11 Behold, Yahweh has proclaimed to the end of the earth, "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your salvation comes. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.'"
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Behold, Jehovah hath, proclaimed. He means that the Lord, by acting miraculously and beyond the judgment or expectation of the flesh, will cause all the nations to know that this is done by his command. It might be objected, How shall it be brought about that the peoples, who now make fierce resistance to God, shall become obedient to him? He assigns the reason, "Because the Lord will proclaim your return, so that they shall acknowledge that at his command you are restored." Say ye to the daughter of Zion. Undoubtedly this refers literally to the ministers of the word and to the prophets, whom the Lord invests with this office of promising deliverance and salvation to the Church. And hence we conclude that these promises are not merely limited to a single age, but must be extended to the end of the world; for, beginning at the return from Babylon into Judea, we must advance as far as the coming of Christ, by which this prophecy was at length accomplished, and redemption was brought to a conclusion; for the Savior came, when the grace of God was proclaimed by the Gospel. In a word, he foretells that the voice of God shall one day resound from the rising to the setting of the sun, and shall be heard, not by a single nation only, but by all nations. Behold, the Savior cometh. This is a word which, we know, belongs peculiarly to the Gospel; and therefore he bids the teachers of the Church encourage the hearts of believers, by confirmed expectation of the coming of the Lord, though he appeared to be at a great distance from his people. But this promise relates chiefly to the reign of Christ, by which these things were fully and perfectly accomplished; for he actually exhibited himself as the "Savior" of his Church, as we have seen before in the fortieth chapter. Behold, his reward is with him, and the effect of his work is before him. That they may no longer be distressed by any doubt, when God the Savior shall appear, he invests him with power, as in Isaiah 40:10; for he repeats the same words which we found in that passage. As if he had said, "As soon as it shall please God to display his hand, the effect will be rapid and sudden; for so long as he stops or delays, the judgment of the flesh pronounces him to be idle;" and we see how very many fanatics imagine some deity that has no existence, as if they were painting a dead image. Justly, therefore, does the Prophet declare that God's "work and reward are before him," that he may make it evident, whenever it shall be necessary, that he is the righteous Judge of the world.
Behold the Lord hath proclaimed - Proclamation is made to all nations that Yahweh is about to come and rescue his people.
Say ye to the daughter of Zion - To Jerusalem (see the notes at Isaiah 1:8).
Thy salvation cometh - Lowth renders this, 'Lo!, thy Saviour cometh.' So the Vulgate, the Septuagint, the Chaldee, and the Syriac. The Hebrew word properly means salvation, but the reference is to God as the Deliverer or Saviour. The immediate allusion is probably to the return from Babylon, but the remote and more important reference is to the coming of the Redeemer (see the notes at Isaiah 40:1-10).
Behold, his reward is with him - See these words explained in the notes at Isaiah 40:10.
Unto the end of the world - אל קצה הארץ el ketseh haarets - Instead of אל el, to, עד ad, Unto, is the reading of two of Kennicott's MSS.; and one of mine has מקצה mikketseh, "From the end of the earth."
Behold, thy salvation cometh "Lo, thy Savior cometh" - So all the ancient Versions render the word ישעך yishech.
Behold, his reward - See note on Isaiah 40:10, Isaiah 40:11. This reward he carries as it were in his hand. His work is before him - he perfectly knows what is to be done; and is perfectly able to do it. He will do what God should do, and what man cannot do; and men should be workers with him. Let no man fear that the promise shall not be fulfilled on account of its difficulty, its greatness, the hinderances in the way, or the unworthiness of the person to whom it is made. It is God's work; he is able to do it, and as willing as he is able.
Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed to the end of the world, (m) Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward [is] with him, and (n) his work before him.
(m) You prophets and ministers show the people of this their deliverance: which was chiefly meant of our salvation by Christ, (Zac 9:9; Matthew 21:5).
(n) He will have all power to bring his purpose to pass, as in (Isaiah 40:10).
Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world,.... This is not to be interpreted of the proclamation by Cyrus, giving liberty to the people of the Jews to return to their own land, for that did not reach to the end of the world; but of the proclamation of the Gospel, which, as when first published, the sound of it went into all the earth, and the words of it to the ends of the world, Romans 10:18. So it will be in the latter day, when it shall be preached to all nations, from one end of the world to the other, Revelation 14:6,
Say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh; or "thy Saviour" (l), or "thy Redeemer", as the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; and which is to be understood not of his first coming, or of his incarnation, though that is sometimes foretold in much such language, Zac 9:9 and the same things are said of him with respect to that, as follows: "behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him"; See Gill on Isaiah 40:10, but of his spiritual coming, of which notice is given to the church, the congregation of Zion, as the Targum renders it: who will come in a spiritual manner, and do a great work in the world; destroy antichrist; convert Jews and Gentiles; take to himself his great power and reign; and give a reward to his servants the prophets, his saints, and them that fear his name, 2-Thessalonians 2:8. The Targum is,
"behold, a reward to them that do his word is with him, and all their works are manifest before him.''
The word behold is three times used in this verse, to raise attention to what is said, and as pointing out something wonderful, and to express the certainty of it.
(l) "tuus Salvator", V. L. Munster, Tigurine version.
salvation--embodied in the Saviour (see Zac 9:9).
his work--rather, recompense (Isaiah 40:10).
Zion - To Jerusalem, or the church. Thy salvation - Thy saviour. Reward - The reward due to the work.
*More commentary available at chapter level.