Testimonia — Early Christian Bible Commentary

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Isaiah 26

1In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city. God appoints salvation for walls and bulwarks.

2Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter: the one which keeps faith.

3You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you.

4Trust in the LORD forever; for in the LORD, the LORD, is an everlasting Rock.

5For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. He lays it low. He lays it low even to the ground. He brings it even to the dust.

6The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.”

7The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level.

8Yes, in the way of your judgments, LORD, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.

9With my soul I have desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me I will seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are on the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not see the LORD’s majesty.

11LORD, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.

12LORD, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also done all our work for us.

13LORD our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, but we will only acknowledge your name.

14The dead shall not live. The departed spirits shall not rise. Therefore you have visited and destroyed them, and caused all memory of them to perish.

15You have increased the nation, O LORD. You have increased the nation! You are glorified! You have enlarged all the borders of the land.

16LORD, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.

17Just as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs, so we have been before you, LORD.

18We have been with child. We have been in pain. We gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance on the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

19Your dead shall live. Their dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.

20Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past.

21For, behold, the LORD comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.

Early Christian commentary

Late 1st century AD (traditionally c. 95–100) | Clement of Rome

Ye see, beloved, how great and wonderful a thing is love, and that there is no declaring its perfection. Who is fit to be found in it, except such as God has vouchsafed to render so? Let us pray, therefore, and implore of His mercy, that we may live blameless in love, free from all human partialities for one above another. All the generations from Adam even unto this day have passed away; but those who, through the grace of God, have been made perfect in love, now possess a place among the godly, and shall be made manifest at the revelation of the kingdom of Christ. For it is written, “Enter into thy secret chambers for a little time, until my wrath and fury pass away; and I will remember a propitious day, and will raise you up out of your graves.” Blessed are we, beloved, if we keep the commandments of God in the harmony of love; that so through love our sins may be forgiven us. For it is written, “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not impute to him, and in whose mouth there is no guile.” This blessedness cometh upon those who have been chosen by God through Jesus Christ our Lord; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Commentary · First Epistle to the Corinthians, Chapter L · Original source · The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers (T. & T. Clark, 1870), edited and translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson; independent electronic transcription: David King and the Online Proofreading Team, Project Gutenberg ebook 77576. · Licence · Source revision · Whitespace normalized; source pagination and footnote reference markers removed. English wording unchanged.

c. 190 AD | Irenaeus of Lyons

67. At this point let us speak of His healings. Isaiah says thus: He took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses: that is to say, He shall take, and shall bear. For there are passages in which the Spirit of God through the prophets recounts things that are to be as having taken place. For that which with God is essayed and conceived of as determined to take place, is reckoned as having already taken place: and the Spirit, regarding and seeing the time in which the issues of the prophecy are fulfilled, utters the words (accordingly). And concerning the kind of healing, thus will He make mention, saying: In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and in darkness and in mist the eyes of the blind shall see. And the same says again: Be strong, ye weak hands and feeble and trembling knees: be comforted, ye that are of a fearful mind. Be strong, fear not. Behold, our God will recompense judgment: He will come and save us. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear: then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be plain. And concerning the dead, that they shall be raised, he says thus: The dead shall be raised, and they that are in the tombs shall be raised. And in bringing these things to pass He shall be believed to be the Son of God.

Commentary · The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, Section 67 · Original source

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