Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies.

“And concerning its desolation, and that no one should be permitted to inhabit it, there was the following prophecy by Isaiah: "Their land is desolate, their enemies consume it before them, and none of them shall dwell therein." And that it is guarded by you lest any one dwell in it, and that death is decreed against a Jew apprehended entering it, you know very well.”

“Isaiah lived almost [two] thousand years ago and saw Zion in a hut. The city was still standing, beautiful with public squares and clothed in honor; yet he says, "Zion shall be plowed like a field," foretelling what has been fulfilled in our day. Observe the exactness of the prophecy; for he said, "Daughter Zion will be left like a hut in a vineyard, like a shed in a melon patch." Now the place is full of melon patches.”

“Your country, etc. What has been said hitherto in figurative expressions is now repeated in plain language. All their land has been smitten, a part of it is desolate, without inhabitants, a part destroyed by fire, another part robbed of its produce by strangers. אכלים אתה Devour it. Devour its produce; comp. בעצבון תאכלנה In sorrow shalt thou eat of it. (Gen. 3:17.) ושממה And desolate. Supply ארצכם ‘ your country ’—and your country is desolate. זרים can be derived from זרם ‘ tempest ’ (32:2); the final מ would then be not a sign of the plural, but one of the radical letters; if so, if this derivation be correct, the two words זרים of this verse are two different grammatical forms.”

“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth. Here begins the treatise of this book, from which the division will be taken according to what the subject matter requires. Now it has been said that its principal intention concerns the coming of Christ, and the calling of the Gentiles. Now it is clear that all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth, as is said in Psalm 24. Hence, when Christ was born, it was said by Simeon, Luke 2: behold, this one is set for the fall and the resurrection of many in Israel. And when the Gentiles were entering in, it was said by the Apostle, Romans 11: blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in. This book, therefore, is divided into two parts. In the first is set forth the threat of divine justice unto the destruction of sinners; in the second, the consolation of divine mercy unto the resurrection of the just, chapter 40, there, "be comforted." The first is divided into three. For since he speaks principally concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the first part he threatens the two sinning tribes; in the second, others who persecute them, chapter 7, "and it came to pass." In the third he delivers them from threatening enemies, chapter 32, "behold in justice." The first is divided into two. In the first he reproaches their fault and threatens a correcting punishment; in the second he threatens a punishment condemning the incorrigible, chapter 6: "in the year that king Uzziah died." The first is divided into two. In the first he charges the fault on the side of aversion, in the second on the side of conversion, chapter 2, there, "the word which he saw." The first into two. In the first he charges against them the sin of aversion from the worship of God; in the second, from justice toward one's neighbor, there, "how has she become." The first into three. In the first he rebukes the fault; in the second he threatens punishment for the fault, there, "your land is desolate." In the third he seeks a remedy for the punishment, there, "hear the word of the Lord." The first into three. In the first he seeks a witness for the judgment; in the second he charges the deformity of the sin, there, "I have nourished sons"; in the third he shows the incorrigibility of the sinners, there, "upon what shall I strike you." Now he calls upon the creature as witness in the judgment of sin, which had also been witness in the binding of the precept. Deuteronomy 32: "Hear, O heavens, the things I speak" — for indeed the creature had been witness of the obligation to the precept. Deuteronomy 32. Now it is invoked as arbiter of the transgression. Psalm 49: "he called the heaven from above." But at another time it will be called as an instrument of divine vengeance. Wisdom 16: "the creature, serving its Creator, will grow fierce in torment against the unjust." But it seems unfitting that earth and heaven, which are insensible creatures, should be called upon to hear. But it must be said that, with respect to those who are of a rational nature, the insensible creature is called upon to show forth the divine power. Job 38: "I shut it up within my bounds." And Romans 4: "he calls the things that are not as though they were." And by the evidence of a deed. 2 Kings 12: "I indeed will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun." And Luke 19: "the stones will cry out, if these should be silent, I say to you"; to aggravate malice. Jeremiah 2: "Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and, O gates thereof, be very desolate." To magnify joy. Psalm 95: "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth exult." To astonish sorrow. Hosea 4: "Because of this the land shall mourn, and everyone who dwells in it shall languish." As if he were to say: your sin is so evident that it would be convicted by irrational things, if it could be so; and likewise concerning the others. Or there is here a metonymy, so that heaven is put for the Angels, and earth for men. "Heavens" — plural for singular. Or because, according to the letter, there are many heavens and one center, which is the earth. "The Lord has spoken." That you may hear him speaking, by whose speaking you were made. Psalm 148: "He spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created." "Hear, O heavens" — as being distant; "give ear, O earth" — as being near. "I have nourished sons." Here he shows the deformity of the sin, and concerning this he does three things. First he shows contempt in the affection; second, ignorance in the intellect, there, "the ox has known"; third, aversion in the effect of the deed, there, "woe to the sinful nation," etc. And this order is kept, so that ignorance is aggravated by contempt, lest ignorance excuse contempt. He aggravates the contempt by the benefit bestowed; hence concerning the first he does two things. First he calls to mind the benefit; second, the vice of ingratitude, there, "but they." Now he sets down a threefold benefit. The first is that of filial adoption, when he says, "sons." Exodus 4: "Israel is my firstborn son." The second, that of careful upbringing, there, "I have nourished." Wisdom 16: "You nourished your people with the food of Angels." The third, that of singular exaltation, there, "and I have exalted." Wisdom 11: "showing, by the thirst which then was, how you exalted your own, and slew their adversaries." The first as regards the assumption and exaltation of the fathers; the second, in the deliverance of the sons; the third, in the subjugation of the enemies. "They have despised me." (Here he sets down the vice of ingratitude.) Jeremiah 3: "As if a woman should despise her lover, so has the house of Israel despised me." Now he aggravates the ignorance by the example of brute beasts; hence concerning this he does two things. First he brings in the knowledge of brute beasts; second, the ignorance of sinners, there, "but Israel" — "the ox has known" — by a certain custom of benefit. "But Israel." He charges against them a twofold ignorance: namely, of the one commanding, when he says, "has not known me," against what he had said, "his possessor"; and against the meaning of the name; "Israel" is interpreted "seeing God." John 16: "they have not known the Father, nor me." Ignorance of the law: "has not understood," against what he had said, "the manger," and what he had said, "people," who is subject to the precepts of the lawgiver. Hosea 8: "I will write for them my manifold laws, which have been reckoned as though foreign." Now he aggravates the effect of the deed by confirmed practice; hence first he shows the confirmation; second, their aversion, "they have forsaken." He shows the confirmation, first, through the custom of sin, which induces a habit; hence he says, "sinful nation." For thus a sinner is by habit as a singer is by art, or by office; below, chapter 48: "I have called you a transgressor from the womb." Second, through the readiness of sin, which is, as it were, a certain heaviness in the one sinning; (hence he says: "a people laden with iniquity"). Gregory: "a sin which is not washed away by penance soon, by its own weight, drags one to another." Psalm 13: "their feet are swift to shed blood." Third, from the succession of sin: because, imitating the sins of their fathers, they have them as if by propagation; hence he says, "wicked seed," that is, of the most wicked, according to another translation. Psalm 105: "we have sinned with our fathers, we have acted unjustly, we have done iniquity." Fourth, as to the magnitude of the sins, when he says, "wicked children." Ezekiel 22: "slanderous men have been in you, to shed blood, (...) they have wrought wickedness in the midst of you." Below, chapter 57: "are you not wicked children, a lying seed?" "Upon which — adding." Here he shows the incorrigibility of the sin, removing a threefold mode of correction. First, that which is through the divine scourge, saying, "upon which," that is, to what end, "adding," namely, that from where correction comes, from there you add sins? Jeremiah 2: "in vain have I struck your children: they have not received discipline." Second, that which is through the counsel or help of a neighbor, when he says, "every head is languid": because no one is fit to come to another's aid, on account of his own weakness. And this he shows as regards the person of the king or the prince, saying: "every head is languid." 1 Kings 15: "Did you not, when you were little in your own eyes, become head over the tribes of Israel?" As regards the person of the priest, "every heart is mourning": for the heart is the first to receive life from the soul and to transmit it into the body, being as it were a medium between soul and body; so the priest is a medium between God and the people. Exodus 4: "you shall be to him in those things that pertain to God." As regards the person of a private man, when he says: "from the sole of the foot"; below, chapter 56: "all have turned aside, each to his own way." And it must be noted that the unfitness of the king is shown in languor, because he could have come to aid by punishing, through power. Ecclesiasticus 7: "seek not to become a judge, unless you are able by strength to break through iniquity." That of the priest is shown in mourning, through which he becomes unfit for the sacrifices, by which he used to expiate sins. Leviticus 10: "how could I eat it, or please the Lord in the ceremonies, with a mournful mind?" Psalm 99: "enter into his sight with exultation." But the private man could correct by example; and therefore he is shown to be unfit through sin, which is designated in the privation of health: Psalm 13: "all have turned aside, together they have become unprofitable"; namely, for correcting. Third, there, "wound and bruise," he removes the mode that is through human effort, as when someone is disposed toward grace, which blots out sins, through good works. Hence he says: "wound" — evident guilt, and "bruise" — hidden envy, and "swelling sore" — inflating pride — "is not bound up" by the restraining bond of the law. Jeremiah 2: "of old you have broken my yoke, you have burst my bonds, you have said, I will not serve" — as to the first: "nor cured with medicine" — charity healing — as to the second: Proverbs 10: "charity covers all sins": "nor fomented with oil" — humility soothing — (as to the third), Judith 9: "the prayer of the humble and meek has always pleased you." Ecclesiasticus 3: "the greater you are, the more humble yourself in all things." Proverbs 15: "a mild answer breaks wrath." Judges 9: "can I forsake my fatness, which both gods and men make use of?" "Your land." Here he threatens punishment; and first he sets down the judgment of the one punishing; second, whatever comfort of consolation there is, there, "unless the Lord." He sets down a threefold punishment. First, as to the destruction of possessions; hence he says, "your land is desolate," as to the open fields, which will be as uncultivated as a desert. Below, chapter 7: "for briers and thorns shall be in all the land." "Your cities are burned," as to the towns. Amos 2: "I will send a fire into Judah, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem." Jeremiah 4: "I looked, and behold Carmel a wilderness, and all its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the wrath of his fury." The second punishment is as to the destruction of the produce of the land; hence he says: "they devour the region," as to the fruits. Deuteronomy 28: "let it devour the fruit of your cattle, and the fruits of your land, until you perish." "It shall be desolate," as to the destruction of trees and vineyards. Jeremiah 4: "woe to us, for we are laid waste." Third, as to the captivity of men; hence he says: "the daughter of Zion shall be left" — that is, Jerusalem, or the temple, whence was the guard of the whole province — "as a lonely one," and "as a shelter in a vineyard," after the vintage. Below, chapter 5: "for the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah his delightful plant." "As a hut in a field of cucumbers," after the last fruits have been gathered, by which he signifies the fathers. Hosea 9: "as the first fruits of the fig tree, in its top, I saw their fathers." "As a city that is laid waste," because it was the metropolis. Ezekiel 33: "the city is laid waste, said he who had come from Jerusalem." Jeremiah 6: "this is the city of visitation: all calumny is in the midst of her." "Unless the Lord of hosts." Here is set down the consolation from the promise of a seed to be delivered. Now the Lord left them the seed of the flesh gathered together. Below, chapter 43: "from the east I will bring your seed, and from the west I will gather you." The seed of blessing promised. Galatians 3: "to Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed." The seed of preaching spread abroad. Below, chapter 27: "he who shall go forth with impetus from Jacob, and Israel shall flourish and bud: and they shall fill the face of the world with seed." The new seed of the saints. Below, chapter 66: "as the new heavens and the new earth, which I make to stand before me, so shall your seed stand, and your name, says the Lord." "I have nourished sons," etc. Here three things are noted: the benefit of nourishment, the privilege of exaltation, the contempt of ingratitude. Now he nourished them in the time of the law, when the heir was still a little child, Galatians 4, first refreshing them with promises in the fathers. Galatians 3: "to Abraham were the promises made." Second, governing by judgments in the lawgivers, Psalm 147: "he has not done in like manner to every nation, and his judgments he has not made manifest to them." Third, defending by aids in the judges and kings, Judith 5: "their God defends them, and we shall be a reproach to all the earth." Fourth, he instructed by admonitions in the prophets, Malachi 2: "and the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth." Fifth, he corrected by scourges through enemies, 2 Maccabees 6: "for indeed not to allow sinners to act according to their own mind for a long time, but to apply vengeance at once, is a mark of great kindness." But he exalted them in the time of grace, first, as to the assumption of flesh. Hebrews 2: "nowhere does he take hold of the Angels; but he takes hold of the seed of Abraham." Second, by personal preaching, Matthew 10: "I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel." Third, by his own manner of life, John 10: "many good works have I done among you: for which work," etc.; fourth, by the working of miracles, John 5, and Luke 7: "because a great prophet has risen up among us, and because God has visited his people." Fifth, by the preaching of the disciples, Psalm 44: "instead of your fathers, sons are born to you: you shall make them princes over all the earth." But, on the contrary, they revile the lineage of Christ, Luke 4: "is not this the son of Joseph?" They condemn his teaching, Matthew 26 and Luke 23: "from Galilee even to this place, we have found this man perverting our nation." They blaspheme his life, Matthew 9: "why does your master eat with publicans and sinners?" They pervert his miracles, Matthew 12: "he casts out devils by the prince of devils." They kill his disciples, Matthew 10: "behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves."”

“Your country is desolate,.... Or "shall be"; this is either a declaration in proper terms of what is before figuratively expressed, or rather a prophecy of what would be their case on account of transgressions; and which had its accomplishment partly in the Babylonish captivity, and fully in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; when not only their city and temple, called their house, Mat 23:38, were left unto them desolate, but the whole land; and they were carried captive, and scattered among the nations, where they have been ever since: your cities are, or shall be, burned with fire; as, Jerusalem has been, and other cities in Judea, Mat 22:7. your land, strangers devour it in your presence; before their eyes, and it would not be in their power to prevent it; meaning either the Babylonians or the Romans, or both, and especially the latter, who were strangers and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel: and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers; who ravage, plunder, and destroy all they meet with, and spare nothing, not intending to settle there, as those who are near do, when they conquer a neighbouring nation. Some think this prophecy was delivered in the times of Ahaz, and refers to the desolation in his time, Ch2 28:17 but rather, as Joel and Amos prophesied before Isaiah, he may refer to those desolating judgments, they speak of, by the locusts, caterpillars, and fire, Joe 1:4 but to consider the words as a prediction of what should be in after times seems best; and so the Arabic version reads the words, "your land shall be desolate, your cities shall be burnt with fire, and your country strangers shall devour before you"; or shall be as overthrown by strangers, being overflown with a flood or storm of rain; so Abendana (d). (d) As if it was which signifies a flood, or overflowing of water, Hab. iii. 10. to which sense Aben Ezra inclines; so Schultens in Job xxiv. 8.”

“Judah had not in Uzziah's reign recovered from the ravages of the Syrians in Joash's reign (Ch2 24:24), and of Israel in Amaziah's reign (Ch2 25:13, Ch2 25:23, &c.). Compare Isaiah's contemporary (Amo 4:6-11), where, as here (Isa 1:9-10), Israel is compared to "Sodom and Gomorrah," because of the judgments on it by "fire." in your presence--before your eyes: without your being able to prevent them. desolate, &c.--literally, "there is desolation, such as one might look for from foreign" invaders.”

“This is described more particularly in Isa 1:7, which commences with the most general view, and returns to it again at the close."Your land ... a desert; your cities ... burned with fire; your field ... foreigners consuming it before your eyes, and a desert like overthrowing by strangers." Caspari has pointed out, in his Introduction to the Book of Isaiah, how nearly every word corresponds to the curses threatened in Lev 26 and Deut 28 (29); Mic 6:13-16 and Jer 5:15. stand in the very same relation to these sections of the Pentateuch. From the time of Isaiah downwards, the state of Israel was a perfect realization of the curses of the law. The prophet intentionally employs the words of the law to describe his own times; he designates the enemy, who devastated the land, reduced its towers to ashes, and took possession of its crops, by the simple term zarim, foreigners or barbarians (a word which would have the very same meaning if it were really the reduplication of the Aramaean bar; compare the Syriac barōye, a foreigner), without mentioning their particular nationality. He abstracts himself from the definite historical present, in order that he may point out all the more emphatically how thoroughly it bears the character of the fore-ordained curse. The most emphatic indication of this was to be found in the fact, which the clause at the close of Isa 1:7 palindromically affirms, that a desolation had been brought about "like the overthrow of foreigners." The repetition of a catchword like zarim (foreigners) at the close of the v. in this emphatic manner, is a figure of speech, called epanaphora, peculiar to the two halves of our collection. The question arises, however, whether zarim is to be regarded as the genitive of the subject, as Caspari, Knobel, and others suppose, "such an overthrow as is commonly produced by barbarians" (cf., Sa2 10:3, where the verb occurs), or as the genitive of the object, "such an overthrow as comes upon barbarians." As mahpechâh (overthrow) is used in other places in which it occurs to denote the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, etc., according to the primary passage, Deu 29:22, and Isaiah had evidently also this catastrophe in his mind, as Isa 1:8 clearly shows; we decide in favour of the conclusion that zârim is the genitive of the object (cf., Amo 4:11). The force of the comparison is also more obvious, if we understand the words in this sense. The desolation which had fallen upon the land of the people of God resembled that thorough desolation (subversio) with which God visited the nations outside the covenant, who, like the people of the Pentapolis, were swept from off the earth without leaving a trace behind. But although there was similarity, there was not sameness, as Isa 1:8, Isa 1:9 distinctly affirm. Jerusalem itself was still preserved; but in how pitiable a condition! There can be no doubt that bath-Zion ("daughter of Zion," Eng. ver.) in Isa 1:8 signifies Jerusalem. The genitive in this case is a genitive of apposition: "daughter Zion," not "daughter of Zion" (cf., Isa 37:22 : see Ges. 116, 5). Zion itself is represented as a daughter, i.e., as a woman. The expression applied primarily to the community dwelling around the fortress of Zion, to which the individual inhabitants stood in the same relation as children to a mother, inasmuch as the community sees its members for the time being come into existence and grow: they are born within her, and, as it were, born and brought up by her. It was then applied secondarily to the city itself, with or without the inhabitants (cf., Jer 46:19; Jer 48:18; Zac 2:11). In this instance the latter are included, as Isa 1:9 clearly shows. This is precisely the point in the first two comparisons.”