Commentary on Isaiah Volume 1 John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
17. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
17. Ecce, ego contra vos suscito Medos, qui de argento non cogitabunt, nec aurum ipsum appetent.
18. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
18. Et arcubus pueros allident, fructus ventris non miserebuntur, nec parcet filiis oculus eorum.
19. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
19. Et erit Babel, decor regnorum et ornamentum splendoris Chaldaeorum, instar subversionis Dei in Sodoma et Gomorrha.
20. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there:
20. Nunquam amplius sedebit, neque habitabit in generationem et generationem; neque figet illic tabernaculum Arabs, neque pastores illic accubare facient gregem.
21. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
21. Sed ibi cubabunt Ziim, et domus eorum implebunt Ohim; illic habitabunt filiae Struthionis, et illic Satyri saltabunt.
22. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
22. Et clamabunt Iim in magnificis aedibus eorum, et dracones in palatiis voluptuosis; ac tempus quidem ejus prope est, neque protrahentur dies ejus.
1. The burden of Babylon From this chapter down to the twenty-fourth, the Prophet foretells what dreadful and shocking calamities awaited the Gentiles and those countries which were best known to the Jews, either on account of their being contiguous to them, or on account of the transactions of commerce and alliances; and he does so not without weighty reasons. When various changes are taking place, some think that God sports with the affairs of men, and others, that everything is directed by the blind violence of fortune, as profane history sufficiently testifies; very few are aware that these things are appointed and regulated by the purpose of God. There is nothing of which it is more difficult to convince men than that the providence of God governs this world. Many indeed acknowledge it in words, but very few have it actually engraven on their heart. We tremble and shudder at the very smallest change, and we inquire into the causes, as if it depended on the decision of men. What then shall be done, when the whole world is thrown into commotion, and the face of affairs is so completely changed in