Isaiah 65:23

Isa 65:23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they [are] the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.

Ver. 23. They shall not labour in vain.] As wicked men shall. {Lev 26:14-20 Deu 28:15-68 Hag 1:6; {See Trapp on "Hag 1:6"}

Nor bring forth for trouble.] Bring forth children to the murderer, {Hos 9:13} to the great grief and trouble of their poor parents.

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.

bring forth for trouble--literally, "for terror," that is, "They shall not bring forth children for a sudden death" (Lev 26:16; Jer 15:8).

seed . . . blessed-- (Isa 61:9).

offspring with them-- (Hos 9:12). "Their offspring shall be with themselves" [MAURER]; not "brought forth" only to be cut off by "sudden death" (see the parallel clause).

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 23. They shall not labour in vain - "My chosen shall not labour in vain"] I remove בחירי bechirai, my elect, from the end of the twenty-second to the beginning of the twenty-third verse, on the authority of the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, and a MS.; contrary to the division in the Masoretic text. - L. The Septuagint is beautiful: My chosen shall not labour in vain, neither shall they beget children for the curse; for the seed is blessed of the Lord, and their posterity with them."

Nor bring forth for trouble - "Neither shall they generate a short-lived race"] לבהלה labbehalah, in festinationem, "what shall soon hasten away." Εις καταραν for a curse, Sept. They seem to have read לאלה lealah. - Grotius. But Ps 78:33 both justifies and explains the word here: -

ימיהם בהבל ויכל

yemeyhem bahebel vayechal

בבהלה ושנותם

babbehalah ushenotham

"And he consumed their days in vanity;

And their years in haste."

μετα σπουδης, say the Septuagint. Jerome on this place of Isaiah explains it to the same purpose: "εις ανυπαρξιαν, hoc est, ut esse desistant."

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

(23) Their offspring with them . . .—The picture presented is that of a patriarchal family, including many generations, fathers no longer outliving their children and mourning for their death, as Jacob did (Gen_37:35; Gen_42:38), and as men had often done in the times of war, famine, and pestilence, through which Isaiah had lived.

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

23. They shall not weary themselves for vanity] ch. Isa_49:4; Hab_2:13; because God’s blessing rests on them.

nor bring forth (sc. children) for sudden destruction] Jer_15:8; Psa_78:33.

and their offspring with them] Better perhaps as a complete sentence: and their offspring shall be with them (R.V. marg.); many generations living together. Cf. Job_21:8.

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.

They shall not labour in vain,.... As they do, who build houses, and enemies come and turn them out of them, and dwell in them themselves; or who plant vineyards, and sow their fields, and strangers come and devour them; or they are smitten with blasting and mildew:

nor bring forth for trouble; for death, as the Targum; or for a curse, as the Septuagint: the tense is, they shall not beget and bring forth children, that shall immediately die by some distemper or another, or be taken off by famine, sword, or pestilence, to the great grief and trouble of their parents; but these shall live, and outlive their parents, so that their death will never be a trouble to them:

for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them; or, "they are a seed, the blessed of the Lord" (i); or, "they are the seed blessed of God", or "the Lord", as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; or, as the Targum,

"a seed whom the Lord hath blessed;''

a spiritual seed of the church, a seed raised up to serve the Lord, whom he blesses with temporal and spiritual blessings; and their offspring also, being made a spiritual seed by the grace of God, and succeeding them in the church, and treading in their steps.

(i) "quia sunt semens, benedicti Domini ipsi"; which tension is most agreeable to the accents.

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

They shall not labor in vain - That is, either because their land shall be unfruitful, or because others shall plunder them.

Nor bring forth for trouble - Lowth renders this, ‘Neither shall they generate a short-lived race.’ Noyes, ‘Nor bring forth children for an early death.’ The Septuagint renders it, Οὐδὲ τεκνοποιήσουσιν εἰς κατάραν Oude teknopoiēsousin eis kataran - ‘Nor shall they bring forth children for a curse.’ The Chaldee, ‘Nor shall they nourish them for death.’ There can be no doubt that this refers to their posterity, and that the sense is, that they should not be the parents of children who would be subject to an early death or to a curse. The word rendered here ‘bring forth’ (ילדוּ yēledû) is a word that uniformly means to bear, to bring forth as a mother, or to beget as a father. And the promise here is, that which would be so grateful to parental feelings, that their posterity would be long-lived and respected. The word rendered here ‘trouble’ (בהלה behâlâh) means properly “terror,” and then the effect of terror, or that which causes terror, sudden destruction. It is derived from בהל bâhal, to trouble, to shake, to be in trepidation, to flee, and then to punish suddenly; and the connection here seems to require the sense that their children should not be devoted to sudden destruction.

For they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord - (See the notes at Isa 59:21).

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

In. Hebrew, "for trouble." Chaldean, "death." Septuagint, "malediction." The children shall not be cut off; and baptism shall secure their salvation.

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).

And not only a blessing to them, but also to their offspring. But what is here promised which wicked men do not ofttimes enjoy, and God’s people ofttimes want?

Answ. 1. Wicked men may have them for their good parents’ sake, and good men may sometimes want them for evil parents’ sake.

2. Bad men may have some of these things, but they cannot expect them; good men may at present want them, but they may expect them from the hand of God if they be good for them.

3. Bad men may have them in wrath; the blessing of God gives them to good men, and adds no sorrow therewith.

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

23. They shall not labour in vain — Another figure denoting permanent enjoyment. No certain wearying for an uncertain good. They shall be blessed of the Lord with prosperity temporal and spiritual, and their offspring with them.

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

They shall not... bring forth for trouble. Their women shall not bear children to see them carried off after a few days, or months, or years, by disease, or accident, or famine, or the sword of the invader. There shall be an end of such "troubles," and, God"s blessing resting upon those who are his children, their children shall, as a general rule, "be with them;" i.e. remain to them during their lifetime, and not be lost to them by a premature decease.

HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM Ver. 23. Requited toil.

"They shall not labour in vain." This is God"s comfort to all his faithful servants. Success is not to be measured by our sight, or by the statistics and seemings of superficial men.

I HARVESTS ARE SOMETIMES LONG DELAYED. It has been so in our foreign mission fields, and it is so often here at home in our Christian Churches, and it is so in our families. But the Divine seed only "slumbers;" it does not "perish." Harvests often sprout in greenness and wave in golden glory over men"s graves.

II HARVESTS ARE NOT TO BE MEASURED BY THEIR FIRSTFRUITS. There, in a school or a church, some Henry Martyn, some Wilberforce, some Heber, some Livingstone, is brought into Christ"s fold. Perhaps that soul is the only one soul we can make estimate of in a whole year"s toil. We may, perhaps, feel disappointed only one; but that one soul may be, under God, the means of giving spiritual life to a new continent. We must wait and work, and never weary, for Christ must reign. And the sower shall in due season reap, if he faint not. W.M.S.

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

With them - Is blessed with them.

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

“They shall not labor in vain, and they shall not bring forth for terror; for the seed of the blessed of Jehovah are they, and their offspring with them.” The sense of sudden destruction given to Behalah by some modern writers, is a mere conjecture from the context, and no more correct than the translation ‘curse’, which others derive from an Arabic analogy. The Hebrew word properly denotes extreme agitation and alarm, and the meaning of the clause is that they shall not bring forth children merely to be subjects of distressing solicitude.

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

Nor bring forth for trouble, etc. Their children will not die, for God has blessed the parents, and has blessed the children to remain with them.

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.