Isaiah 47:12

Isa 47:12 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.

Ver. 12. Stand now with thine enchantments.] {a} Try thine utmost skill, and let us see what thou canst do for thyself. This is spoken in way of derision.

Wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth.] But found them to be no better than toilsome toys, quae nec ignoranti nocent, nec scientem iuvant, Against judiciary astrology, see Aug. De Civ. Dei, lib. v. cap. 1-5.

{a} Hinc divinatores per antonomasiam Chaldaei appellati.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa 47:12-15. Stand now with thine enchantments — Persist in these practices. Wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth — From the beginning of thy kingdom. For the Chaldeans in all ages were famous, or rather infamous, for the study and practice of these arts. Thou art wearied in thy counsels — Thou hast spent thy time and strength in going from one to another, in trying all manner of experiments, and all to no purpose. Let now the astrologers, &c., stand up — To succour thee, or to inquire for thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble — They shall have no more power to withstand the calamities coming upon them than stubble has to resist the violence of the fire. They shall not deliver themselves from the flame — And much less thee. There shall not be a coal to warm at, &c. — They shall be totally consumed, and all the comfort which thou didst expect from them shall utterly vanish. Thus shall they be unto thee — Such comfortless and helpless creatures, namely, thy sorcerers, astrologers, &c.; with whom thou hast laboured — Upon whom thou hast spent thy time, pains, and money; even thy merchants — Or negotiators, as Bishop Lowth translates סחרין, with whom thou hast had so much intercourse, and so many dealings. They shall wander every one to his quarter — Or, as some interpret the meaning, “They shall wander by whatsoever ways they can to the extreme boundaries of thy empire, to save themselves from the general calamity.” None shall save thee — From thy impending ruin, but all shall leave thee to perish without help, and without hope. Observe, reader, they, and only they, are safe and happy, who, by faith and prayer, deal with one that will always be a present help in time of trouble to those that flee to him for refuge, and trust in him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

47:12-15 In the face of calamity, Babylon would turn to occult practices for help, but it would not find help.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He derideth their vain confidence, that put their trust in anything but in God, condemning also such vain sciences, which serve to no use, but to delude the people, and to bring them from depending only on God.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Stand--forth: a scornful challenge to Babylon's magicians to show whether they can defend their city.

laboured--The devil's service is a laborious yet fruitless one (Isa 55:2).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(12) If so be thou shalt be able . . .—The words come with a subtle tone of irony. Persevere in thy enchantments . . . perchance thou wilt be able to profit, perchance thou wilt strike terror.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. Stand now with &c.] Either Stand by thy spells, persist in them, stake everything upon them, as Lev_13:5; Jer_48:11, Eze_13:5 (these parallels, however, are not quite convincing); or (as in Isa_47:13) Stand forth with thy spells.

wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth] Or: with which thou hast wearied thyself, &c.; see on ch. Isa_43:22. Duhm omits these words entirely, for the sake of the rhythm, but they excite no suspicion on any other ground.

if so be &c.] perchance thou wilt be able to profit!—

perchance thou wilt inspire terror! (Cf. R.V.)

keen and bitter irony.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries,.... An ironic expression, deriding those evil arts, bidding defiance to them, calling upon the masters of them to do their utmost by them:

wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; from the infancy of their state; as soon as their monarchy was founded, or they became a people, they were given to these practices, and were famous for them; and in which, no doubt, many among them were brought up from their youth; and to gain the knowledge of which they were at great labour and expense; and yet it was all in vain, and to no purpose:

if so be thou shall be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail; if skill in these things can be of any advantage to keep off the impending calamity, and fortify against the powerful enemy that will quickly surprise thee; try if by thine art thou canst foresee the danger, and prevent it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Stand now with thy enchantments - (See the notes at Isa 47:9). This is evidently sarcastic and ironical. It is a call on those who practiced the arts of magic to stand forth, and to show whether they were able to defend the city, and to save the nation.

Wherein thou hast labored - Or in practicing which thou hast been diligently employed.

From thy youth - From the very commencement of thy national existence. Babylon was always distinguished for these arts. Now was a time when their value was to be put to the test, and when it was to be seen whether they were able to save the nation.

If so be - Or perhaps or possibly, they may be able to profit thee - the language of irony. Perhaps by the aid of these arts you may be able to repel your foes.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

CHAPTER XLVII.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Stand: this word notes either,

1. Continuance. Persist or go on in these practices. Or,

2. Their gesture. For those that inquired of their gods by any of these superstitious practices used to stand; this being a posture, both of reverence, and waiting for an answer. But this is not a command or concession, but a sacred irony or scoff at the folly of these men, who having so oft been disappointed by these impostures, yet were as forward to use them and trust to them as if they had never deceived them.

From thy youth; from the beginning of thy commonwealth or kingdom. For the Chaldeans in all ages were famous, or rather infamous, for the study and practice of these arts.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Wherein thou hast laboured — Namely, in astrology, magic, or sorceries, through which Babylon might attempt to thwart the divine decree.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Stand now. The fourth and concluding strophe now begins; it opens, like the third, with a single imperative. It has, as Mr. Cheyne observes, "a strongly ironical tinge, reminding us of Elijah"s language to the priests of Baal in 1Ki_18:27." The irony is, however, confined to the first half (vers. 12, 13); giving place in vers. 14 and 15 to a scathing sentence of judgment and ruin. Enchantments... sorceries; rather, spells, enchantments (see the comment on ver. 9). If so be, etc.; rather, perchance thou wilt be able to profit; perchance thou wilt cause terror. The prophet gives a pretended encouragement to Israel"s adversaries. "If Babylon uses all the resources of her magical art, perhaps she may succeed who knows? Perhaps she may strike terror into the hearts of her assailants."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A CALL TO THE UNRIGHTEOUS

(Fourth Sunday in Advent.)

Isa_46:12-13. Hearken unto Me, ye stout-hearted, &c.

Referred at first to local and national circumstances, but addressed to the men of every generation—to ourselves in our own circumstances, rendered more obvious and striking by the near approach of the joyful season of Christmas.

I. God’s dealings with mankind have been all of a character which may be called unexpected. No reason can be given why men should be redeemed, rather than fallen angels, save that it so pleased Him who “worketh all things,” &c. Suppose that God had left the world to itself for many ages; suppose Him breaking the silence of centuries, of what nature would the world expect the summons to be if roused in the midst of its profligacy by the call, “Hearken,” &c.? Would it not be a message of wrath, &c.? It never could have been expected, that after such a summons would follow such words as are found in the text.

II. Having summoned the stout-hearted to hearken, the words that follow are specially adapted to their case—contain the motives which are most likely to bring them to contrition and repentance. The nearness of salvation is made an argument with the ungodly why they should turn from evil courses, just as preached by the Baptist—“Repent ye, for,” &c. The argument may not seem at first to be one of extraordinary force, but there is an energy and a persuasiveness in the approach of a Redeemer which may vainly be looked for in the approach of any other persons, or any other event. Apply this argument.

God goes on to speak with more distinctness of His purposes of mercy: “And I will place,” &c. Refers originally to what Christ would accomplish at His first appearing in Judea, and also what He would effect at His second advent. But if we confine our thoughts to what has been already effected, we have sufficient material from which to prove the accomplishment of the text. “Righteousness” is the salvation which God promises to be at hand. This is the most faithful description of the deliverance provided through the mediation of Christ, for that deliverance to righteousness which God provided for His own honour whilst providing for our rescue (Rom_9:30, &c.) And not only is salvation the righteousness of all, because it provides that God shall be just while the justifier; it is emphatically “God’s righteousness,” inasmuch as it communicates a righteousness to man which by his own strivings he could not have attained. It does this in two ways—by imputing Christ’s righteousness, and by working righteousness in us by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

And this salvation God placed in Zion, for it was only by the going up of the Mediator as a victim to the altar that the curse of the law was exhausted and the honour of the Divine attributes secured. Ages have no power to weaken or remove it. Still is virtue going out from Zion mighty as when the first Atonement was made. But we look for a yet nobler and ampler accomplishment of the prophecy (Isa_25:6-8; Isa_63:1).

“For Israel my glory.” Wonderful words! That fallen man should be His glory is an inexplicable mystery apart from Redemption. A redeemed creature is emphatically the glory of God.—H. Melvill, B.A.: Sermons, 1853, pp. 562–568.

I. A CALL OF GOD TO THE LISTLESS AND IMPENITENT. “Hearken unto Me ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness.”

1. This call may be said to apply to three classes—

(1.) To the spiritually deaf;

(2.) To the spiritually obdurate;

(3.) To the spiritually destitute—“Far from righteousness.”

2. This call is entitled to our immediate and most earnest attention.

(1.) Because it concerns our eternal destiny;

(2.) Because it is God’s call.

II. CONNECTED WITH THIS CALL IS THE GRACIOUS PROVISION AND ACCESSIBILITY OF SALVATION. “I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry.” Of this salvation, thus provided and so easily available, we reremark that—

1. It is Divine in its origin and nature. “I bring;” “my salvation.”

2. It is prompt in its announcement and delivery. The text signifies anything but delay, anything but cold and indifferent pauses. God makes haste to be gracious. He observes due time. and sent His Son in the fulness of time, He is slow to anger, but plenteous in mercy. As the prodigal’s father ran to meet him, so does God to save man.

3. It is mercifully adapted to the sinner’s condition.

(1.) He deserves threatening, but obtained instead mercy’s rich promise. God might justly have followed the call by threatening; but rather than this, there is a beautiful transition from the severe to the tender, from the prelude of thunder to the sweet and gentle music of love. It is a beautiful gradation from law to grace.

(2.) He deserves the loss of redemptive privileges, but is offered a near salvation.

(3.) He deserves present punishment, but is offered a timely pardon.

III. GOD CONSTITUTES HIS CHURCH THE TREASURY OF THIS ACCESSIBLE SALVATION. “I will place salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.” Here we see—

1. That the church is the world’s house of mercy.

2. That the church is entrusted with the most solemn responsibilities.

3. That the church is God’s glory and object of honour. “For Israel my glory.”—Thomas Colclough in the “Lau Preacher,” vol. iii. p. 123.

I. THE DEPLORABLE CONDITION OF UNCONVERTED SINNERS.

1. “Stout-hearted”—stubborn, obdurate, hard. In Eze_11:19 we have a striking and instructive figure describing the condition of unconverted sinners: “The stony heart”—as hard, as cold, as barren, and as dead as a stone!

2. “Far from righteousness”—rightness in heart, in habit, and in life. Morally wrong. Alienated from God. All are naturally wrong (Rom_3:10). Yet some talk of moral excellence in fallen creatures, &c. The Bible acknowledges no real excellence but what arises from a work of grace upon the soul. Sin has defaced the moral excellences of man (Jer_17:9; Gen_6:5; Rom_8:7). “That which is born of the flesh is flesh”—fallen, corrupt, subject to the law of the Fall. “Ye must be born again.”

II. THE WONDERFUL MERCY OF GOD. Has provided a method of deliverance from this deplorable condition. “I bring near my righteousness,” &c. This deliverance God brings near (Rom_10:6-9). Your wrongness may be brought to a final end. The gospel is the grand provision for the restoration of righteousness in fallen and sinful men (2Co_5:21, &c.) Though by nature “far off,” you may be brought “nigh by the blood of Christ.”

III. THE IMPERATIVE DUTY TO WHICH SINNERS ARE SUMMONED. “Hearken unto Me.” When God speaks, it behoves us to listen (Heb_2:2-3). Hearken to His voice—immediately, earnestly, practically, constantly. “Hear, and your soul shall live.”—Alfred Tucker.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Stand - Persist in these practices. laboured - From the beginning of thy kingdom. For the Chaldeans in all ages were famous for the practice of these arts.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Then follows the concluding strophe, which, like the first, announces to the imperial city in a triumphantly sarcastic tone its inevitable fate; whereas the intermediate strophes refer rather to the sins by which this fate has been brought upon it. "Come near, then, with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy witchcrafts, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth: perhaps thou canst profit, perhaps thou wilt inspire terror. Thou art wearied through the multitude of thy consultations; let the dissectors of the heavens come near, then, and save thee, the star-gazers, they who with every new moon bring things to light that will come upon thee. Behold, they have become like stubble: fire has consumed them: there is not a red-hot coal to warm themselves, a hearth-fire to sit before. So is it with thy people, for whom thou hast laboured: thy partners in trade from thy youth, they wander away every one in his own direction; no one who brings salvation to thee." Hitzig and others adopt the simple rendering, "Persevere, then, with thine enchantments." It is indeed true, that in Lev 13:5 בּ עמד signifies "to remain standing by anything," i.e., to persevere with it, just as in Eze 13:5 it signifies to keep one's standing in anything; in Kg2 23:3, to enter upon anything; and in Ecc 8:3, to engage in anything; but there is no reason for taking it here in any other sense than in Isa 47:13. Babylon is to draw near with all the processes of the black art, wherein בּאשׁר, according to our western mode of expression, equivalent to בּהם אשׁר, Ges. 123, 2*) it had been addicted to abundance of routine from its youth upwards (יגעאתּ with an auxiliary pathach for יגעתּ); possibly it may be of some use, possibly it will terrify, i.e., make itself so terrible to the approaching calamity, as to cause it to keep off. The prophet now sees in spirit how Babylon draws near, and how it also harasses itself to no purpose; he therefore follows up the עמדי־נא, addressed in pleno to Babylon, with a second challenge commencing with יעמדוּ־נא. Their astrologers are to draw near, and try that power over the future to which they lay claim, by bringing it to bear at once upon the approaching destruction for the benefit of Babylon. עצתיך is a singular form connected with a feminine plural suffix, such as we find in Psa 9:15; Eze 35:11; Ezr 9:15, connected with a masculine plural suffix. Assuming the correctness of the vowel-pointing, the singular appears in such cases as these to have a collective meaning, like the Arabic pl. fractus; for there is no ground to suppose that the Aramaean plural form ‛ētsâth is used here in the place of the Hebrew. Instead of שׁמים הברו (which would be equivalent to הברו אשׁרא, the keri reads שׁמים הברי, cutters up of the heavens, i.e., planners or dissectors of them, from hâb, dissecare, resecare (compare the rabbinical habhârâh, a syllable, i.e., segmentum vocabuli, and possibly also the talmudic 'ēbhârı̄m, limbs of a body). The correction proposed by Knobel, viz., chōbherē, from châbhār, to know, or be versed in, is unnecessary. Châzâh b' signifies here, as it generally does, to look with pleasure or with interest at anything; hence Luther has rendered it correctly, die Sternkucker (Eng. ver. star-gazers). They are described still further as those who make known with every new moon (lechŏdâshı̄m, like labbeqârı̄m, every morning, Isa 33:2, etc.), things which, etc. מאשׁר is used in a partitive sense: out of the great mass of events they select the most important, and prepare a calendar or almanack (ἀλμενιχιακά in Plutarch) for the state every month. But these very wise men cannot save themselves, to say nothing of others, out of the power of that flame, which is no comforting coal-fire to warm one's self by, no hearth-fire (Isa 44:16) to sit in front of, but a devouring, eternal, i.e., peremptory flame (Isa 33:14). The rendering adopted by Grotius, Vitringa, Lowth, Gesenius, and others, "non supererit pruna ad calendum," is a false one, if only because it is not in harmony with the figure. "Thus shall they be unto thee," he continues in Isa 47:15, i.e., such things shall be endured to thy disgrace by those about whom thou hast wearied thyself (אשׁר = בּהם אשׁר). The learned orders of the Chaldeans had their own quarter, and enjoyed all the distinction and privileges of a priestly caste. What follows cannot possibly be understood as relating to these masters of astrology and witchcraft, as Ewald supposes; for, according to the expression שׁחרהּ in Isa 47:11, they would be called שׁחריך. Moreover, if they became a prey of the flames, and therefore were unable to flee, we should have to assume that they were burned while taking flight (Umbreit). סחריך are those who carried on commercial intercourse with the great "trading city" (Eze 17:4), as Berossos says, "In Babylon there was a great multitude of men of other nations who had settled in Chaldea, and they lived in disorder, like the wild beasts;" compare Aeschylus, Pers. 52-3, Βαβυλὼν δ ̓ ἡ πολύχρυσος πάμμικτον ὄχλον πέμπει. All of these are scattered in the wildest flight, אל־עברו אישׁ, every one on his own side, viz., in the direction of his own home, and do not trouble themselves about Babylon.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

“Stand now!” The word here rendered ‘now’ is not a particle of time but of entreaty, very often corresponding to ‘I pray’, or ‘if you please’. In this case it indicates a kind of concession to the people, if they still choose to try the virtue of their superstitious arts which He had already denounced as worthless. “Stand now in thy spells (or charels).” Some suppose an allusion to the customary standing posture of astrologers, conjurers, etc. Others understand the verb to mean ‘stand fast, be firm and courageous.’ But the modern writers generally understand it to mean ‘persist or persevere’, which of course requires the preposition to be taken in its usual proper sense of ‘in’. “Persist now in thy spells and in the abundance of thy charms,” the same nouns that are joined above in v. 9. “In which thou hast labored.” ‘From thy youth’ may either mean ‘of old’, or more specifically, ‘since the earliest period of thy national existence’. The antiquity of occult arts, and above all of astrology, in Babylon, is attested by various profane writers. Diodorus Siculus indeed derives them from Egypt, and describes the Chaldees or astrologers of Babylon as Egyptian colonists. But as this last is certainly erroneous (see above on v. 1), the other assertion can have no authority. The Babylonians are reported by the same and other writers to have carried back their own antiquity, as proved by recorded scientific observations, to an extravagant and foolish length, to which some think there is allusion here in the expression ‘from thy youth’. “Perhaps thou wilt be able to succeed, or help thyself,” the verb commonly translated ‘profit’. (See above, Isa 44:10) This faint suggestion of a possibility is more expressive than a positive denial.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues to speak to Babylon about her downfall as if she were a queen who is humiliated. (See: Metaphor and Personification)

Persist in casting your spells ... perhaps you will scare away disaster

Yahweh mocks Babylon by telling her to continue to practice her sorcery to keep bad things away, but he knows that it will not help her. (See: Irony)

translationWords

sorcerer

faithful

save

heaven

declare

new moon

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Stand now Strengthen yourself now.

perhaps you will gain strength Heb. תַּעֲרוֹצִי. Jonathan renders: Perhaps you will be able to become strong.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

נא Now.

בחבריך With thine enchantments. It is a plural noun, of the same root as וחבר חבר or a charmer (Deut. 18:11).

הועיל To profit. It is Infinitive.

תערוצי Thou mayest prevail. Comp. עריץ strong (29:20)

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.