For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall sing praise before yen, and all the trees of the country shall clap their hands.

“For you shall go out with joy. You will go out from the exile joyfully. And be led forth with peace to your land on horses and mules. If this passage be referred to the Babylonian exile, it was indeed literally fulfilled. But if it is understood to allude to a future redemption, in that case comp. And they shall bring all your brethren upon horses, etc. (66:20). Some refer it to both. ימחאו Shall clap. This verb is frequently met with in the Chaldee. ומחה and shall reach (Num. 34:11) is of the same root.”

“This is the inheritance. Here he applies the third remedy, promising an abundance of things against the former want. And it is divided into two parts: in the first he sets down the promise; in the second he shows the firmness of the promise, and how it comes down. Concerning the first he does three things. First he shows the condition of those to whom it is promised: this is the inheritance; that is, these things that follow are owed to the servants of the Lord, who are his sons, as by hereditary right, and by justice, as a just reward. Ps. 15: my inheritance. Second he sets forth the promise, promising a future abundance in necessary things: all you who thirst, that is, you from among the Jews, who before were thirsting on account of want, buy, without price, eat, bread, and other necessary things. John 7: if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink (...) and from his belly there shall flow living waters. And in delights: come, buy, as if to say, as though you were buying, receive; or without silver, that is, for less than the just price. Song 5: I have drunk my wine with my milk. And recalling the former want: why do you weigh out? As if to say: why until now did you give silver, and were not able to buy bread with it? Haggai 1: you have sown much, and brought in little. But these things are expounded mystically of the water of divine wisdom, which is given freely to those who thirst, according to the Gloss. Third he enjoins the preparation for obtaining the said promise: hear, you who hear; and first he rouses attention; second he sets down the exhortation, seek the Lord. Now he rouses attention by a threefold promise. First, promising to those who attend a copious enjoyment of good things: eat, that is, I will refresh you with diverse good things, if you hear me, in fatness, as to abundance. Above, ch.1: if you be willing, and will hear me, you shall eat the good things of the land. Jer. 31: the soul of the priests. Second, promising escape from death: incline. Ps. 118: my soul shall live; again Ps. 118: I will never forget your justifications, for by them you have given me life. Third, promising power. And first he sets down a comparison: and I will strike: that is, just as I made true promises to David, that his seed should remain forever, so I will also do with you. Second he explains it, showing what David did: behold, a witness, Ps. 17: a people whom I have not known has served me; at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me. And what he will do for them: behold, you shall call nations, to fulfill your command, not by your own strength, but on account of the Lord. Above, ch.49: they shall worship, on account of the Lord your God, who has chosen you. Seek the Lord. Here he enjoins on them the preparation for obtaining the said promise: and first he gives the divine counsel of seeking: seek the Lord while he may be found, before adversity or death comes. Ps. 104: seek the Lord, etc. Prov. 1: they shall rise in the morning, etc. Second he teaches the manner of seeking: let the wicked man forsake, he who sins against God; the unjust man, he who sins against his neighbor. Above, ch.1: take away the evil of your thoughts from before my eyes. Third he sets down the fruit of returning, namely mercy: and let him return, for he is great, that is, of manifold mercy, to forgive. Joel 2: turn to the Lord your God. Fourth he excludes the impediment to mercy: for not the thoughts, as if to say: you are wicked, I am merciful; you think of vengeance, I of mercy. Ezek. 18: are not my ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways wicked? And as. Here he shows the firmness of the promise: and first he shows the efficacy of the divine word: to me void, that is, without fruit. Wisdom 1: an obscure word. Hosea 6: he shall come like the early and the latter rain. Second he sets down its content as to the joyful release from Babylon, for in joy. Ps. 104: he brought forth his people in exultation, and his chosen ones in gladness. As to the congratulation of others: mountains and hills, the powerful and the common people, praising the Lord in you. Or it is a hyperbole. Your land, congratulating your return. As to the multiplied restitution of goods: instead of the brier, that is, the former things were few in respect of the things to come. Haggai 2: the glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former. Above, ch.41: I will give in the wilderness. The saliunca, so called from leaping (saliendo), which is called the hare's thistle. Third he sets down the consequent glory of God: and the Lord shall be named, everywhere and always glorious for your liberation, for an everlasting sign, to which they shall flee as to a sign of salvation. Above, ch.49: behold I will lift up my sign to the nations. Note on that word, all you who thirst come to the waters, that divine teaching is first called water; and this, first, because it heals the sick. Ecclus. 15: he gave him to drink the water of wholesome wisdom. Second, because it cleanses the defiled. Ezek. 36: I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness. Third, because it satisfies those who thirst. John 4: whoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall not thirst forever. Second it is called wine; and this because, first, it pricks by reproving. Above, ch.1: your wine is mixed with water. Second, because it kindles by exhorting. Ps. 104: the word of the Lord inflamed him. Third, because it inebriates by consoling. Below, at the end: be inebriated with the breasts of your consolation. Third it is called milk; and this, first, on account of beauty. Gen. 49: Naphtali, a hart let loose, giving words of beauty. Second, on account of sweetness. Song 2: let your voice sound in my ears, for your voice is sweet. Third, on account of the ease of taking it. 1 Pet. 2: as newborn babes, desire milk.”

“For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace,.... Though these words may literally respect the Jews' return from captivity to their own land, attended with joy and peace; as the preceding verse may respect the word of promise concerning it; as it is interpreted by the Targum, "for with joy shall ye go out from among the people, and with peace shall ye be brought to your own land;'' yet they may be spiritually applied to the conversion of men, in consequence of the word being made effectual, of which the deliverance from the Babylonish thraldom was a type; when men "go out" of a state of bondage to sin, Satan, and the law; out of a state of darkness and ignorance; out of the pit of nature's misery and distress; out of themselves and their own righteousness; out of their own sinful ways, and from among the men of the world: and though here is a divine power exerted in all this, yet they go out freely, being led by the Spirit of God; who takes them by the hand as it were, and leads them in ways before unknown to them; he leads them to Christ, his person, fulness, blood, and righteousness; to the house of God, and to the ordinances of it; and from one degree of grace to another, till he brings them to glory: all which is attended with "joy and peace" to themselves; finding themselves released from bondage, in a state of light and comfort, out of the horrible pit, and on a rock; brought to Christ, and clothed with his righteousness; to the angels in heaven, who rejoice over every sinner that repenteth; to the ministers of the Gospel, who are the instruments of their conversion; and to all the saints into whose fellowship they are brought; which joy is further illustrated by the following strong figures: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing; or the people that dwell upon them: and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands; or clap with their branches; as the Targum, the tops of them, being moved with gentle breezes of wind, bow themselves, and the branches intertwining and clasping each other like hands and arms. Kimchi observes, that "mountains and hills" may signify the kings of the nations; and "the trees of the field" the people rejoicing at the deliverance of the Jews, as they pass along: it may be as well applied to the ministers of the word, and common believers rejoicing at the conversion of sinners, in whom as wonderful a change is wrought, as in the following cases. Vitringa interprets this of the apostles and ministers of the word going forth into the Gentile world, attended with joy in themselves, and among the converts there.”

“go out--from the various countries in which ye (the Jews) are scattered, to your own land (Eze 11:17). led--by Messiah, your "Leader" (Isa 55:4; Isa 52:12; Mic 2:12-13). mountains . . . trees, &c.--images justly used to express the seeming sympathy of nature with the joy of God's people. For, when sin is removed, the natural world shall be delivered from "vanity," and be renewed, so as to be in unison with the regenerated moral world (Isa 44:23; Psa 98:8; Rom 8:19-22).”

“The true point of comparison, however, is the energy with which the word is realized. Assuredly and irresistibly will the word of redemption be fulfilled. "For ye will go out with joy, and be led forth in peace: the mountains and the hills will break out before you into shouting, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn will cypresses shoot up, and instead of the fleabane will myrtles shoot up: and it will be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting memorial that will not be swept away." "With joy," i.e., without the hurry of fear (Isa 52:12); "in peace," i.e., without having to fight their way through or flee. The idea of the sufferer falls back in הוּבל behind that of a festal procession (Psa 45:15-16). In applying the term kaph (hand) to the trees, the prophet had in his mind their kippōth, or branches. The psalmist in Psa 98:8 transfers the figure created by our prophet to the waves of the streams. Na‛ătsūts (from nâ‛ats, to sting) is probably no particular kind of thorn, such, for example, as the fuller's thistle, but, as in Isa 7:19, briers and thorns generally. On sirpad, see Ges. Thes.; we have followed the rendering, κόυζα, of the lxx. That this transformation of the vegetation of the desert is not to be taken literally, any more than in Isa 41:17-20, is evident from the shouting of the mountains, and the clapping of hands on the part of the trees. On the other hand, however, the prophet says something more than that Israel will return home with such feelings of joy as will cause everything to appear transformed. Such promises as those which we find here and in Isa 41:19 and Isa 35:1-2, and such exhortations as those which we find in Isa 44:23; Isa 49:13, and Isa 52:9, arise from the consciousness, which was common to both prophets and apostles, that the whole creation will one day share in the liberty and glory of the children of God (Rom 8:21). This thought is dressed up sometimes in one for, and sometimes in another. The psalmists after the captivity borrowed the colours in which they painted it from our prophet (see at Psa 96:1-13 and Psa 98:1-9). והיה is construed as a neuter (cf., בּראתיו, Isa 45:8), referring to this festal transformation of the outer world on the festive return of the redeemed. אות is treated in the attributive clause as a masculine, as if it came from אוּת, to make an incision, to crimp, as we have already indicated; but the Arabic âyat, shows that it comes from אוה, to point out, and is contracted from ăwăyat, and therefore was originally a feminine.”