For I will restore health to thee
That is, bring thee into a comfortable and prosperous condition, both in church and state, with respect to things religions and civil: as the afflictions and distresses of the Jewish nation are expressed by sickness, wounds, and bruises; so their prosperity, both spiritual and temporal, is signified by health. The words may be rendered, "I will cause length to ascend unto thee"; or a long plaster F26; or rather, that which has been long looked for, and long in coming, prosperity; or else, that whereas they were before bowed down with afflictions and sorrows, now they should be as a man in an erect posture, that rises up in his full height and length, being in a robust and healthful state; and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord;
pardon their sins, remove their afflictions, and bring them into a comfortable situation, into a Gospel church state, and into their own land: because they called thee an outcast;
as the Jews now are, cast out of their own land, rejected from being the people of God; so they are reckoned by the nations among whom they are: [saying], this [is] Zion, whom no man seeketh after:
after their good, either temporal or spiritual; despised by most, pitied and prayed for by few; and fewer still they are that seek after, and are solicitous about, or take any methods, or make use of any means, for their conversion; but though man does not, God will, and his work will appear the more manifest.