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Selected Verse: Isaiah 42:23 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Isa 42:23	Strong Concordance	Who among you will give ear [0238] to this? who will hearken [07181] and hear [08085] for the time to come [0268]?
	King James	Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
A call that they should be warned by the past judgments of God to obey Him for the time to come.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

A call that they should be warned by the past judgments of God to obey Him for the time to come.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Who among you will give ear to this? - Who is there in the nation that will be so warned by the judgments of God, that he will attend to the lessons which he designs to teach, and reform his life, and return to him? It is implied by these questions that such ought to be the effect; it is implied also that they were so sunken and abandoned that they would not do it. These judgments were a loud call on the nation to turn to God, and, in time to come, to avoid the sins which had made it necessary for him to interpose in this manner, and give them to spoil.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
When they ceased to be deaf to this crying contradiction, they would recognise with penitence that it was but the merited punishment of God. "Who among you will give ear to this, attend, and hear afar off? Who has give up Jacob to plundering, and Israel to the spoilers? Is it not Jehovah, against whom we have sinned? and they would not walk in His ways, and hearkened not to His law. Then He poured upon it in burning heat His wrath, and the strength of the fury of war: and this set it in flames round about, and it did not come to be recognised; it set it on fire, and it did not lay it to heart." The question in Isa 42:23 has not the force of a negative sentence, "No one does this," but of a wish, "O that one would" (as in Sa2 23:15; Sa2 15:4; Ges. 136, 1). If they had but an inward ear for the contradiction which the state of Israel presented to its true calling, and the earlier manifestations of divine mercy, and would but give up their previous deafness for the time to come: this must lead to the knowledge and confession expressed in Isa 42:24. The names Jacob and Israel here follow one another in the same order as in Isa 29:23; Isa 40:27 (compare Isa 41:8, where this would have been impracticable). זוּ belongs to לו in the sense of cui. The punctuation does not acknowledge this relative use of זו (on which, see at Isa 43:21), and therefore puts the athnach in the wrong place (see Rashi). In the words "we have sinned" the prophet identifies himself with the exiles, in whose sin he knew and felt that he was really involved (cf., Isa 6:5). The objective affirmation which follows applies to the former generations, who had sinned on till the measure became full. הלוך takes the place of the object to אבוּ (see Isa 1:17); the more usual expression would be ללכת; the inverted order of the words makes the assertion all the more energetic. In Isa 42:25 the genitive relation אפּו חמת is avoided, probably in favour of the similar ring of חמה and מלחמה. חמה is either the accusative of the object, and אפּו a subordinate statement of what constituted the burning heat (cf., Ewald, 287, k), or else an accusative, of more precise definition = בּחמה in Isa 66:15 (Ges. 118, 3). The outpouring is also connected by zeugma with the "violence of war." The milchâmâh then becomes the subject. The war-fury raged without result. Israel was not brought to reflection.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

When they ceased to be deaf to this crying contradiction, they would recognise with penitence that it was but the merited punishment of God. "Who among you will give ear to this, attend, and hear afar off? Who has give up Jacob to plundering, and Israel to the spoilers? Is it not Jehovah, against whom we have sinned? and they would not walk in His ways, and hearkened not to His law. Then He poured upon it in burning heat His wrath, and the strength of the fury of war: and this set it in flames round about, and it did not come to be recognised; it set it on fire, and it did not lay it to heart." The question in Isa 42:23 has not the force of a negative sentence, "No one does this," but of a wish, "O that one would" (as in Sa2 23:15; Sa2 15:4; Ges. 136, 1). If they had but an inward ear for the contradiction which the state of Israel presented to its true calling, and the earlier manifestations of divine mercy, and would but give up their previous deafness for the time to come: this must lead to the knowledge and confession expressed in Isa 42:24. The names Jacob and Israel here follow one another in the same order as in Isa 29:23; Isa 40:27 (compare Isa 41:8, where this would have been impracticable). זוּ belongs to לו in the sense of cui. The punctuation does not acknowledge this relative use of זו (on which, see at Isa 43:21), and therefore puts the athnach in the wrong place (see Rashi). In the words "we have sinned" the prophet identifies himself with the exiles, in whose sin he knew and felt that he was really involved (cf., Isa 6:5). The objective affirmation which follows applies to the former generations, who had sinned on till the measure became full. הלוך takes the place of the object to אבוּ (see Isa 1:17); the more usual expression would be ללכת; the inverted order of the words makes the assertion all the more energetic. In Isa 42:25 the genitive relation אפּו חמת is avoided, probably in favour of the similar ring of חמה and מלחמה. חמה is either the accusative of the object, and אפּו a subordinate statement of what constituted the burning heat (cf., Ewald, 287, k), or else an accusative, of more precise definition = בּחמה in Isa 66:15 (Ges. 118, 3). The outpouring is also connected by zeugma with the "violence of war." The milchâmâh then becomes the subject. The war-fury raged without result. Israel was not brought to reflection.

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¹⁵ For, behold, the LORD [03068] will come [0935] with fire [0784], and with his chariots [04818] like a whirlwind [05492], to render [07725] his anger [0639] with fury [02534], and his rebuke [01606] with flames [03851] of fire [0784].

²⁵ Therefore he hath poured [08210] upon him the fury [02534] of his anger [0639], and the strength [05807] of battle [04421]: and it hath set him on fire [03857] round about [05439], yet he knew [03045] not; and it burned [01197] him, yet he laid [07760] it not to heart [03820].

¹⁷ Learn [03925] to do well [03190]; seek [01875] judgment [04941], relieve [0833] the oppressed [02541], judge [08199] the fatherless [03490], plead [07378] for the widow [0490].

⁵ Then said [0559] I, Woe [0188] is me! for I am undone [01820]; because I am a man [0376] of unclean [02931] lips [08193], and I dwell [03427] in the midst [08432] of a people [05971] of unclean [02931] lips [08193]: for mine eyes [05869] have seen [07200] the King [04428], the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635].

²¹ This [02098] people [05971] have I formed [03335] for myself; they shall shew forth [05608] my praise [08416].

⁸ But thou, Israel [03478], art my servant [05650], Jacob [03290] whom I have chosen [0977], the seed [02233] of Abraham [085] my friend [0157].

²⁷ Why sayest [0559] thou, O Jacob [03290], and speakest [01696], O Israel [03478], My way [01870] is hid [05641] from the LORD [03068], and my judgment [04941] is passed over [05674] from my God [0430]?

²³ But when he seeth [07200] his children [03206], the work [04639] of mine hands [03027], in the midst [07130] of him, they shall sanctify [06942] my name [08034], and sanctify [06942] the Holy One [06918] of Jacob [03290], and shall fear [06206] the God [0430] of Israel [03478].

²⁴ Who gave [05414] Jacob [03290] for a spoil [04933] [04882], and Israel [03478] to the robbers [0962]? did not the LORD [03068], he against whom [02098] we have sinned [02398]? for they would [014] not walk [01980] in his ways [01870], neither were they obedient [08085] unto his law [08451].

⁴ Absalom [053] said [0559] moreover, Oh that I were made [07760] judge [08199] in the land [0776], that every man [0376] which hath any suit [07379] or cause [04941] might come [0935] unto me, and I would do him justice [06663] !

¹⁵ And David [01732] longed [0183], and said [0559], Oh that one would give me drink [08248] of the water [04325] of the well [0953] of Bethlehem [01035], which is by the gate [08179]!

²³ Who among you will give ear [0238] to this? who will hearken [07181] and hear [08085] for the time to come [0268]?