Your nakedness will be uncovered. Yes, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance, and will spare no one.”
Parallel Translations
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Your nakedness will be uncovered. Yes, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance, and will spare no one.”
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Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
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Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen; I will take vengeance, and will let no man intercede.
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to Isaiah 47:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Nahum 3:5 “Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.
- Jeremiah 51:20-24 “You are my battle ax and weapons of war. With you I will break the nations into pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms. With you I will break in pieces the horse and his rider. With you I will break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein. With you I will break in pieces man and woman. With you I will break in pieces the old man and the youth. With you I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin. With you I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock. With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke. With you I will break in pieces governors and deputies. “I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 50:27-28 Kill all her bulls. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation. Listen to those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, the vengeance of his temple.
- Revelation 16:19 The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
- Deuteronomy 32:35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.”
- Deuteronomy 32:41-43 if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.” Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people.
- Psalms 94:1-2 Yahweh, you God to whom vengeance belongs, you God to whom vengeance belongs, shine out. Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve.
- Psalms 137:8-9 Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who repays you, as you have done to us. Happy shall he be, who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.
- Isaiah 34:1-8 Come near, you nations, to hear! Listen, you peoples. Let the earth and all it contains hear, the world, and everything that comes from it. For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations, and angry with all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over for slaughter. Their slain will also be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies will come up. The mountains will melt in their blood. All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree. For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky. Behold, it will come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, for judgment. Yahweh’s sword is filled with blood. It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom. The wild oxen will come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; and their land will be drunken with blood, and their dust made greasy with fat. For Yahweh has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
- Isaiah 59:17-18 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle. According to their deeds, he will repay as appropriate, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; he will repay the islands their due.
- Isaiah 63:4-6 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. I looked, and there was no one to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold. Therefore my own arm brought salvation to me. My own wrath upheld me. I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath. I poured their lifeblood out on the earth.”
- Jeremiah 13:22 If you say in your heart, “Why have these things come on me?” Your skirts are uncovered because of the greatness of your iniquity, and your heels suffer violence.
- Jeremiah 13:26 Therefore I will also uncover your skirts on your face, and your shame will appear.
- Jeremiah 51:4 They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets.
- Jeremiah 51:11 “Make the arrows sharp! Hold the shields firmly! Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance of his temple.
- Jeremiah 51:34-36 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his mouth with my delicacies. He has cast me out. May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon!” the inhabitant of Zion will say; and, “May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea!” will Jerusalem say. Therefore Yahweh says: “Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
- Jeremiah 51:56 For the destroyer has come on her, even on Babylon. Her mighty men are taken. Their bows are broken in pieces, for Yahweh is a God of retribution. He will surely repay.
- Ezekiel 16:37 therefore see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those who you have loved, with all those who you have hated. I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.
- Romans 12:19 Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”
- Hebrews 10:30-31 For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me;” says the Lord, “I will repay.” Again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
- Revelation 6:9-10 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
- Revelation 18:5-8 for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities. Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.
- Revelation 18:20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, and prophets; for God has judged your judgment on her.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain I will use no humanity nor pity toward thee.
I will use no humanity nor pity toward thee.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 47:3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy…
Isa 47:3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet [thee as] a man.
Ver. 3. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered.] Thou shalt be stripped, and worse dealt with - the ordinary lot of women prisoners. At the sack of Magdeburg by Monsieur Tilly, ladies, gentlewomen, and others, like beasts and dogs, being naked and coupled together, were led into the woods, and there ravished. Such as resisted, the soldiers stripped naked, whipped them, cropped their ears, and so sent them home again.
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I will not meet thee as a man.] But as a lion rather; thou shalt have vengeance without mixture of mercy. See 2Sa 7:24 Isa 13:6; Isa 27:7-8 Hos 5:14. Men use sometimes to deal favourably with women, but they shall not do so with thee. {a}
{a} Absque omni humanitatis contemperatione. - Scult. Tractabo te pro divina potentia mea. - Piscat.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Thy nakedness shall be uncovered; either,
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered; either,
1. For want of raiment to cover it; or rather,
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2. By thine enemies in way of scorn and contumely, by comparing this place with Eze 16:37; 23:29.
Thy shame shall be seen upon thee for thy many and great injuries done to my people.
I will take vengeance, as a man meets his enemy in the field, to contend with thee.
I will not meet thee as a man, with moderation and gentleness, as those men who have not quite put off humanity use to do; but like a lion tearing thee to pieces, to which God in such case compareth himself, as Hos 5:14; 13:7,8; compare Hos 11:4.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall…
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen,.... Not only stripped of their garments, and have nothing to cover their naked bodies, being spoiled of all by the soldiers; but should have nothing to cover those parts which women are most ashamed should be exposed to view, and which is often the case of such who fall into the hands of the conquerors. It is said of the whore of Rome, of mystical Babylon, that the kings of the earth should hate her, and make her desolate and naked, Rev 17:16,
I will take vengeance; for though the Medes and Persians were the instruments, the destruction was of the Lord, who took vengeance of the Chaldeans, for their ill usage of his people; as he will on mystical Babylon, Rev 18:20,
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and I will not meet thee as a man; in a humane way, with lenity, tenderness, and compassion, but with inflexible wrath and fury; not with human strength, which is but weakness, but with the strength of the mighty God; as is said of mystical Babylon,
strong is the Lord God that judgeth her, Rev 18:8 or it may be rendered, "I will not meet a man" (d); or a man shall not meet me, to stop or hinder me, by strength or might, or by prayers and entreaties. So some give the sense, "I will not receive the "intercession of any man for thee"; which is observed by Kimchi. The Targum is, "I will change "thy judgment from the children of men"; which agrees with the first sense.
(d) "et non occurram homini", Cocceius; so some in Vatablus; "neque feram obstare quenquam mihi", Junius & Tremellius. So Ben Melech, "I will not receive the request of a man, his supplication for them."
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Uncovered - Either for want of raiment to cover…
Uncovered - Either for want of raiment to cover it; or rather, by thine enemies in way of scorn and contumely. As a man - With moderation and gentleness, as those men who have not quite put off humanity use to do.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. I will not meet thee as a…
Verse 3. I will not meet thee as a man - "Neither will I suffer man to intercede with me."] The verb should be pointed, or written, אפגיע aphgia, in Hiphil.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 47:3. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered — Either…
Isa 47:3. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered — Either for want of raiment to cover it, or rather, by thine enemies in the way of scorn and contumely. I will take vengeance — Upon thee, for thy many and great injuries done to my people. I will not meet thee as a man — But like an Almighty God, whose power thou canst not resist. I will not treat thee with moderation and gentleness, as those men who have not quite put off humanity use to do, but like a lion, to tear thee to pieces: see Hos 5:14; and Hos 13:7-8. Thou shalt feel the most dreadful effects of my anger, and I will show no humanity or pity toward thee. The original expression, לא אפגע אדם, is peculiar, and is literally, I will not meet a man, which may be an inverted sentence put for, a man shall not meet me, that is, no man shall prevent or hinder the effects of my wrath. Bishop Lowth renders it, “Neither will I suffer a man to intercede with me.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Thy nakedness - This denotes the abject condition to…
Thy nakedness - This denotes the abject condition to which the city would be reduced. All its pride would be taken away; and it would be brought to such a state as to fill its inhabitants with the deepest mortification and shame. Vitringa supposes that it means, that all the imbecility and weakness; the vileness; the real poverty; the cruelty and injustice of Babylon, would be exposed. But it more probably means, that it would be reduced to the deepest ignominy. No language could more forcibly express the depths of its shame and disgrace than that which the prophet here uses.
I will take vengeance - This expresses literally what had been before expressed in a figurative manner. The whole purpose of God was to inflict vengeance on her for her pride, her luxury, and oppression, and especially for her want of kindness toward his people (see Isa 47:6).
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And I will not meet thee as a man - This phrase has been very variously interpreted. Jerome renders it, ‘And man shall not resist me.’ The Septuagint renders it, ‘I will take that which is just of thee, and will no more deliver thee up to men.’ The Syriac, ‘I will not suffer man to meet thee.’ Grotius, ‘I will not suffer any man to be an intercessor.’ So Lowth, ‘Neither will I suffer man to intercede with me.’ Noyes, ‘I will make peace with none.’ So Gesenius (Lex. by Robinson) renders it, ‘I will take vengeance, and will not make peace with man; that is, will make peace with none before all are destroyed.’ The word used here (אפגע 'epega‛) is derived from פגע pâga‛, which means, “to strike upon” or “to strike against”; “to impinge upon anyone, or anything; to fall upon in a hostile manner” 1Sa 22:17; “to kill, to slay” Jdg 8:21; Jdg 15:12; “to assail with petitions, to urge, entreat anyone” Rth 1:16; Jer 7:16; “to light upon, or meet with anyone” Gen 28:11, and then, according to Gesenius, “to strike a league with anyone, to make peace with him.” Jarchi renders it, ‘I will not solicit any man that he should take vengeance;’ that is, I will do it myself. Aben Ezra, ‘I will not admit the intercession of any man.’ Vitringa renders it. ‘I will take vengeance, and will not have a man to concur with me; that is, although I should not have a man to concur with me who should execute the vengeance which I meditate; on which account I have raised up Cyrus from Persia, of whom no one thought.’ In my view, the meaning which best accords with the usual sense of the word, is that proposed by Lowth, that no one should be allowed to interpose, or intercede for them. All the interpretations concur in the same general signification, that Babylon should be totally destroyed; and that no man, whether, as Jerome supposes, by resistance, or as Lowth, by intercession, should be allowed to oppose the execution of the divine purpose of vengeance.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain not meet . . . as a man--rather, "I…
not meet . . . as a man--rather, "I will not meet a man," that is, suffer man to intercede with me--give man an audience [HORSLEY]. Or, "I will not make peace with any man," before all are destroyed. Literally, "strike a league with"; a phrase arising from the custom of striking hands together in making a compact [MAURER], (see on Pro 17:18; Pro 22:26; Pro 11:15, Margin). Or else from striking the victims sacrificed in making treaties.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. I will take vengeance — This, with the…
3. I will take vengeance — This, with the words following, has many versions. It is a divine threat against Babylonia; God himself is to execute it.
I will not meet thee as a man — There shall be no appeal to man about it: or, “I will appeal to no man:” (Nagelsbach:) “I will run on none out of whose way I must get myself:” (Stier:) “No man shall resist me:” (Grotius:) or, in executing vengeance “I will encounter no man:” (Rosenmuller:) that is, I will allow no man to resist me. This agrees with Grotius, and appears to be the true sense, and Noyes’s translation does not essentially vary from it: “I will make peace with none.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. Thy nakedness … seen] These words, which undoubtedly…
3. Thy nakedness … seen] These words, which undoubtedly spoil the rhythm of the verse, are deleted by Duhm as a gloss suggested by the latter part of Isa_47:2.
and I will not meet thee as a man] The sense is very obscure. Either (a) “I will spare no man” (i.e. meet him with friendly intentions); the figure of the virgin being dropped: or (b) “I will not entreat any man (for help)”: or (c) the vowel-points being changed, “I will let no man intercede,”—all unacceptable on one ground or another. The difficulty lies in the word for “man”; this would be got rid of by simply changing ’âdâm into ’âmar (= “saith”) read by some MSS. of the LXX. as the first word of Isa_47:4. The verb then stands absolutely, and is best pointed and translated as Niphal tolerativum: “I will not (let myself) be entreated.” (Oort and Duhm). See further on Isa_47:4.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) I will not meet thee as a man.—The…
(3) I will not meet thee as a man.—The words in italics show that the phrase is difficult. Omitting them we get I shall not meet a man, i.e., there will be none to oppose me, or I will not spare a man.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I will not meet thee as a man; literally,…
I will not meet thee as a man; literally, I shall not meet a man; i.e. "I shall not find any one to oppose me."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Thy nakedness shall be uncovered
Isa_47:3
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered
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Mental and moral nakedness
Every person hath somewhat which may properly be called his nakedness or shame, in a figurative sense--such as a weak judgment, imprudence, inconsideration, injustice, cruelty, avarice, poverty, or contempt of religion.
Over that he studiously endeavours to throw a veil, that it may be preserved from public observation. Now, when the covering is taken away by which any of these things were concealed, then peoples nakedness or shame is laid open to the inspection of those who possess penetration and discernment. (R. Macculloch.)
A fearful meeting
I. THY NAKEDNESS SHALL BE UNCOVERED. Man practises deceit. He imposes upon himself, and, as far as possible, upon his fellows. He cloaks his sins, his motives, his evil ways. He is not sincere in his professions, not open in his conduct, not honest in his judgments. Sin itself is a monstrous deceit and lie. The author of sin is a liar. And so with the children of the devil. There is nothing in them--in their hearts, lives, characters--that will stand the light of the throne. The truth will flash the sunlight into the chamber of the soul, and into every transaction of life, and lay bare to the eye of God and the quest of the universe the true real state and status of the moral man. Then thy nakedness shall be uncovered. The awful sight of a rational and immortal soul, steeped in guilt, lost to virtue and to God, and deceived to its eternal undoing, will shock the very heavens.
II. YEA, THY SHAME SHALL BE SEEN. The shame of wanton rebellion against the great God, our Heavenly Father; the shame of sinning unto death against the Cross of the loving and dying Christ; the shame of consummating a character of incorrigible wickedness, and a doom more awful than that of sinning angels, under all the light and influences of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. To look upon such shame in the judgment day will shock and confound the sinner himself, and fill all heaven with loathing and indignation.
III. I WILL TAKE VENGEANCE, AND I WILL NOT MEET THEE AS A MAN. The vengeance of God! Who can stand before it? The partial displays of it in this life, where wrath is restrained and clemency bears rule, are fearful tokens of what is in store for those who refuse offered mercy and exhaust Gods long-suffering goodness in the world of retribution. It is awful to face an angry man whom we have grievously wronged. It is more fearful still to confront a stern judge, who, as minister of the law we have broken, makes inquisition upon us. But oh, to stand face to face before the offended Majesty of heaven, now risen up to take vengeance upon the despisers of His grace, is a thought that may well fill us with the profoundest concern. (Homiletic Review.)
I will not meet thee as a man
I will not meet thee as a man
The sense is very obscure. (Skinner.)
I will run against no man, namely, that I should need to give way to him. (Stier.)
I will not intervene as a man. (Ruetschi.)
I shall not meet a man, so depopulated will Babylon be. (Hahn.)
I shall encounter no one who can resist Me. (Cheyne.)
It means to encounter, meet, hit upon one, not only in a hostile, but also, as here and Isa_64:5, in a friendly sense; so I will befriend no one, pardon no one. (Delitzsch.)
Vengeance I take, and strike treaty with none. (G. A. Smith.)
Possibly, I will take vengeance, and will not spare, saith our Redeemer. (A. B.Davidson, D. D.)
Independently of these minuter questions, it is clear that the whole clause is a laconic explanation of the figures which precede, and which are summed up in the simple, but terrific notion of resistless and inexorable vengeance. (J. A. Alexander.)
I will not meet thee as a man
I will not meet thee as a man, whose compassion may induce him to show ill-judged forbearance and clemency, but thou shalt have judgment without mercy, who hast showed no mercy: I will not meet thee with the justice of a man, that may be perverted, but with that impartial equity which can neither be corrupted nor evaded. I will not meet thee with the anger of a man, which for certain reasons may be concealed or deferred, but with my fierce wrath that shall inevitably consume thee. I will not meet thee with the strength of a man, that may be opposed or vanquished, but clothed with omnipotence that cannot be resisted, so that it shall appear that it is not the vengeance of man, but of God. (R. Macculloch.)
God meeting sinners as a man
His threat is a threat of departure from His usual course. Thus, the expression is resolvable into a statement, that there is a human character about Gods dealings with men, and that it is an evidence of His not having given them up to vengeance, that He continues to meet them as a man. Let us consider the evidences which we have, that as a God of love, God meet us as a man.
I. Let us begin with those OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY GHOST, through which God may emphatically be said to meet us, to come in contact with us. There is much of mystery around these operations; we recognise them by their effects. Not only are these operations hidden from others, but the very party himself, within whose breast they are making themselves felt, can give little or no account whence they come, or how they work. He resolves whatever he experiences into the strugglings of his own mind, and the wrestlings of his own conscience. Would it be for our advantage, that, in meeting us, God should meet us as a God, and not as a man? We could not have borne that God should have spoken with us by unearthly voices, and warned us by unearthly spectacles, and approached us through unearthly avenues. Hence, the evidence that God has dealt lovingly with us, when we observe the appointed method in which the Spirit operates it is, that Divinity may be said to identify itself with humanity.
II. The mind turns naturally to THE GREAT SCHEME OF REDEMPTION, and finds at once in that scheme full material of demonstration. Does it not commend itself to us as an arrangement beautifully indicative of the tenderness of God that the great High Priest of our profession, who was essentially Divine,-was, at the same time, a man? I the Divine nature had entered union with the angelic so that God had met us, not as a man, but as a cherub or seraph, we should have had no power, comparatively, of estimating what had been done on our behalf. We have little or no knowledge of higher orders of being, and there could consequently have been nothing which came home to the heart in the tidings of a Mediator, who, though essentially God, had assumed, for our sake, the likeness of one of those ranks. But when, in order to the meeting us in love in place of vengeance, God has become man, we can judge, we can feel the stupendousness of this humiliation.
III. WHEN CHRISTIANS COME TO DIE, how are they accompanied through the dark valley and across the dark waters? God still meets them as a man. Thy rod and Thy staff a sheperds implements, a mans implements--they comfort me.
IV. What shall we say to THE JUDGMENT SEAT, occupied by One so terrible in His splendour that the very earth and heavens flee away at His presence? This is the last great display of the mercy of that appointment through which a man has been given as a Mediator. How could an angel, with all his purity and his equity, make due allowance for human infirmity, or place himself in our circumstances, so as to decide with reference to our powers and opportunities, and thus throw into his verdict that consideration for our trials and temptations, without which, if there may be the strictness of justice, there can scarcely be the admixture of mercy? But the Man who hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows this is the Being who is to gather all nations before Him, and determine the eternal condition of each individual.
V. We may draw one more striking illustration of the text from THE APPOINTED MEANS THROUGH WHICH THE GOSPEL IS PROPAGATED. In the great work of gathering in the nations, and shrining the religion of Christ in the households and hearts of the human population, the Almighty makes not use of lofty angels, who have kept their first estate, but of persons who are themselves in peril, themselves but wrestlers for immortality. God, in the person of His ambassadors, might have met us as an angel, and not as a man. You could not, as you listened to the angel, or reflected on his preaching, put from you the feeling that he knew nothing experimentally of your trials, nothing of your difficulties--that he had no evil heart to struggle with, no mighty foes to withstand him in a course of obedience; and very easy you would think it, for one pure as this exalted creature to urge upon men the practice of righteousness, and to declaim with lofty vehemence on the vanity and worthlessness of the best earthly pleasures; very easy to recommend that to which he is prompted by his nature, and to denounce that for which he has neither inclination nor capacity. And this feeling would tell quickly and fatally on the moral hold which he might gain on an audience; making them suspicious that he spake on a matter of which he was no fair judge, and giving to the whole discourse the aspect of an airy speculation. Therefore is it in love to you that God meets you as a man. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Isa_47:3. I will take vengeance, and I will not…
A DREADFUL MEETING
Isa_47:3. I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
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Little did Babylon think with whom she now had to contend. This was no empty threat. It was carried into full and fearful execution. Thus it has fared with other nations, and will, at last, with every impenitent sinner. There is a time of vengeance, as well as of mercy. Then God will meet His enemies, but not as a man.
1. When men are about to meet their enemies, it is generally their policy to keep up the show of peace and friendship as long as they can; and to make their preparations secretly, so that when they strike, the blow may fall without warning—without affording any time for escape. But it is not in this manner that God meets His enemies. He gives them warning upon warning.
2. God does not meet His enemies in vengeance, till He has tried every means to recover and reclaim them. The crime of rebellion is commonly visited, by earthly rulers, with immediate condign punishment.
3. God never meets His enemies in vengeance, without a just and sufficient cause. Men often do.
4. God’s anger is infinitely removed from that which burns in the breasts of His fallen creatures. He has no private resentment to gratify, no bye-ends to answer. He acts as a moral governor, as guardian of the interests of the universe.
5. When God will meet impenitent sinners, there is no hope of resisting Him.
6. When He does meet His enemies, it is with a fixed determination to crush them. He will not spare.
7. Men sometimes, when they undertake to crush an enemy, leave the work unfinished. But it is not thus that God will deal with His enemies. Wherever His vengeance strikes, the blow will be fatal.
8. After an earthly prince has subdued his rebellious subjects, and laid them under his high displeasure, he may be moved by their entreaties and sufferings to release them from prison, and restore them to favour. But God will never show favour in another world to those who refuse submission to Him in this, and die with arms in their hands. “Behold, now is the accepted time.” When God shall have cast the impenitent into hell, the last ray of light will be extinguished for ever.—Heman Humphrey, D.D.: American National Preacher, vol. iv. pp. 269–274.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Yahweh continues to speak to Babylon about her downfall as if she were a queen who is humiliated. (See: Metaphor and Personification)
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Your nakedness will be uncovered
This can be stated in active form. AT: "You will be naked" (See: Active or Passive)
your shame will be seen
Here the word "shame" is a euphemism for one's private parts. This can be translated in active form. AT: "people will see your shame" or "people will see your private parts" (See: Euphemism and Active or Passive)
Our Redeemer
"Our" refers to Isaiah and the people of Israel. See how you translated "Redeemer" in Isaiah 41:14. (See: Inclusive "We")
Yahweh of hosts
See how you translated this phrase in Isaiah 1:24.
Holy One of Israel
See how you translated this phrase in Isaiah 5:16.
daughter of the Chaldeans
This phrase refers to the city, Babylon, which is spoken of as if it were a daughter. That the city is a "daughter" indicates how the Chaldeans think fondly of her. See how you translated this phrase in Isaiah 47:1.
for you will no longer be called
This can be stated in active form. AT: "for people will no longer call you" (See: Active or Passive)
queen of kingdoms
Yahweh speaks of Babylon being the capital city of the Babylonian empire as if it were a queen who ruled many kingdoms. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
shame
avenge
redeem
Yahweh of hosts
name
Holy One
Israel
darkness
Chaldea
queen
kingdom
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 47:3 God’s vengeance against those who oppose him and…
47:3 God’s vengeance against those who oppose him and those who oppress his people (see 34:8) will bring justice to the world by purging it of wickedness.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.