Isaiah 51:3
WEB
For Yahweh has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Yahweh. Joy and gladness will be found in them, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
BSB
For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.
KJV
For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
Matthew Henry
Hebrew interlinear
H3588
conj — relative conjunction
Derivation: a primitive particle (the full form of the prepositional prefix) indicating causal relations of all kinds, antecedent or consequent;
(by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed
KJV: and, (forasmuch, inasmuch, where-) as, assured(-ly), but, certainly, doubtless, else, even, except, for, how, (because, in, so, than) that, nevertheless, now, rightly, seeing, since, surely, then, therefore, (al-) though, till, truly, until, when, whether, while, whom, yea, yet.
conj — that
כִּי conj. that, for, when
1. that
2.
a. Of time, when, of the past
b. elsewhere כִּי has a force approximating to if, though it usu. represents a case as more likely to occur than אִם
c. when or if, with a concessive force, i.e. though
3. Because, since
relative conjunction
כִּי אם־
1. each part. retaining its independent force, and relating to a different clause:
a. that if
b. for if
2. (About 140 t.) the two particles being closely conjoined, and relating to the same clause—
a. limiting the prec. clause, except
b. the if being neglected, and treated as pleonastic, so that the clause is no longer a limitation of the preceding clause but a contradiction of it: but rather, but
c. after an oath, surely
forasmuch as
כִּי עַל כֵּן forasmuch as
H5162
v — sigh, breathe, sorry, pity, console, rue, avenge
Derivation: a primitive root;
properly, to sigh, i.e. breathe strongly; by implication, to be sorry, i.e. (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself)
KJV: comfort (self), ease (one's self), repent(-er,-ing, self).
vb — be sorry
[נחם] vb. Niph. be sorry, console oneself, etc.
Niph.
1. be sorry, moved to pity, have compassion, for others
2. be sorry, rue, suffer grief, repent, of one’s own doings
3. comfort oneself, be comforted
4. comfort oneself, ease oneself, by taking vengeance
Piel—comfort, console
Pual; be comforted, consoled
Hithpa.—
1. be sorry, have compassion
2. rue, repent of
3. comfort oneself, be comforted
4. ease oneself, by taking vengeance
H3068
n-pr — Existent, Jeho-vah
Derivation: from 1961;
(the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jeho-vah, Jewish national name of God
KJV: Jehovah, the Lord. Compare 3050, 3069.
n.pr.dei — God
יהוה c. 6823 i.e. יַהְוֶה n.pr.dei Yahweh, the proper name of the God of Israel—(1. MT יְהֹוָה 6518 (Qr אֲדֹנָי), or יֱהֹוִה 305 (Qr אֱלֹהִים) 2. Many recent scholars explain יַהְוֶה as Hiph. of הוה (= היה) the one bringing into being, life-giver)
I. יהוה is not used by E in Gn, but is given Ex 3:12-15 as the name of the God who revealed Himself to Moses at Horeb
II.
1. יהוה is used with אלהים and suffixes, especially in D
2. the phrase † אֲנִי יהוה is noteworthy
3. יהוה is also used with several predicates, to form sacred names of holy places of Yahweh
H6726
n-pr-loc — Tsijon, capital
Derivation: the same (regularly) as 6725;
Tsijon (as a permanent capital), a mountain of Jerusalem
KJV: Zion.
n.pr.loc — Zion
צִיּוֹן 154 n.pr.loc. Ṣiyyôn, Zion
H3605
n-m — whole, all, any, every
Derivation: or (Jeremiah 33:8) כּוֹל; from 3634;
properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
KJV: (in) all (manner, (ye)), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, (no-) thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso(-ever).
n.m — the whole
כֹּל once כּוֹל n.m. the whole, all
1. with foll. gen. (as usually) the whole of, to be rendered, however, often in our idiom, to avoid stiffness, any or every
2. Absolutely:
a. without the art., all things, all
b. with the art. הַכֹּל
(a). where the sense is limited by the context to things (or persons) just mentioned
(b). in a wider sense, all, whether of all mankind or of all living things, the universe, or of all the circumstances of life (chiefly late)
H2723
n-f — drought, desolation
Derivation: feminine of 2721;
properly, drought, i.e. (by implication) a desolation
KJV: decayed place, desolate (place, -tion), destruction, (laid) waste (place).
n.f — waste
חָרְבָּה n.f. waste, desolation, ruin
H7760
v — put
Derivation: or שִׂים; a primitive root;
to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)
KJV: × any wise, appoint, bring, call (a name), care, cast in, change, charge, commit, consider, convey, determine, disguise, dispose, do, get, give, heap up, hold, impute, lay (down, up), leave, look, make (out), mark, name, × on, ordain, order, paint, place, preserve, purpose, put (on), regard, rehearse, reward, (cause to) set (on, up), shew, stedfastly, take, × tell, tread down, (over-)turn, × wholly, work.
vb — put
שׂוּם, שִׂים 582 vb. put, place, set
Qal
1.
a. put, set, in a place
b. put something upon
c. put, lay, set
d. put, c. בֵּין
2. set, direct
3.
a. set, ordain, in a place
b. set, establish a law, statute
c. set, found a nation
d. set, appoint (as ruler, official)
e. set, constitute, make
f. set, determine, fix, bounds
4.
a. set, station, at a post
b. put in position, sacred bread, sword, staves, bars
c. set up altars
d. = plant, wheat
e. set, fix (countenance)
5.
a. make a thing, or pers. (acc.), for, transform into
b. make, constitute
c. work, bring to pass
d. appoint, give
e. set, fix (countenance)
Hiph. I will make him for a sign
Hoph. there was set before him
H4057
n-m — pasture, desert, speech
Derivation: from 1696 in the sense of driving;
a pasture (i.e. open field, whither cattle are driven); by implication, a desert; also speech (including its organs)
KJV: desert, south, speech, wilderness.
n.m — wilderness
מִדְבָר 270 n.m. wilderness
1. tracts of land, used for the pasturage of flocks and herds
2. uninhabited land
3. large tracts of such land bearing various names, in certain districts of which there might be towns and cities
4. fig.
H5731
n-pr-m n-pr-loc — Eden
Derivation: the same as 5730 (masculine);
Eden, the region of Adam's home
KJV: Eden.
n.pr.terr. — Eden
עֵ֫דֶן n.pr.terr. (prob. associated by Heb. with I. עֵ֫דֶן);—district in which lay garden of י׳, home of Adam and Eve
H6160
n-f — desert
Derivation: from 6150 (in the sense of sterility);
a desert; especially (with the article prefix) the (generally) sterile valley of the Jordan and its continuation to the Red Sea
KJV: Arabah, champaign, desert, evening, heaven, plain, wilderness. See also 1026.
n.f — desert-plain
עֲרָבָה 61 n.f. desert-plain, steppe
H1588
n — garden
Derivation: from 1598;
a garden (as fenced)
KJV: garden.
n.m — enclosure
גַּן n.m. & f. enclosure, garden
H8342
n-m — cheerfulness, welcome
Derivation: or שָׂשֹׂן; from 7797;
cheerfulness; specifically, welcome
KJV: gladness, joy, mirth, rejoicing.
n.m — exultation
שָׂשׂוֹן n.m. exultation, rejoicing
H8057
n-f — blithesomeness, glee
Derivation: from 8056;
blithesomeness or glee, (religious or festival)
KJV: × exceeding(-ly), gladness, joy(-fulness), mirth, pleasure, rejoice(-ing).
n.f — joy
שִׂמְחָה 93 n.f. joy, gladness, mirth
H4672
v — come, appear, exist, attain, find, acquire, occur, meet, be present
Derivation: a primitive root;
properly, to come forth to, i.e. appear or exist; transitively, to attain, i.e. find or acquire; figuratively, to occur, meet or be present
KJV: be able, befall, being, catch, × certainly, (cause to) come (on, to, to hand), deliver, be enough (cause to) find(-ing, occasion, out), get (hold upon), × have (here), be here, hit, be left, light (up-) on, meet (with), × occasion serve, (be) present, ready, speed, suffice, take hold on.
vb — attain to
מָצָא 452 vb. attain to, find
Qal
1. find
2. find out
3. = come upon, light upon
4. noteworthy phrases
Niph. pass. of Qal, be found
Hiph.
1. cause to find, attain
2. cause to light upon, come upon, come
3. cause to encounter
4. present unto
H8426
n-f — extension, avowal, adoration, choir
Derivation: from 3034;
properly, an extension of the hand, i.e. (by implication) avowal, or (usually) adoration; specifically, a choir of worshippers
KJV: confession, (sacrifice of) praise, thanks(-giving, offering).
n.f — thanksgiving
תּוֹדָה n.f. thanksgiving
1. give praise to י׳
2. thanksgiving in songs of liturgical worship
3. thanksgiving choir, procession, line, company
4. thank-offering
H6963
n-m — voice, sound
Derivation: or קֹל; from an unused root meaning to call aloud;
a voice or sound
KJV: aloud, bleating, crackling, cry ( out), fame, lightness, lowing, noise, hold peace, (pro-) claim, proclamation, sing, sound, spark, thunder(-ing), voice, yell.
n.m — sound
קוֹל 506 n.m. sound, voice
H2172
n-f — musical, song
Derivation: from 2167;
a musical piece or song to be accompanied by an instrument
KJV: melody, psalm.
n.f — melody
זִמְרָה n.f. melody, song, in praise of י׳
1. of instrumental music
2. of singing
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Verses 1–3
Isaiah 51:1–3
Observe, 1. How the people of God are here described, to whom the word of this consolation is sent and who are called upon to hearken to it, Isa 51:1. They are such as follow after righteousness, such as are very desirous and solicitous both to be justified and to be sanctified, are pressing hard after this, to have the favour of God restored to them and the image of God renewed on them. These are those that seek the Lord, for it is only in the say of righteousness that we can seek him with any hope of finding him. 2. How they are here directed to look back to their original, and the smallness of their beginning: "Look unto the rock whence you were hewn" (the idolatrous family in Ur of the Chaldees, out of which Abraham was taken, the generation of slaves which the heads and fathers of their tribes were in Egypt); "look unto the hole of the pit out of which you were digged, as clay, when God formed you into a people." Note, It is good for those that are privileged by a new birth to consider what they were by their first birth, how they were conceived in iniquity and shapen in sin. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. How hard was that rock out of which we were hewn, unapt to receive impressions, and how miserable the hole of that pit out of which we were digged! The consideration of this should fill us with low thoughts of ourselves and high thoughts of divine grace. Those that are now advanced would do well to remember how low they began (Isa 51:2): "Look unto Abraham your father, the father of all the faithful, of all that follow after the righteousness of faith as he did (Rom 4:11), and unto Sarah that bore you, and whose daughters you all are as long as you do well. Think how Abraham was called alone, and yet was blessed and multiplied; and let that encourage you to depend upon the promise of God even when a sentence of death seems to be upon all the means that lead to the performance of it. Particularly let it encourage the captives in Babylon, though they are reduced to a small number, and few of them left, to hope that yet they shall increase so as to replenish their own land again." When Jacob is very small, yet he is not so small as Abraham was, who yet became father of many nations. "Look unto Abraham, and see what he got by trusting in the promise of God, and take example by him to follow God with an implicit faith." 3. How they are here assured that their present seedness of tears should at length end in a harvest of joys, Isa 51:3. The church of God on earth, even the gospel Zion, has sometimes had her deserts and waste places, many parts of the church, through either corruption or persecution, made like a wilderness, unfruitful to God or uncomfortable to the inhabitants; but God will find out a time and way to comfort Zion, not only by speaking comfortably to her, but by acting graciously for her. God has comforts in store even for the waste places of his church, for those parts of it that seem not regarded or valued. (1.) He will make them fruitful, and so give them cause to rejoice; her wildernesses shall put on a new face, and look pleasant as Eden, and abound in all good fruits, as the garden of the Lord. Note, It is the greatest comfort of the church to be made serviceable to the glory of God, and to be as his garden in which he delights. (2.) He will make them cheerful, and so give them hearts to rejoice. With the fruits of righteousness, joy and gladness shall be found therein; for the more holiness men have, and the more good they do, the more gladness they have. And where there is gladness, to their satisfaction, it is fit that there should be thanksgiving, to God's honour; for whatever is the matter of our rejoicing ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving; and the returns of God's favour ought to be celebrated with the voice of melody, which will be the more melodious when God gives songs in the night, songs in the desert.
Cross-references: Isa 51:1 · Isa 51:2 · Rom 4:11 · Isa 51:3