Commentary on Isaiah Volume 2 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
6. Et fuimus quasi immundus nos omnes, et tanquam vestimentum inquinatum omnes justitiae nostrae. Et decidimus instar folii onmes nos; et iniquitates nostrae, quasi ventus, abstulerunt nos.
7. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
7. Non est qui invocet nomen tuum, nee qui se excitet ut to apprehendat; quia abscondisti faciem tuam a nobis, et tabescere nos fecisti in manu iniquitatis nostrum.
8. But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
8. Et nune, Iehova, tu es pater noster; nos lutum, et tu figulus noster; opus, inquam, manuum tuarum sumus omnes.
9. Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
9. Ne irascaris, Iehova, ultra modum; ne in seculum memineris iniquitatis. Ecce respice, quaeso; nos omnes populus tuus sumus.
10. Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
10. Urbes sanctitatis tuae fuerunt desertum; Sion desertum fuit, Ierusalem solitudo.
11. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
11. Doritos sanctuarii nostri, et gloriae nostrae, in qua to celebrarunt patres nostri, fuit in combustionem ignis; et omnia nostra desiderabilia in vastationem.
12. Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?
12. An super his to continebis, Iehova? Tacebis, et affliges nos ultra modum?
1. O that thou wouldest rend the heavens! The particle {( }לואlu) appears to me, in this passage, to denote a wish; for, although it has many significations, yet the context shews that this signification is more appropriate to this passage than any other. Here believers burst forth into earnest prayer, as usually happens, when in sore adversity we do not find plain terms to be sufficiently forcible for our purpose.
God is said to "rend the heavens," when he unexpectedly gives some uncommon and striking proof of his power; and the reason of this mode of expression is, not only that men, when they are hard pressed, commonly look up to heaven, from which they expect assistance, but that miracles, by interrupting the order of nature, open up for themselves an unusual path.