Isaiah 42:22 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 42:22
But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
robbed
בָּז֣וּזba.Zuz
H962
to plunder · verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
spoiled
וְשָׁסוּי֒ve.sha.Sui
H8154
to plunder · conjunction + verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
snared
הָפֵ֤חַha.Fe.ach
H6351
to spread a net · verb, hiphil infinitive construct
holes
בַּֽחוּרִים֙ba.chu.Rim
H2352
the crevice of a serpent · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
hid
הָחְבָּ֑אוּha.che.Ba.'u
H2244
to secrete · verb, hophal perfect, 3rd person common plural
prison
כְלָאִ֖יםkhe.la.'Im
H3608
a prison · noun, common masculine plural absolute
houses
וּבְבָתֵּ֥יu.ve.va.Tei
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
prey
לָבַז֙la.Vaz
H957
plunder · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
delivereth
מַצִּ֔ילma.Tzil
H5337
to snatch away · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
spoil
מְשִׁסָּ֖הme.shi.Sah
H4933
plunder · noun, common feminine singular absolute
saith
אֹמֵ֥ר'o.Mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Restore
הָשַֽׁבha.Shav
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, hiphil imperative, 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
Psalms 102:20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
Jeremiah 50:17 Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king…
Isaiah 51:23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid th…
Psalms 50:22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Isaiah 24:22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall the…
Isaiah 42:7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
Isaiah 52:4-5 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Jeremiah 51:34-35 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dra…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 42:18–end
The prophet, having spoken by way of comfort and encouragement to the believing Jews who waited for the consolation of Israel, here turns to those among them who were unbelieving, for their conviction and humiliation. Among those who were in captivity in Babylon there were some who were as the evil figs in Jeremiah's vision, who were sent thither for their hurt, to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach and a proverb, Jer 24:9. In them there was a type of the Jews who rejected Christ and were rejected by him, and then fell more than ever under the curse, when those who believed were inheriting the blessing; for they were broken, and ruined, and remain dispersed unto th…
holes--caught by their foes in the caverns where they had sought refuge [BARNES]. Or bound in subterranean dungeons [BARNES].
prison-houses--either literal prisons, or their own houses, whence they dare not go forth for fear of the enemy. The connection is: Notwithstanding God's favor to His people for His righteousness' sake (Isa 42:21), they have fallen into misery (the Babylonish and Romish captivities and their present dispersion), owing to their disregard of the divine law: spiritual imprisonment is included (Isa 42:7).
none saith, Restore--There is no deliverer (Isa 63:5).
John Gill on Isaiah 42:22
But this is a people robbed and spoiled,.... The Jewish people, who shut their eyes against the clear light of the Gospel, and turned a deaf ear to Christ, and to his ministers, rejected him, and persecuted them; these were robbed and plundered by the Roman soldiers of all their riches and treasures, when the city of Jerusalem was taken:
they are all of them snared in holes; such of them as escaped and hid themselves in holes, and caverns, and dens of the earth, were laid in wait for and taken, and dragged out, as beasts are taken in a pit, and with a snare. Josephus (b) says, some the Romans killed, some they carried captive, some they searched out lurking in holes underground, and, breaki…
He has taught us both the divine object and the free will of the human creature. Although he desires, he says, that you be justified by choosing godliness, you have, on the contrary, taken the opposite way and reaped death. "For there is a snare in the secret chambers everywhere, and in the houses also, where they have hidden them."
(Verse 22) But the people are plundered and devastated: all the youth are trapped in snares, and hidden in prison houses. They have become a prey, and there is no one to deliver them; a spoil, and no one says, 'Restore them.' LXX: And I saw, and behold a people is destroyed and taken captive. For there was a snare in the hidden places, and a net over their houses. They have become a prey: and there was no one to deliver the spoil: and there was no one to say, Restore. But he did not want to do God's will: and therefore he was plundered and devastated by his adversaries, whom we should understand as either demons or enemies. The snares of young men, and those hidden in the houses of prisons. Or as the LXX translated, snares in every hiding place, and in the houses where they concealed them: signifying the scribes and the Pharisees, who deceived the miserable people, and everywhere set traps against the Lord Savior and his Apostles (Luke 11): having the key of knowledge, neither entering in themselves, nor allowing others who wanted to enter. Their beautiful hearts in which they lived were called prisons of evil thoughts. Therefore, they became a prey and a plunder: and there was no one to deliver them, and to speak for them.
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
Impenitence · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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).
John Calvin on Isaiah 42:22
But this people. Isaiah now declares that it is through their own fault that the people are miserable and appointed to destruction, because they reject God, who would otherwise have been inclined to do good to them, and because they deliberately set aside all remedies, and wish for death, as is commonly the case with men who are past hope. Thus he excuses God in such a manner as to bring a heavy accusation against the people, because they have rejected him by their ingratitude, and have abused his fatherly kindness. Yet, as I remarked a little before, he mentions these things, not so much for the sake of excusing God, as of bringing a bitter complaint, that his countrymen have leagued to the…
The reproof, which affects Israel a potiori, now proceeds still further, as follows. "Thou hast seen much, and yet keepest not; opening the ears, he yet doth not hear. Jehovah was pleased for His righteousness' sake: He gave a thorah great and glorious. And yet it is a people robbed and plundered; fastened in holes all of them, and they are hidden in prison-houses: they have become booty, without deliverers; a spoil, without any one saying, Give it up again!" In Isa 42:20 "thou" and "he" alternate, like "they" and "ye" in Isa 1:29, and "I" and "he" in Isa 14:30. ראית, which points back to the past, is to be preserved. The reading of the keri is ראות (inf. abs. like שׁתות, Isa 22:13, and ערות…
Throughout its history, Israel’s sin (42:24) made Israel fair game for foreign oppressors. Many nations, Assyria and Babylon in particular, became instruments God used to pour out his fury (42:25) on his rebellious people.
Rashi on Isaiah 42:22
And it This people is despised and pillaged, and the end of the section is (infra v. 25) “And they laid not to heart” all of this to say, “Why did this befall me?” (v. 24) “Who subjected Jacob to plunder?”
all their youths are grieved Heb. הָפֵחַ בַּחוּרִים, all their youths are grieved. (Addendum: Another explanation of הָפֵח בַּחוּרִים כֻּלָם They will put themselves into snares (פַּחֵי) of the earth and into pits. [The clause,] “And they are hidden in dungeons,” proves that this is so.)
and no one says, “Return.” Heb. הָשַׁב, like הָשֵׁב [the imperative]. Therefore, it is not punctuated with a dagesh, but (Gen. 43:17) “That returned (הַשָּׁב) in our sacks,” is punctuated with a ‘dagesh.…
