Isaiah 33:2

2 O Lord, be gracious to us; We have waited for You. Be their arm every morning, Our salvation also in the time of trouble.

Isaiah 33:2 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 33:2

O Lord, be gracious unto us
This is a prayer of the church under the persecutions of antichrist, imploring the grace and favour of God in their miserable and distressed circumstances; desiring his gracious help, assistance, and deliverance; pleading not any merits of their own, but casting themselves upon the mercy and kindness of God: we have waited for thee;
time after time, year after year, in the use of means; hoping for the manifestations of thyself, and kind appearance for us; expecting help and salvation, and still continue to wait, believing the time will come when favour will be shown: be thou their arm every morning;
when they pray unto thee, the morning being the time of prayer; and also be their arm all the day long, to lean and depend upon, to support, protect, and defend them; there is a change of person from the first to the third, usual in prophetic and poetic writings: some take them to be the words of the Old Testament church, praying for the New Testament church; and others a prayer of the church for her children and members. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "our arm"; and the Syriac version, "our helper"; and the Targum,

``our strength:''

some read the words in connection with the following clause, thus, "be thou", who wast "their arm every morning", referring to their forefathers, whose strength and support the Lord was, our salvation also in the time of trouble
^F19; the deliverer of us from the antichristian yoke of bondage, from all his persecutions and oppressions, from the last struggle of the beast, from that hour of trouble and temptation that shall come upon all the earth.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F19 So some in De Dieu.

Isaiah 33:2 In-Context

1 Woe to you who plunder, though you have not been plundered; And you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you! When you cease plundering, You will be plundered; When you make an end of dealing treacherously, They will deal treacherously with you.

2 O Lord, be gracious to us; We have waited for You. Be their arm every morning, Our salvation also in the time of trouble.

3 At the noise of the tumult the people shall flee; When You lift Yourself up, the nations shall be scattered;

4 And Your plunder shall be gathered Like the gathering of the caterpillar; As the running to and fro of locusts, He shall run upon them.

5 The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

Footnotes

• [a]. Septuagint omits their; Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate read our.