to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
eunuchs
לַסָּֽרִיסִים֙la.sa.ri.Sim
H5631
a eunuch · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
keep
יִשְׁמְרוּ֙yish.me.Ru
H8104
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
sabbaths
שַׁבְּתוֹתַ֔יsha.be.to.Tai
H7676
intermission · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
choose
וּבָֽחֲר֖וּu.va.cha.Ru
H977
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
please
חָפָ֑צְתִּיcha.Fa.tze.ti
H2654
properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
hold
וּמַחֲזִיקִ֖יםu.ma.cha.zi.Kim
H2388
to fasten upon · conjunction + verb, hiphil active participle, masculine plural absolute
covenant
בִּבְרִיתִֽיbiv.ri.Ti
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
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
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were…
Psalms 119:111 Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.
Isaiah 27:5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.
Luke 10:42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
2 Samuel 23:5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my…
Isaiah 56:6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every o…
Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies…
Isaiah 56:2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his h…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 56:3-8
The prophet is here, in God's name, encouraging those that were hearty in joining themselves to God and yet laboured under great discouragements. 1. Some were discouraged because they were not of the seed of Abraham. They had joined themselves to the Lord, and bound their souls with a bond to be his for ever (this is the root and life of religion, to break off from the world and the flesh, and devote ourselves entirely to the service and honour of God); but they questioned whether God would accept them, because they were of the sons of the stranger, Isa 56:3. They were Gentiles, strangers to the commonwealth of Israel and aliens from the covenants of promise, and therefore feared they had no…
please me--sacrifice their own pleasure to mine.
take hold--so "layeth hold" (see on Isa 56:2).
Adam Clarke on Isaiah 56:2
That keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it - Kimchi has an excellent note here. "The Sabbath is sanctified when it is distinguished in dignity; and separated from other days.
1. As to the body, in meat, drink, and clean clothing.
2. As to the soul, that it be empty of worldly occupations, and be busily employed in the words of the law and wisdom, and in meditation on the works of the Lord."
The rabbins say, "Jerusalem had never been destroyed, had not the Sabbaths been profaned in it."
John Gill on Isaiah 56:4
For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths,.... That fear and serve the Lord; religiously observe all times of divine worship, and walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord; show regard to all the institutions of the Gospel, and perform all religious exercises, private and public, on Lord's days, and at other times:
and choose the things that please me; who do that which is wellpleasing unto God, which he has declared in his word to be acceptable to him; and do that from right principles, with right views, and of choice; not forced to it by those who have authority over them, or led to it merely by example and custom:
and take hold of my covenant; not the…
The Church Fathers
(Vers. 4, 5.) Because the Lord says these things to the eunuchs: If they keep my Sabbaths, and choose what I desire, and hold fast to my covenant, I will give them a place in my house and within my walls, and a better name than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. LXX: Thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: Those who keep my Sabbaths, and choose what I desire, and hold fast to my covenant, I will give them a place in my house and a named place within my walls, better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not fail. He had proposed two things, proselytes and eunuchs. First, he speaks about eunuchs and gives them instructions for living, and promises them future rewards. And after them, he comes to the proselytes, promising them similar things. Therefore, he speaks to the eunuchs who have said in despair, 'Behold, I am a withered tree' (Exod. 23), so that they may not consider themselves subject to the curse spoken of the barren: 'Cursed is the barren one who does not bear seed in Israel' (Deut. 7). Yes, he said, if they have kept my Sabbaths and chosen the things I wanted and not the things I allowed for the weakness of the listeners, and have faithfully kept my covenant or testament, I will give them a place in my house, and in my Temple, and in the strong walls of my city, and a better name to my sons and daughters, which will never be erased from memory. Those who are eunuchs, as we mentioned before, who are devoted to the things of God; to them speaks Wisdom, which is called by the name of Solomon: Blessed is the sterile and stainless woman, who has not known a bed in sin, she will have fruit in the visitation of souls. And the eunuch, who has not worked with his hand iniquity, nor thought evil against the Lord. For the chosen grace of his faith will be given, and a pleasing part in the temple of the Lord (Wisdom 3:13, 14). This one is fruitful in virginity; this eunuch exercises power in the kingdom of heaven, and violently seizes it. This one is the keeper of the sabbaths, so that he never engages in the works of marriages (I Corinthians 7). This one has chosen what the Lord willed, to offer more than what was commanded: to consider not his indulgence, but his will. This one holds the everlasting covenant of the Lord, so that he does not cease from prayer for a time, and again…
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
Proselyte — Is used in the LXX. for “stranger” (1 Chr. 22:2), i.e., a comer to Palestine; a sojourner in the land (Ex. 12:48; 20:10; 22:21), and in the New Testament for a convert to Judaism. There were such…
Sabbath — (Heb. verb shabbath, meaning “to rest from labour”), the day of rest. It is first mentioned as having been instituted in Paradise, when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:2). “The sabbath was made for…
Covenant, The · Blessings connected with — Blessings connected with
Eunuch · Prohibited from certain privileges of the congregation — Prohibited from certain privileges of the congregation
Proselytes · Were entitled to all privileges — Were entitled to all privileges
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).
For thus saith Jehovah. Now follows a confirmation; for the sincere worshippers of God, who keep the sabbaths and follow the righteousness of the Law, though they be "eunuchs," [97] or labor under any other obstruction, shall nevertheless have a place in the Church. He appears to annihilate in this manner all the external marks [98] in which alone the Jews gloried; for the high rank of the Church is not external, but spiritual; and although believers have no emblems of distinction in the eyes of the world, and are even despised and reproached, yet they rank high in the sight of God.
And choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant. With the "keeping of the Sabbath," he con…
"For thus saith Jehovah to the circumcised, Those who keep my Sabbaths, and decide for that in which I take pleasure, and take fast hold of my covenant; I give to them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters: I give such a man an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." The second condition after the sanctification of the Sabbath has reference to the regulation of life according to the revealed will of God; the third to fidelity with regard to the covenant of circumcision. יד also means a side, and hence a place (Deu 23:13); but in the passage before us, where ושׁם יד form a closely connected pair of words, to which וּמבּנות מבּנים is appende…
