Commentary on Isaiah Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH
17. Itaque expectabo Iehovam, qui abscondit faciem suam a domo Iacob, et praestolabor eum.
18. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
18. Ecce ego et pueri, quos dedit mihi Iehova, in signa et prodigia in Israel; a Iehova exercituum, qui habitat in monte Sion.
19. And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
19. Quod si dixerint vobis, Sciscitamini a pythonicis et divinis, qui mussitant et demurmurant; annon populus Deum suum consulet, a vivis ad mortuos?
20. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
20. Ad legem et testimonium. Si non loquuti fuerint secundum verbum hoc, ideo nempe quod nihil est lucis.
21. And they shall pass through it hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
21. Tum per hanc terram transibunt oppressi et famelici. Et accidet ut cum esurierint, irritentur, ac maledicant regi suo, Deo suo, attollentes sursum faciem.
22. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
22. Et quum spectaverit ad terram, ecce tribulatio et tenebrae, caligo, angustia, et ad obscuritatem impulsus.
1. And Jehovah said to me. 120 This prophecy contains nothing new, but is a confirmation of the preceding one, in which Isaiah predicted the approaching desolation of the kingdom of Israel and Syria. He had foretold that both countries would be deprived of their kings, before the children who should soon afterwards be born could distinguish between good and evil, that is, before they were grown up. (Isaiah 7:16.) But because the wicked are not terrified by any threatenings, it was therefore necessary that this prediction should be repeated and demonstrated by some outward sign.
First, in order more effectually to arouse the nation, God commands that this prophecy be made publicly known by writing, that it may be understood by all. We have formerly said, 121 that it was the custom of the Prophets, after having been enjoined to deliver any message to the people, to sum up in a few words the substance of what they had said, and to affix it to the gates of the temple; as may be learned from Habakkuk 2:2; for if that passage be 120See the Author's Preface, page 32. 121With a man's pen. — Eng. Ver. Our Author's version is Write on it with a common pen, and his marginal reading is, or, with the pen of a man. — Ed.