Isaiah 29:20

20 quoniam defecit qui praevalebat consummatus est inlusor et succisi sunt omnes qui vigilabant super iniquitatem

Isaiah 29:20 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 29:20

For the terrible one is brought to nought
Who before was so to the people of God; meaning not Sennacherib king of Assyria, but some formidable enemy or enemies under the Gospel dispensation; as the Scribes and Pharisees, and the Jewish sanhedrim; who were "violent" {c}, as it may be rendered, violent persecutors of the followers of Christ, the meek and poor before described; who were brought to nought, and their power ceased at the destruction of Jerusalem; and the Roman emperor, with all subordinate rulers and governors in the empire, who harassed the Christians in a terrible manner, but were at last brought to nought by Constantine, and their persecution ceased; and the Romish antichrist, who has been so terrible, that none could or dared oppose him; he in a little time will be brought to nought, and cease to be. The Septuagint version renders it, "the wicked one faileth"; and uses the same word F4, by which antichrist is described, ( 2 Thessalonians 2:8 ) also Satan, that terrible enemy of the saints, shall be brought to nought; first bound for a thousand years; and afterwards, being loosed, shall be taken again, and cast into the lake of fire; all which will be matter of joy to the meek and lowly:

and the scorner is consumed;
the same as before, only represented under a different character; the Jew, that mocked at Christ, because of his meanness, and that of his followers, that scoffed at his doctrines and miracles; and the Gentile, that derided his cross, and the preaching of it; and antichrist, whose mouth is full of blasphemies against God, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in it:

and all that watch for iniquity are cut off;
that cannot sleep unless they commit it, and seek for and take all opportunities of doing it; or watch for iniquity in others, in Christ, and the professors of his religion; or for anything they could call so, that they might have something to accuse them of, and charge them with, and a pretence to proceed against them in colour of law and justice: which has been the practice of Jews, Pagans, and Papists.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 (Uyre) "violentus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.
F4 (anomov)

Isaiah 29:20 In-Context

18 et audient in die illa surdi verba libri et de tenebris et caligine oculi caecorum videbunt
19 et addent mites in Domino laetitiam et pauperes homines in Sancto Israhel exultabunt
20 quoniam defecit qui praevalebat consummatus est inlusor et succisi sunt omnes qui vigilabant super iniquitatem
21 qui peccare faciebant homines in verbo et arguentem in porta subplantabant et declinaverunt frustra a iusto
22 propter hoc haec dicit Dominus ad domum Iacob qui redemit Abraham non modo confundetur Iacob nec modo vultus eius erubescet
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.