Isaiah 49:17

Isa 49:17 Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

Ver. 17. Thy children shall make haste.] People shall come in amain to the Church. Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia. God can make a nation to conceive and bring forth in a day. {Isa 66:8} How quickly was the gospel divulged and darted all the world over, as the beams of the sun! so in the late blessed Reformation begun by Luther.

And they that made thee waste.] Tyrants and heretics shall be cashiered. {as Zec 13:2} Fiat, fiat. Let it happen, let it happen.

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 49:17. Thy children — Or, as some, with equal propriety, render בנין, thy builders; which rendering is favoured by the next clause, where the destroyers are opposed to them, but the following verse favours the former interpretation: the sense, however, is the same, for the church’s children are her builders; shall make haste — To repair thy ruins and desolations, and build thee up. Thy destroyers, &c., shall go forth of thee — Shall be separated and driven from thee, and so shall neither hinder nor annoy thee. But this rendering, shall go forth of thee, says Bishop Lowth, “is very flat, after their zeal had been expressed by their being her builders: and as the opposition is kept up in one part of the sentence, one has reason to expect it in the other.” He, therefore, renders ממן יצאו, shall proceed, spring, or issue, from thee; namely, as thy children, and reads the whole verse thus: They that destroy thee shall soon become thy builders; and they that laid thee waste shall become thine offspring: the accession of the Gentiles to the church of God being properly considered as an addition made to the number of the family and children of Zion.

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

I have continual care to build thee up again, and to destroy thine enemies.

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

Thy children--Israel (Isa 49:20-21; Isa 43:6). JEROME reads, for "Thy children," "Thy builders"; they that destroyed thee shall hasten to build thee.

haste--to rebuild thy desolate capital.

shall go forth--Thy destroyers shall leave Judea to Israel in undisturbed possession.

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

Verse 17. Thy children shall make haste - "They that destroyed thee shall soon become thy builders"] Auctor Vulgatae pro בניך banayich, videtur legisse בוניך bonayich, unde vertit, structores tui; cui et Septuaginta fere consentiunt, qui verterunt ωκοδομηθης, aedificata es, prout in Plantiniana editione habetur; in Vaticana sive Romana legitur, οικοδομηθηση, aedificaberis. Hisce etiam Targum Jonathanis aliquatenus consentit, ubi, et aedificabunt. Confer infra Esai. liv. 13, ad quem locum rabbini quoque notarunt en tractatu Talmudico Berachot, c. ix., quod non legendum sit בניך banayich, id est, filii tui; sed בוניך bonayich, aedificatores tui. Confer not. ad librum Prec. Jud. part ii., p. 226, ut et D Wagenseil Sot. p. 253, n. 9. "The author of the Vulgate appears to have read בוניך bonayich for בניך banayich, as he translates it by structures tui, 'thy builders.' The Septuagint is almost the same with the Vulgate, having ωκοδομηθης, art built, as in the Plantin edition: but the Vatican or Roman copy reads οικοδομηθηση, thou shalt be built. To these readings the Targum of Jonathan has some sort of correspondence, translating et aedificabunt, 'and they shall build.' See chap. liv. 13; on which place the rabbins also remark, in the Talmudic tract Berachoth, c. 9, that we should not read בניך banayich, thy sons, but בוניך bonayich, thy builders. See the note in Prae. Jud. part ii., p. 226, and also D. Wagenseil, Sot. p. 253, n. 9." See also Breithaupt. not. ad Jarchi in loc.; and the note on this place in De Sac. Poes. Hebr. Praelect. xxxi. Instead of בוניך or בניך bonayich, thy builders, several MSS. read בניך baneycha, thy sons. So also the Syriac: see the above note.

Shall go forth of thee - "Shall become thine offspring."] ממך יצאו mimmech yetseu, shall proceed, spring, issue, from thee, as thy children. The phrase is frequently used in this sense: see Isa 11:1; Mic 5:2; Na 1:11. The accession of the Gentiles to the Church of God is considered as an addition made to the number of the family and children of Sion: see Isa 49:21-22, and Isa 60:4. The common rendering, "shall go forth of thee, or depart from thee," is very flat, after their zeal had been expressed by "shall become thy builders:" and as the opposition is kept up in one part of the sentence, one has reason to expect it in the other, which should be parallel to it.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(17) Thy children shall make haste.—A various reading adopted by the LXX., Targum, and Vulg., gives thy builders. They rush to their work of restoration; the destroyers and ravagers go forth.

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

17, 18. Already in vision the prophet sees the return of the exiles and calls on Zion to welcome her sons.

Instead of Thy children the chief ancient Versions, and the important Babylonian Codex have “Thy builders” (בֹּנַיִךְ for בָּנַיךְ), a sense which is recommended both by the antithesis to “thy destroyers” &c., and the connexion with the previous verse. Yet it is doubtful if the reading on the whole is preferable to that of the received text. The latter at least is true to the fundamental image of the passage, which appears again in Isa_49:20 f.

For shall make haste read in the present tense (as R.V.) make haste.

thy destroyers &c.] The expressions almost suggest that Jerusalem was still occupied by Chaldæan troops.

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.

Thy children shall make haste,.... Regenerate persons, young converts, such as are born again of incorruptible seed by the word; these shall flock to the church,

as doves to the windows; join themselves to her, and submit to Gospel ordinances, and

make haste, and delay not, to keep the Lord's commandments; which is no small pleasure, joy, and comfort to the church of God. Some render it, "thy builders" (m) "shall make haste"; Gospel ministers, who are wise masterbuilders under Christ; these shall come with all readiness and cheerfulness, and build in the temple, the church of God, and rebuild her walls, and repair her breaches:

thy destroyers and they that made thee waste, shall go forth of thee; tyrants and persecutors of the church shall cease, and be no more; and false teachers, that corrupt the minds of men, subvert their faith, and destroy their souls, as antichrist and his ministers, shall be drove out of the church, and destroyed by Christ, the Head of it; see Rev 11:18.

(m) "structores vel aedificatores tui", Munster, Montanus, Calvin, Tigurine version.

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

Thy children - The children of Zion - the true people of God. But there is here considerable variety in the interpretation. The Hebrew of the present text is בניך bânâyı̂k (“thy sons”). But Jerome reads it, Structores tui - ‘Thy builders;’ as if it were בונין. The Septuagint renders it, ‘Thou shalt be speedily built (ταχὺ οἰκοδομηθήσῃ tachu oikodomēthēsē) by those by whom thou hast been destroyed.’ The Chaldee renders it, ‘Those that rebuild thy waste places shall hasten.’ The Syriac reads it, ‘Thy sons;’ and the Arabic, ‘Thou shalt be rebuilt by those by whom thou hast been destroyed.’ But there is no good authority for changing the present Hebrew text. nor is it necessary. The sense probably is, the descendants of those who dwelt in Zion, who are now in exile, shall hasten to rebuild the wastes of the desolate capital, and restore its ruins. And may it not mean, that in the great work under the Messiah, of restoring the nation to the worship of God, and of spreading the true religion, God would make use of those who dwelt in Zion; that is, of the Jews, as his ambassadors?

They that made thee waste - Language drawn from the destruction of Jerusalen. The sense is, that they would seek no longer to retain possession, but would permit its former inhabitants to return, and engage in repairing its ruins.

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

Of thee. Sanballat, &c., shall yield to Zorobabel, Nehemias, &c.

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).

Thy children; or, as others render it, thy builders; which is favoured by the next clause, where the destroyers are opposed to them. Howsoever, the sense is the same; for her children were her builders, as we read in Ezra and Nehemiah.

Shall go forth of thee; shall be separated and driven from among thee, and so shall neither hinder nor annoy thee.

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

17, 18. Thy children shall make haste, etc. — The glorious renewal of Zion, by the return of her children to God and his worship, bursts on the prophet’s vision, filling him with gladness, while her enemies flee with as much of haste as repentant Israel returns.

Clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament — Behold! from all around backsliding members are returning! and, God’s oath for it, they all of them shall be as “an ornament,” or as beautiful clothing, which Zion shall put on in token of her reconciliation and her joy. So is the Church always, when pure, spiritually bedecked.

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

Thy children shall make haste; i.e. "thy exiled children shall hasten, when the appointed time comes, to return to Zion, and rebuild its temple and towers and walls." At the same time, thy destroyers and they that have made thee waste, who are regarded as still carrying on their devastations, shall leave thee and go forth of thee.

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

It is this fact of a renewed glorification which presents itself afresh to the prophet's mind. "Thy children make haste, thy destroyers and masters draw out from thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all these assemble themselves together, and come to thee. As truly as I live, saith Jehovah, thou wilt put them all on like jewellery, and gird them round thee like a bride." The pointing adopted by the lxx, Targ., Jer. and Saad., is בּניך. The antithesis favours this reading; but בּניך suits Isa 49:18, Isa 49:19 better; and the thought that Zion's children come and restore her fallen walls, follows of itself from the very antithesis: her children come; and those who destroyed their maternal home, and made it a desolate ruin, have to depart from both city and land. Zion is to lift up her eyes, that have been cast down till now, yea, to lift them up round about; for on all sides those whom she thought she had lost are coming in dense crowds לך (cf., לא = לו with אליו, Isa 49:5), to her, i.e., henceforth to belong to her again. Jehovah pledges His life (chai 'ănı̄, ζῶν ἐγώ, Ewald, 329, a) that a time of glory is coming for Zion and her children. כּי in the affirmative sense, springing out of the confirmative after an affirming oath, equivalent to אם־לא elsewhere (e.g., Isa 5:9). The population which Zion recovers once more, will be to her like the ornaments which a woman puts on, like the ornamental girdle (Isa 3:20) which a bride fastens round her wedding dress.

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.)

“Thy sons hasten (to thee); thy destroyers and thy wasters shall go out from thee.” This is the proof that God had not forsaken her. The true construction, as in many other cases, seems to be that which represents the process as begun but not complete. Already had her sons begun to hasten to her, and ere long her enemies should be entirely departed. The natural interpretation of the last clause is that which understands it as containing simply an emphatic contrast between friends and foes, the latter taking their departure, and the former coming into possession.

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

Your sons have hastened to return.

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.

Thy children, etc. Thy children have come, and all thy destroyers shall go away from thee.

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.