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A Prophecy of Deliverance from Foes

Ah, you destroyer,

who yourself have not been destroyed;

you treacherous one,

with whom no one has dealt treacherously!

When you have ceased to destroy,

you will be destroyed;

and when you have stopped dealing treacherously,

you will be dealt with treacherously.

O L ord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.

Be our arm every morning,

our salvation in the time of trouble.

At the sound of tumult, peoples fled;

before your majesty, nations scattered.

Spoil was gathered as the caterpillar gathers;

as locusts leap, they leaped upon it.

The L ord is exalted, he dwells on high;

he filled Zion with justice and righteousness;

he will be the stability of your times,

abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;

the fear of the L ord is Zion’s treasure.

Listen! the valiant cry in the streets;

the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

The highways are deserted,

travelers have quit the road.

The treaty is broken,

its oaths are despised,

its obligation is disregarded.

The land mourns and languishes;

Lebanon is confounded and withers away;

Sharon is like a desert;

and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

“Now I will arise,” says the L ord,

“now I will lift myself up;

now I will be exalted.

You conceive chaff, you bring forth stubble;

your breath is a fire that will consume you.

And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,

like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”

Hear, you who are far away, what I have done;

and you who are near, acknowledge my might.

The sinners in Zion are afraid;

trembling has seized the godless:

“Who among us can live with the devouring fire?

Who among us can live with everlasting flames?”

Those who walk righteously and speak uprightly,

who despise the gain of oppression,

who wave away a bribe instead of accepting it,

who stop their ears from hearing of bloodshed

and shut their eyes from looking on evil,

they will live on the heights;

their refuge will be the fortresses of rocks;

their food will be supplied, their water assured.

The Land of the Majestic King

Your eyes will see the king in his beauty;

they will behold a land that stretches far away.

Your mind will muse on the terror:

“Where is the one who counted?

Where is the one who weighed the tribute?

Where is the one who counted the towers?”

No longer will you see the insolent people,

the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,

stammering in a language that you cannot understand.

Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals!

Your eyes will see Jerusalem,

a quiet habitation, an immovable tent,

whose stakes will never be pulled up,

and none of whose ropes will be broken.

But there the L ord in majesty will be for us

a place of broad rivers and streams,

where no galley with oars can go,

nor stately ship can pass.

For the L ord is our judge, the L ord is our ruler,

the L ord is our king; he will save us.

Your rigging hangs loose;

it cannot hold the mast firm in its place,

or keep the sail spread out.

Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;

even the lame will fall to plundering.

And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;

the people who live there will be forgiven their iniquity.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

11. Ye shall conceive chaff. He now addresses his discourse to the enemies of the Church, whose insolence, he says, is foolish and to no purpose; for when God shall have brilliantly displayed his power, they shall know that their efforts will be fruitless, and that they will accomplish nothing, even though they be leagued together in vast crowds. The Lord laughs at their madness, in thinking that everything is in their power, when he can instantly, by the slightest expression of his will, restrain and destroy them, though they may be defended by a very powerful army.

It is customary in the Scriptures to employ the word conceptions for denoting the designs and efforts of men. (Job 15:35; Psalm 7:14; Isaiah 26:17, and 59:4.) The metaphor is taken from pregnant women. Men are said to “conceive” and to “bring forth,” when they attempt anything; but he declares that their “conception” shall be fruitless, and that they shall also “bring forth” to no purpose, for whatever they undertake shall be unsuccessful. There is nothing, therefore, in the brilliant military forces of our adversaries that ought to alarm us; for, although God may permit them for a time to bustle, and toil, and rage, yet God will at length turn into “chaff” all their rash and daring attempts. Let us learn that what Isaiah foretold about Sennacherib relates to all the adversaries of believers and of the Church.

The fire of your breath shall devour you. That they “shall be devoured by the fire of their breath” is usually explained to mean, “Your breath, like fire, shall devour you.” But that is an unsuitable and even absurd comparison, and the true meaning readily suggests itself, “The fire kindled by your breath shall devour you.” We commonly kindle a fire by blowing, and therefore he declares, that the fire which wicked men have blown by their wicked contrivances shall be destructive to them, because it shall consume them. It is the same statement which is often conveyed by a variety of metaphors in Scripture.

“They shall fall into the pit which they have digged. They are entangled in a net which they had prepared for others. The sword which they had drawn hath entered into their own bowels. Their arrow hath been turned back to pierce their own hearts.” (Psalm 7:15; 37:15; 57:6.)

Thus the Prophet shews that the wicked tyrant who laid waste Judea and besieged Jerusalem with a numerous army, and all others who in like manner are adversaries of the Church, bring down destruction on themselves, and will at length be destroyed; and, in short, that they will be consumed by that “fire” which they have kindled.