I will clothe the heavens with darkness, and will make sackcloth their covering.

“Thus says the Lord: Who is this, etc. Here he begins to remove the impediments to liberation: and first he removes the impediments; second he applies remedies, chapter 53: Who has believed the report, etc. Concerning the first he removes three impediments. First, the lack of divine benefits; second, the rejection of persons, chapter 51: Hear me, you who follow, etc.; third, the poverty of things, chapter 52: Arise, arise, etc. Concerning the first, three things. First he excludes the impediment; second he sets himself forth as an example: The Lord has given me, etc.; third he concludes with wholesome counsel: Who among you that fears, etc. Concerning the first, two things. First he excludes the lack of divine benefits on the part of the divine will, second on the part of the divine power: Is it shortened, etc. Concerning the first, three things. First he excludes a defect of the divine will, as though God of himself did not wish to do good, excluding a twofold manner of alienation: namely, the manner of putting away a wife, which was by a bill of divorce, as is said in Deuteronomy 24, which indeed was permitted to them on account of the hardness of their heart, Matthew 19: Who is this, etc. But against this, Jeremiah 3: because she had committed adultery, etc. And it must be said that the Lord, as far as is in himself, did not repudiate them; but they, through their own sins, forsook God. He also excludes the manner of alienating a possession: Or who is the creditor, etc., as if to say: you who are my inheritance. Above, 19: I should have sold to him, not having anything else to pay — whence it is clear that, since I have not alienated you from my lordship, I am prepared to do good as far as it is in me. Second, he shows the sin of the human will: For behold, in iniquities — Romans 7: For I am a carnal man, sold under sin. Third, he sets forth an argument: because I came, through inspiration; I called, through the prophets. Proverbs 1: I called, and you refused. Is it shortened? Here he excludes the defect on the part of the divine power, excluding first a defect of power: shortened, as though I could not even subject those far off to myself; small, against powers. Below, 59: Behold, the hand of the Lord is not shortened. Second, he sets forth a sign of the divine power: Behold. First in the waters: in rebuke, that is, at command, I will do it, if I will, just as I did at the going out of Israel from Egypt, Exodus 14; I will make rivers, as the Arnon, Numbers 21, and the Jordan, Joshua 4; they will rot, as in Exodus 7, when the waters were turned into blood. Psalm 105: He rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up. Second, he shows signs of his power in the heavens: I will clothe the heavens — the airy ones — with darkness, as in Egypt, Exodus 10. Psalm 146: Who covers the heaven with clouds. The Lord has given. Here he sets himself forth as an example: and first as to the grace of the benefit received; then as to eloquence — a learned tongue, to sustain, with encouragements: Job 4: they strengthened the wavering; then also as to wisdom — he raises up, to attend, in the morning, from the beginning of my preaching, or from the beginning of my age. Or because at that time he was accustomed to pray, Psalm 62: In the mornings I will meditate on you. He has opened, for understanding, Psalm 84: I will hear what the Lord God speaks in me. Matthew 23: One is your master, Christ. Second, he sets himself forth as an example as to obedience, setting forth perfect obedience: But I do not contradict — rather I receive, and I accept his inspiration; I did not go backward, from a good purpose. Above, 45: Woe to him who contradicts his maker. He also sets forth the constancy of obeying, because he did not give up obedience for any danger: I have given my body; that is, I exposed myself to suffer such things. Or perhaps he suffered these things literally; but it was fully fulfilled in Christ, Matthew 26 and 27. Jeremiah 12: I have given my beloved soul into the hands of enemies. Third, he sets himself forth as an example as to the confidence which he had in God, first setting forth a ready defense: The Lord God is a helper — Jeremiah 20: The Lord is with me like a strong warrior. Second, the security of that confidence: and he set me, that I might not be moved by fear or shame. Ezekiel 3: I have made you like adamant and flint. Third, he assigns the reason for the security from the power of the one helping: Near is he who justifies, namely, God. Who will contradict? By words. Let us stand together. Job 17: Set me, Lord, next to you, and let anyone's hand fight against me. Adversary — by deeds. Let him condemn — by false judgments. Romans 8: God who justifies, who is it that condemns? Again, from the weakness of the one attacking: Behold, all of them like a garment — by old age, in which there is a natural defect; the moth, in which there is violence. Job 13: who am to be consumed like rottenness, and like a garment that is eaten by a moth. As if he were to say: from all these things, just as I, after having received benefits, obey God and trust in him, so also you. Who among you? Here he concludes, from his own example, a wholesome counsel: and first he sets forth the counsel; second he sets forth the contempt of the counsel: Behold, all of you. Now he gives counsel that they should trust in God: whence he does three things. First he requires the fitness of those who trust, which is from fear and obedience — servant, of Isaiah, or of whatever other. Psalm 24: Who is the man who fears the Lord? Second he shows the necessity of confidence: who has walked in darkness — of error, or of adversity. John 11: He who walks in the night stumbles. Third he sets forth the counsel itself: let him hope in the name; above, 10: the remnant of Israel, etc. Behold, all. Here he sets forth the contempt of the counsel, setting forth three things. First the fault: kindling — by your sins — a fire, meriting it for yourselves; girded — as though bound in your sins, or made ready for sin. Above, 1: your strength shall be as the ash of tow. Second he sets forth the punishment: walk — as if he were to say, receive the punishment. Psalm 9: The sinner is caught in the labors of his own hands. Third he sets forth the power of the one punishing: from the hand, namely, of the power of God. You shall sleep — the sleep of death. Note, on that word, you are sold in iniquities, that man sells many things for sin. First, the virtue of the soul: Lamentations 1: They gave up all their precious things for a vile price. Second, the heavenly inheritance: 3 Kings 21: The Lord be merciful to me, that I should not sell the inheritance of my fathers. Third, the liberty of the soul: Ecclesiasticus 10: Nothing is more wicked than to love money. Fourth, the honor of divine love: Hosea 3: the Lord loves. Also, on that word, But I do not contradict, note that men contradict God: first, the unfaithful contradict the divine truth. Ecclesiasticus 4: Do not contradict the word of truth. Second, the impatient contradict the divine correction. Job 9: who contradicts him? etc. Third, the impenitent contradict the divine goodness. Above, 41: and they shall be as if they were not. Fourth, the disobedient contradict the divine authority. Hosea 4: your people. Also, on that word, you shall sleep in sorrows, that sinners grieve in death. First, on account of the loss of bodily things: Job 27: When the rich man shall sleep, he shall carry nothing with him. Second, on account of the contradiction of conscience: Wisdom 5: doing penance, and groaning for anguish of spirit. Third, on account of despair of future glory: Lamentations, last chapter: The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned. Fourth, on account of fear of punishment: Psalm 47: There sorrows as of a woman in labor, etc.”

“I clothe the heavens with blackness,.... With gross and thick darkness; perhaps referring to the three days' darkness the Egyptians were in, Exo 10:12, or with thick and black clouds, as in tempestuous weather frequently; or by eclipses of the sun; there was an extraordinary instance of great darkness at the time of Christ's crucifixion, Mat 27:45. and I make sackcloth their covering; that being black, and used in times of mourning; the allusion may be to the tents of Kedar, which were covered with sackcloth, or such like black stuff. The fall of the Pagan empire, through the power of Christ and his Gospel, is signified by the sun becoming black as sackcloth of hair, Rev 6:12. Jarchi interprets this parabolically of the princes of the nations, when the Lord shall come to take vengeance upon them; as Kimchi does the sea, and the rivers, in the preceding verse, of the good things of the nations of the world, which they had in great abundance, and should be destroyed.”