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Expanded Comments |
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| 1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah: look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. |
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| 2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many. |
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| 3 For Jehovah hath comforted Zion; he hath comforted all her waste places, and hath made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. |
Her wilderness – The true Church is the Church in the wilderness. R1841:6
Her desert – Applied to the renewed fruitfulness of Palestine. R1044:1, R1379:6
Garden of the LORD – No longer will thorns and thistles cause sweat of face, but the earth shall yield her increase. R5078:4
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| 4 Attend unto me, O my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall go forth from me, and I will establish my justice for a light of the peoples. |
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| 5 My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the peoples; the isles shall wait for me, and on mine arm shall they trust. |
On mine arm – The Lord Jesus. E47
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| 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. |
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| 7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye dismayed at their revilings. |
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| 8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation unto all generations. |
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| 9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Is it not thou that didst cut Rahab in pieces, that didst pierce the monster? |
Arm of the LORD – Christ Jesus. E47
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| 10 Is it not thou that driedst up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that madest the depth of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? |
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| 11 And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. |
Redeemed of the LORD – All who will accept the gift of life upon the conditions of its offer. R1772:6
Mourning shall flee – There will be no more sin, sorrow, pain, sighing, crying or dying. R5250:5
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| 12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou art afraid of a man that shall die, and of a son of man that shall be made as grass; |
Afraid of a man – "The fear of men which bringeth a snare." (Prov. 29:25) R1788:5
Rather be fearful of anything that would separate you from God and a future life. R5390:3
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| 13 and hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker, that stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and fearest continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he maketh ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? |
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| 14 The captive exile shall speedily be loosed; and he shall not die and go down into the pit, neither shall his bread fail. |
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| 15 For I am Jehovah thy God, who stilleth the sea, when the waves thereof roar: Jehovah of hosts is his name. |
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| 16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people. |
Plant the heavens – Establish the new heavens or powers of spiritual control. R1788:4; A318
Of the earth – The new earth, or social order. R1788:4; A318
Zion – The tried and proved, heirs of the New Kingdom. R1788:4
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| 17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, that hast drunk at the hand of Jehovah the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it. |
Drunken – Intoxication of error, false doctrines and theories. R4287:3
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| 18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand among all the sons that she hath brought up. |
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| 19 This double is befallen thee; who shall bemoan thee? desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort thee? |
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| 20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God. |
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| 21 Therefore hear not this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: |
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| 22 thus saith thy Lord Jehovah, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath; thou shalt no more drink it again: |
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| 23 and I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee, that have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy back as the ground, and as the street, to them that go over. |
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