1 Audite hæc, domus Jacob, qui vocamini nomine Israël, et de aquis Juda existis; qui juratis in nomine Domini, et Dei Israël recordamini non in veritate neque in justitia.
Eusebius of Caesarea · AD 339 He calls them the house of Jacob as not being worthy of the name of their forefather. Rather, "those called by the name Israel" are not really Israel, and those bearing that name are not called such here.
Jerome · AD 420 (Chapter 48, Verses 1 and following) Listen to this, house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and come from the waters of Judah: who swear in the name of the Lord, and remember the God of Israel, not in truth or justice. For they are called from the holy city: and they are established upon the Lord, the name of the God of Israel.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 884. Hear these things, O house of Jacob. Here he promises the liberation of the people. And this is divided into two parts: in the first, he promises liberation; in the second, he describes the order of liberation, below: give ear, you islands (Isa 49:1). The first is divided into two.
2 De civitate enim sancta vocati sunt, et super Deum Israël constabiliti sunt: Dominus exercituum nomen ejus.
3 Priora ex tunc annuntiavi, et ex ore meo exierunt, et audita feci ea: repente operatus sum, et venerunt.
Eusebius of Caesarea · AD 339 It is not in human nature to know things that are to come. I am the God who foretells them even now and who did so throughout former times.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 The adversities that have come on you were announced by me well beforehand, in order that you would be frightened by threats and driven to repentance, so that you may steer clear of the dreadful events. But since you failed to believe my words, I will now proceed to demonstrate their truth by my actions.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 885. Second, he promises liberation: the former things of old. And concerning this, he does three things: first, he shows the majesty of God who promises it; second, he shows the prosperity of Cyrus who executes it: assemble yourselves together, all you, etc.; third, he promises liberation: come near unto me (Isa 48:16).
4 Scivi enim quia durus es tu, et nervus ferreus cervix tua, et frons tua ærea.
Eusebius of Caesarea · AD 339 These words would not be of any help to you if you had not been already warned. Nevertheless, dwelling in my loving-kindness, I still bear witness and distinguish you from those assembled in Babylon and the Chaldeans about to attack you. Open your eyes!
Jerome · AD 420 Behold, you have heard all things that are to come, and yet you conceal the truth in silence. I do not speak of past events, in which my power has often been proven, such as when I led the people out of Egypt, drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea, gave them the promised land, and subjected various nations to you.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 And he sets out the reason for this, which is taken from their condition, which he sets out first: for I knew, from eternity; stubborn toward coming to your senses from evils; your neck, that is, the stiff-necked obstinacy of your own understanding; an iron sinew, which cannot be bent; your forehead as brass, because of your immodesty: you stiff-necked (Acts 7:51); for I know y…
5 Prædixi tibi ex tunc; antequam venirent, indicavi tibi, ne forte diceres: Idola mea fecerunt hæc, et sculptilia mea et conflatilia mandaverunt ista.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 And then from this, he draws the reason: I foretold; as if to say: that you were prone to idolatry, I foretold, lest you ascribe my benefits to idols: I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread (Hos 2:5).
6 Quæ audisti, vide omnia; vos autem, num annuntiastis? Audita feci tibi nova ex tunc, et conservata sunt quæ nescis.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 He sets out also the manifestation of what was foretold: the things which you have heard, foretold to you by me, see, them fulfilled: as we have heard, so have we seen (Ps 48:8). 887.
7 Nunc creata sunt et non ex tunc; et ante diem, et non audisti ea, ne forte dicas: Ecce ego cognovi ea.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Now, that is, in time, they are created, that is, brought into effect, and not of old, when I foreknew them, and before the day, of their fulfillment, when you heard them not, neither from me, nor from the idols: the Lord has hid it from me, and has not told me (2 Kgs 4:27).
8 Neque audisti, neque cognovisti, neque ex tunc aperta est auris tua: scio enim quia prævaricans prævaricaberis, et transgressorem ex utero vocavi te.
Eusebius of Caesarea · AD 339 In Symmachus's translation: "And you, though faithless to the covenant, were called from the womb," so that not through you but through my merciful love I foretold and showed to you the things that would come to destroy your enemies, hurrying to save you in every engagement with them.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 You have neither heard, from idols, neither was your ear opened, by me: man shall come to a deep heart (Ps 64:6-7). He also sets out their condition, from which this reason is drawn: for I know; from the womb, that is, from the time when I carried you through the desert as in the womb: I see that this people is stiff-necked (Exod 32:9), above: with the prevarication of transgre…
9 Propter nomen meum longe faciam furorem meum, et laude mea infrenabo te, ne intereas.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 But we say that God brings fire on the world, not like a cook [pace Celsus] but like a God who is the benefactor of those who stand in need of the discipline of force.
Cyril of Alexandria · AD 444 It is a work that is necessary, and it is the fruit of admirable foresight to avoid these things that are announced and not to wait for the end of the unhappy times but to stand outside of all wrath and judgment.… "I have restrained my wrath for the sake of my name," and I will establish my glorious deeds over you lest you be destroyed.… We see in this the greatness of God's lo…
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 888. Third, he excludes a certain objection: for my name's sake. For someone may ask: when they are so stubborn, why do you promise and do good things for them?
10 Ecce excoxi te, sed non quasi argentum; elegi te in camino paupertatis.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 It was not a need for money that caused me to deliver you to the Babylonians but the will to make you atone for your iniquity; nevertheless, I am going to make you a gift of freedom again. For Isaiah has called the bondage a "furnace of poverty." In a furnace the fire itself remains hidden, and only the smoke released from the furnace can be seen.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 I have refined you, wishing to cleanse you through trials, but not as silver, which is cleansed, but you were not corrected: the founder has melted in vain (Jer 6:29); I have chosen you, namely, cleansing you through poverty, punishing you by the plundering of your goods, Gregory: those whom the sickness of habits wounds, the medicine of poverty heals, and this by paternal corr…
11 Propter me, propter me faciam, ut non blasphemer; et gloriam meam alteri non dabo.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, he sets out the explanation of the response: for my own sake, that I may not be blasphemed, as though I were powerless to save the people I have chosen for myself; and I will not give my glory to another, lest, namely, idols be thought to be more powerful than I am, above: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven things (Isa 42:8).
12 Audi me, Jacob, et Israël, quem ego voco: ego ipse, ego primus, et ego novissimus.
Aphrahat the Persian Sage · AD 345 No one should suppose that there is another God, either before or afterwards. He said, "From age to age," just as Isaiah said, "I am the first and I am the last." And after God had brought forth Adam from within his thought, he fashioned him, and breathed into him of his Spirit and gave him the knowledge of discernment so that he might discern good from evil and might know that…
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 12, 13 and following) Hear me, Jacob and Israel, whom I call. I am the first and the last. My hand also laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand measures the heavens: I have called them, and they will stand together. Gather yourselves and listen: who among them has declared these things?
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 889. Hearken to me. Here he shows the divine majesty from the creation of things. I shall call them, placing on each its proper work, and they shall stand, ready to obey, above: who has poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth? (Isa 40:12).
13 Manus quoque mea fundavit terram, et dextera mea mensa est cælos; ego vocabo eos, et stabunt simul.
Tertullian · AD 220 He is the Lord's right hand, indeed his two hands, by which he worked and constructed the universe.
Cyril of Alexandria · AD 444 Now the hand and the right arm is what God the Father calls his Son. And we often find him so called throughout Scripture. The divine Moses said, "Your right hand has been glorified in might, your right hand has shattered the enemies," and David the blessed said, "May your hand be strengthened, may your right arm be lifted up."
Ishodad of Merv · AD 850 "My right hand spread out the heavens," that is, I have flung out the heavens with my power and fixed them on high and spread out. [These words are said] in analogy with one who takes some clay and puts it on the wall or the roof of a house, where it sticks.
14 Congregamini, omnes vos, et audite: quis de eis annuntiavit hæc? Dominus dilexit eum, faciet voluntatem suam in Babylone, et brachium suum in Chaldæis.
Jerome · AD 420 And according to the Septuagint, 'to carry away the seed of the Chaldeans' is referred to the person of the Lord: the one who is truly loved by the Father, and who does all the will of the Father, and who overturns in Babylon, that is, in the confusion of this world, all the seed of the Chaldeans, which are interpreted as demons.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 890. Assemble yourselves. Here he foretells Cyrus's prosperity. And first, he shows the hiding of this fact from others: who among them, namely, the idols, as if to say: none of them, above: who has declared from the beginning? (Isa 41:26).
15 Ego, ego locutus sum, et vocavi eum; adduxi eum, et directa est via ejus.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Third, he assigns the reason for his prosperity from divine help: I, even I; his way is made right, not absolutely, but so that he might destroy Babylon; otherwise, it cannot be explained of Cyrus, but only of Christ, as Jerome says, for Cyrus was an idolater: and he led them into the right way (Ps 107:7).
16 Accedite ad me et audite hoc: non a principio in abscondito locutus sum: ex tempore antequam fieret, ibi eram: et nunc Dominus Deus misit me, et spiritus ejus.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Did the Father and the Holy Spirit send Jesus, or did the Father send both Christ and the Spirit? The latter is correct. For, because the Savior was sent, afterwards the Holy Spirit was sent also, that the prediction of the prophet might be fulfilled.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Now it is Jesus Christ who is speaking here as the "Lord God"; yet this would not have been obvious if he had not added the final words, "And now the Lord God has sent me and his Spirit." These words were spoken by Christ in his "form" as a "servant." He used a verb in the past tense to indicate a future event.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 891. Come near unto me. Here he promises liberation. And concerning this, he does three things. First, he stirs up attention, setting out divine authority: I have not spoken in secret, but all the people saw the voices (Exod 20:18), from the beginning of the law given, from the time, past, before it was done, what I foretell, I was there, present to those future things, remaini…
17 Hæc dicit Dominus, redemptor tuus, Sanctus Israël: Ego Dominus Deus tuus, docens te utilia, gubernans te in via qua ambulas.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 17, 18 and following) Thus says the Lord, your holy Redeemer, the God of Israel: I am the Lord your God, teaching you what is profitable, leading you in the way you should go. Oh, that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 The authority of the one commanding ought to move us to observe the commandments of God. He is of great authority, because by His wondrous wisdom He governs us. Whence Isaiah says: "I am the Lord, teaching you profitable things, governing you in the way in which you walk. Would that you had heeded my commandments! Your peace would have been as a river."
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 892. Second, where it says, thus says the Lord, he sets out the reason for their captivity, showing on the part of God, ready help: that teach, against their ignorance, and that govern you in the way, of works, against the weakness of their working: I will give you understanding, and I will instruct you in this way, in which you shall go (Ps 32:8). 895.
18 Utinam attendisses mandata mea: facta fuisset sicut flumen pax tua, et justitia tua sicut gurgites maris:
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Set before yourself any river. It springs from its fountain but is of one nature, of one brightness and beauty. And you assert rightly that the Holy Spirit is of one substance, brightness and glory with the Son of God and with God the Father. I will sum up everything in the oneness of the qualities without any dispute over degrees of greatness.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 The authority of the one commanding ought to move us to observe the commandments of God. He is of great authority, because by His wondrous wisdom He governs us. Whence Isaiah says: "I am the Lord, teaching you profitable things, governing you in the way in which you walk. Would that you had heeded my commandments! Your peace would have been as a river."
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 He also shows the harm from the fault of the Jews: O that you had hearkened to my commandments, keeping them; as a river, abounding, as the waves, the same: if my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways: I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them (Ps 81:13-14).
19 et fuisset quasi arena semen tuum, et stirps uteri tui ut lapilli ejus; non interisset et non fuisset attritum nomen ejus a facie mea.
Jerome · AD 420 And what follows: and your offspring would have been like the sand, and the descendants of your womb like its grains: indeed, it seems to remain in the Jewish people, who to this day, like worms, produce children and grandchildren; but how is this to be understood in terms of the promise, when they do not have peace and righteousness?
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 "I am the Lord your God. I have shown how to find my way so that you may benefit by traveling on that way." … But since the Jews did not desire to pay attention to these commandments, by reason of their attachment to a fleshly manner of thinking, they viewed having many children as a sign of blessing.… Nevertheless, although you have despised my laws, I will consider you worthy…
20 Egredimini de Babylone, fugite a Chaldæis, in voce exsultationis annuntiate: auditum facite hoc, et efferte illud usque ad extrema terræ. Dicite: Redemit Dominus servum suum Jacob.
Athanasius of Alexandria · AD 373 Now my beloved, our will ought to keep pace with the grace of God and not fall short; lest while our will remains idle, the grace given us should begin to depart, and the enemy finding us empty and naked, … as was the case with him spoken of in the Gospel, from whom the devil went out. … For the departure from virtue gives place for the entrance of the unclean spirit.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Come forth out of Babylon." If we take the command of the prophet in a spiritual sense, it means that we should fly from the city of this world, from the fellowship of wicked angels and wicked [people], with the feet of that faith that works through love, and we should press onward unceasingly toward the living God.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 893. Third, where it says, come forth, he foretells their liberation. And concerning this, he does three things. First, he proclaims to them their going forth from captivity, so certain of their liberation as if it were present: come forth: go out from her (Rev 18:4); and he enjoins that they should declare the benefit of God: declare: the voice of them that flee, and of them t…
21 Non sitierunt in deserto, cum educeret eos: aquam de petra produxit eis, et scidit petram, et fluxerunt aquæ.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 The three interpreters treat this as if it were something that had already occurred: "You made water flow for them from a rock; the waters broke the hard rock and flowed out." According to the Septuagint, the text alludes to the prophetic grace the Jews enjoyed drinking in divine draughts even while in Babylon from the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, he designates to the liberated the past benefit of consolation: they thirsted not, that is, the Lord will so provide for them in all things, as when they came forth from Egypt: he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out (Ps 78:20), Numbers 21:16.
22 Non est pax impiis, dicit Dominus.
Jerome · AD 420 And so, they say, it is not about Christ, but about Cyrus that it is prophesied: There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord. And it is understood to mean that perfect happiness will not exist except under Christ, which is reserved for the last time.
Cyril of Alexandria · AD 444 No one found that this happened when they came out of Babylon and went into Judah. For this is said with reference to the economy of salvation so as to show that God, who was formerly able and is still now able, being of undiminished power, to perform similar miracles with great strength, now, as if calling out, proclaims a universal law, that "there is no peace for the wicked.…
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Third, he removes the comfort of peace from the wicked: there is no peace, below (Isa 57:21); what have you to do with peace? (2 Kgs 9:18).