That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

That say: Let him make haste, and let his work come quickly, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it.

who say, Let him hasten, let him speed his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

Who are saying, 'Let Him hurry, Let Him hasten His work, that we may see, And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel Draw near and come, and we know.'

Who say, Let him do his work quickly, let him make it sudden, so that we may see it: let the design of the Holy One of Israel come near, so that it may be clear to us.

and who say: "Let him hurry, and let his work arrive soon, so that we may see it. And let the plan of the Holy One of Israel approach and arrive, so that we may know it."

Qui dicunt, Acceleret, festinet opus ejus, et videamus; appropinquet ac veniat consilium Sancti Israel, ut sciamus.

Who say, Let him make speed. He specifies one class of sins, by means of which he shows that they draw sins as by ropes. When men not only lay aside all thought of the Divine judgment, but despise and treat as fabulous all that is said about it, nothing can be worse than this. He intended to say that the utmost contempt is manifested when men, to whom the judgment of God has been declared, say that it would give them joy to see it, and treat it with ridicule as a silly alarm; which is denoted by these words full of contempt and of wicked confidence: Let him come, let him make speed. Work, is here put, by way of eminence, (kat exochen,) for judgment; for God appears to be doing nothing when he does not punish the crimes of the ungodly; but when he rises up to execute judgment, and inflicts punishment, his work is then seen, and becomes visible (as is commonly said) by action; because from the very fact we learn that the world is governed by his authority and power. Work, therefore, is taken specially for judgment; because by means of it we see that God is by no means unemployed, but performs his office. Now, ungodly men speak of him with reproach and contempt, and at this very day we have abundant instances of such wickedness and rebellion; and the same war which was formerly waged by the prophets is that which we also are called to maintain. The ungodly think that God does nothing, and cares not about the affairs of men; as Epicurus thought that God's highest happiness consisted in his being free from all occupation. Though they imagine that there is some God, yet they do not at all acknowledge his judgment; and in the meantime they bid themselves be of good cheer, and resolve that they will not wear themselves out by such thoughts. "Let these prophets and ministers cry, and bawl, and hold out terrors and threatenings; we will wait without any concern for what they tell us, and in the meantime we will enjoy our mirth." In this way the Prophet relates the speeches of the ungodly, by which they expressed ridicule and contempt of the word. Not only do they say, Let his work come, but, Let him hasten, Let him make speed; for when he delays, they conclude that everything which God does not execute as soon as he has spoken it is idle talk. Thus Peter represents the ungodly as saying, "Since the world was created, the course of nature has been uniform; and, therefore, after so many ages, it is idle to expect a day of judgment." (2-Peter 3:4.) In the meantime, they purposely, as it were, provoke God to exert his power immediately, if he has any. Let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come. To work is added counsel, as if they had said, "Why does God deliberate so long, or say what he intends to do? Let him rather show that what he has decreed is accomplished." It is a great aggravation of their crime, that they wickedly dared to set aside the doctrine which was well known to them. They were more wicked than the heathen Gentiles in this respect, that they despised the doctrine by which he had adopted them to be his peculiar people. That we may see it. These are proofs of infidelity; for ungodly men will not acknowledge God, unless they have immediate evidence of his presence, and they refuse to believe his words. Now, if the Holy Spirit, by means of this mark, holds up ungodly men to detestation, we ought to testify our faith and piety by the opposite sign, that is, by relying on the word of God, though the effect does not immediately appear; for it is the peculiar excellence of faith to hold us dependent on the mouth of God. True, we next derive confirmation from works, but we must not begin at them; for this is the distinction between the elect and the reprobate, that the elect simply rely on the word, but do not disregard works, while ungodly men scorn and disdain the word, though God speak a hundred times; and yet they continually and eagerly call upon him for works. And when the judgment of God is declared, they say, "Where is it?" They cannot endure the mention of it, unless it be immediately made known by action. When men are so immoderate, it follows that they have no faith, but rather obstinate rebelliousness, Which more and more withdraws and estranges man from God.

That say - They add one sin to another for "the purpose of defying" God, and provoking him to anger. They pretend that he will not punish sin; and hence, they plunge deeply into it, and defy him to punish them.
Let him make speed - Let him come quick to punish.
And hasten his work - His punishment.
That we may see it - An expression of defiance. We would like to see him undertake it.
The counsel of the Holy One - His threatened purpose to punish. This is the language of all sinners. They plunge deep into sin; they mock at the threatenings of God; they defy him to do his utmost; they do not believe his declarations. It is difficult to conceive more dreadful and high-handed iniquity than this.

Let the counsel of the Holy One - Tryphiodorus has an expression something like this: -
- επει Διος ηλυθε βουλη.
Tryph. Il Excid. 239.
Because the counsel of Jupiter was come.
"This expression, ηλυθε βουλη, is, I believe, something uncommon; but it is exactly paralleled and explained by a passage in Isaiah, Isaiah 5:19. The Septuagint has expressed it in the very same words with Tryphiodorus: και ελθοι ἡ βουλ η του ἁγιου Ισραηλ, ἱνα γνωμεν." - Merrick's note, ad loc.

That say, (z) Let him make speed, [and] hasten his work, that we may see [it]: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know [it]!
(z) He shows what are the words of the wicked, when they are menaced by God's judgments, (2-Peter 3:4).

That say, let him make speed, and hasten his work,.... Either the punishment of their sins, threatened by the prophets; which, because not speedily and immediately executed, therefore they did not believe it ever would; and in a daring and insolent manner call upon God to inflict it:
that we may see it, or feel it; for, as for words or threatenings, they regarded them not; thus deriding God and his judgments, and disbelieving both, like the mockers in the last days, described in 2-Peter 3:3 and, in contempt of him, do not so much as mention his name; though the Syriac version expresses the word "Lord", and the Arabic version "God": or rather the great work of redemption and salvation by the Messiah; for, as they did not believe Jesus to be the Messiah, so they ridiculed and despised salvation by him, mocking him as a Saviour, and calling upon him, in a sarcastic way, to hasten and do his work he pretended to come about; see Matthew 27:42 for to the Jews in Christ's time this prophecy belongs. The Targum interprets it, "his miracle"; the Jews were always for signs and miracles; they sought them of Jesus of Nazareth; they urged the doing of them; they were very solicitous and importunate, and in haste to have them done, that they might see and believe, as they pretended; and expressed themselves in almost the same words as here; "what sign shewest thou then, that we may see and believe thee? what dost thou work?" John 6:30 this is an instance of their drawing iniquity and sin in the manner before complained of:
and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it! not that they believed him to be the Holy One of Israel, but because the prophet had made mention of this title, Isaiah 1:4 as he often does in this prophecy afterwards, and applies it to the Redeemer; therefore they use it: so the Jews put an "if" upon Christ being the King of Israel, Matthew 27:42 wherefore, in a daring, jeering, and ironic manner, urge that what is said to be in the purposes and decrees of God, or what was agreed upon between him and the Messiah, who said he was the son of God, in the council and covenant of grace and peace, as pretended, might speedily come to pass; all which expresses their blasphemy, impiety, and unbelief; and shows that they did not believe, but derided any counsel or decree of God, respecting spiritual and eternal salvation by the Messiah, especially by Jesus of Nazareth: or the conversion of the Gentiles, or the spread of the Gospel, and the enlargement of the kingdom and interest of Christ in the world, are meant, Kimchi, on the text, owns that these words belong to the Jews in the present day, and makes this confession,
"it appears that our prophets said the truth for now we believe not.''

work--vengeance (Isaiah 5:12). Language of defiance to God. So Lamech's boast of impunity (Genesis 4:23-24; compare Jeremiah 17:15; 2-Peter 3:3-4).
counsel--God's threatened purpose to punish.

Isaiah 5:19 shows very clearly that the prophet referred to the free-thinkers of his time, the persons who are called fools (nabal) and scorners (lētz) in the Psalm and Proverbs. "Who say, Let Him hasten, accelerate His work, that we may see; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may experience it." They doubted whether the day of Jehovah would ever come (Ezekiel 12:22; Jeremiah 5:12-13), and went so far in their unbelief as to call out for what they could not and would not believe, and desired it to come that they might see it with their own eyes and experience it for themselves (Jeremiah 17:15; it is different in Amos 5:18 and Malachi 2:17-3:1, where this desire does not arise from scorn and defiance, but from impatience and weakness of faith). As the two verbs denoting haste are used both transitively and intransitively (vid., Judges 20:37, to hasten or make haste), we might render the passage "let His work make haste," as Hitzig, Ewald, Umbreit, and Drechsler do; but we prefer the rendering adopted by Gesenius, Caspari, and Knobel, on the basis of Isaiah 60:22, and take the verb as transitive, and Jehovah as the subject. The forms yâchishâh and taboâh are, with Psalm 20:4 and Job 11:17, probably the only examples of the expression of a wish in the third person, strengthened by the âh, which indicates a summons or appeal; for Ezekiel 23:20, which Gesenius cites (48, 3), and Job 22:21, to which Knobel refers, have no connection with this, as in both passages the âh is the feminine termination, and not hortative (vid., Comm. on Job, at Job 11:17, note, and at Job 22:21). The fact that the free-thinkers called God "the Holy One of Israel," whereas they scoffed at His intended final and practical attestation of Himself as the Holy One, may be explained from Isaiah 30:11 : they took this name of God from the lips of the prophet himself, so that their scorn affected both God and His prophet at the same time.

Let him - God, in whose name thou and other prophets are always threatening us. This was the plain language of their actions; they lived as if they were of this opinion. The Holy One - They scornfully repeated the title usually given by the prophets to God.