65:9. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Juda a possessor of my mountains: and my elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
65:10. And the plains shall be turned to folds of flocks, and the valley of Achor into a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
65:11. And you, that have forsaken the Lord, that have forgotten my holy mount, that set a table for fortune, and offer libations upon it,
65:12. I will number you in the sword, and you shall all fall by slaughter: because I called and you did not answer: I spoke, and you did not hear: and you did evil in my eyes, and you have chosen the things that displease me.
65:13. Therefore thus saith the Lord G.o.d: Behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry: behold my servants shall drink, and you shall be thirsty.
65:14. Behold my servants shall rejoice, and you shall be confounded: behold my servants shall praise for joyfulness of heart, and you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit.
65:15. And you shall leave your name for an execration to my elect: and the Lord G.o.d shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name.
65:16. In which he that is blessed upon the earth, shall be blessed in G.o.d, amen: and he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by G.o.d, amen: because the former distresses are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes.
65:17. For behold I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former things shall not be in remembrance, and they shall not come upon the heart.
65:18. But you shall be glad and rejoice for ever in these things, which I create: for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and the people thereof joy.
65:19. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
65:20. There shall no more be an infant of days there, nor an old man that shall not fill up his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.
65:21. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruits of them.
65:22. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people, and the works of their hands shall be of long continuance.
65:23. My elect shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth in trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their posterity with them.
65:24. And it shall come to pa.s.s, that before they call, I will hear; as they are yet speaking, I will hear.
65:25. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; the lion and the ox shall eat straw; and dust shall be the serpent"s food: they shall not hurt nor kill in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.
Isaias Chapter 66
More of the reprobation of the Jews, and of the call of the Gentiles.
66:1. Thus saith the Lord: Heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool: what is this house that you will build to me? and what is this place of my rest?
What is this house, etc... This is a prophecy that the temple should be cast off.
66:2. My hand made all these things, and all these things were made, saith the Lord. But to whom shall I have respect, but to him that is poor and little, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my words?
66:3. He that sacrificeth an ox, is as if he slew a man: he that killeth a sheep in sacrifice, as if he should brain a dog: he that offereth an oblation, as if he should offer swine"s blood; he that remembereth incense, as if he should bless an idol. All these things have they chosen in their ways, and their soul is delighted in their abominations.
He that sacrificeth an ox, etc... This is a prophecy that the sacrifices which were offered in the old law should be abolished in the new; and that the offering of them should be a crime.-Ibid. Remembereth incense... Viz., to offer it in the way of a sacrifice.
66:4. Wherefore I also will choose their mockeries, and will bring upon them the things they feared: because I called, and there was none that would answer; I have spoken, and they heard not; and they have done evil in my eyes, and have chosen the things that displease me.
I will choose their mockeries... I will turn their mockeries upon themselves; and will cause them to be mocked by their enemies.
66:5. Hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble at his word: Your brethren that hate you, and cast you out for my name"s sake, have said: Let the Lord be glorified, and we shall see in your joy: but they shall be confounded.
66:6. A voice of the people from the city, a voice from the temple, the voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to his enemies.
66:7. Before she was in labour, she brought forth; before her time came to be delivered, she brought forth a man child.
Before she was in labour, etc... This relates to the conversion of the Gentiles, who were born, as it were, all on a sudden to the church of G.o.d.
66:8. Who hath ever heard such a thing? and who hath seen the like to this? shall the earth bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be brought forth at once, because Sion hath been in labour, and hath brought forth her children?