Click
here to show/hide instructions.
Instructions on how to use the page:
The commentary for the selected verse is is displayed below.
All commentary was produced against the King James, so the same verse from that translation may appear as well. Hovering your mouse over a commentary's scripture reference attempts to show those verses.
Use the browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Or you can also select a feature from the Just Verses menu appearing at the top of the page.
Selected Verse: Isaiah 54:7 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Isa 54:7 |
Strong Concordance |
For a small [06996] moment [07281] have I forsaken [05800] thee; but with great [01419] mercies [07356] will I gather [06908] thee. |
| |
King James |
For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
small moment--as compared with Israel's coming long prosperity (Isa 26:20; Isa 60:10). So the spiritual Israel (Psa 30:5; Co2 4:17).
gather thee--to Myself from thy dispersions. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
For a small moment - The Chaldee and Syriac render this, 'In a little anger.' Lowth has adopted this, but without sufficient authority. The Hebrew means, 'For a little moment;' a very short time. The reference here is probably to the captivity at Babylon, when they were apparently forsaken by Yahweh. Though to them this appeared long, yet compared with their subsequent prosperity, it was but an instant of time. Though this had probably a primary reference to the captivity then, yet there can be no impropriety in applying it to other similar cases. It contains an important principle; that is, that though God appears to forsake his people, yet it will be comparatively but for a moment. He will remember his covenant, and however long their trials may seem to be, yet compared with the subsequent mercies and the favors which shall result from them, they will seem to be but as the sorrows of the briefest point of duration (compare Co2 4:17).
But with great mercies - The contrast here is not that of duration but of magnitude. The forsaking was 'little,' the mercies would be 'great.' It would be mercy that they would be recalled at all after all their faults and crimes; and the mercy which would be bestowed in the enlargement of their numbers would be inexpressibly great.
Will I gather thee - Will I collect thee from thy dispersions, and gather thee to myself as my own people. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| Thus does Jehovah's displeasure towards Jerusalem pass quickly away; and all the more intense is the manifestation of love which follows His merely momentary anger. "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, and with great mercy will I gather thee. In an effusion of anger I hid my face from thee for a moment, and with everlasting grace I have compassion upon thee, saith Jehovah thy Redeemer." "For a small moment" carries us to the time of the captivity, which was a small moment in comparison with the duration of the tender and merciful love, with which Jehovah once more received the church into His fellowship in the person of its members. רגע in Isa 54:8 is not an adverb, meaning momentarily, as in Isa 47:9, but an accusative of duration, signifying a single moment long. Ketseph signifies wrath regarded as an outburst (fragor), like the violence of a storm or a clap of thunder; shetseph, which rhymes with it, is explained by A. Schultens, after the Arabic, as signifying durum et asperum esse: and hence the rendering adopted by Hitzig, "in hard harshness." But this yields no antithesis to "everlasting kindness," which requires that shetseph should be rendered in some way that expresses the idea of something transitory or of short duration. The earlier translators felt this, when like the lxx for example, they adopted the rendering ἐν θυμῷ μικρῷ, and others of a similar kind; and Ibn Labrt, in his writing against Menahem b. Zerk, who gives chŏrı̄, burning heat, as a gloss to shetseph, explains it by מעט (as Kimchi and others did afterwards). But, as Jakob Tam correctly observes, "this makes the sense purely tautological." In all probability, shâtsaph is a form allied to shâtaph, as nâshabh (Isa 40:7) is to nâshaph (Isa 40:24), and qâmat (Job 16:8) to qâmats, which stand in the same relation to one another, so far as the sense is concerned, as bubbling over to flowing over: so that the proper rendering would not be "in the overflowing of glowing heat," as Umbreit thinks, which would require קצף בּשׁטף (Pro 27:4), but in the gushing up of displeasure, the overflowing of indignation (Meier). The ketseph is only a shetseph, a vanishing moment (Jer. in momento indignationis), when compared with the true feeling of Jehovah towards Jerusalem, which is chesed ‛ōlâm, everlasting kindness. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| For a moment - In comparison of God's everlasting kindness. Gather thee - From all the places where thou art dispersed, from all parts of the world. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| For a small moment "In a little anger" - So the Chaldee and Syriac, either reading רגז regaz, for רגע rega; or understanding the latter word as meaning the same with the former, which they both make use of. See Psa 30:5; Psa 35:20, in the Septuagint, where they render רגע rega by οργη, anger. |
17 For [1063] our [2257] light [1645] affliction [2347], which [3588] is but for a moment [3910], worketh [2716] for us [2254] a far [2596] [5236] more exceeding [1519] [5236] and eternal [166] weight [922] of glory [1391];
5 For his anger [0639] endureth but a moment [07281]; in his favour [07522] is life [02416]: weeping [01065] may endure [03885] for a night [06153], but joy [07440] cometh in the morning [01242].
10 And the sons [01121] of strangers [05236] shall build up [01129] thy walls [02346], and their kings [04428] shall minister [08334] unto thee: for in my wrath [07110] I smote [05221] thee, but in my favour [07522] have I had mercy [07355] on thee.
20 Come [03212], my people [05971], enter [0935] thou into thy chambers [02315], and shut [05462] thy doors [01817] about thee: hide [02247] thyself as it were for a little [04592] moment [07281], until the indignation [02195] be overpast [05674].
17 For [1063] our [2257] light [1645] affliction [2347], which [3588] is but for a moment [3910], worketh [2716] for us [2254] a far [2596] [5236] more exceeding [1519] [5236] and eternal [166] weight [922] of glory [1391];
4 Wrath [02534] is cruel [0395], and anger [0639] is outrageous [07858]; but who is able to stand [05975] before [06440] envy [07068]?
8 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles [07059], which is a witness [05707] against me: and my leanness [03585] rising up [06965] in me beareth witness [06030] to my face [06440].
24 Yea, they shall not be planted [05193]; yea, they shall not be sown [02232]: yea, their stock [01503] shall not take root [08327] in the earth [0776]: and he shall also blow [05398] upon them, and they shall wither [03001], and the whirlwind [05591] shall take [05375] them away as stubble [07179].
7 The grass [02682] withereth [03001], the flower [06731] fadeth [05034]: because the spirit [07307] of the LORD [03068] bloweth [05380] upon it: surely [0403] the people [05971] is grass [02682].
9 But these two [08147] things shall come [0935] to thee in a moment [07281] in one [0259] day [03117], the loss of children [07908], and widowhood [0489]: they shall come [0935] upon thee in their perfection [08537] for the multitude [07230] of thy sorceries [03785], and for the great [03966] abundance [06109] of thine enchantments [02267].
8 In a little [08241] wrath [07110] I hid [05641] my face [06440] from thee for a moment [07281]; but with everlasting [05769] kindness [02617] will I have mercy [07355] on thee, saith [0559] the LORD [03068] thy Redeemer [01350].
20 For they speak [01696] not peace [07965]: but they devise [02803] deceitful [04820] matters [01697] against them that are quiet [07282] in the land [0776].
5 For his anger [0639] endureth but a moment [07281]; in his favour [07522] is life [02416]: weeping [01065] may endure [03885] for a night [06153], but joy [07440] cometh in the morning [01242].