Isaiah 35:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 35:4
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
the heart · noun, common masculine singular absolute
strong
חִזְק֖וּchiz.Ku
H2388
to fasten upon · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
fear
תִּירָ֑אוּti.Ra.'u
H3372
to fear · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine plural
God
אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶם֙'e.lo.hei.Khem
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
come
יָב֔וֹאya.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
vengeance
נָקָ֣םna.Kam
H5359
revenge · noun, common masculine singular absolute
God
אֱלֹהִ֔ים'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
recompence
גְּמ֣וּלge.Mul
H1576
treatment · noun, common masculine singular construct
come
יָב֖וֹאya.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
save
וְיֹשַׁעֲכֶֽםve.yo.sha.'a.Khem
H3467
properly · conjunction + verb, hiphil jussive, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
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
James 5:7-9 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath lo…
Isaiah 41:10-14 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee…
Zephaniah 3:16-17 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.
Isaiah 34:8 For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
Haggai 2:4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of…
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
1 Chronicles 28:20 And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will…
Isaiah 33:22 For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 35:1-4
In these verses we have,
I. The desert land blooming. In the foregoing chapter we had a populous and fruitful country turned into a horrid wilderness; here we have in lieu of that, a wilderness turned into a good land. When the land of Judah was freed from the Assyrian army, those parts of the country that had been made as a wilderness by the ravages and outrages they committed began to recover themselves, and to look pleasantly again, and to blossom as the rose. When the Gentile nations, that had been long as a wilderness, bringing forth no fruit to God, received the gospel, joy came with it to them, Psa 67:3, Psa 67:4; Psa 96:11, Psa 96:12. When Christ was preached in Samaria there was gre…
fearful--"hasty," Margin; that is, with a heart fluttered with agitation.
with--the Hebrew is more forcible than the English Version: "God will come, vengeance! even God, a recompense!" The sense is the same.
John Gill on Isaiah 35:4
Say to them that are of a fearful heart,.... Or, "hasty of heart" (w); are at once for flying from the enemy; "hasty" in drawing black conclusions upon themselves and their state; "inconsiderate" of the promises made unto them; ready to doubt of, and call in question, the performance of the above things, respecting the fruitful and flourishing estate of the church: wherefore it must be said to them,
Be strong, fear not; be strong in faith, fear not the enemy, nor doubt of the fulfilment of divine promises, relating to their ruin and your safety:
behold, your God will come with vengeance; Christ, who is God in our nature, God manifest in the flesh, and who came by the assumption of human na…
Say to them that are faint hearted. That strength of which he spoke is breathed into our hearts by God through his word, as "by faith alone we stand" (2 Corinthians 1:24) and live; and therefore he adds the promise of grace yet to come.
Behold, your God will come. First, it ought to be observed that God does not wish that his grace should remain concealed and unknown, but rather that it should be proclaimed and imparted, that they who totter and tremble may compose and invigorate their hearts. And this is one method by which our hearts may be cheered amidst heavy distresses; for if we are not supported by the word of the Lord, we must faint and despair. This, then, is the office assigned to…
The Church Fathers
"This is the will of my Father," he said, "that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life." But notice that he who was sent also came by his own will, as the prophet Isaiah said: "Be encouraged, you who are lowly of soul, and do not fear. Behold, our God will bring judgment. God himself will come and save us."
Christ said, "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me," and "Whoever sees me, sees the Father." The inclusion of just one syllable, "and," distinguishes the Father from the Son. It also demonstrates that you possess neither the Father nor the Son. Tell me, Arian, do you refer to the Father as God? And how! But what about the Son? Him too I profess to be God. You will do well to acknowledge this also, for when his coming in the flesh was announced beforehand, the prophet said about him, "Be encouraged, you who are lowly of soul, and do not fear. Behold, your God will bring the vengeance of retribution. God himself will come and save us."
This is the divine arrangement, as far as any human being can investigate it, better minds in a better way, lesser minds less effectively; this divine arrangement is giving us hints of a great and significant mystery. Christ, you see, was going to come in the flesh, not anyone at all, not an angel, not an ambassador; but "he himself will come and save you." It wasn't anyone who was going to come; and yet how was he going to come? He was going to be born in mortal flesh, to be a tiny infant, to be laid in a manger, wrapped in cradle clothes, nourished on milk; going to grow up, and finally even to be done to death. So in all these indications of humility there is indeed a pattern of an extreme humility.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Faith · ENJOINE — ENJOINE
Gentiles · PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF — PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF
Miraculous Gifts Of The Holy Spirit · Foretold — Foretold
Missionaries, All Christians Should Be As · In encouraging the weak — In encouraging the weak
Salvation · Of Israel, predicted — Of Israel, predicted
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The prophet now exclaims to the afflicted church, in language of unmixed consolation, that Jehovah is coming. "Strengthen ye the weak hands, and make the trembling knees strong! Say to those of a terrified heart, Be strong! Fear ye not! Behold, your God will come for vengeance, for a divine retribution: He will come, and bring you salvation." Those who have become weak in faith, hopeless and despairing, are to cheer up; and the stronger are to tell such of their brethren as are perplexed and timid, to be comforted now: for Jehovah is coming nâqâm (i.e., as vengeance), and gemūl 'Elōhı̄m (i.e., as retribution, such as God the highly exalted and Almighty Judge inflicts; the expression is s…
do not fear: The Lord here assures his people of his presence and purpose (see also 7:4; 10:24; 40:9; 43:1; 44:2; 54:4). • The essence of the good news is that God is coming to save his people (see also 40:9; 52:7; 62:11). God’s coming brings spiritual transformation as well as rescue from enemies.
Rashi on Isaiah 35:4
to the hasty of heart Who hurry the redemption and are troubled by its delay.
[with] vengeance He shall come (lit., vengeance He shall come,) with vengeance He shall come.
the recompense of God Upon the wicked ([mss.] upon your enemies) He shall come and save you.
