to prick up the ears · verb, hiphil perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
commandments
לְמִצְוֹתָ֑יle.mitz.vo.Tai
H4687
a command · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
peace
שְׁלוֹמֶ֔ךָshe.lo.Me.kha
H7965
safe · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
river
כַנָּהָר֙kha.na.Har
H5104
a stream (including the sea · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
righteousness
וְצִדְקָתְךָ֖ve.tzid.ka.te.Cha
H6666
rightness (abstractly) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
waves
כְּגַלֵּ֥יke.ga.Lei
H1530
something rolled · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
sea
הַיָּֽםhai.Yam
H3220
a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
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
Deuteronomy 5:29 O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and…
Psalms 119:165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
Isaiah 66:12 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye…
Psalms 81:13-16 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!
Deuteronomy 32:29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
Psalms 36:8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
Isaiah 45:8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and le…
Luke 19:41-42 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 48:16–end
Here, as before, Jacob and Israel are summoned to hearken to the prophet speaking in God's name, or rather to God speaking in and by the prophet, and that as a type of the great prophet by whom God has in these last days spoken unto us, and that is sufficient: Come near therefore, and hear this. Note, Those that would hear and understand what God says must come near, and approach to him; let them come as near as they can. Let those that have hearkened to the tempter now come near, and hear this, that they may be confirmed in their resolutions to serve God. Those that draw nigh to God may depend upon this, that his secret shall be with them. Here,
I. God refers them to what he hath both said…
peace-- (Psa 119:165). Compare the desire expressed by the same Messiah (Mat 23:37; Luk 19:42).
river-- (Isa 33:21; Isa 41:18), a river flowing from God's throne is the symbol of free, abundant, and ever flowing blessings from Him (Eze 47:1; Zac 14:8; Rev 22:1).
righteousness--religious prosperity; the parent of "peace" or national prosperity; therefore "peace" corresponds to "righteousness" in the parallelism (Isa 32:17).
John Gill on Isaiah 48:18
O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments,.... Which the Jews did not, but slighted and despised them, and were not obedient to them. So, in the times of Christ, they disregarded his doctrines, though so profitable; and despised his ordinances and commands, which were not grievous; they neither hearkened to them themselves, nor would suffer others; wherefore our Lord expresses his great concern at it, and his desire, as man, after their welfare; see Matthew 23:13,
then had thy peace been as a river: their prosperity, temporal and spiritual, had been abundant, and would have always continued, have been increasing and ever flowing, yea, overflowing, like the waters of a river. The Targum…
Set before yourself any river. It springs from its fountain but is of one nature, of one brightness and beauty. And you assert rightly that the Holy Spirit is of one substance, brightness and glory with the Son of God and with God the Father. I will sum up everything in the oneness of the qualities without any dispute over degrees of greatness. For in this point also Scripture has provided for us. For the Son of God says, "Whoever shall drink of the water that I will give him, it shall become in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life." This well is clearly the grace of the Spirit, a stream proceeding from the living Fountain. The Holy Spirit, then, is also the fountain of eternal life.You observe, then, from his words that the unity of the divine greatness is pointed out and that Christ cannot be denied to be a fountain even by heretics, since the Spirit, too, is called a fountain. The Spirit is called a river, too, just as the Father said, "Behold, I come down on you like a river of peace, and like a stream overflowing the glory of the Gentiles." And who can doubt that the Son of God is the river of life from whom the streams of eternal life flowed forth?
This water is good, then. I mean here the grace of the Spirit. Who will give this Fountain to my heart? Let it spring up in me, let that which gives eternal life flow on me. Let that Fountain overflow on us and not flow away. For Wisdom says, "Drink water out of your own vessels and from the fountains of your own wells, and let your waters flow abroad in your streets." How shall I keep this water so that it does not seep out or glide away? How shall I preserve my vessel, lest any crack of sin penetrating it should let the water of eternal life exude? Teach us, Lord Jesus, teach us as you taught your apostles, saying, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where rust and moth destroy and where thieves break through and steal."8Our rust is wantonness, our rust is lust, our rust is luxury, which dim the keen vision of the mind with the filth of vices. Again, our moth is Arius, our moth is Photinus, who rend the holy vesture of the church with their impiety, and desiring to separate the indivisible unity of the divine power, gnaw the precious veil of faith with sacrilegious tooth. The water is spillled if Arius has imprinted his tooth, it flows away if Photinus has planted his sting in anyone's vessel.… If you seek Jesus, forsake the broken cisterns, for Christ did not make it his custom to sit by a pool but by a well. There that Samaritan woman found him, she who believed, she who wished to draw water. Although you ought to have come in early morning, nevertheless if you come later, even at the sixth hour, you will find Jesus wearied with his journey. He is weary, but it is because of you, because he has long looked for you, your unbelief has long wearied him. Yet he is not offended if you only come now. He asks to drink who is about to give. But he drinks not the water of a stream flowing by, but your salvation. He drinks your good dispositions. He drinks the cup, that is, the passion that atoned for your sins, that you, drinking of his sacred blood, might quench the thirst of this world.
Dictionary and topics
Peace · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Sea, The · Illustrative: (Waves of,) of righteousness — Illustrative: (Waves of,) of righteousness
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).
O if thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! As the people might complain of being carried into captivity, the Prophet, intending to meet those murmurs, points out the cause, which was, that they did not submit to the doctrine of salvation, and did not allow themselves to derive any advantage from it. He undoubtedly alludes to the song of Moses, in which very nearly the same form of expression occurs, "O that they were wise, and that they understood!" (Deuteronomy 32:29.) lv' (lu) denotes a wish, O if! or, Would that!
Not only does the Lord expostulate with the Jews for having disregarded the advantage, or "profitableness," (verse 17,) which was offered to them, but like a father, he deplo…
The exhortation is now continued. Israel is to learn the incomparable nature of Jehovah from the work of redemption thus prepared in word and deed. The whole future depends upon the attitude which it henceforth assumes to His commandments. "Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I, Jehovah thy God, am He that teacheth thee to do that which profiteth, and leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldst go. O that thou hearkenedst to my commandments! then thy peace becomes like the river, and thy righteousness like waves of the sea; and thy seed becomes like the sand, and the children of thy body like the grains thereof: its name will not be cut off nor destroyed away from my cou…
Peace and righteousness will be established when the Kingdom of God comes in its fullness (see 66:12). • like a gentle river . . . like waves: An abundance of comforting peace and overflowing resources of righteousness (cp. Amos 5:24) could have been Israel’s if its people had only listened to God.
Rashi on Isaiah 48:16
from the time it was, there was I [Jonathan paraphrases:] From the time the nations ceased fearing Me, there I brought Abraham your father near to My service.
and now, the Lord God has sent me, and His spirit [Jonathan paraphrases:] Said the prophet, “And now, the Lord God has sent me, and His word.” This is an intermingling of words. The one who said this did not say that [i.e., the first part of the verse was said by God, and the second part by the prophet]. And the Aggadic Midrash of Rabbi Tanhuma (Yithro 21) explains: Hearken to this—This alludes to Moses’ Torah, referred to as “This is the Torah.” In the beginning, I did not speak in secretat Sinai. And the prophet says, “From the time…