from their captivity; and the consumption of the rest shall declare my righteousness abundantly to the world.

24. "And shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt."]-As the affliction, which thou hadst from the Egyptian bondage, was grievous indeed, but not deadly; no more shall this be, which thou shalt suffer from the Assyrian.

26. "And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt."]-The Assyrian is my rod to thee; but I will have a scourge for him that shall plague him; as the Midianites were destroyed by Gideon at the rock of Oreb, and as I plagued the Egyptians whom I overthrew and destroyed in the Red sea.

27. "And the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing."-The yoke of servitude shall be taken from thy neck, because thou art a people consecrated to me; for the sake of that Messiah, mine Anointed, which shall descend from thee.

28. "He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:"]-Behold, the Assyrian is in his expedition against thee already he is come onwards his way to Aiath, and thence is he passed to Migron; and hath made Michmash the storehouse for his provision, munition, and carriages :

29. "They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled."] -They have gone over the passages of those rivers which might seem to have hindered their way; they are passed Jordan itself, and are come to lodge at Geba; and now the neighbouring cities, Ramah and the rest, quake for fear; the inhabitants of Gibeah are fled.

30. "Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth."]-Ye cities, that lie near to the way of this mighty enemy, lift up your voices, and weep for your imminent desolation, and cause your cries to be heard unto the farthest parts of the land.

32. "As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem."]-Ere a day be at an end, he will be at the town of Nob, hard by Jerusalem; and then he shakes his hand at the mount of Sion, and the temple whereon it stands.

33. "Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled."]-But howsoever he do thus proudly exalt himself, and terribly bluster against Jerusalem, the Lord of hosts shall take him down, and shall cut him off with terror: the insolent Assyrian shall be hewn down suddenly, and the haughty enemy shall be humbled.

34. "And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one."]-These great and tall cedars of Lebanon, that thus overtopt God's people, shall be cut down, and shall fall by the mighty hand of the destroying angel.

XI. 1. "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots"]-At last, in the fulness of time, for the comfort of God's Church, there shall come forth a rod out of the seemingly withered stock of Jesse, the father of David; and a flourishing branch, even the Messiah, shall grow out of his appearingly sere and sapless root.

2. "And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding."]-He shall receive the spirit beyond all finite measure; forasmuch as in him the Godhead shall dwell bodily, replenishing his human nature with all wisdom and understanding, &c.

3. "And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears."]—And shall enable his humanity with a quick and piercing understanding, to the perfect judging and discerning of those that do truly profess to fear and serve the Lord from false-hearted hypocrites; and he shall not judge by the outward appearance, according to the evidence of the the ear.

eye or

4. "And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked."]-With the word of his mouth, which is the sceptre of his kingdom, shall he overrule the earth; and with the same word, which is made a savour of death unto death to the wicked, shall he slay the rebellious.

5. "And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins."]-He shall not come in the gorgeous attire of worldly princes, but shall be clothed in the glorious robes of righteousness and truth; which shall be closely

girded about him, as those which can never be separated from his person and government.

6. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”]—This blessed Saviour, when he comes, shall reform and restore the world to the first peaceable disposition of the creature; so as the savage beast shall put off his bloody nature, and live quietly with his fellows; and those men which are of a wolvish and lionlike disposition, for fierceness and cruelty, shall be so changed by the power of his Gospel, that they shall meekly and plausibly converse with those that are most weak and innocent.

So also ver. 7, 8.

"

9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain : for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."]-All those that submit themselves to the power of the Gospel shall live harmlessly; for they shall be taught of God to govern themselves accordingly, and all shall abound in the means of the knowledge of the Lord: so as the earth shall be no less overspread with the Gospel than the sea is covered with waters.

10. "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious."]-In that day the Messiah shall arise from the stock of David; and to him, as to a standard erected, shall all the nations flock; and so shall he be advanced, as that all the Gentiles shall seek unto him, and submit themselves to his word and power; and he shall settle his rest among them, which shall be glorious for himself and happy for them.

11. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea."]—Neither may this seem hard, since the Lord will be pleased in that day to set his hand to the work; and as he hath formerly showed his power in the miraculous deliverances of his people, so will he now again mightily recover the remainder of them from the Assyrians, Egyptians, Ethiopians, and other nations, amongst whom they shall be scattered; as the Parthians, Medes, Chaldees, Cilicians, and those countries which are divided by the sea.

13. "The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off."]-God's people shall agree well together; and shall lay aside all envy and heart-burning, which they had one towards another, &c.

14. "But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines. toward the west."]-But they shall band together against the common enemy of the Church; and with joint forces set upon the Philistines, &c.

15. "And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod."]-And the Lord will utterly destroy that bay of the Egyptian sea, which carries the form of a tongue in the entering upon the continent; and with his mighty wind shall, as he did once for the passage of the Israelites through the Red sea, so divide Nilus, with all the seven streams thereof, as that men may go over dryshod.

XII. 3. "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation."]-My salvation shall be as a full and everflowing spring; out of which ye shall, with joy of heart, draw up full vessels continually.

6. " Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee."]-Shout for joy, O ye inhabitants of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel, your merciful God, shows the greatness of his power, and the abundance of his grace, in and upon you, in his manifold blessings and deliverances.

XIII.1. "The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see."]-The heavy tidings of that prophecy, wherewith Isaiah the son of Amoz was sent to and against Babylon.

2. "Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles."]-I am commanded to proclaim an open war, which the Lord will raise against Babylon by the hands of the Medes and Persians: lift ye up therefore a banner upon the highest mountain, where it may be most conspicuous, that the people may draw together for this purpose; and encourage them, both by voice and gesture, that they may go courageously up to the stately palaces of the Babylonian nobles.

3. "I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness."]-I have commanded, saith God, those whom I have

set apart for this great work of Babylon's destruction: I have called my mighty warriors of Media and Persia to be the executioners of my anger; even them that shall go cheerfully forward, upon my setting on to this conquest.

4.

"The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people."]—This is so surely done, as if ye did already hear the noise of a multitude in the mountains coming down to this spoil and slaughter, &c.

5. "They come from a far country, from the end of heaven."] -They shall come, not only from Media and Persia, but, by their procurement, from far remote nations, &c.

8. "They shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames."]-They shall be amazed at the sight of each other's misery; and for anguish and consternation their faces shall be as red as fire.

JO. "For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine."]-God shall command both the heaven and earth to conspire against his enemies of Babylon; from whom, for their great discomfort, he shall withdraw the light of those heavenly bodies, which they are wont most curiously to observe, so as both the stars, the sun, the moon, shall deny their light unto them.

12. "I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.”]—I will so give up Babylon to the slaughter, that there shall be very few left alive in it; and their enemies shall be so inexorable, that they shall rather care to shed blood than to take the richest ransom.

13. "Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger."]-By wonderful signs in the heaven, and by terrible earthquakes, such as if heaven and earth did remove out of their places, will I testify my fierce wrath against Babylon in that day when I shall execute my judgments upon it.

17. "Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it."] -Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them; whose drift shall not so much be their wealth as their blood; that shall care only to kill, not to enrich themselves with ransoms.

20. "Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there."]-It shall be so utterly de