Commentary on Isaiah Volume 1 John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
suis; sic nos fuimus a facie tua, Iehova.
18. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
18. Parturivimus, doluimus, ac si peperissemus ventum, salus non est facta terræ, et non ceciderunt incolæ orbis.
19. Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
19. Vivent mortui tui, cadaver meum resurgent. Evigilate, et cantate, incolæ pulveris. Quoniam ros herbarum ros tuus; et terra mortuos ejiciet, (vel, terram Gigantum prosternes; vel, terra Gigantes cadere faciet.)
20. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
20. Veni, popule mi, intra in cubicula tua; claude ostia post te: lateas paululum ad momentum, donec transeat indignatio.
21. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
21. Nam ecce Iehova egreditur e loco suo, ut visitet iniquitatem habitatoris terræ contra eum. Et discooperiet terra sanguines suos, et non teget amplius super occisis suis.
1. In that day shall a song be sung. Here the Prophet begins again to shew that, after the return of the people from captivity, they will be defended by God's power and guardianship, and that under his protection Jerusalem will be as safe as if she had been surrounded by bulwarks, ramparts, a ditch, and a double wall, so that no enemy could find entrance.
It is proper to observe the time when "this song was sung." The Prophet had foretold the calamity that would befall the Church, which was not yet so near at hand, but happened a short time after his death. When the people were led into captivity, they would undoubtedly have despaired, if they had not been encouraged by such promises. That the Jews might cherish a hope that they would be delivered, and might behold life in the midst of death, the Prophet composed for them this song, even before the calamity occurred, that they might be better prepared for enduring it, and might hope for better things. I do not think that it was composed solely that, when they had been delivered, they might give thanks to God, but that even during their captivity, though they were like dead men, (Ezekiel 37:1,) they might strengthen their hearts with this confidence, and might also train up their children in this expectation, and hand down these promises, as it were, to posterity.