Isaiah 51:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 51:9
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
to wake (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
awake
עוּרִ֤י'u.Ri
H5782
to wake (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
on
לִבְשִׁיliv.shi-
H3847
properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
strength
עֹז֙'oz
H5797
strength in various applications (force · noun, common masculine singular absolute
arm
זְר֣וֹעַze.Ro.a'
H2220
the arm (as stretched out) · noun, common feminine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
awake
ע֚וּרִי'U.ri
H5782
to wake (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
ancient
קֶ֔דֶםKe.dem
H6924
the front · noun, common masculine singular absolute
days
כִּ֣ימֵיKi.mei
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
generations
דֹּר֖וֹתdo.Rot
H1755
properly · noun, common feminine plural construct
old
עוֹלָמִ֑יםo.la.Mim
H5769
properly · noun, common masculine plural absolute
cut
הַמַּחְצֶ֥בֶתha.mach.Tze.vet
H2672
to cut or carve (wood · definite article + verb, hiphil active participle, feminine singular absolute
Rahab
רַ֖הַבRa.hav
H7294
Rahab (i.e. boaster) · proper noun, a title
wounded
מְחוֹלֶ֥לֶתme.cho.Le.let
H2490
properly · verb, piel active participle, feminine singular construct
dragon
תַּנִּֽיןta.Nin
H8577
a marine or land monster · 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
Psalms 74:13-14 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Psalms 89:10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
Isaiah 52:1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more com…
Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpe…
Isaiah 30:7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
Ezekiel 29:3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his r…
Job 26:12 He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.
Psalms 44:1 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
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…
Impassioned prayer of the exiled Jews.
ancient days-- (Psa 44:1).
Rahab--poetical name for Egypt (see on Isa 30:7).
dragon--Hebrew, tannin. The crocodile, an emblem of Egypt, as represented on coins struck after the conquest of Egypt by Augustus; or rather here, "its king," Pharaoh (see on Isa 27:1; Psa 74:13-14; Eze 32:2, Margin; Eze 29:3).
John Gill on Isaiah 51:9
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord,.... The Septuagint and Arabic versions take the words to be an address to Jerusalem; and the Syriac version to Zion, as in Isaiah 51:17, but wrongly: they are, as Jarchi says, a prayer of the prophet, or it may be rather of the church represented by him; and are addressed either to God the Father, who, when he does not immediately appear on the behalf of his people, is thought by them to be asleep, though he never slumbers nor sleeps, but always keeps a watchful eye over them; but this they not apprehending, call upon him to "awake"; which is repeated, to show their sense of danger, and of their need of him, and their vehement importunity; an…
Awake, awake. Here the Prophet instructs us, that, when God cheers us by his promises, we ought also to pray earnestly that he would perform what he has promised. He does not comfort us in order to render us slothful, but that we may be inflamed with a stronger desire to pray, and may continually exercise our faith. The Prophet speaks according to our feelings; for we think that God is asleep, so long as he does not come to the relief of our wants; and the Lord indulges us so far as to permit us to speak and pray according to the feeling of our weakness. Believers therefore entreat the Lord to "awake," not that they imagine him to be idle or asleep in heaven; [24] but, on the contrary, they…
The Church Fathers
He addresses these words as if [Jerusalem] had fallen and were prone on the ground, and he invites it to take up again its power of other times. "Awake as in the early time, as the ancient generation." Renew yourself, he says, and become again such as you were when your splendor attracted all eyes.
According to the Hebrew, it is not Jerusalem but the arm of the Lord that has to put on strength. This relates to what we spoke about above [v. 5], about the nations hoping in "my arm." For we have said that the divinity of the Word is signified here, since he urges the people not to fear the rebuke of human beings or to be affected by their filth, and in the same way here it is right to see in the person of the people a prayer being sent to the "arm of the Lord" to rouse himself and overcome the enemies of his people. For we confess we are nothing unless you rise up and overcome on our behalf.
(Vers. 9 seqq.) Arise, arise; put on the strength of the arm of the Lord. Arise as in the days of old, in the generations of ages. Have you not struck down the proud, wounded the dragon? Have you not dried up the sea, the water of the great abyss, who made the depths of the sea a path, so that the redeemed might pass over? And now those who have been redeemed by the Lord will return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy will be upon their heads: they will have gladness and joy, sorrow and sighing will flee away. LXX: Arise, arise, O Jerusalem, and put on the strength of your arm. Arise as in the beginning of the day, as the everlasting generation. Are you not the one who formed the width, who crushed the dragon? Are you not the one who made the desert into a sea, the waters of the abyss many: who made a deep passage through the sea, for those who were freed and redeemed? For they shall be returned by the Lord, and they shall come to Zion with eternal joy and rejoicing. For in their head shall they apprehend praise and joy. Grief and mourning and sighing shall flee away. The name Jerusalem, which is added here by the LXX, is not found in Hebrew, nor is it found in any of the three Interpreters, from which it should be noted with an obelus and thus connected with the previous sense of the following chapter. The Lord had encouraged those who believed in him, saying: Do not fear the reproach of men, and do not be afraid of their blasphemies. And he had promised them his eternal salvation and justice as an aid, which is none other than Christ, the arm of the Lord, of whom he had said above: And the Gentiles shall hope in my arm. Where the people speak to the arm of the Lord, and implore His coming, and beg for the promised help, saying: Arise, arise: put on strength, arm of the Lord. Arise as in the ancient days, and exercise all your strength, so that you who have saved your Saints from dangers through many centuries may also protect us with your strength. 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…
Dictionary and topics
Dragon — (1.) Heb. tannim, plural of tan. The name of some unknown creature inhabiting desert places and ruins (Job 30:29; Ps. 44:19; Isa. 13:22; 34:13; 43:20; Jer. 10:22; Micah 1:8; Mal. 1:3); probably, as…
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.…
Rahab — Insolence; pride, a poetical name applied to Egypt in Ps. 87:4; 89:10; Isa. 51:9, as “the proud one.” Rahab, (Heb. Rahab; i.e., “broad,” “large”). When the Hebrews were encamped at Shittim, in the…
Arm · FIGURATIVE USE OF — FIGURATIVE USE OF
Dragon · .To Pharaoh — .To Pharaoh
Dragon, The · Illustrative: Of cruel and persecuting kings — Illustrative: Of cruel and persecuting kings
Protection · Saints: Pray for — Saints: Pray for
Rahab · 2. A symbolic name applied to Egypt — 2. A symbolic name applied to Egypt
Titles And Names Of Christ · Arm of the Lord — Arm of the Lord
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.
