Isaiah 51:15

15 For I am the Lord your God, who makes the sea calm when its waves are thundering: the Lord of armies is his name.

Isaiah 51:15 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 51:15

But I am the Lord thy God that divided the sea, whose waves
roared
Referring to the dividing of the Red sea by a violent wind, at which time the waves of it doubtless roared till they were made to stand quietly, as a wall on the right and left, for the Israelites to pass through, as in ( Isaiah 51:10 ) . Or this is to be understood of the power of God at any time in stilling and quieting the sea when it rages; which signification the word ^F19 here used has, as Aben Ezra observes; which power is expressed by a rebuke or reproof of it. And so the Targum,

``I am the Lord thy God, that rebuketh the sea:''

and in like manner the Syriac version; see ( Psalms 106:9 ) ( Isaiah 50:2 ) with which compare ( Matthew 8:26 ) . Now he that can do, and oftentimes has done this, can rebuke, restrain, and still the fury of the oppressors, the rage of the persecutors, Rome Pagan or Papal, and deliver out of their hands, ( Psalms 65:7 ) : the Lord of hosts is his name:
the Lord of armies in heaven and earth, and therefore is able to do these things in a natural, civil, and religious sense.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (egr) "qui tranquillat" Gakater; "faciens quiescere", so some in Vitringa; and the word has the signification of rest and quietness in ver 4.

Isaiah 51:15 In-Context

13 And you have given no thought to the Lord your Maker, by whom the heavens were stretched out, and the earth placed on its base; and you went all day in fear of the wrath of the cruel one, when he was making ready for your destruction. And where is the wrath of the cruel one?

14 The prisoner, bent under his chain, will quickly be made free, and will not go down into the underworld, and his bread will not come to an end.

15 For I am the Lord your God, who makes the sea calm when its waves are thundering: the Lord of armies is his name.

16 And I have put my words in your mouth, covering you with the shade of my hand, stretching out the heavens, and placing the earth on its base, and saying to Zion, You are my people.

17 Awake! awake! up! O Jerusalem, you who have taken from the Lord's hand the cup of his wrath; tasting in full measure the wine which overcomes.