1 This is a general punishment of hypocrites and of those who go against the word. For he condemns the works saints and idolaters for sinning against the first commandment. First, in that they choose a place other than the one commanded to them by God. Secondly, that they put their trust in their own works and in the carnal arm, and despise the true God. Therefore, he threatens that at the time of their misfortune all their deeds will not help them.
Then he adds the opposite, and comforts the godly. The godly have all good things superfluous; now if they should fall into misfortune, God will help them, comfort them and refresh them. Of the righteous, he says, I have said that they shall be carried away from calamity; but you the wicked shall not be so. For you will be kept for calamity because of your ungodliness. Just as if we wanted to punish our tyrants: Come now, ye slay the holy ministers of the word; with sword, and fire, and water, ye persecute the limbs of Christ. But it shall come to pass, when ye have put them out of the way, that ye yourselves also shall perish, and be damned for ever.
V. 3. And you, come near, you children of the dialler, you seed of the adulterer and the harlot.
3 Our adversaries have almost only this single accusation, which they raise against us, that they say we are blasphemers, and know nothing else but that we utter invectives against the pope and the princes. Therefore, learn to make a distinction among invectives. For this is not a swearword unless it is spoken by a person who should not speak it, that is, by a private person who is not in public office, just as it is not a death blow when the authorities kill people, but when it is done by a private person. Thus
The prophet here utters the harshest invectives against the synagogue and the people of God, calling them children of an adulteress. And he could have been reproached, as we are: Who then are you, that you revile the princes of the people, and the chief teachers? Truly, they are not all evil, though there are some among them 2c. w) But the prophet is excused, first, by his teaching and preaching ministry, which is meant to punish, and second, by his intention to correct the people. For he does not do it to disgrace the Jews or to avenge himself for a wrong he has done, but so that they will recognize the sin and return to the right path.
4 But here he accuses only the sins committed against faith, not the outward vices, and acts against those who in appearance were the most holy and devout, not against the gross malefactors, whom also reason and the world condemn. For this is why he calls them "children of the dialler and adulterer," that is, of the synagogue, because they had confidence that they were righteous by their works, which they themselves chose. For diurnal election is a deceit, and adultery is ungodly. x)
Therefore, all the doctrines and religions other than the doctrine of faith, which praises the mercy of grace in vain, is a diatribe and sorcery, and all the teachers who deviate from the sound faith are sorcerers, and even bewitched by their own opinion.
V. 4. In whom then will you have your pleasure?
(6) This shall be the glory of the word, and of the ministers of the word, that they shall be accounted a mockery and a laughing-stock, and shall be rejected by the
w) Before the following the edition of 1532 has: But you should notice here that although these are the very hardest swear words, nevertheless Isaiah does not sin. For it excuses 2c.
x) Instead of H5, the 1532 edition has: Dergleichen sind alle Menschenlehren und Satzungen.
Wise men of this world are pulled through. Furthermore, if Isaiah suffered this, what wonder is it if we too must endure such things today from the godless world? [Instead of super quem lusistis in the Vulgate, translate in the future tense: In whom will you now have your pleasure? As if to say, My prophets, whom I sent to teach you the right way, you have had for mockery, but when misfortune shall overtake you, then you shall see whom you have mocked.
V. 5: You who run in heat to idols.
7 [Instead of: Qui consolamini in the Vulgate] translate better: Qui ardetis, [you who run in heat] namely with love against the idols, like the animals when they are in heat. And here he enumerates their ungodliness. You sin twofold, he says, against the first commandment, both by choosing other places and leaving the place that God has appointed for you, and by putting your trust in these works of your own choosing and not in your God. For this is the manifold adultery that He punishes.
(8) By the word "running in fervor," he has appropriately depicted the nature of the hypocrites, since they are very fervent in their idolatries, just as under the papacy there was a tremendous fervor and zeal in building churches and distributing alms. Now that the true religion is taught, and people are properly instructed about good works, everyone is extraordinarily cold.
V. 6. Your essence is on the smooth brook stones.
9. translate In partibus torrentis pars tua: "Your being is at the smooth brook stones", that is, your pleasure, your joy, your life. Those who thus despised the temple which was appointed to them by GOD for worship, they also slaughtered their children by the brooks, and in the places which they had chosen for themselves. But this happens as a punishment, so that those who do not give Christ a penny when they are asked for it, freely waste all their wealth for the honor of the devil.
Should I take comfort in this?
(10) Here he makes the judgment: "Works chosen by myself in this way do not reconcile me, however great they may be, but only provoke me the more to anger and offend me. Add to this the devotions of the monks, the vows, the masses for the living and the dead, the indulgences, the pilgrimages, the pardons, the fasts 2c.
V. 7. You make your camp out of a high lofty mountain.
11. camp or bed he calls the practice of idolatry and idolatry itself, objects of worship and altars.
V. 8. and behind the door and the post you put your memory.
12) "Memorial" is the place where they worshipped their idols. As with us, so with them there were special altars in almost every noble house.
You love their camp where you first see them.
13 [Instead of: Dilexisti stratum in the Vulgate] can be translated more appropriately like this: Diligis cubile eorum ubicunque videris, that is, where you find a comfortable place, you choose the same for your idols.
V. 9. You burn oil for the king.
14 [Instead of: Ornasti te regio unguento] translate like this: You went to the king with oil, so that you might make a covenant with him. Here he remembers another sin against the first commandment. This is how it goes: those who have once fallen away from the sound faith fall from one error into another. Before he condemned trust in one's own righteousness and works; here he condemns trust in men. Thus, trusting in works is followed by trusting in men.
V. 10. You worked yourself to pieces in the multitude of your ways.
He punishes the miraculous rut of the saints of works in their deeds. In the true religion, however, everything is cold.
But because you find a life of your hand, you do not grow weary.
16. you despise my ways, you have invented other ways of life according to your hand; in these you continue diligently, as it were in senseless lust for human help.
V. 11. Before whom are you so careful?
(17) The hypocrites and the saints of works not only do not trust in God, but they do not fear Him, but they fear their idols and the statutes of men, as it is said in the 53rd Psalm, v. 6: "But they fear, because there is nothing to fear. Thus a monk causes himself great grief that he does not change his shepherd and his rope, that he does not pray his Horas, over which he has no command from God 2c. But that he blasphemes God and neglects his neighbor does not even occur to him.
So you deal with lies and do not think about me.
18 These are very harsh words of reproach, that he calls all their worship "lies. And he demands only this, that they should remember him, that he is kind, merciful. But you do not do this, he says, because your heart is full of thoughts of idols and trust in men.
V. 12. But I will indicate your righteousness.
19 This is a threat: Your righteousness, on which you now rely so surely, I will put to shame by the word. Then your idols will not help you, nor your works. All these will be scattered like dust blown by the wind. Thus we see that in adversity there is nothing more despondent than the saints of works, while in good days there is nothing more defiant than they. But there is a special emphasis in the pronoun "yours," as if to say: My righteousness is firm and everlasting, yours is not.
V. 13. f. If thou shalt call, let thy multitudes help thee.
20 That is, your idols, your righteousness, and your works, of which you have made many.
He who trusts in me will inherit the land.
21 Now he turns to the godly and comforts them. Let it come to pass that those who believe in him may remain in the true church, abounding in both bodily and spiritual goods, that they may also teach and save others.
V. 14. And will say, Make way.
22 [Instead of: Et dicam] translate in the third person: "And will say." Those who trust in me, he says, they alone will be able to teach others rightly. First they will say, "Make way," that is, they will punish the world for sin, and show that there is not yet a way with men; that the impulses must be removed from the way, namely, reliance on works and other self-chosen doings. This teaching is not understood by those who do not believe.
For thus saith he that is high and exalted, who dwelleth for ever, whose name is holy; who dwelleth on high and in the sanctuary, and with them that are of a contrite and a humble spirit; that I may quicken the spirit of the humble, and the heart of the contrite: I will not always contend, nor be angry for ever. 2c.
This is the other part of their preaching, with which they restore the hearts that are frightened by the contemplation of their sins through the promise of grace. You feel the sins, you feel the wrath of God. "The LORD is near to those who are brokenhearted," as it is said in the Psalm [Ps. 34:19]. Therefore, do not despair, for the Lord wants to dwell with those who are brokenhearted and humble; he hates the defiant and the secure 2c.
(24) When he adds, "I will not always be angry," he admits that he is angry, but it is an anger that lasts only a moment. If we now bravely persevere in the faith of grace, "a spirit shall move from his presence," with which he will warm and refresh us.
V. 17. I was angry at the iniquity of their avarice.
25 He gives the reason why he will strike them. Because he sums up both,
Threats and consolations, and treats the threat of future calamity in such a way that he still leaves some hope of peace. For it is through the scourge that the foolish are brought back to the right path.
26 But he beautifully connects avarice with trust in works. y) For hypocrisy and mammon are two idols joined together.
I hid myself and was angry.
(27) It is far more difficult for God to hide than to strike. For when people in misfortune do not have the word of God (for that is "to hide"), then each one attacks God with his deeds and works. So did Ahaz, so did Saul, who took refuge in the soothsayer and in his sacrifices. But those who have the word first recognize that they have earned even far greater punishments for sin, and ask for salvation because they believe God, who has given them His promise. Finally, they also amend their lives and do good to their neighbor.
V. 18. But when I looked at their ways.
(28) These are our merits by which we deserve mercy, namely, our misery and misfortune, that we err in our doings, and have need of the mercy of God, without which we must perish.
y) Instead of the preceding from ยง 25, the edition of 1532 offers: This is the reason why he wants to strike the wicked, namely for the sake of the vice of avarice, and not only for the sake of avarice.
V. 19. I will create fruit of the lips.
29. translate like this [instead of: Creavi fructum]: I will make wide lips to say: Peace, peace to him who is far away 2c. z) The lips are called wide from the word, which is propagated far and wide. For it is a way to heal and redeem when God sends His word. This happened at that time, when peace was proclaimed under the reign of Cyrus, and the Jews were restored to their land. For he speaks of the punishment of the Babylonian captivity. Paul made Eph. 2, 17. out of this special (particulari) saying a general one. He says: Just as he proclaimed peace to all Jews and Gentiles in the time of Cyrus, so he has come now 2c.
V. 20. But the wicked are like an impetuous sea.
030 The godly, saith he, shall have peace through the word: but the wicked despise the word, and will not have peace in mercy, but in their own righteousness. But because without the word there is no comfort in adversity, they will be troubled and wearied with their doings, and will always have a troubled conscience. For then they will feel that all our works, all human righteousness, is rubbish.
z) The 1532 edition continues here like this: This is the way to heal, namely through the word. This is 2c at that time.