The first chapter. *)
V. 1. This is the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw 2c.
1. this is, as I already stated in the preface
[§§ 1. 2], the title of the book, which one must make known diligently because it shows us the time in which Isaiah lived. Since the explanations of the prophets must be taken primarily from the stories, this title is therefore, as it were, an interpretation that gives us the key to this prophet.
(2) Furthermore, the reader must be reminded that Isaiah belongs only to the kingdom of Judah, therefore he mentions only the names of the kings of Judah in the title. For under Jotham, the king of Judah, Tiglath Pilesser led away a good part of Israel, namely two hundred thousand men, while in the battle one hundred and twenty thousand fell. And afterwards, about the fourth year of King Hezekiah, Shalmanapser king of Assyria led away what was left of Israel, namely all ten tribes, for the sake of the covenant that had been made with the king in Egypt; as we read 1 Kings 17:4. One must wonder at the stubbornness of the Jews that they did not take this great misfortune of theirs to heart and still persisted in idolatry. But so the wicked themselves must hasten God's wrath upon themselves and provoke God's anger against them, as we also see today. 1)
First, the prophet complains about the sins of his people, that they cannot be corrected either by charity or by punishment. Secondly, he condemns their efforts and plots, by which they have given in to the evil of the world.
1) Everything preceding (including the preface to the lecture) is missing from the first edition of 1532.
the evil beings. Third, he indicates the way in which they could control such great evils, namely, that they should fear God, believe in Him, and do good to their neighbor. To this he adds a promise and a threat. Finally, when he sees that all this is despised and thrown to the wind, he repeats the threat and announces a greater devastation beforehand; however, he promises that only the wicked will perish, but the rest will be preserved.
4. a vision is as much as a prophecy, and the seers are taken for prophets everywhere in Scripture, 1 Sam. 9, 9. but it is a word of humility, as if he wanted to say, Behold, I preach to you what I see.
V. 2. Hear, ye heavens and earth, take heed, for the LORD speaketh.
(5) In this he imitates Moses, which is very much to the liking of this prophet, since he is the most severe of all other prophets. This is the prophetic order,a , which the Scriptures everywhere follow, that they first terrify the hearts with the knowledge of sins, and show the disease; then, when the hearts are thus terrified and humbled by the word of the law, they restore them again by the promise of grace, which is given in Christ, and offered to us by the word of the gospel. And this order is kept by the Holy Spirit forever. But Satan does it the other way around: first he comforts and caresses, so that the hearts may not notice that God is so offended by sin. After that, when he comforts the weak
a) Here the edition of 1532 continues: "that the prophet frightens in the beginning and teaches the law, but comforts afterwards. The Satan and the false prophets do the contradiction". Hereupon the following is missing until the next Bible quotation: "I have children" 2c.
*) This superscription precedes § 3 in the Latin editions of 1534, because the first edition of 1532 only begins there.
If he has lured and deceived souls to their harm by this trick, then he leaves behind him an abominable horror. For he terrifies and afflicts the conscience until he brings it to despair, and in these terrors (which are truly a foretaste of eternal death) he makes the souls hate God, despair of His grace, and consider their sin to be greater than the merit of Christ, which is the highest blasphemy. Therefore, we should remember this order, which we see the prophet keeping here, so that we may beware of Satan's temptations, and oppose the terror of the conscience to Christ, and the safety to the law 2c.
6 But he calls heaven and earth to hear, that is, to be witnesses; not that they should understand. For "heaven" is not to be explained by angels, and "earth" by men. But if anyone could fully see the movements of the prophet's heart, he would perceive that in every word there is a fiery furnace and the fiercest heat. Therefore, because of the great vehemence of the movements, it is not everyone's business to interpret the prophets, unless he has the Holy Spirit for a teacher. Now the prophet uses this figure to draw the attention of his listeners. As if he wanted to say: Nobody hears, all are godless, and despise the word of God; therefore heaven and earth shall hear. Why this? Because "the Lord speaks", whose word deserves to be heard.
When God speaks, it immediately follows what kind of listeners he has, for, just as Christ says John 8:47: "He who is of God hears the word of God," others all despise this teacher and hold him in low esteem, they condemn his word as heresy, as we see today. Therefore, this exclamation is mainly directed to the sinners who have a beautiful appearance, not to the coarse ones who sin against the other table, which the world also understands, but to those who sin against the first table and keep the other table most holy for the sake of appearance. Such people were the priests in those days, and today they are the papists and the red spirits. But what does the Lord say?
I raised children. b)
8. he brings upon the ungodly Jews their ingratitude and blindness. But these are burning words, which we cannot reach with any speech. He does not say, I have chosen a people for myself, I have gathered Israel to myself 2c., but he calls them "children," and says, "I have brought them up." As if he wanted to say: I have not omitted anything, I have done everything; I have wanted to be their father, I have adopted them as my children, I have shown them all fatherly kindnesses, I have cared for them, I have increased them, I have protected them. If a prince did these things, they would be great things; but because I, God, do these things, they are despised. I have not only raised them up, but I have also "exalted" them; I have given them the name of the people of God; I have given them my word and the promises of my Son; I have given them and confirmed a kingdom which is the most glorious of all the kingdoms of the world, in which the service of God and the temporal government are in flourishing. But what will I be repaid for this?
But they have despised me.
9 That is, they have fallen away from me and backed away. Here you have a picture of the world. If it behaves like this against God, what wonder that it does the same to us, who are God's servants? Therefore, we should be prepared to expect the highest ingratitude and the utmost danger for the highest benefit that we render to the world through our service. God wants to attract the world to His service through His gifts; but the world misuses them for its godlessness and idolatry. Thus, today the Gospel through us
b) From here to the Bible text words v. 5. f.: "The whole head" 2c. only the following is found in the edition of 1532: He accuses the holy nation of the Jews for forsaking the LORD, and blaspheming the Holy One in Israel, for departing from the LORD, and remaining stiff-necked in their ungodliness. Further, you shall note this punishment [v. 5.], "What shall I strike at you further?" For thus the wicked are wont to do; the punishment of their sins they take for a martyr's suffering, and boast in their wickedness, as Ahaz did; the more he was punished, the more he served idols. Thus, we do not become better through punishment and laws.
The word of God has been spread to free the consciences, but both ours and the adversaries misuse it for their will to oppose us.
V. 3: An ox knows his Lord.
In the previous verse he praised our righteousness and holiness, namely our extreme ingratitude. Here he also praises the virtue of free will and our wisdom. But is this not the utmost disgrace that, according to divine saying, an ox and an ass, I do not want to say compared with us, but completely preferred to us, because they do their duty against their master, but we do not do our duty against God? Therefore, we should uncover our heads before the ox and the donkey as before our teachers, seeing that they are presented to us by God, so that we may learn from their examples how to be in awe of our God.
But Israel does not know it.
(11) For this is the wisdom and piety of men who have departed from their God, that they are dumber than an ox and an ass, though they make themselves seem wiser in their own eyes than all men. For what wisdom can remain if one does not know God? As I said above, no one believes or hears this except the one who is of God, for he recognizes his folly and sin and asks for forgiveness. The error is still sorry that one has misinterpreted this passage to the birth of Christ, because here an ox and an ass are thought of. But one must remember that it was not safe for the prophet to punish the whole people so publicly because of their foolishness and ungodliness.
Woe to the sinful people!
Here one must take the contrasts to the help. They want to be a holy people, but they are "a sinful people". They want to be a people chosen by God, but they are a people of Satan. They want to be the seed of Abraham, but they are "a wicked seed," and of the wicked, not of the godly Abraham. They want to be children of the patriarchs
but they are children of perdition and "harmful children" who only get worse with all their thinking and striving. And these are the praises of this people and all the wicked at all times.
They have forsaken the Lord.
(13) Here he sums up, as it were, the ungodliness of his people, that they have departed from the true service of God, that is, first from faith and love; then from the outward service of the law. For they left the place appointed by God, the Temple, and sacrificed in the groves and on the high places, contrary to the divine command. But this is said against the holy people, who, under the most praiseworthy and holy kings, were resplendent in a wonderful appearance of holiness. What do you think the prophet would say about us if he had lived at that time? But one must raise one's mind against these aversions. For it is always like this: the pure preaching of the Word is followed by heresies. Therefore the Germans say in the proverb: Where God builds a church for the right worship, the devil also builds a chapel next to it for his service.
They blasphemed the Holy One in Israel.
14 In this way he will also describe below the worship of the works saints, that it is a blasphemy. He calls God "the holy one", from his effect, since he sanctifies Israel. Thus Christ is our saint, by whose righteousness we are sanctified.
V. 5. What more shall they strike at you?
15 This is another rebuke. For until now he has reproached the unbelieving Jews for their ingratitude, that they did not behave properly after so many benefits of God. Now he also reproaches them for their hardened heart, that they stubbornly continue in their ungodliness and cannot be corrected by any punishment. For this is what the wicked are wont to do: they interpret the punishment of their sins as a martyr's suffering, and boast of the punishment that they suffer for the sake of God's glory. Thus they take the scourge that is sent to them for their correction as a punishment.
They are not attracted by promises or threats. There is no way to bring them back on the right path; they cannot be lured by promises or frightened by threats, nor can they be improved by beatings. And this is the reason why Christ says [Matth. 21, 31.] that the tax collectors and harlots would rather enter the kingdom of heaven than the exceedingly holy Jews. For the gross sinners, who are imprisoned for adultery, death, theft, 2c., cannot excuse their sins, but must confess that they have acted wickedly, but the hypocritical saints and spiritual sinners worship their sins for righteousness, and think they are doing God a service. Therefore, when they are punished to mend their ways, they interpret their punishment as a martyr's suffering and a test of their faith.
Therefore, they cannot be corrected, but continue stubbornly, as we also see in our heretics, who, since they have been warned by an exceedingly severe judgment of God, not only do not allow their minds to be broken, but are even more senseless against Christ and his sacraments, and speak and boast of nothing but the glory of their martyrdom, and are corrected neither by words nor by blows. So does the godless papacy. Whenever it has to fear either a foreign enemy, or plague, or famine rages, they make public supplications. Masses, and other ungodly services, by which God is provoked to anger, but not reconciled. Examples of this are Ahaz in the books of Kings, and the unbelieving Jews in Jeremiah, who said [Jer. 44, 17]: "We will offer drink offerings to the queen of heaven" 2c.
V. 5. 6. The whole head is sick.
(17) Nothing more can be added to your punishments, and yet you do not allow yourselves to be corrected. c) But I like it, this
c) Instead of the following in this paragraph, the edition of 1532 offers: "Wounds and welts" 2c. This indicates that in such great evils there are no prophets to raise them up with the Word, but that they are deceived by false teachers who strengthen them in wickedness and do not show them sin.
The words are to be taken as an allegory to indicate that he has severely punished "the head," that is, the princes, "the heart," that is, the wise men, and the remaining part of the body, except for the "soles of the feet," that is, the rabble, and yet they are not corrected by anything. But here one sees how people cannot be improved by discipline and laws, since they are not even improved by beatings. These are allegorical words when he says that there is no physician who can heal the body that is afflicted with various wounds, that is, that there are no pious teachers who, as Jeremiah says, remind the people of their sins and punish them, and then comfort the frightened souls with promises so that they do not despair under the burden of such great misfortunes.
V. 7. Your land is desolate.
18 Now he tells the punishments bit by bit, as it were. Although the kingdom of Israel had already suffered all this, he nevertheless announces beforehand that Judah will also have to suffer the same at the hands of the king of the Chaldeans.
V. 8. [Vulg.] But the daughter of Zion shall be forsaken 2c.
19 As if to say: You will be deprived of the best and most glorious, but what will be left will be little and of no value.
V. 9: If the LORD of hosts would not leave us a little.
(20) It is due to the divine mercy that some remnants are still preserved, from which one can still hope something, and that we are not, like Sodom and Gomorrah, completely destroyed. Paul has taken this passage [Rom. 9, 29.] in a somewhat changed form, and makes a general saying out of it, as if he wanted to say: As Isaias says of his people, so I also can say: "If the Lord had not left us seed," 2c., that is, there must remain at least some who will be saved, not because of their merits, but because of the word of promise. Below, the same saying will be repeated, where we will explain it more extensively.
V. 10. Hear the word of the Lord, you princes of Sodom.
21. in these names there is a very severe punishment, that he calls them "princes of Sodom" and "people of Gomorrah". And truly, there was a great spirit in this prophet that he took upon himself to call this people, which alone on earth kept God's name and word, by such names. Furthermore, he begins here to convert them, and also prescribes to them the way in which they are to convert. For since God is not reconciled by our works, and we cannot counsel or help ourselves by our powers, he prescribes another way for them to be rid of their sins, namely, that they should first of all abolish pharisaical and hypocritical righteousness, and begin to fear God and believe in Him; then that they should serve their neighbor.
V.11. Why should I care about the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord.
(22) He rejects that which was most noble in the Law, and also commanded by God Himself, namely the sacrifices. Not as if the sacrifices were evil in and of themselves, for they were instituted by God, but because the opinion in which they sacrificed was ungodly. For they threw away their trust in divine mercy, and believed that they were justified by the sacrifices, by performing the mere work, which we also reproach our papists for today. For this is to deprive Christ of his glory and to ascribe it to our work. For the sacrifices were not instituted by God in order that they might be justified by them, but that they might be signs by which the pious testified that they believed the promises of Christ and were waiting for Christ as their Redeemer. Therefore, you see that Isaiah is doing to his Jews what we do to our opponents in all our sermons and writings, namely, that we teach that God is not at all reconciled by any works or merits that are ours, but that He forgives in vain and by grace those who hope in His mercy.
Accordingly, the judgment is made here that those are worse than those of Sodom who imagine that they can propitiate God through their sacrifices or any other works. If now the sacrifices are condemned, which are done in the opinion that one becomes righteous thereby, which were commanded and appointed by God Himself, how will the self-chosen works of our monks and of the whole papacy fare, as much as they are good in appearance?
(24) Thus, the wicked abuse sacrifices and other good works because they want to propitiate God through them; and only the abuse, not the work itself, is condemned outright. This is just as if someone were to imagine that he would become a child of God because God had given him a healthy eye. The eye is in and of itself a good creature; but the wicked misuses it for a cause other than that for which it was created. For it was created to see, not to earn righteousness. This is what we must think of all our outward works.
(25) Therefore, all works are only for the testimony of faith, not for the impartation of righteousness, which God has decided to give freely and by grace to all those who recognize Him as such a God who is merciful and forgives sin freely and by grace through Christ, so that the verse may stand, Ps. 51:3: "God, be merciful to me according to Your goodness. He does not say, according to my merits, sacrifices, or other works 2c. Just as a Christian should not despair in sins, so he should not presume on any work to contribute to his justification. The 50th Psalm and many similar sayings in the Psalms, which the diligent reader will refer to here, agree with this passage of the prophet.
I am tired of burnt offerings.
26 This text clearly says that God does not need our works and does not respect them; indeed, He condemns even the works He has ordained if they are done in presumption and in the opinion that they will make us righteous. Without a doubt, however, they have nothing to do with the. With the reputation of Moses and the whole law
The prophets accused God of condemning the most holy works of the law, just as they accuse us today of forbidding good works. For God had specially appropriated "the fat" and "the blood" of the sacrificial animals had many uses in the Law. Therefore, God does both: He requires of the Jews those works of the Law, and He does not require them. He demands them absolutely for the testimony of their faith that they should not disobey His voice and His word, and for the benefit of their neighbor. But he does not demand them; indeed, he condemns them if they do so in the belief that they will thereby attain righteousness. But look at the foolishness of men who completely pervert this order. With works they want to serve God and become pleasing to Him, who has no need of them; but with faith they want to make themselves pleasing to men, while faith must be directed against God, but the works of love must be directed only against the neighbor.
For this reason, he rejects the flesh, blood and sacrificial animals, saying that he is full and has no need of them; they should rather entertain the priests and Levites with them, and not seek to propitiate God through these things. Therefore these sayings must be diligently kept in mind against the pretensions and works of men. For what do we seek to merit the highest majesty with our stained and pretended works, which has wanted to have mercy on us out of grace precisely because there was nothing about us that could make us pleasing to God?
V. 12: When you come in to appear before me.
28 This actually refers to the priests who entered the sanctuary, where God had promised to be present and to hear the prayers of the faithful. Because God had bound Himself to this place with His word, those who entered were said to have seen the face of the Lord. It was a great privilege that God had bound Himself to this physical place, so that people would know for certain where they should find and grasp God. For these are the words
(Ex. 20, 24.): "Where I will establish the memory of my name, there I will be." Therefore, God cannot be found anywhere, nor can He be "sought" in any other place than that to which He has bound Himself by His word. Under the law, he wanted a physical place to be designated, which alone in the whole world should be dedicated to the service of God; and it was idolatry to worship anywhere else, so much so that even the Jews, when they were abroad and wanted to pray, turned their faces toward the temple.
29 In the New Testament, however, there is no specific place designated. For because God presented Christ to us as Savior, all our prayers and works for Christ's sake are pleasing to God, wherever the word of the gospel is taught and believed. But whatever one prays, teaches and lives apart from Christ is all idolatry and sin before God.
V. 13. Incense is an abomination to me.
(30) There is a special benefit in understanding the universal statements he makes about the worship of the Jews, which they performed in the opinion that it made them righteous, namely, that this worship was disgusting to God, that it was useless, that it was "an abomination", that it was iniquity, that it was a service that God did not want, that it was "toil and anguish" (2c). And this latter actually refers to the religious works (studia pietatis) with which the hypocrites burden and toil themselves in vain. For they are nothing but toil and anxiety, with which the godless hypocrites toil, and yet they are improved nothing by them. Furthermore, as offensive as it is to our adversaries today for someone to call the mass such a service by which God is robbed of His own, a blasphemy, a useless work, 2c., so too was this preaching of the prophet against sacrifices and other services.
V. 14. My soul is hostile to your new moons.
31 There is a special emphasis in the pronoun "your". For it indicates that the Jews, out of zeal for godliness, had other feast days beyond those appointed by Moses,
have ordered. Such additions, however, always obscure the first institution and the true service of God. Therefore, Satan is the author of it, who is, as it were, an imitator and ape of God.
V. 15. And while you are spreading out your hands.
The lifting up of the hands was a gesture of those who prayed, praised God and gave thanks. Accordingly, he indicates that he does not want to hear their prayer.
For your hands are full of blood.
This is the reason why he condemns all their worship and works (d ). But it is a description that is the result of a conclusion (a posteriori). For since he sees that they lived without works of love and against love, he concludes that they are without faith and are condemned with all their worship, no matter how good they may seem to be. As if he wanted to say: You want to reconcile me with sacrifices and other works, and in the meantime forget about your neighbor, do not care about your brothers who needed your services. You are death slayers. For, as it is written in 1 John 3:15, "He who hates his brother is a murderer." But "to hate" does not only mean to be hostile to one, but also to deny one's neighbor those works that love toward one another requires. Just as the papists do now, so the Jews at that time also wanted to do good to God and to reconcile God with their works; they had no concern for their neighbor. But God has an abomination in such pretensions, and only wants that one fears Him, and believes Him, and shows good to one's neighbor. What the prophet reminds here in turn [v. 16], "Wash yourselves," 2c., requires faith and fear. [V. 17.], "Help the oppressed," requires love 2c. But this prophetic inference is to be noted, "Ye have hands full of blood," therefore your prayer, your sacrifices, is such a service that God is abhorred in. But the world believes the be-
2) The Jenaer has correctly: rniiuns; the Wittenberger: minius; the Erlanger: mimius.
d) Instead of "their worship and works" in the 1532 edition: "their sacrifices".
The Holy Spirit does not guide them. Therefore, it does everything else, but leaves faith and love behind, as such services that have no beautiful appearance.
V. 16 Wash yourselves, be clean.
So far the prophet has dealt with the law, he has punished the ungodliness of the heart and the unrighteousness of the outward life. But, as we remembered above [§ 5], it is not enough to show the disease, one must also show the remedies against the disease at the same time. Therefore he now turns to the other part of the sermon, and shows the way in which they can be delivered from ungodliness and unrighteousness, namely, that they should put away unbelief and obey the promises with simple faith, after which they should do good to their neighbor.
For in these two things rests the whole Christian life, both the inward and the outward. The inward has to do with God only through faith, by which one believes the promise that God certainly forgives by grace and in vain, for the sake of the seed of Abraham, that is, of Christ. And this mere faith, which God counts as righteousness without any works that we have done, whether previous or subsequent, is righteousness before God. The outward life, however, has to do with people. It stops at the use of the other table, whose summa is, as Christ declares, to love one's neighbor as oneself. This life gives birth to another righteousness, not that which is righteousness before God, but before men. This is the righteousness of the law, because it is of works. The other is the righteousness of grace, because it comes from an imputation that is free and of grace. Furthermore, this passage divides thus: "Wash yourselves, cleanse yourselves, put away your evil nature (that is, ungodliness and hypocrisy)." This belongs to the righteousness of faith, against the ungodliness of the heart. The remainder: "Renounce evil, learn to do good, seek righteousness," belongs to the righteousness of the law, against the unrighteousness of outward works.
V. 17. Help the oppressed.
God is not satisfied that one does not do anything against this prohibition (negativam): Do no harm to anyone 2c., but He also wants the commandment (affirmativam) to be kept: Be useful to everyone. Therefore, all monastic life and all life that someone leads for himself is condemned before God, which does not deal with love.
V. 18. Let us reason with one another (Arguite me).
(37) If you have done this, and I do not do you good again, then accuse me, saying that I am an unjust God. But this is an excellent consolation, by which he encourages us to faith and love. But from this we also see how clumsy the papists are who say that such promises are the merit of works.
If your sin is equal to blood red.
38 This is a very great promise, that he will forgive the sins and punishments of those who believe in God, fear him, and do good to their neighbor, and that he will also do all kinds of good in full measure. For works without faith are condemned, as the Scripture says Rom. 14:23: "Whatever does not come from faith is sin.
V. 19. 20. If you will obey me, you shall enjoy the good of the land.
(39) To the spiritual promise he adds a bodily one. For to faith he promises the forgiveness of sins, but to love, or to the righteousness of the law, he promises the abundance of temporal things. This is how God does it: first He gives Himself to the godly, then He gives all goods. By the way, the abundant distribution of temporal goods to the wicked will make their judgment all the more difficult.
V. 21: How is it that the pious city has become a whore?
40. Now he attaches the opposition: But this is not how you act. But the vehemence becomes considerably more emphatic by the astonishment of the prophet, that they are
so great promises could not be moved. For this is the utmost misfortune, when so great a light of the Word is disregarded and despised, so that blinded hearts cannot be moved by promises, nor by threats, nor by punishments.
V. 22. Your silver has become foam. e)
41 He explains in detail, as it were, what he calls a whore in general. And here we see again the order, that he first lists the sins of the first table, then the sins of the other table. "Foam" is the hypocrisy; "water" is the falsified doctrine. For these two things are always connected with each other: ungodly doctrine follows false opinions of God; ungodly doctrine follows unrighteousness, so that these two things are everywhere connected with each other, that the devil is a father of lies and a murderer [John 8:44]. Note, however, that good authorities, both spiritual and secular, are compared to "silver" and "wine," by which the community is not only strengthened, but also encouraged and delighted.
V. 23. Your princes are apostates and thieves. f)
This is an abominable insult to the civil authorities, that he calls them "renegades" and "thieves. Does this mean to give honor to the worldly authority? But the prophet is excused by his office, which compels him to punish the sins of his own people, whether they are public or private. Otherwise, if he said this outside his office, he would be guilty of insulting the majesty. But he does not condemn the office, but he punishes the vices of persons; and he punishes them as a public person, not as a private person. He does not condemn gifts or money, but avarice and the desire for money, that they chase after gifts and, bribed by gifts, administer their office wrongfully. That is why he calls them "journeymen thieves".
e) Instead of the following paragraph, the 1532 edition has: "Silver." It punishes hypocrisy. "Wine." He punishes the
f) Instead of the following paragraph, the 1532 edition has: "Princes." He punishes injustice and outward unrighteousness.
V. 24. Therefore the Lord says.
43 He repeats the threat. But that he adds: "The mighty one in Israel", likewise "the LORD of hosts", thus he indicates that he can do that which he threatens. It is a prophecy of the future evil.
I will take comfort through my enemies.
44 Then I will comfort myself when I send those who are otherwise my enemies upon them to devastate and scatter my people. That is, I will send for the Assyrians to avenge my contempt.
V. 25. foam.
45. I will only destroy the wicked and hypocrites, so that the hypocrites will no longer rule.
V. 26. and give you judges again.
46 Note this passage: God tears down so that he builds; he afflicts so that he saves. Satan and the world do the opposite. Therefore he will also say below Cap. 11, 4: "he punishes with judgment". And in another place [Isa. 57, 16.]: "I will not be angry forever." But this is the way of salvation, that he gives pious and diligent authorities, both in the church and in the secular government; on the other hand, when he wants to punish, he takes away the good authorities and lets children be princes. Therefore, one must pray diligently for good authorities.
V. 27. Zion must be redeemed by right.
(47) First, this shall be done, that they may be justified, and the sins of the people taken away.
After that, everything will be done right. But they will be redeemed "by righteousness", not by their powers, that is, when they purify their outward life and desist from evil. Zion will be restored by righteousness, that is, when it will now have a gracious GOtt who has remitted sin. Therefore, if we Germans today also want to escape the punishment that is coming, which our ingratitude deserves, we do not have to make supplications or processions, we do not have to hold masses, but first we have to leave the outward misdeeds through repentance; for that is "the right". Then, with simple faith, we must take hold of the forgiveness of sin which the Gospel offers us. But this is taught in vain; indeed, when they are reminded of it, they increase the ungodliness of their hearts and works.
V. 29. For they must become ashamed over the oaks.
48 For so it must be read [instead of: ab idolis in the Vulgate]. But he punishes idolatry with it. For in the groves, woods and gardens they set up altars, just as our people made the building of churches the highest level of worship.
V. 31. When the protection will be like tow.
No powers will be so great, no works and efforts of yours will be so good, that they could protect you against these evils. Furthermore, what the Latin translator has given by fortitudo, that is the name of an idol, on whose ungodly service the idolaters defied.