to parch (through drought) i.e. (by analogy · definite article + verb, hiphil active participle, feminine singular absolute
sea
יָ֔םYam
H3220
a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · noun, common masculine singular absolute
waters
מֵ֖יmei
H4325
water · noun, common masculine plural construct
great
רַבָּ֑הra.Bah
H7227
abundant (in quantity · adjective, feminine singular absolute
deep
תְּה֣וֹםte.Hom
H8415
an abyss (as a surging mass of water) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
made
הַשָּׂ֙מָה֙ha.Sa.mah
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · definite article + verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
depths
מַֽעֲמַקֵּיma.'a.ma.kei-
H4615
a deep · noun, common masculine plural construct
sea
יָ֔םYam
H3220
a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · noun, common masculine singular absolute
way
דֶּ֖רֶךְDe.rekh
H1870
a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular absolute
ransomed
גְּאוּלִֽיםge.'u.Lim
H1350
to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relati… · verb, qal passive participle, masculine plural absolute
over
לַעֲבֹ֥רla.'a.Vor
H5674
to cross over · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
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 43:16 Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
Exodus 14:21-22 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea…
Exodus 15:13 Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.
Isaiah 50:2 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or ha…
Isaiah 63:11-12 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his…
Psalms 74:13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Isaiah 42:15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 51:9-16
In these verses we have,
I. A prayer that God would, in his providence, appear and act for the deliverance of his people and the mortification of his and their enemies. Awake, awake! put on strength, O arm of the Lord! Isa 51:9. The arm of the Lord is Christ, or it is put for God himself, as Psa 44:23. Awake! why sleepest thou? He that keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps; but, when we pray that he would awake, we mean that he would make it to appear that he watches over his people and is always awake to do them good. The arm of the Lord is said to awake when the power of God exerts itself with more than ordinary vigour on his people's behalf. When a hand or arm is benumbed we say, It is…
it--the arm.
Art not Thou the same Almighty power that . . . ? dried the sea--the Red Sea (Isa 43:16; Exo 14:21).
John Gill on Isaiah 51:10
Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep,.... That is, the Red sea, and the deep waters of it; as it did, by causing a strong east wind to blow, which drove the sea back, and made it a dry land, in the midst of which the children of Israel walked as on dry land, Exodus 14:21 and the same arm and mighty power can and will dry up the waters of the river Euphrates, to prepare the way of the kings of the east, Revelation 16:12,
that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? divided the waters of the sea, made a path through them for the Israelites that were redeemed out of Egyptian bondage and slavery, to pass over, and so to go to Canaan…
Which dried up the sea. Though Isaiah does not relate all the miracles which God performed when he brought out his people from the bondage of Egypt, yet he intended to include in a few words all that are related by Moses, that the Jews, having been briefly addressed, might consider the various ways in which the Lord had demonstrated his power. The drying up of the Red Sea is mentioned, not only on account of the extraordinary excellence of the miracle, but because the numerous miracles which preceeded it were directed to this end, that the people, rescued from unjust violence and tyranny, might pass into the promised land. Accordingly, the Prophet expressly mentions that a way was opened up…
The Church Fathers
The great number of the Egyptians he calls the "sea." If, however, one wishes also to see the Assyrians under this name, the explanation would hardly stray from the truth. "[Are you not the one] who made the depths of the sea a way of passage for the delivered and redeemed?" He has said that of the Red Sea: because it was parted in two, Israel enjoyed salvation. So he is recalling these events in order to invite them to have confidence relating to future events. The ensuing passage makes this quite clear.
For it is you who struck down the proud, wounded the dragon, the king indeed of Egypt Pharaoh, who is also called the great dragon in Ezekiel (Ezek. XXIX). You dried up the Red Sea, so that through the raging waters and deep sea, your people could find a way and escape the pursuing Egyptians. Therefore, you who did these things: now also bring back those redeemed and liberated by your blood to Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem, or to the Church which you prepared for yourself with your blood. In this place, when they are present, they will rejoice with eternal joy and say: Lord, you have crowned us with the shield of your good will. For they shall have joy and gladness, with sorrow and sighing fleeing away. This is according to the Hebrew. However, according to the Septuagint, Jerusalem, that is, the sinful soul is provoked to put on the strength of its arm and to take up its former works, just as it was before it fell: when it turned about in the day and in the light.
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
Isaiah, Book Of — I. Chapters 1-5 contain Isaiah’s prophecies in the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham, foretelling that the present prosperity of Judah should be destroyed, and that Israel should be brought to desolation.…
Ransom · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
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).
But just as such an exhortation as this followed very naturally from the grand promises with which they prophecy commenced, so does a longing for the promised salvation spring out of this exhortation, together with the assurance of its eventual realization. "Awake, awake, clothe thyself in might, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as in the days of ancient time, the ages of the olden world! Was it not thou that didst split Rahab in pieces, and pierced the dragon? Was it not thou that didst dry up the sea, the waters of the great billow; that didst turn the depths of the sea into a way for redeemed to pass through? Ad the emancipated of Jehovah will return, and come to Zion with shouting, and everlasti…
Wake up, wake up: God does not sleep; this prayer is for God to act immediately to save his people (see 52:1; see especially God’s military garb in 59:17). • in the days of old: The exodus from Egypt was an act of redemption that displayed God’s power as he made a path of escape (51:10) for his people (see also 11:15).
Rashi on Isaiah 51:9
Awaken, awaken This is the prophet’s prayer.
Rahab [lit. pride.] Egypt, about whom it is written (supra 30:7): “They are haughty (רַהַב), idlers.”
slew Heb. מְחוֹלֶלֶת, an expression of slaying, related to חָלָל.
the sea monster Pharaoh.
