Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

¹ In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. ² Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. ³ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. ⁴ Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength: ⁵ For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust. ⁶ The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy. ⁷ The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just. ⁸ Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. ⁹ With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. ¹⁰ Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD. ¹¹ LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them. ¹² LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. ¹³ O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. ¹⁴ They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. ¹⁵ Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. ¹⁶ LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. ¹⁷ Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD. ¹⁸ We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. ¹⁹ Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. ²⁰ Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. ²¹ For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:1

(Chapter 26, Verse 1) On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: Our strong city, the Savior will set it as a wall and rampart. In that day, this song will be sung over the land of Judah: Behold, a strong city, our salvation will set up walls and bulwarks. When Moab is humbled and brought to the ground, and all the enemies of Christ are brought low, then this song will be sung in the land of Judah or Judea, which signifies both confession: that just as we have understood Zion and Jerusalem to be the heavenly city, so let us understand the confession of this city's region to be a heavenly confession. Finally, the saints unwilling to sing the song of Judah in a foreign land, say: How can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? (Ps. 136:4). I think this is the song that is also commanded to the saints in another place: Sing to the Lord a new song (Ps. 95:1). And this song will be the one that follows: The city of our strength is the Savior (Matthew 5). What city is this? It cannot be hidden, for it is situated on a mountain. It is written about this in another place: The rushing of the river makes glad the city of God (Psalm 46:4); and again: Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God (Psalm 87:2). The founder of this city is the one about whom the Father speaks: he built my city. Indeed, the Savior is the city of our strength, that is, Jesus. And in it will be placed a wall and a bulwark. The wall of good works, and the bulwark of right faith, so that it may be protected on both sides by a double defense. For it is not enough to have a wall of faith, unless that faith is confirmed by good works. This wall and this rampart or surrounding wall are built of living stones, which, according to the prophet, are rolled upon the earth. The term we render 'rampart' Symmachus has interpreted 'firmament,' so that the walls themselves may be surrounded by fortifications and ramparts and trenches and other walls, which in the construction of camps they are accustomed to call breastworks.

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 500] Aponius on Isaiah 26:1

Hence, if they find anyone outside, they beat, wound and rob him by not believing in the true flesh of Christ that was nailed to the cross, from whom true blood flowed when pierced by a lance, and by not believing in the true God who bore a true soul and laid it down freely and raised it up freely. Isaiah prophesied about this city and, indeed, demonstrated with his finger, when he said, “Behold, our Savior is a strong city, fortified with walls and bulwarks.”

Source: EXPOSITION OF SONG OF SONGS 8:24-25

[AD 500] Aponius on Isaiah 26:1

For this reason, it seems to me that the wall represents the people who are acquainted with the one omnipotent God, having been brought near to the Word of the Father, about whom Isaiah prophesied, saying, “The Savior is our strong city. A wall and a bulwark is established in him.” This indicates that Christ was shown to be equipped with a true soul and true flesh for the redemption of the world. But those who have already attained greater perfection, who are prepared to have their blood shed for the sake of his name, who by their own example offer unbelievers access to salvation, are compared with gates. For although the Word of God clothed himself with the nature of every human person for the liberation of the human race, it is nevertheless true that anyone becomes the wall or the gate of the prophesied city, that is of Christ, who, bearing God’s image and holding fast to the true faith, merits with his holy works to contain the Word himself, as he promised through the prophet: “I will dwell within them, and I will be their God.”

Source: EXPOSITION OF SONG OF SONGS 12:32

[AD 552] Verecundus of Junca on Isaiah 26:1

When Hezekiah, the king of Judah and son of Ahaz, was gravely ill and had learned of his coming death by the prophecy of Isaiah, he turned his face to the wall and wept bitterly. Immediately the Lord in his mercy not only averted the destruction of imminent death but also added fifteen years to the man’s life. Then, at last, Hezekiah sang this song. Hezekiah, a holy man who reigned at that time over all of Israel, displayed the Lord’s form: clearly he had every movement of body, soul and mind in subjection to himself, and he accepted the consequences of his infirmity and weakness. He knew without doubt through the prophetic message that the end of his life was approaching. For the longer we seem to live, the more indubitably is our future death foreknown to us. And if we turn our face to the wall when struck by the fear of death, that is, if we direct the vision of our hearts to the Savior, who is here represented by the wall because he is elsewhere called “a wall,” we will be saved, inasmuch as he saves the faithful who dwell within him from a great many attacks. “In the city of our strength,” says Isaiah, “is the Savior established as a wall and a fortress.” Behold, the Savior is said to be a wall.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE CANTICLE OF EZEKIEL 5:1-2

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:2-4

(Vers. 2-4.) Open the gates, and let the just nation enter, guarding the truth. The ancient error has gone away, you shall keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in you. You have hoped in the Lord in eternal ages. LXX: Open the gates, let the nation enter, guarding justice, and guarding truth, holding onto truth, and guarding peace: peace, because they have hoped in you, Lord, forever. This entire chant, which is sung on earth by those who confess and praise the holy ones, suddenly changes personas, and is woven as if through question and answer. The people of God said: 'The city of our strength, the Savior, will be built with a wall and a rampart in it.' The Lord replied, or rather commanded, not those who said this, but the angels who presided over the gates of the Lord's city, to open the gates so that a righteous nation, guarding the truth, may enter through them, or as it is said in Hebrew, Emmunim, which in our language is translated as faith in the plural number, not singular. What are the gates, which are opened by angels, so that the people of Judah, who are rejected, may not enter, but rather the righteous nation, which has received its name from the faith of the faithful? Indeed, those of which the saint speaks: Open to me the gates of righteousness, I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord (Ps. CXVII, 19). However, no one will be able to enter these gates unless they have been freed from the gates of death; and as the Psalmist says: You who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may declare all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion (Ps. IX, 15). For when we have been saved from the gates of death, then at the gates of the daughter of Zion we will be able to sing all the praises of the Lord. And just as I consider the gates of death to be sins, of which it is said to Peter: The gates of hell shall not prevail against you (Matthew 16:18); so the gates of righteousness, all the works of virtue, whoever enters them will find one gate, of which it is said: This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall enter it (Psalm 118:19). And how is it that through many pearls one arrives at one pearl: so through many paths and gates we come to Him who says He is the way and the gate, through which we enter to the Father. After the word of God, the people answered in Hebrew 'Jeser Samuch' (which Aquila and Symmachus similarly translated) which means 'our error is removed', or 'our thought is established', which previously wavered between you and idols, so that we are not carried about by every wind of doctrine, but with our whole mind we believe in you, the Lord and Savior. In order for us to have a clearer understanding, we have translated, the old error has gone away. And since our thought has been confirmed, therefore you will keep for us the peace that you promised to the Apostles, saying: My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you (John 14:27); and not only once, but twice, so that the secure reward that is promised in twofold language may be assured, according to what the Apostle also spoke: Rejoice, I say again, rejoice (Philippians 4:4). But the consequence of this is what is said in Leviticus: 'A man, a man, of the sons of Israel' (Lev. 17). And in the book of Numbers: 'A husband, a husband, whose wife has defiled the marriage bed' (Num. 5:12): so that a double man and a double husband may obtain double peace. And they say, 'We merit peace because we trust in you with our whole mind.' After the words of the people and the response of the Lord, the voice of the Prophet speaks again to the believers: 'You have hoped, or continue to hope, in the Lord, in everlasting ages,' and so on. According to the Septuagint, he enters the gates of the Lord, who guards justice in good works, and preserves or embraces truth in the truth of faith, so that he may attain peace through good works and faith, which surpasses all understanding, and deserve to receive that same peace; for he believed in God who is the dispenser of eternal good works (Philippians 4). Therefore, it is also written in another place: You have desired wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord will grant it to you (Ecclesiastes 1:33).

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:5-6

(Vers. 5, 6.) In the Lord, the mighty God forever: for He will bring down those who dwell on high; He will humble the lofty city and bring it down to the ground; He will cast it down to the dust. The feet shall trample it, the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy. LXX: O great and eternal God, who have humbled and cast down those who dwell on high, you will destroy strong cities and bring them down to the pavement, and their feet will be trampled by the meek and the humble. And this is what the Prophet speaks, who answered him in the place where he had said above: Hope in the Lord in eternal ages; and he joins to it what we have now proposed: In the Lord God Almighty forever, and so on. For the Lord God Almighty, in Hebrew has three names, Ia () and Adonai () and Sur (), which mean, respectively, invisible, ineffable, and strong, of which the first is placed in the last syllable of Alleluia (). And let the diligent reader observe this, that sometimes we divide the text in the proposition of testimonium: because one edition has one sense from the Septuagint and another has the sense expressed word for word from the Hebrew. Therefore the Prophet says: Hope in the Lord in eternal ages: in the Lord God Almighty forever, whose help is everlasting. For He will bow down those who dwell on high, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; those who boasted of having Abraham as their father, and spoke against the Lord: We are not born of fornication (John VIII, 41). He will also humble the lofty city, as the Jews believe, Rome (or rather Jerusalem), which killed the Prophets, and stoned those who were sent to it, and finally killed the son of the master of the house, so that the heir, being killed, the inheritance would perish (Luke XIII). And the city is not called the one [which] is called in Hebrew Ir, but Caria which Aquila translated as πολίχνην, which we can call either a small city or village or town, and frequently in the Scriptures it is referred to by this name Jerusalem. And beautifully, he placed a twofold humility: He will humble, he will humble it, first under the Babylonians, when the temple was destroyed, secondly under Titus and Vespasian, whose ruin continues until the end. It tramples it under foot, and treads upon it, and joins the feet of the poor, without doubt of Christ. Of whom we have already spoken above: He became strength to the poor; the strength of the needy in their tribulation. The steps of the needy, namely the Apostles, who imitating the poverty of the Lord, also obtained the privilege of his virtue; who, not being received, shook off the dust of their feet upon it. And because it is said in the words of the Savior, Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled: and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11), we can apply this not only to men, but also to contrary virtues. According to the Septuagint, the Prophet sings praises to God, because he humiliates all the proud and tears down the fortifications of all cities to the ground, and he treads upon the heads of the holy, the meek, and the humble.

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:7-9

(Verses 7-9.) The path of the just is straight, the righteous path is for walking: and on the path of your judgments, O Lord, we have waited for you, your name and your memorial in the desire of our soul: my soul has desired you in the night. LXX: The path of the just is straight, made straight is the path of the just, and prepared. For the path of the Lord is judgment, we have hoped in your name: and in the memorial which our soul desires. Furthermore, the Prophet speaks about Christ, about whom he said above: His foot will trample it, the feet of the poor. Therefore, the path of this just man is straight, or, to use a new word, it is called righteousness, which the Greeks call εὐθύτητας and we can call equities in Latin, and in Hebrew they are called Messarim (). Therefore, in the one path of Christ, all righteousness is found, and for this reason, he trod upon it and crushed it with his foot, so that whoever desires to walk on it may walk without stumbling. In this path of the Lord's judgments, the saints sustained him and hoped in him, for hope does not disappoint. And they had both the name and the memorial in the desire of the soul, saying: My soul hath coveted to long for thy judgments at all times (Ps. CXVIII, 20); and again: My soul hath desired, and hath been consumed with longing for thy salvation (Ibid. 81). But he who has the name of the Lord in desire, desires nothing else. And this should be noted, that the desire of the Lord is not in the flesh, but in the soul, according to what we read in another psalm: My soul hath thirsted after the living God, the strong (Ps. LI, 2). For the flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. And what follows: In the night, according to the Septuagint, it is joined to the following chapter, according to the Hebrew to the previous one. But he can say: My soul longed for you in the night, who speaks confidently with the Psalmist: I will wash my bed every night, with tears I will water my couch. Night and darkness can be seen as symbols of tribulation and distress. Therefore, in another psalm, the Prophet sings about the security of the righteous: The sun shall not harm you by day, nor the moon by night (Ps. 121:6), meaning that in both good times and bad, you will never be shaken from your position.

But my spirit within me, from the morning I watch for you. LXX: From the night my spirit rises to you, O God, for your judgments are a light upon the earth. We desire to follow the Hebrew and not completely disregard the Vulgate edition, and out of necessity we are compelled to seek different understandings in different order and language. Therefore, what is said, 'from the night,' according to the LXX, is the beginning of this chapter, as we have said, but according to the Hebrew, it is the end of the previous; although it can also be understood at the end of the previous testimony according to the LXX, so that the meaning is: My soul desires you at night; and then begin, from the morning my spirit rises to you, O God. Therefore, in the morning he rises, because your light is precepts upon the earth. For he keeps your commandments, and is enlightened by their light, of which it is said: The commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes (Ps. XVIII, 9). I cannot sleep, but desiring you at all times, I rise to you in spirit. And it should be observed that even when we are still in the night, we should desire the Lord in our minds. However, once our spirit has fully moved itself towards God in our hearts, let us wake up in the morning for him. To express it more clearly, the night and desire belong to the soul, but the morning and watchfulness belong to the spirit. Moreover, the spirit in their innermost being wakes up to God, who can say: Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord (Ps. 130:1).

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Isaiah 26:9

[In monasteries] at the crowing of the rooster their leader comes, and gently touching the sleeper with his foot, rouses them all. For there are none sleeping naked. Then as soon as they have arisen they stand up and sing the prophetic hymns with much harmony and well-composed tunes. And neither harp nor pipe nor other musical instrument utters such sweet melodies as you hear from the singing of these saints in their deep and quiet solitudes. And the songs themselves too are suitable and full of the love of God. “In the night,” they say, “lift up your hands to God. With my soul have I desired you in the night; truly with my spirit within me will I seek you early.”

Source: HOMILIES ON 1 TIMOTHY 14

[AD 414] Nicetas of Remesiana on Isaiah 26:9

And now, beloved, I ought to say a word about the antiquity of the tradition and the utility of vigils. It is easier to begin a work if we keep before our eyes how useful it is. The devotion to vigils is very old. It has been a household tradition among the saints. It was the prophet Isaiah who cried out to the Lord: “My soul has yearned for you in the night. Indeed, my spirit within me seeks you early in the morning.”

Source: VIGILS OF THE SAINTS 4

[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Isaiah 26:9

For this reason, as I have already said, you ought to read and listen to the sacred lessons with such eagerness that you may be able to speak about them and teach them to others in your own homes and elsewhere, wherever you are. As you, like clean animals, ruminate the Word of God by continuous reflection, you may be able to procure useful favor for yourselves, that is, their spiritual meaning, and with God’s help give it to others. Then will be fulfilled in you what is written: “Your cup overflows!” Moreover, you will fulfill what the blessed apostle encourages and advises when he says, “The fact is that whether you eat or drink—whatever you do—you should do all for the glory of God.” If infirmity does not prevent it, fast daily. Hasten to the vigils with cheerful and fervent devotion because of what is written: “O God, my soul yearns for you in the night”; and again: “To you I pray, O Lord; at dawn you hear my voice”; and still further: “At midnight I rise to give thanks to your name, O Lord.” To this our Lord and Savior also exhorts and encourages us when he says in the Gospel: “Be on guard, and pray that you may not undergo the test.” May he himself deign to grant this, to whom are honor and might together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, world without end.

Source: SERMON 198:5

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Isaiah 26:9

For “night” is this present life, and as long as we are in it, we are covered with a mist of uncertain imaginations as far as the sight of inward objects is concerned. For the prophet was sensible that he was held by a certain mist in his sight of the Lord, when he says, “My soul longed for you in the night.” As if he were to say, I long to behold you in the obscurity of this present life, but I am still surrounded by the mist of infirmity.

Source: MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 5:23.39

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Isaiah 26:9

Anyone who has been able to reach out for the truth has been on fire with this love. For this reason David said, “My soul has thirsted for the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?” And he counseled us, saying, “Seek his face continually.” And for this reason the prophet said, “My soul has desired you in the night, and with my spirit within my breast I will watch for you in the morning.” And again the church says to the Lord in the Song of Songs, “I have been wounded with love.”It is right that the soul, after bearing in its heart a wound of love brought on by its burning desire, should reach out for healing at the sight of the doctor. And so, again, it says, “My soul melted when he spoke.” The heart of a person who does not seek the face of his Creator is hardened by his wickedness, because in itself it remains cold. But if it now begins to burn with the desire of following him whom it loves, it runs since the fire of love has melted it. Its desire makes it anxious. Everything that used to please it in the world seems worthless; it finds nothing agreeable outside of its Creator; things that once delighted the heart afterwards become grievously oppressive. Nothing brings it consolation in its sadness as long as the one it desires is not beheld. The heart sorrows. Light itself is loathsome. Scorching fire burns away the rust of sin in the heart. The soul is inflamed as if it were gold, for gold loses its beauty through use, but fire restores its brightness.

Source: FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 25

[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Isaiah 26:10

When, by such faith and knowledge, the Lord’s people have embraced this true life, they surely receive the joy of heaven. The wicked, on the other hand, since they don’t care about the Lord’s life, are rightly deprived of its blessings. For, “let the wicked be taken away so that he shall not see the glory of the Lord.” In the end they, like everyone else, shall hear the universal proclamation of the promise, “Awake, sleeper, and rise up from the dead.” They shall rise and knock on the doors of heaven, saying, “Open to us.” The Lord, however, will rebuke them for rejecting knowledge of him and will tell them, “I do not know you.”

Source: FESTAL LETTER 7:2

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Isaiah 26:10

Our Lord Jesus Christ came on this account, too, that we might see not only his glory here but also the glory to come. Therefore he said, “I will that where I am they also may be, in order that they may behold my glory.” Now, if this glory here has been so bright and splendid, what could one say of that other? It will not appear on this corrupt earth or while we are in our perishable bodies but in that immortal and everlasting creation, and with so much brightness that it is impossible to put it into words. Oh, blessed, and thrice-blessed, and blessed many times over, they who are deemed worthy to become beholders of that glory! With reference to it the prophet says, “Away with the impious, that he may not behold the glory of the Lord.”

Source: HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 13 (12:3)

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:10

(Verse 10.) When you execute your judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Show mercy to the wicked, who does not learn righteousness; in the land of the saints he acts unjustly and does not see the glory of the Lord. Learn righteousness, you who dwell on the earth. The wicked will cease to exist and will not learn righteousness on the earth; he will not act with truth, let the wicked be taken away so he will not see the glory of the Lord. Let us first speak according to the Hebrew, and if we want to express the meaning of the prophet, then let us turn to the Septuagint Interpreters. As long as you do not exercise your judgments upon the earth, and neither reward the good with good nor the evil with evil, your justice, O Lord God, is ignored on earth. But when on the day of judgment you will render to each according to the quality of their deeds, then your justice will be known throughout the world, which previously seemed unjust among the unbelievers, so that even one of the saints would say: My steps were nearly weakened, my feet were nearly poured out, for I was zealous for the wicked, seeing the peace of the sinners (Ps. LXXII, 2). To which the Lord responded: Let us have mercy on the wicked; for except for the Seventy, all others have also translated it this way. And the meaning is: may the wicked obtain mercy even more, and may he learn my clemency; so that he himself may also be saved. And in response to the Lord speaking, the Prophet, representing human impatience, replied: And he will not learn justice. And the meaning is: and how will he be able to know your justice if he has only experienced your clemency? And the reasons why he wants to learn the justice of God are as follows: because he acted unjustly on the earth of the saints, and continually fought against your saints, he must feel torment. And again the Lord, tempering the judgment, says, And let him not see, whether he will not see the glory of the Lord. And this is the meaning: it is enough punishment for him that he will not see me reigning in my majesty with my saints. Some want the impious one, that is, Resa, to be understood as the devil, about whom it is written in the 108th psalm: You have rebuked the nations, and the wicked one has perished; you have destroyed their name forever and for eternity. The enemies have ceased their spears to the end, and you have destroyed their cities (Psalm 9:6). However, let us generally consider the wicked either as a sinner or as one who does not have the worship of God. According to the Septuagint, the inhabitants of the earth are commanded to learn righteousness. For every man seems just to himself; but God knows the hearts of all, who will render to each one according to his deeds (Proverbs 21). And in another place of the same volume it is said: There are ways that seem right to a man, but the ends thereof lead to the depths of hell (Proverbs 14:12). Where should we learn justice, and not rely on our own judgment. For he is just who perishes in his own justice (Eccles. VII); not because he is just, but because he appears just to himself. But if Christ has become for us from God wisdom, and justice, sanctification and redemption (I Cor. I), to whom it is commanded that they know justice, it is commanded that they learn and know Christ. Therefore I command you, he says, to learn justice, because the wicked one has been taken away; and his kingdom has been destroyed, who as long as he reigned on earth, could not know justice, nor do the truth. About which it is written elsewhere, that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John XVII). And because the wicked does not make truth on earth, it will be taken away: for he does not deserve to see the Lord reigning.

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Isaiah 26:10

In the resurrection itself it is not easy to see God, except for those who are clean of heart; hence, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.” From here on he begins to speak of that world where all who rise again will not see God, but only those who rise to eternal life. The unworthy will not see him, for of them it is said, “Let the wicked be taken away lest he behold the brightness of the Lord.” But the worthy will see him, and of such the Lord spoke when, though present, he was not seen, saying, “He that loves me keeps my commandments, and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.”

Source: LETTER 27 (177:11)

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Isaiah 26:10

In this human form the good will see him in whom they have believed; the wicked, him whom they have despised. But the wicked will not see him in the form of God in which he is equal to the Father, for as the prophet says, “The wicked shall be taken off that he may not see the glory of the Lord,” and, on the other hand, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”

Source: SERMON 214:9

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Isaiah 26:10

Then, therefore, we shall come and we shall enjoy the one thing; but the one thing will be all things to us. For what was it I said, my brothers, when I began to speak? What is that sufficiency which we shall possess when we shall have no need? What is the sufficiency which we shall possess? I had intended to say, “What will God give to us which he will not give to them?” “Let the wicked be taken away that he may not see the glory of God.” Hence God will give his glory to us so that we may enjoy it; and the wicked will be taken away that he may not see the glory of God. God himself will be the entire sufficiency which we shall possess as our own. Greedy one, what did you seek to gain? What does anyone, for whom God is not enough, seek from God?

Source: SERMON 255:6

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Isaiah 26:10

His coming means his return from the judgment to his kingdom. The Lord comes to us after the judgment, because he lifts us up from his human appearance in the contemplation of his divinity; his coming means that he leads us to the vision of his glory. We see in his divinity after the judgment the one we beheld in his humanity at the judgment. At the judgment he comes in the form of a servant and appears to everyone, since it is written, “They will look on him whom they pierced.” When the condemned fall down to their punishment, the righteous are led to the brightness of his glory, as is written: “The wicked is taken away, so that he will [not] see the glory of the Lord.”

Source: FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 20

[AD 390] Gregory of Nazianzus on Isaiah 26:11

I know the glittering sword, and the blade made drunk in heaven, bidden to slay, to bring to nothing, to make childless and to spare neither flesh nor marrow nor bones. I know him who, though free from passion, meets us like a bear robbed of her cubs, like a leopard in the way of the Assyrians, not only those of that day, but if anyone now is an Assyrian in wickedness. Nor is it possible to escape the might and speed of his wrath when he watches over our impieties, and his jealousy, which knows to devour his adversaries, pursues his enemies to the death. I know the emptying, the making void, the making waste, the melting of the heart and knocking of the knees together;7 such are the punishments of the ungodly.

Source: ON HIS FATHER’S SILENCE, ORATION 16:7

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:11

(Verse 11) Lord, let your hand be exalted, and let them not see: let them see, and let the jealousy of the people be confused, and let the fire devour your enemies. LXX: Lord, your arm is exalted, and they did not know, but those who know will be confounded: jealousy will seize the unlearned people, and now the fire will consume the adversaries. This which was said above, 'and he shall not see the glory of the Lord,' can be understood thus: You ask, O Prophet, that I have no mercy on the wicked, lest if I have mercy on them, they begin to not know righteousness, being the one who has acted unjustly in the land of the saints; I answer you, therefore, will he not see the glory of the Lord? Therefore, should not he see my triumphs, who owes it to me more to see me reigning, so that he may know how much good he lacks? And this must be read more urgently in the voice of one questioning. To which the Prophet responded: Lord, let your hand be exalted, and let it be stretched out to strike, so that the wicked may not see you, and may not even have the light of your glory to repent. To which the Lord responded: Let them see even more and be confounded, whether out of envy of the people or zeal for the people, and let the fire devour and consume your adversaries, that is, the enemies of your people, the saints. But the fire of repentance, which torments their hearts, because they have lost such a Lord. This can also be understood of the Jews, who did not know Christ, the arm of the Lord, and when they see him and recognize him, whom they had crucified, they will be confounded. Then the unlearned people and those ignorant of the law of God will be stirred up by the goads of zeal, when they see that the nations have taken their place, and they will be consumed by the fire of repentance, or the pain of punishment, when they hear that which is written: Go into eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. XXV, 41).

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Isaiah 26:11

Note that there are two kinds of zeal, one full of love, the other full of hatred. The former is indicated in the words, “The zeal of your house has devoured me”; the latter, in the words, “Zeal has taken hold of the senseless people, and now fire shall devour your opponents.”

Source: City of God 20.12

[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Isaiah 26:11

A fire went before the Lord’s coming when the hearts of the unfaithful seethed at the preaching of the prophets so that they were fired with the heat of anger, and they debated the murder of those preachers. So this is the fire that shall go before him, but it devoured instead those who stirred it. As the prophet Isaiah said, “And now fire will devour your enemies.” Next comes, “And shall burn his enemies round about.” “Shall burn,” as we have stated, refers to the indignation and sudden mental heat that the enemies of the holy church experienced at that time. “Round about” we must interpret as “on all sides,” for as the preachers were few, a countless crowd of enemies hemmed them in.

Source: EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 96:3

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Isaiah 26:12

When you see a person living in wickedness and enjoying great prosperity without suffering any misfortune, you should mourn particularly for this reason, because although he is afflicted with a very serious disease and ulcer, he aggravates his illness, making himself worse by his luxury and self-indulgence. For punishment is not evil, but sin is evil. The latter separates us from God, but the former leads us toward God and dissolves his anger. How do we know this? Hear what the prophet says, “Comfort, comfort my people, O priests, speak tenderly to Jerusalem … that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” And elsewhere he says, “O Lord our God, give us peace; for you have given us all our due.”

Source: HOMILIES ON LAZARUS AND THE RICH MAN 3

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Isaiah 26:12

But I say all this now, and select all the histories that contain trials and tribulations and the wrath of kings and their evil designs, in order that we may fear nothing except offending God. For then also was there a furnace burning; yet they derided it but feared sin. For they knew that if they were consumed in the fire, they should suffer nothing that was to be dreaded; but that if they were guilty of impiety, they should undergo the extremes of misery. It is the greatest punishment to commit sin, though we may remain unpunished; as on the other hand, it is the greatest honor and repose to live virtuously, though we may be punished. For sins separate us from God; as he himself speaks: “Have your sins separated between you and me?” But punishments lead us back to God. As one says, “Give peace; for you have recompensed us for all things.” Suppose anyone has a wound; which should we most deservedly fear, gangrene or the surgeon’s knife? The steel or the devouring progress of the ulcer? Sin is a gangrene; punishment is the surgeon’s knife. If someone has gangrene and does not have surgery, he does not merely remain ill, he gets worse. In the same way the sinner, though he is not punished, is the most wretched of people; and he is then especially wretched when he has no punishment and is suffering no distress.

Source: HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 6:14

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:12

(Verse 12) Lord, you will give us peace: for you have accomplished all our works for us. LXX: Lord our God, give us peace: for you have restored all things to us. It is notable that after restoring our works to us, he will give peace, and how he will explain the reasons why he seeks peace. For all the works that have been done on earth, they claim to have endured torments, and it is just that after punishment and torture, they obtain mercy. Or else: Because the end of the world has come, and all the things that you spoke through the prophets have been fulfilled, and you have fulfilled all that you promised, grant us peace that surpasses all understanding.

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Isaiah 26:12

The time when our external enemy the devil will be under our feet is when the internal enemy, covetousness, has been healed, and we shall be living in peace. What sort of peace? The sort that “eye has not seen nor ear heard.” What sort of peace? The sort that no imagination can conceive and no quarreling intrude on. What sort of peace? The sort about which the apostle said, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts.” About this peace the prophet Isaiah says, “O Lord our God, give us peace, for you have given us everything you promised.” You promised Christ; you have given him to us. You promised his cross and the shedding of his blood for the forgiveness of sins; you have given them to us. You promised his ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit from heaven; you have given them to us. You promised us a church spread throughout the world; you have given it. You promised there would be heretics to try us and put us through our paces, and the church would triumph over their errors; you have given this. You promised the abolition of the idols of the heathen; you have given it.

Source: SERMON 77A.2

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Isaiah 26:12

What’s the meaning of “Where, death, is your sting?” It means, “Where is sin?” You ask, and it is nowhere. “For the sting of death is sin.” They are the apostle’s words, not mine. That is when we will be able to say, “Where, death, is your sting?” Sin will be nowhere, neither to take you captive, nor to assault you nor to tickle your consciousness. That is when we will not say, “Forgive us our debts.” But what will we say? “Lord our God, give us peace, for you have given us everything.”

Source: SERMON 131:7

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Isaiah 26:12

And we have learned also to say in our prayers, “O Lord our God, grant us your peace, for you have given us everything,” so that if anyone becomes partaker of the peace furnished by God, he will not be lacking any good thing.

Source: LETTER 39:2

[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Isaiah 26:12

So they are truly wise who entrust themselves to the power and dispensation of the Godhead; him alone they seek, and the outcome is all that is good for them. This is the message of the prophet Isaiah: “Lord our God, give us your peace; for you have bestowed all things on us.” Next comes: “And he gave ear to me.” Note that this utterance to the Lord, so short but magnificent in its devotion, sought that he should deign to give ear; what is there that he has failed to give us when out of pity he has granted such a request? For his gaze on us spells deliverance and a bestowal of gifts so great that even the greedy suppliant ceases to beg for them.

Source: EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 76:2

[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Isaiah 26:12

“All have fallen.” Anyone who refuses to seek out a strong foundation necessarily falls. “Together they became useless,” namely, with regard to the work for which they were created. “There is none who does good.” There was no one who would do good, because the Jews broke the commandments and the Gentiles spurned the law of nature. When anyone from either party did good, therefore, he knew that he was indebted to grace, not to nature, as the prophet said in reference to the Lord: “in the presence of whom no one is innocent.” Isaiah also says in his canticle: “O Lord our God, you will give us peace, for you have accomplished all of our works in us.”

Source: EXPOSITION OF ROMANS 3

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Isaiah 26:12

Let us offer thanks to our Creator for the blessings we have received and humbly say with the prophet Isaiah, “For you have wrought all our works for us.”

Source: HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 1:4.16

[AD 735] Bede on Isaiah 26:12

“A man’s steps are directed by the Lord.” Whoever walks a straight path composed of human steps does so not by the freedom of human judgment but by the governance of him to whom Isaiah said, “All of our works were accomplished by you.” “What man can understand his way?” In this it becomes clear that whatever goodness anyone possesses from himself he does not have except through the grace of God, because no one is able to understand through the freedom of his own judgment either what kind of future he will have or the quality and duration of conquests to come.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs 2:20

[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Isaiah 26:13

For the Son of God indeed, being himself the Word, is Lord of all. But we once were subject from the first to the slavery of corruption and the curse of the law. Then by degrees fashioning for ourselves things that were not, we served, as says the blessed apostle, “them which by nature are no gods.” Ignorant of the true God, we preferred things that were not to the truth. But afterwards, as the ancient people when oppressed in Egypt groaned, so when we too had the law “engrafted” in us, according to the unutterable sighings of the Spirit made our intercession, “O Lord our God, take possession of us”; then, as “he became a house of refuge” and a “God and defense,” so also he became our Lord. Nor did he then begin to be, but we began to have him for our Lord.

Source: Discourses Against the Arians 2.15.14

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:13

(Verse 13) Lord our God, we have been possessed by other lords without you; only in you do we remember your name. LXX: Lord our God, possess us: Lord; we know no other besides you, we invoke your name. Therefore, we seek mercy and peace, which must be given after all, because we have been possessed by other masters without you, namely idols or demons sitting on idols: and we ask for nothing else except that we may be worthy to remember your name after many errors. According to the Septuagint, they said: Lord God, possess us, they pray that they may become God's possession after peace is restored to them. Indeed, we read the same about Wisdom, which speaks according to the Hebrew in Proverbs: God possessed me at the beginning of His ways (Prov. VIII, 22), although some copies have the word 'possession' in a wrong way. Finally, it follows: Before all the hills, He has begotten me. For how could the generation of a creature be more suitable to possession? It is written in Deuteronomy: Did not this your father possess you, and make you, and create you (Deut. XXXII, 6)? And it must be noted that it does not say, the Lord or God possessed you, and made you, and created you; but rather father, in order to mitigate the severity of the power with the mercy of the name. And what follows: O Lord, we do not know another besides you, does not exclude the Son, but joins him to the Father, for he did not say 'We do not know another,' but 'We do not know another outside of you.' But when the Son says, 'I am in the Father, and the Father in me,' we do not know the Son outside of the Father, for we know him in the Father. Finally, we also name him by saying in the Lord's Prayer: 'Our Father, who art in heaven.'

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Isaiah 26:13

Therefore Christ will hand the kingdom over to God and the Father when through him the Father will be known by sight, for his kingdom consists of those in whom he now reigns through faith. In fact, in one sense Christ’s kingdom means his divine power according to which every created thing is subject to him; and in another sense his kingdom means the church in respect to the faith that it has in him. In accord with this meaning is the prayer of him who says, “Possess us,” for it is not the case that [Christ] himself does not possess all things. This is also the meaning of the following statement: “When you were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.” Therefore he will destroy every dominion and every authority and power, so that he who sees the Father through the Son will neither require nor be pleased with repose in his own or the power of any created thing.

Source: QUESTION 69:4

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:14

(Verse 14) Those who are dying shall not live; the giants shall not rise again. Therefore You visited and destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them. LXX: For the dead shall not see life; nor will physicians bring them back. Therefore You brought in, and destroyed, and took away all their males. Symmachus in a clearer manner: The dead shall not be revived; the giants shall not rise. Therefore You visited and defeated them, and dispersed all memory of them. Let us first say according to the LXX: The question seems to be difficult, how do the dead not see life? The answer is sought: they do not see life as long as they are dead. Just as we say that a blind person does not see light as long as they are blind; but if they regain their health, they will see the light: so too, the one who is dead in iniquity and sins, before being enlivened by righteousness and virtues, through the one who says, I am the life (John 14), cannot live. And so He is called the God of the living, not of the dead (Matt. XXII). For the soul that sins, it shall die (Ezek. XVIII, 4). We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews: Let us not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works (Heb. VI, 1). But if sins are called dead works, why are virtues not called living works? And what follows, Neither will physicians raise them up, is clear evidence that the fables of the poets, who boast of having raised Virbius from the dead, are condemned. Not only, however, is this to be said about the dead, but about every illness, that without the mercy of God, the art of healing is worth nothing. But how? Unless the Lord builds the house, in vain do they labor who build it: unless the Lord guards the city, in vain does he watch who guards it (Ps. 126, 1, 2). Similarly, unless the Lord heals the sickness, in vain do doctors labor who desire to heal the sick. Unless the Lord guards one's health, they guard in vain, who even eat the precepts of salvation in their own books: and it must always be learned not only in bodily health, but also in the health of the soul: Bless, my soul, the Lord, who heals all your weaknesses (Ps. 102, 1, 3). Moreover, those who persist in the sin of the dead, and cannot receive the health of the soul by any medical skill, they will be dispersed and taken away by the Lord, and whatever is robust in them, which is called masculine, will be completely taken away. And Pharaoh does not want to kill the female sex, which by itself is fragile and can easily die, but every male, if he becomes an adult and reaches manhood, is difficult to kill. According to Symmachus, the dead will not be revived, for the dead in sin cannot revive others, and there is no beautiful praise in the mouth of a sinner. And the giants, that is, the Raphaim, will not raise up others, even though they are called fallen ones according to the book of Genesis. And the Lord visits them, so that the memory of both the dead and the giants is completely wiped out. He alone is the one who raises the dead, of whom it is said: Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whomever he wishes (John 5:21). We can call the dead the images of dead men, and the giants demons, who sit upon their images. Nor should it frighten us why the Seventy translated it as "man," and the other interpreters translated it as "memory," since both are written in Hebrew with the same three letters: Zayin (ז), Khaf (כ), and Resh (ר). But when we say memoriale, it is read as Zachar; when we say masculum, it is read as Zochor. And they think that Saul was deceived by this ambiguity of the word when he fought against Amalech and killed all their males (I Reg. XV). For by the command of God to destroy all memory of Amalech under heaven, he, not so much by error as by the desire for plunder, interpreted males, ignorant of that of the Apostle: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked (Galat. VI, 7).

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Isaiah 26:14

For hence it is said by the prophet, “The dead shall not live; the giants shall not rise up again.” For whom does he call “the dead” except sinners, and whom does he designate “giants” except those who over and above take pride in sin. Now the former do “not live,” because by sinning they have forfeited the life of righteousness; these latter too “cannot rise up again” after death because after their transgression they are swollen with pride and do not have recourse to the remedies of penitence.

Source: MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 4:17.30

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:15

(Verse 15.) You have shown mercy to the nations, Lord, you have shown mercy to the nations. Have you been glorified? You have extended all the ends of the earth. LXX: Add evils to them, Lord, add evils to the glorious ones of the earth: you have made all the ends of the earth far away. The evils that the LXX placed second are not found in Hebrew; but because it had said above, Therefore you have brought and destroyed, and you have taken away all their males, following the same meaning, they added from their own, evils: so that those who are glorious on earth may be oppressed by double evils. Furthermore, according to the Hebrews, the meaning is very different and agrees with the previous discussion. The Lord had said, 'Let us have mercy on the wicked.' The prophet had responded, 'And where is your justice? Especially when you have done such great evils to your holy ones.' To which the Lord said, 'And they shall not see the glory of the Lord.' Again, the prophet said, 'Raise your hand to strike, and let them not see your glory, which they do not deserve to behold.' To which the Lord said, 'Let them see even more and be confounded.' Again the Prophet says: Lord, give us peace and possess us, who remember your name. But let the wicked and proud not live, nor rise again in glory, but crush their every memory. And it renders reasons why he desires them to perish. You have shown mercy to the nations, Lord, you have shown mercy to the nations, have you been glorified? And the meaning is: You have often shown mercy to the nations, that is, to the human race, and you have exercised incredible kindness towards them, have they recognized you? Have they not glorified your name? Have they not, on the contrary, distanced themselves far (or even further) from you? For security produces negligence, and negligence begets contempt.

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:16

(Verse 16.) Lord, in distress they sought you, in tribulation they murmured your teaching. LXX: Lord, in tribulation I remembered you, in small tribulation your teaching was to us. For being indulgent, you have often been despised and not glorified; but on the contrary, all have departed from your knowledge; therefore, Lord, strike them, so that in distress they may seek you, and in tribulation may your teaching be to them: when such a weight of affliction rests upon them that they dare not even cry out confidently, but silently devour their sorrow. According to the Septuagint, in times of tribulation, the Prophet of the Lord remembers what is said in the psalm: In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he answered me and set me free (Psalm 117:5). And in another place: In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me (Psalm 120:1). Therefore, the Apostle speaks: We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair (2 Corinthians 4:8). And in another place: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). But if a small tribulation teaches, corrects, and reproves, how much more a great one, when we are reminded of our condition and the power of God!

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:17-18

(Verse 17,18.) Just as she who conceives, when she approaches childbirth, cries out in her pain: so have we become because of your presence, Lord. We have conceived and, as it were, given birth, and brought forth the spirit. LXX: And as a woman in labor draws near to childbirth, in her pain she cries out: so have we become ÷ your beloved, because of your fear, Lord. In the womb we have received, and as if giving birth, we have brought forth the spirit of your salvation, which we have made upon the earth. Just as a woman approaching childbirth is compelled to cry out in pain: thus do we seek you in distress, and from the face of your dread we conceive, and labor, and bring forth, not fleshly children, but spirits: so that with our whole mind we may believe in you, whom we have not experienced through blessings, but through trials. This which the LXX added, thus have we become your beloved; for this reason others have turned away, thus have we become from your face, O Lord, a mark to be noted. However, we can receive the beloved of the Lord, Christ, because of whose fear we conceive, and bear, and bring forth, and make the spirit of salvation upon the earth. This can also be said by the apostolic man, when he instructs and imitates the peoples like the apostle Paul: My little children, whom I bear again until Christ be formed in you (Galatians IV, 19). Is there any doubt that the apostle Paul made the spirit of salvation upon the earth, who preached the Gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum (Romans XV), and like a wise architect, laid the foundation, outside of which no one can lay, which is Christ Jesus (I Corinthians III)? Therefore, whether we read it, O Lord, because of your fear, we received it in the womb; or according to the Hebrew, we conceived it from your face, O Lord, and received it in the womb; both pertain to the fact that we conceive the word of God from the fear and remembrance of the Lord, and our heart is illuminated, saying: The light of your face, O Lord, is signed upon us (Psalm 4:7). And show your face, and we shall be saved (Psalm 79:4).

We did not make greetings on earth, therefore the inhabitants of the world did not fall. LXX: We will not fall, but the inhabitants of the earth will fall. A different interpretation is necessary in order to have a different meaning. According to the Hebrew, it is said: Because we have not done anything worthy of your mercy, therefore the wicked have not fallen, but they still prevail and possess the land. However, the LXX asserts that by doing the work of the Holy Spirit of salvation on earth, the inhabitants of the earth will fall, though there is much diversity between the world, which is called in Hebrew 'Thebel' and in Greek 'οἰκουμένη', and the land. Therefore, those who have surrendered themselves to the inhabitation of the earth will fall, and those who have been firmly rooted in earthly works will fall. But those who sit in the world and rest in the Church, which is the dwelling place of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, will not fall.

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 390] Gregory of Nazianzus on Isaiah 26:18

Let us talk about how “mercy is put in the balance” as holy Isaiah declares, for goodness is not without discernment, as the first laborers in the vineyard fancied, because they could not perceive any distinction between those who were paid alike. And [let us talk about] how anger, which is called “the cup in the hand of the Lord” and “the cup of falling which is drained,” is in proportion to transgressions, even though he abates to all somewhat of what is their due and dilutes with compassion the unmixed draught of his wrath. For he inclines from severity to indulgence toward those who accept chastisement with fear and who after a slight affliction conceived and are in pain with conversion and bring forth the perfect spirit of salvation. But nevertheless he reserves the dregs, the last drop of his anger, that he may pour it out entire upon those who, instead of being healed by his kindness, grow obdurate, like the hard-hearted Pharaoh, that bitter taskmaster, who is set forth as an example of the power of God over the ungodly.

Source: ON HIS FATHER’S SILENCE, ORATION 16:4

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Isaiah 26:18

Nature provides woman with a womb in which a living person is brought to birth in the course of time. Such too is that characteristic of the soul which is ready to receive in its womblike recesses the seeds of our thoughts, to cherish them and to bring them forth as a woman gives birth to a child. This and no other is the meaning of the words of Isaiah: “We have conceived and brought forth the spirit of salvation.”

Source: CAIN AND ABEL 1:10.47

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Isaiah 26:18

Their cows did not miscarry, therefore, but gave birth, so that their labor would be increased and that they would beget everything they conceived without reverence for God. The righteous, however, take delight in an altogether different way. They glory not in the abundance of their wealth or the fruitfulness of their livestock but in the Lord, saying, “We were impregnated with reverence for you, and we brought forth the spirit of salvation.”

Source: THE PRAYER OF JOB AND DAVID 2:4.15

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Isaiah 26:18

Isaiah also, proclaiming the resurrection to the people, says that he is the announcer of the Lord’s message, for we read thus: “For the mouth of the Lord has spoken, and they shall speak in that day.” And what the mouth of the Lord declared that the people should say is set forth later on, where it is written: “Because of your fear, O Lord, we have been with child and have brought forth the Spirit of your salvation, which you have poured forth upon the earth. They that inhabit the earth shall fall; they shall rise that are in the graves. For the dew which is from you is health for them, but the land of the wicked shall perish. Go, O my people, and enter into your chambers; hide yourselves for a little until the Lord’s wrath pass by.”

Source: On the Death of Satyrus 2.67

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:18

We, however, who heard the Lord our Savior say that those in Judea should flee to the mountains also lift our own eyes to the mountains, concerning which it was written: “I raise my eyes to the mountains, whence comes my assistance.” And in another place [it is written], “Its foundation is in the holy mountains,” and “The Lord surrounds his people as the mountains surround them,” and “The city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden.” We must shed the skin of the letter and, ascending Mount Zion barefoot with Moses, say, “I will cross over and see this great vision.” [This is] so that we can understand those souls to be pregnant who conceived the beginning of faith from the seed of doctrine and from talking with God, who say with Isaiah, “Out of reverence for you, Lord, we have conceived and given birth, bringing the spirit of your salvation upon the earth.”

Source: LETTER 121.4

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:18

The souls of those believers are pregnant who are able to say at the beginning of faith: “From reverence for you, Lord, we have conceived and given birth.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON AMOS 1:1.4-5

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Isaiah 26:18

Even now let us rejoice somehow or other in this hope derived from the promises of one most faithful, until that richest of all possible joys arises, when “we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is,” and our joy nobody shall take from us. Of this hope, you see, we have also received already the acceptable and freely given pledge that is the Holy Spirit, who produces in our hearts the unutterable groanings of holy desire. “For we have conceived,” as Isaiah says, “and have brought forth the spirit of salvation.” And, “when a woman is in labor,” the Lord says, “she has sorrow, because her day has come; but when she has brought forth, there is great joy, because a human being has been born into the world.” This will be the joy that nobody will take away from us; on the day when we are brought forth into the eternal light from this conception of faith. So meanwhile let us fast and pray, while it is still the day of bringing forth.

Source: SERMON 210:7

[AD 533] Fulgentius of Ruspe on Isaiah 26:18

Therefore faith can neither be conceived nor augmented in the human heart unless it is infused and nourished by the Holy Spirit. For we are reborn from the same Spirit from which Christ was born. The Spirit by which Christ is formed according to faith in the heart of each believer, therefore, is also the Spirit by which he was formed bodily in the womb of the Virgin. For this reason, it is in the person of the believer that the prophet cries out to the Lord: “Out of reverence for you, Lord, we conceived in the womb and brought forth; we have brought the spirit of your salvation upon the earth.”

Source: LETTER 17:40

[AD 735] Bede on Isaiah 26:18

“When a woman gives birth, she is sorrowful because her hour has come.” He refers to holy church as a woman on account of her fruitfulness in good works and because she never ceases to beget spiritual children for God. He says also in another place about this, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until the whole [mass] was leavened.” A woman took some yeast when the church, by the Lord’s generosity, secured the energy of love and faith from on high. She hid this “in three measures of flour until the whole [mass] was leavened” when she performed her ministry of imparting the word of life to parts of Asia [Minor], Europe and Africa, until all the bounds of the world were on fire with love for the heavenly kingdom. The one who said sadly to those who were departing from the purity of the faith, “My little children, for whom I am again in travail, until Christ be formed in you,” was indicating that he was among this woman’s members. They testified that they were among her members who were enkindled with heavenly desires, who cried out in praise of their Maker, “It is out of fear of you, Lord, that we have conceived and been in travail and given birth to the Spirit.”

Source: Homilies on the Gospels 2:13

[AD 202] Irenaeus on Isaiah 26:19

Then too, Isaiah himself has plainly declared that there shall be joy of this nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says, “The dead shall rise again; those too who are in the tombs shall arise, and those who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew from you is health to them.”

Source: AGAINST HERESIES 5:34.1

[AD 220] Tertullian on Isaiah 26:19

Unquestionably, if the people were indulging in figurative murmurs that their bones were become dry and that their hope had perished—plaintive at the consequences of their dispersion—then God might fairly enough seem to have consoled their figurative despair with a figurative promise. Since, however, no injury had as yet alighted on the people from their dispersion, although the hope of the resurrection had very frequently failed among them, it is manifest that it was owing to the perishing condition of their bodies that their faith in the resurrection was shaken. God, therefore, was rebuilding the faith that the people were pulling down. But even if it were true that Israel was depressed at some shock in their existing circumstances, we must not on that account suppose that the purpose of revelation could have rested in a parable. Its aim must have been to testify a resurrection, in order to raise the nation’s hope to even an eternal salvation and an indispensable restoration and thereby turn off their minds from brooding over their present affairs. This indeed is the aim of other prophets likewise. “You shall go forth,” [says Malachi], “from your tombs, as young calves let loose from their bonds, and you shall tread down your enemies.” And again [Isaiah says], “Your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall spring up like the grass,” because the grass also is renewed by the dissolution and corruption of the seed. In a word, if it is contended that the figure of the rising bones refers properly to the state of Israel, why is the same hope announced to all nations, instead of being limited to Israel only, of reinvesting those bony remains with bodily substance and vital breath and of raising up their dead out of the grave? For the language is universal: “The dead shall arise and come forth from their graves; for the dew which comes from you is medicine to their bones.” In another passage it is written: “All flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord.” When? When the fashion of this world shall begin to pass away. For he said before, “As the new heaven and the new earth, which I make, remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your seed remain.” Then also shall be fulfilled what is written afterwards: “And they shall go forth” [namely, from their graves] “and shall see the carcasses of those who have transgressed: for their worm shall never die, nor shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh,” even to that which, being raised again from the dead and brought out from the grave, shall adore the Lord for his great grace.

Source: ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 31

[AD 386] Cyril of Jerusalem on Isaiah 26:19

Isaiah the prophet says, “The dead men shall rise again, and those who are in the tombs shall awake.” And the prophet Ezekiel, now before us, says most plainly, “Behold, I will open your graves and bring you up out of your graves.” And Daniel says, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame.”67And there are many Scriptures that testify of the resurrection of the dead. For there are many other sayings on this matter. But now, by way of remembrance only, we will make a passing mention of the raising of Lazarus on the fourth day and just allude, because of the shortness of the time, to the widow’s son also who was raised. And merely for the sake of reminding you, let me mention the ruler of the synagogue’s daughter, and the rending of the rocks, and how “there arose many bodies of the saints which slept,” their graves having been opened. But especially be it remembered that “Christ has been raised from the dead.”

Source: Catechetical Lecture 18:15-16

[AD 386] Cyril of Jerusalem on Isaiah 26:19

Do not listen to those who say that this body is not raised up; for raised it is, as Isaiah witnesses, saying, “The dead shall arise, and they in the tombs shall be raised.” Or, as Daniel says, “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame.” But while rising again is the common lot of all people, the manner of rising again is not alike for all. For while we all receive everlasting bodies, those bodies are not alike for all. That is to say, the righteous receive such bodies as may enable them to join with the band of angels throughout eternity, while sinners received bodies in which to undergo through the ages the torture of their sins.

Source: Catechetical Lecture 4:31

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Isaiah 26:19

Isaiah made it clear that Christ will raise up all people when he said, “The dead shall be raised up again; even those in the tombs shall be raised up. For the dew from you is healing for them.” That was not all. After his cross, after his slaughter, his glory will shine forth more brightly; after his resurrection, he will advance the message of his gospel still more.

Source: DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 8:8

[AD 414] Nicetas of Remesiana on Isaiah 26:19

To remove all doubt about the resurrection of the body, take a single illustration from the course of nature. The apostle reminds us, “What you yourself sow is not brought to life, unless it dies.” Here you have a grain of wheat, dead and dry and sown in the earth. It is softened by the rain from heaven. Only when it decays does it spring to life and begin to grow. I take it that he who raises to life the grain of wheat for the sake of humankind will be able to raise to life the person himself who has been sown in the earth. He both can and wills to do this. What the rains do for the seed, the dew of the Spirit does for the body that is to be raised to life. Thus Isaiah cries to Christ, “Your dew is health for them,” true health, since, once the bodies of the saints have been raised to life, they feel no pain, they fear no death. They will live with Christ in heaven, who lived on earth according to the words and ways of Christ. This is the eternal and blessed life in which you believe. This is the fruit of all our faith and holy works. This is the hope on account of which we are born, believe and are reborn. It was on account of this that the prophets, apostles and martyrs sustained such endless toil and accepted death with joy.

Source: EXPLANATION OF THE CREED 12

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:19

We should love the dew about which Moses said, “May my words descend as the dew,” and about which Isaiah also said, “The dead shall rise again, and all who were in the graves shall rise again, for the dew which is from you is their health.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 2:6.5

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:19

In the same way that the Lord becomes the light, the way, the truth, the bread, the vine, the fire, the shepherd, the lamb, the door, and many other things to believers, so also does he become the dew to us who are in need of his mercy and know ourselves to be feverish with sin, about whom Isaiah said, “The dew which is from you is their health.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 3:14.5-9

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:19

(Verse 19.) Let your dead live; let corpses arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to the shades. LXX: The dead will rise, and they will rise from the graves, and those who are on the earth will rejoice. For your dew is their healing, but the earth of the wicked will fall. To the holy ones who give birth and to those who bear the spirit, and to the inhabitants of the earth who fall down, because they have not done good deeds on earth, those whom the Apostle calls dead in Christ and who were killed for the name of the Lord, will rise in glory (I Thess. IV). And because their death is sleep, they are said not to rise again according to the LXX, but to wake up and awaken. Hence Lazarus, who was to be awakened, is called sleeping by the Lord (John 11). Therefore, all martyrs and holy men who have shed their blood for Christ, and whose whole life was a martyrdom, will rise again and wake up, and they will praise their Creator God, they who now dwell in dust, of whom it is written in Daniel: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will arise, these to eternal life, and those to reproach and everlasting shame (Dan. 12:1). And in the Gospel of John we read: The hour is coming, and now is, when those who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live, and those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28-29). For the dew of the Lord, surpassing all the herbs of Paeonia according to the fables of the Poets, will give life to the bodies of the dead. And just as the dew, when cast upon the earth, gradually causes the herbs to grow and bear fruit of their kind, so the dew of the Lord, which is placed for mercy, will be the dew of many lights, which in Hebrew is called Oroth. But the land, that is, the bodies of the Raphaim, namely the giants and the wicked, the Lord will condemn to eternal punishment. In fact, for the Raphaim alone, seventy wicked were transferred. And because we read above: The dead will not see life, nor will doctors raise them up, for which reason Aquila and Symmachus, interpreted Raphaim and giants, we inquire what the cause of the error is, that some have translated Raphaim as Hebrew, others as giants, and others as doctors. The Hebrew word Raphaim, if it has the letter Vau after the first letter, is read as Rophaim (alternatively spelled Rosim) and signifies doctors; but if it is written without the letter Vau, it is read as Raphaim and is translated as giants. Likewise, because he had said above that the dead shall not see life, to demonstrate more clearly that this is not said there of the dead according to the law of nature and the separation of soul and body, but of those who are dead in sin, now on the contrary he says to God: Your dead shall live, who have been killed for your sake, who are not absolutely dead, as the Septuagint translated, but according to the Hebrew [text] where it is said 'Jeju Metheca', they are called your dead.

Go, my people, enter your rooms, close your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath is past. For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain. For behold, the Lord will bring wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth, and the earth will reveal its blood, and the slain will no longer be hidden. He had said above concerning the holy ones, The dead will rise, and they who are in the graves will rise; for the dew of yours is their healing: and on the contrary, concerning the wicked, the earth of the wicked will fall; now He speaks to the holy ones, because resurrection has been promised to you, until the wrath of God rages against sinners and the wicked: enter into your graves, and hide yourselves, for a short time until the indignation of God passes through. For the Lord indeed goes out from His place, because the Lord is merciful and compassionate, and the most gentle Father is compelled to strike negligent children, and in a way to change His own decision, in order to visit and bring His anger upon the inhabitants of the earth, of whom it is said in Hosea: 'Cursing and lying, and adultery, and theft have spread over the inhabitants of the earth' (Hosea 4:2). And in the Book of Revelation, we read in chapter 8, 'Woe to the inhabitants of the earth' (Rev. 8:13). Moreover, the righteous, though they may appear on earth, their conversation is in heaven, as those who can say: I am a stranger in the land, and a sojourner like all my fathers (Ps. XXXVIII, 13), and they enjoy the dwelling of the Most High, of whom the holy one speaks: He who dwells in the help of the Most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven (Ps. XC, 1). Then the earth shall reveal its blood, of which God speaks to Cain: The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand (Gen. IV, 10, 11). This can also be understood about the Martyrs, who shed their blood for Christ, and under the altar of God cry out: How long, O Lord, will you not avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? (Rev. 6:10) Of whom Moses also says in the Song: The blood of His children will be avenged and He will take revenge, and will render vengeance to His enemies (Deut. 32:43). The earth, which received this blood, will reveal it, and will by no means cover the slain of the Lord; but it will bring them forth to public condemnation, those who killed the Martyrs. This is about the simple resurrection of the intellect. It is commanded, according to the Anagoge of the people of God, that one enters one's own chambers or cells, for ταμεῖα signifies both: that one closes the door of one's chamber according to the Gospel precept (Matthew VI), and says with the Prophet: Set, O Lord, a guard to my mouth, and a door of protection to my lips (Psalm CXL, 3). And let one hide for a little while, until the wrath of the Lord passes by, so as not to do anything for the sake of glory; but let one enjoy the good of conscience, and await only the judgment of God. But there are cellars that must be closed and hidden from those who have become rich in works and words, with prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice, so that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, so that we may enjoy the wealth of the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel. But since all the days of our life are short and small, Jacob, exceeding one hundred years, says: My days are short and evil (Genesis 47:9). But the anger of the Lord that will come is the anger of those who refuse to repent and store up for themselves; after it has passed, the storehouses will no longer be closed, but what is written will be fulfilled: Nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be made known (Luke 8:17). And what follows: Behold, the Lord will bring His anger from the holy place: this signifies that the anger of God begins with the holy ones, or that all His vengeance is just and holy, not stemming from a disturbance of the mind as is usual in humans, but from a desire to correct. But I think that land of inhabitants, of which it is written: Let the earth hear the words of my mouth (Deut. XXXII, 1). And: Hear, O earth, perceive with your ears (Isaiah, I, 2). And again: Earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord (Jeremiah, XXII, 27). For just as those who dwell on the earth cannot please God, so too those who are in the flesh cannot please Him (Rom. VIII). But in this place, the earth signifies the soul that lives in a carnal manner. And it will reveal its blood, if it scandalizes anyone, and it deserves to hear with Cain: The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the earth, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood (Gen. IV, 10, 11). Therefore, all blood will be required on the day of judgment, and the earth will not hide its blood; and it will present in the midst those who have been killed, whether intentionally or negligently.

Source: Commentary on Isaiah

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Isaiah 26:19

The first part [of the verse] concerns the resurrection of the just, but the last few words may be taken to mean “the bodies of the wicked will fall into the ruin of damnation.” In regard to the resurrection of the just, the attentive reader will notice some distinction. “The dead shall rise” refers to the first resurrection; “those in the graves” refers to the second; and in the following words we may not improperly find a reference to the saints whom the Lord will find alive on earth. As for the word “your dew is their health,” we are not wrong in taking “health” to mean “immortality,” that most perfect health which needs no daily medicine of ordinary food.

Source: City of God 20.21

[AD 450] Quodvultdeus on Isaiah 26:19

Of the fulfilled promise (both believed and seen) wherein the bodies of the saints rose again at the death of the Lord, the prophet Isaiah said, “The dead will rise again, and all who were in the graves will be raised up, and all who are on the earth shall rejoice, for the dew which is from you is their medicine.” Matthew the Evangelist confirms this, saying, “The earth shook and rocks were split and graves were opened and many bodies of the sleeping saints were raised. And going forth from their graves after his resurrection, they came to the holy city and appeared to many.”

Source: THE BOOK OF PROMISES AND PREDICTIONS OF GOD 3:29

[AD 500] Aponius on Isaiah 26:19

About this dew the prophet Isaiah proclaimed: “Your dew is their salvation,” or, according to the Hebrew text, “For your dew is the dew of light.” Here is clearly taught that the dew of which he speaks is the light of wisdom and the healing of souls, which is the doctrine of wisdom and truth, without which the soul is sickly and blind.

Source: EXPOSITION OF SONG OF SONGS 8:7

[AD 749] John Damascene on Isaiah 26:19

Sacred Scripture … testifies to the fact that there will be a resurrection of the body.… Isaiah also [testifies that] “the dead shall rise and those in their graves be awakened.” And it is obvious that it is not the souls that are put in the tombs but the bodies.

Source: ORTHODOX FAITH 4:27

[AD 99] Clement of Rome on Isaiah 26:20

All the generations from Adam to this day have passed away; but those who were made perfect in charity by the grace of God live among the saints; and they shall be made manifest at the judgment of the kingdom of Christ. For it is written, “Enter into your chamber a little while, until my wrath and anger pass, and I remember the good day and will raise you up out of your graves.”

Source: 1 CLEMENT 50

[AD 220] Tertullian on Isaiah 26:20

When we read, “Go, my people, enter into your closets for a little while, until my anger passes away,” we have in the closets graves, in which they will have to rest for a little while, who shall have at the end of the world departed this life in the last furious onset of the power of Antichrist. Why else did he use the expression closets in preference to some other receptacle, if it were not that the flesh is kept in these closets or cellars salted and reserved for use, to be drawn out thence on a suitable occasion? It is on a similar principle that embalmed corpses are set aside for burial in mausoleums and sepulchers, in order that they may be removed from there when the Master shall order it. Since, therefore, there is consistency in thus understanding the passage (for what refuge of little closets could possibly shelter us from the wrath of God?), it appears that by the very phrase which he uses, “until his anger passes away,” which shall extinguish Antichrist, he in fact shows that after that indignation the flesh will come forth from the sepulcher, in which it had been deposited previous to the bursting out of the anger. Now out of the closets nothing else is brought than that which had been put into them, and after the extirpation of Antichrist shall be busily transacted the great process of the resurrection.

Source: ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 27

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Isaiah 26:20

Therefore [Noah] constructs the ark and makes nests in it, that is, certain chambers in which animals of various kinds are received. The prophet also speaks of these chambers: “Go, my people, into your chambers, hide yourself a while until the fury of my anger pass away.” This people, therefore, which is saved in the church is compared with all those, whether men or animals, which are saved in the ark.

Source: HOMILIES ON GENESIS 2:3

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:20

“The hour will come in which all who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth.” They shall hear with ears and come forth with feet. This Lazarus had already done. They shall, moreover, come forth from the tombs; that is, they who had been laid in the tombs, the dead, shall come and shall rise again from their graves. For the dew that God gives is healing to their bones. Then shall be fulfilled what God says by the prophet, “Go, my people, into your closets for a little while, until mine anger pass.” The closets signify the graves, out of which is brought forth which had been laid therein. And they shall come out of the graves like young mules free from the halter. Their heart shall rejoice, and their bones shall rise like the sun; all flesh shall come into the presence of the Lord, and he shall command the fishes of the sea; and they shall give up the bones which they had eaten; and he shall bring joint to joint, and bone to bone;104 and they who slept in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to life eternal, others to shame and everlasting confusion.

Source: AGAINST JOHN OF JERUSALEM 33

[AD 420] Jerome on Isaiah 26:20

“The hairs of your head are numbered.” If the hairs, I suppose the teeth would be more easily numbered. But there is no object in numbering them if they are some day to perish. “The hour will come in which all who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth.” … Then shall be fulfilled what God says by the prophet, “Go, my people, into your closets for a little while, until my anger pass.” The closets signify the graves, out of which is brought forth which had been laid therein. And they shall come out of the graves like young mules free from the halter.

Source: AGAINST JOHN OF JERUSALEM 33

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Isaiah 26:20

Certainly there are two things that make us hope for the bliss of the just and the end of all suffering: death and the resurrection from the dead. In death is rest, as the prophet says, “My people, enter into your chambers, hide yourself a little until the indignation of the Lord pass away.” But in the resurrection there is perfect happiness in the whole person, that is, in flesh and spirit. Consequently we are not to think that both of these are to be marked by the labor of fasting but rather by the rejoicing of refreshment.

Source: LETTER 36