Isaiah 33:2

2 Lord, have thou mercy on us, for we abided thee; be thou our arm in the morrowtide, and our health in the time of tribulation. (Lord, have thou mercy on us, for we have waited for thee; be thou our protection in the morning, and our deliverance, or our salvation, in the time of tribulation.)

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 So some in De Dieu.

Isaiah 33:2 In-Context

1 Woe to thee, that robbest; whether and thou shalt not be robbed? and that despisest, whether and thou shalt not be despised? (Woe to thee, who robbest; shalt thou not be robbed? and who despisest, shalt thou not be despised?) When thou hast ended robbing, thou shalt be robbed; and when thou made weary ceasest to despise, thou shalt be despised.

2 Lord, have thou mercy on us, for we abided thee; be thou our arm in the morrowtide, and our health in the time of tribulation. (Lord, have thou mercy on us, for we have waited for thee; be thou our protection in the morning, and our deliverance, or our salvation, in the time of tribulation.)

3 Peoples fled from the voice of the angel; heathen men be scattered of thine enhancing. (The peoples shall flee from the roar of thy thunder; the heathen shall be scattered at thy exalting, or at thy lifting up.)

4 And your spoils shall be gathered together, as a bruchus, that is, (the) fruit of locusts, is gathered together, as when ditches be full thereof. (And their spoils shall be gathered up, like the gathering of the bruchi, that is, the fruit of the locusts, when the ditches be full of them.)

5 The Lord is magnified, for he dwelled on high, he filled Zion with doom and rightfulness (he filled Zion with justice, or judgement, and righteousness).