1Ho! you who make waste those who did not make you waste; acting falsely to those who were not false to you. When you have come to an end of wasting, you will be made waste, and after your false acts, they will do the same to you. 2O Lord, have mercy on us; for we have been waiting for your help: be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of trouble. 3At the loud noise the peoples have gone in flight; at your coming up the nations have gone in all directions. 4And the goods taken in war will be got together like the massing of young locusts; men will be rushing on them like the rushing of locusts. 5The Lord is lifted up; his place is on high: he has made Zion full of righteousness and true religion. 6And she will have no more fear of change, being full of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is her wealth. 7See, the men of war are sorrowing outside the town: those who came looking for peace are weeping bitterly. 8The highways are waste, no man is journeying there: the agreement is broken, he has made sport of the towns, he has no thought for man. 9The earth is sorrowing and wasting away; Lebanon is put to shame and has become waste; Sharon is like the Arabah; and in Bashan and Carmel the leaves are falling. 10Now will I come forward, says the Lord; now will I be lifted up; now will my power be seen. 11Your designs will be without profit, and their effect will be nothing: you will be burned up by the fire of my breath. 12And the peoples will be like the burning of chalk: as thorns cut down, which are burned in the fire. 13Give ear, you who are far off, to what I have done: see my power, you who are near. 14The sinners in Zion are full of fear; the haters of God are shaking with wonder. Who among us may keep his place before the burning fire? who among us may see the eternal burnings? 15He whose ways are true, and whose words are upright; he who gives no thought to the profits of false acts, whose hands have not taken rewards, who will have no part in putting men to death, and whose eyes are shut against evil; 16He will have a place on high: he will be safely shut in by the high rocks: his bread will be given to him; his waters will be certain. 17Your eyes will see the king in his glory: they will be looking on a far-stretching land. 18Your heart will give thought to the cause of your fear: where is the scribe, where is he who made a record of the payments, where is he by whom the towers were numbered? 19Never again will you see the cruel people, a people whose tongue has no sense for you; whose language is strange to you. 20Let your eyes be resting on Zion, the town of our holy feasts: you will see Jerusalem, a quiet resting-place, a tent which will not be moved, whose tent-pins will never be pulled up, and whose cords will never be broken. 21But there the Lord will be with us in his glory, ... wide rivers and streams; where no boat will go with blades, and no fair ship will be sailing. 22For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our king; he will be our saviour. 23Your cords have become loose; they were not able to make strong the support of their sails, the sail was not stretched out: then the blind will take much property, the feeble-footed will make division of the goods of war. 24And the men of Zion will not say, I am ill: for its people will have forgiveness for their sin.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
God's judgments against the enemies of his church. (1-14) The happiness of his people. (15-24) 1-14 Here we have the proud and false destroyer justly reckoned with for all his fraud and violence. The righteous God often pays sinners in their own coin. Those who by faith humbly wait for God, shall find him gracious to them; as the day, so let the strength be. If God leaves us to ourselves any morning, we are undone; we must every morning commit ourselves to him, and go forth in his strength to do the work of the day. When God arises, his enemies are scattered. True wisdom and knowledge lead to strength of salvation, which renders us stedfast in the ways of God; and true piety is the only treasure which can never be plundered or spent. The distress Jerusalem was brought into, is described. God's time to appear for his people, is, when all other helpers fail. Let all who hear what God has done, acknowledge that he can do every thing. Sinners in Zion will have much to answer for, above other sinners. And those that rebel against the commands of the word, cannot take its comforts in time of need. His wrath will burn those everlastingly who make themselves fuel for it. It is a fire that shall never be quenched, nor ever go out of itself; it is the wrath of an ever-living God preying on the conscience of a never-dying soul. 15-24 The true believer watches against all occasions of sin. The Divine power will keep him safe, and his faith in that power will keep him easy. He shall want nothing needful for him. Every blessing of salvation is freely bestowed on all that ask with humble, believing prayer; and the believer is safe in time and for ever. Those that walk uprightly shall not only have bread given, and their water sure, but they shall, by faith, see the King of kings in his beauty, the beauty of holiness. The remembrance of the terror they were in, shall add to the pleasure of their deliverance. It is desirable to be quiet in our own houses, but much more so to be quiet in God's house; and in every age Christ will have a seed to serve him. Jerusalem had no large river running by it, but the presence and power of God make up all wants. We have all in God, all we need, or can desire. By faith we take Christ for our Prince and Saviour; he reigns over his redeemed people. All that refuse to have Him to reign over them, make shipwreck of their souls. Sickness is taken away in mercy, when the fruit of it is the taking away of sin. If iniquity be taken away, we have little reason to complain of outward affliction. This last verse leads our thoughts, not only to the most glorious state of the gospel church on earth, but to heaven, where no sickness or trouble can enter. He that blotteth out our transgressions, will heal our souls.