Isaiah 22:4

4 Therefore have I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me, for the devastation of the daughter of my people.

Isaiah 22:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 22:4

Therefore said I
Not God to the ministering angels, as Jarchi; but the prophet to those that were about him, his relations, friends, and acquaintance: look away from me;
turn away from me, look another way; cease from me, let me alone; leave me to myself, that I may weep in secret, take my fill of sorrow, and give full vent to it: I will weep bitterly;
or, "I will be bitter", or, "bitter myself in weeping" ^F14; it denotes the vehemence of his grief, the greatness of his sorrow, and the strength of his passion: labour not to comfort me;
make use of no arguments to persuade me to lay aside my mourning; do not be urgent and importunate with me to receive consolation, for my soul refuses to be comforted: because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people;
his countrymen, which were as dear to him as a daughter to a tender parent, now spoiled, plundered, and made desolate by the ravages of the enemy, in many cities of Judea.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (ykbb rrma) "amarificabo me in fletu", Montanus; "amaritudine afficiam me in isto fletu", Junius & Tremellius.

Isaiah 22:4 In-Context

2 Full of clamour, a populous city, a joyous city: thy slain are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle.

3 All the princes are fled together, and are bound hard: all that were found, are bound together, they are fled far off.

4 Therefore have I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me, for the devastation of the daughter of my people.

5 For it is a day of slaughter and of treading down, and of weeping to the Lord the God of hosts in the valley of vision, searching the wall, and magnificent upon the mountain.

6 And Elam took the quiver, the chariot of the horseman, and the shield was taken down from the wall.