gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
lords
אֲדֹנִ֖ים'a.do.Nim
H113
sovereign · noun, common masculine plural absolute
beside
זֽוּלָתֶ֑ךָzu.la.Te.kha
H2108
probably scattering · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
dominion
בְּעָל֥וּנוּbe.'a.Lu.nu
H1166
to be master · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix
mention
נַזְכִּ֥ירnaz.Kir
H2142
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common plural
name
שְׁמֶֽךָshe.Me.kha
H8034
an appellation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 2:8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
Isaiah 63:7 I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the gr…
Joshua 23:7 That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by the…
2 Chronicles 12:8 Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.
Isaiah 10:11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
Isaiah 12:4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalte…
Isaiah 51:22 Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling…
Amos 6:10 And a man’s uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 26:12-19
The prophet in these verses looks back upon what God had done with them, both in mercy and judgment, and sings unto God of both, and then looks forward upon what he hoped God would do for them. Observe,
I. His reviews and reflections are mixed. When he looks back upon the state of the church he finds,
1. That God had in many instances been very gracious to them and had done great things for them. (1.) In general (Isa 26:12): Thou hast wrought all our works in us, or for us. Whatever good work is done by us, it is owing to a good work wrought by the grace of God in us; it is he that puts good thoughts and affections into our hearts if at any time they be there, and that works in us both to wi…
other lords--temporal; heathen kings (Ch2 12:8; Ch2 28:5-6), Nebuchadnezzar, &c. Spiritual also, idols and lusts (Rom 6:16-18).
by thee only--It is due to Thee alone, that we again worship Thee as our Lord [MAURER]. "(We are) Thine only, we will celebrate Thy name" [HORSLEY]. The sanctifying effect of affliction (Psa 71:16; Psa 119:67, Psa 119:71).
John Gill on Isaiah 26:13
O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us,.... Sin and Satan have the dominion over the Lord's people, in a state of unregeneracy; before the good work of grace is wrought in them, every lust is a lord, and is served and obeyed: and Satan is the god of this world by usurpation, and leads men captive at his will. Some think that the idols the Jews had served and worshipped, called "Baalim" or lords, are meant, and that this is a confession of their sin; but that word is not here used. The Targum interprets it of the Jewish governors ruling over them, without the Lord; rather the Assyrians and Babylonians are designed; but it is best of all to understand it of persecut…
O Lord our God. This verse contains a complaint of the saints, that they were oppressed by the tyranny of the wicked. This song was composed in order to refresh the hearts of believers, who were to be cruelly banished from that land which was a figure of eternal happiness, that, having been deprived of sacrifices and holy assemblies, and almost of every consolation, crushed by the heavy yoke of the Babylonians, banished from their country, loaded with reproach and sore afflictions, they might direct their groanings to God, in order to seek relief. He speaks, therefore, in the name of believers, who to outward appearance had been rejected by God, and yet did not cease to testify that they wer…
The Church Fathers
For the Son of God indeed, being himself the Word, is Lord of all. But we once were subject from the first to the slavery of corruption and the curse of the law. Then by degrees fashioning for ourselves things that were not, we served, as says the blessed apostle, "them which by nature are no gods." Ignorant of the true God, we preferred things that were not to the truth. But afterwards, as the ancient people when oppressed in Egypt groaned, so when we too had the law "engrafted" in us, according to the unutterable sighings of the Spirit made our intercession, "O Lord our God, take possession of us"; then, as "he became a house of refuge" and a "God and defense," so also he became our Lord. Nor did he then begin to be, but we began to have him for our Lord.
Therefore Christ will hand the kingdom over to God and the Father when through him the Father will be known by sight, for his kingdom consists of those in whom he now reigns through faith. In fact, in one sense Christ's kingdom means his divine power according to which every created thing is subject to him; and in another sense his kingdom means the church in respect to the faith that it has in him. In accord with this meaning is the prayer of him who says, "Possess us," for it is not the case that [Christ] himself does not possess all things. This is also the meaning of the following statement: "When you were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness." Therefore he will destroy every dominion and every authority and power, so that he who sees the Father through the Son will neither require nor be pleased with repose in his own or the power of any created thing.
(Verse 13) Lord our God, we have been possessed by other lords without you; only in you do we remember your name. LXX: Lord our God, possess us: Lord; we know no other besides you, we invoke your name. Therefore, we seek mercy and peace, which must be given after all, because we have been possessed by other masters without you, namely idols or demons sitting on idols: and we ask for nothing else except that we may be worthy to remember your name after many errors. According to the Septuagint, they said: Lord God, possess us, they pray that they may become God's possession after peace is restored to them. Indeed, we read the same about Wisdom, which speaks according to the Hebrew in Proverbs: God possessed me at the beginning of His ways (Prov. VIII, 22), although some copies have the word 'possession' in a wrong way. Finally, it follows: Before all the hills, He has begotten me. For how could the generation of a creature be more suitable to possession? It is written in Deuteronomy: Did not this your father possess you, and make you, and create you (Deut. XXXII, 6)? And it must be noted that it does not say, the Lord or God possessed you, and made you, and created you; but rather father, in order to mitigate the severity of the power with the mercy of the name. And what follows: O Lord, we do not know another besides you, does not exclude the Son, but joins him to the Father, for he did not say 'We do not know another,' but 'We do not know another outside of you.' But when the Son says, 'I am in the Father, and the Father in me,' we do not know the Son outside of the Father, for we know him in the Father. Finally, we also name him by saying in the Lord's Prayer: 'Our Father, who art in heaven.'
The situation still remains essentially the same as in Isa 26:11-13 : "Jehovah, Thy hand has been exalted, but they did not see: they will see the zeal for a people, being put to shame; yea, fire will devour Thine adversaries. Jehovah, Thou wilt establish peace for us: for Thou hast accomplished all our work for us. Jehovah our God, lords besides Thee had enslaved us; but through Thee we praise Thy name." Here are three forms of address beginning with Jehovah, and rising in the third to "Jehovah our God." The standpoint of the first is the time before the judgment; the standpoint of the other two is in the midst of the redemption that has been effected through judgment. Hence what the prophe…
An upraised fist expresses anger and the threat of judgment (see also 19:16). • Fire was often an image for God’s judgment.
Rashi on Isaiah 26:13
have possessed us They have become our masters and have oppressed us.
other than You In a matter contrary to Your will, to seek other Gods, to transgress Your Torah, but we - only concerning You have we mentioned Godliness, and we will not ascribe the name of His Godliness to another God, only to Him alone.
Your name The name of Your Godliness we will mention, saying that our God alone is God.