Isaiah 42:22

22 But that people was ravished, and wasted; all they be the snare of young men, and be hid in the houses of prisons. They be made into raven, and none (there) is that delivereth; into ravishing, and none there is that saith, Yield thou. (But that people was robbed, and taken as prey; they all be ensnared, and be hid in prison houses. They be made into raven, or spoils, and there is no one who rescueth them; yea, into robbing, and there is no one who saith, Yield thou/Give thou them back!)

Isaiah 42:22 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 42:22

But this is a people robbed and spoiled
The Jewish people, who shut their eyes against the clear light of the Gospel, and turned a deaf ear to Christ, and to his ministers, rejected him, and persecuted them; these were robbed and plundered by the Roman soldiers of all their riches and treasures, when the city of Jerusalem was taken: they are all of them snared in holes;
such of them as escaped and hid themselves in holes, and caverns, and dens of the earth, were laid in wait for and taken, and dragged out, as beasts are taken in a pit, and with a snare. Josephus ^F2 says, some the Romans killed, some they carried captive, some they searched out lurking in holes underground, and, breaking up the ground, took them out and slew them: and they are hid in prison houses;
being taken by their enemies out of their holes, they were put in prisons, some of them, and there lay confined, out of which they could not deliver themselves: and they are for a prey, and none delivereth;
when they were taken by the Chaldeans, and became a prey to them, in a few years they had a deliverer, Cyrus, but now they have none: for a spoil, and none saith, restore;
there is none to be an advocate for them; no one that asks for their restoration; for almost seventeen hundred years ^F1 they have been in this condition, and yet none of the kings and princes of the earth have issued a proclamation for their return to their own land, as Cyrus did; and no one moves for it, either from among themselves or others.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Written about 1730 A. D. The Jews in 1948 once again became a nation. Editor.
F2 De Bello Jud. l. 7, c. 9. sect. 4.

Isaiah 42:22 In-Context

20 Whether thou that seest many things, shalt not keep (it in thy mind)? Whether thou that hast open ears, shalt not hear?

21 And the Lord would, that he should hallow it, and magnify the law, and enhance it. (And the Lord desired, that he would hallow the Law, and magnify it, and exalt it, or lift it up.)

22 But that people was ravished, and wasted; all they be the snare of young men, and be hid in the houses of prisons. They be made into raven, and none (there) is that delivereth; into ravishing, and none there is that saith, Yield thou. (But that people was robbed, and taken as prey; they all be ensnared, and be hid in prison houses. They be made into raven, or spoils, and there is no one who rescueth them; yea, into robbing, and there is no one who saith, Yield thou/Give thou them back!)

23 Who is among you, that heareth this, (that) perceiveth, and harkeneth (to) things to coming?

24 Who gave Jacob into ravishing, and Israel to destroyers? Whether not the Lord? He it is, against whom they sinned; and they would not go in his ways, and they heard not his law. (Who gave up Jacob for robbing, and Israel over to destroyers? Did not the Lord? It is he whom they sinned against; and they would not go in his ways, and they would not listen to his Law.)