Bible Commentaries

O LORD, thou ^a [art] my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful [things; thy] counsels of old [are] faithfulness [and] truth.

(a) Thus the prophet gives thanks to God because he will bring under subjection these nations by his corrections, and make them of his Church, who before were his enemies.

For thou hast made of a ^b city an heap; [of] a fortified city a ruin: a palace ^c of foreigners to be no city; it shall never be built.

(b) Not only of Jerusalem, but also of these other cities which have been your enemies.

(c) That is, a place where all vagabonds may live without danger and as it were at ease as in a palace.

Therefore shall the ^d strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.

(d) The arrogant and proud who before would not know you will by your corrections fear and glorify you.

For thou hast been a defence to the poor, a defence to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast ^e of the terrible ones [is] as a storm [against] the wall.

(e) The rage of the wicked is furious, till God breaks the force of it.

Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the ^f heat in a dry place; ^g [even] the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

(f) Meaning, that as the heat is abated by the rain, so shall God bring down the rage of the wicked.

(g) As a cloud shades from the heat of the sun, so God will assuage the rejoicing of the wicked against the godly.

And on this ^h mountain shall the LORD of hosts make to all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

(h) That is, in Zion, by which he means his Church, which would under Christ be assembled of the Jews and the Gentiles, and is here described under the figure of a costly banquet, as in (Matthew 22:2).

And he will destroy on this mountain ⁱ the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.

(i) Meaning, that ignorance and blindness, by which we are kept back from Christ.

He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will ^k wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he remove from all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken [it].

(k) He will take away all opportunity for sorrow and fill his with perfect joy, (Revelation 7:17) , (Revelation 21:4).

For on this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and ^l Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the ^m dunghill.

(l) By Moab are meant all the enemies of his Church.

(m) There were two cities by this name: one in Judah, (1 Chronicles 6:81) and another in the land of Moab, (Jeremiah 48:2) which seems to have been a plentiful place of corn, (Isaiah 36:17).