Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 24:15

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 24:15. In the isles of the sea - "In the distant coasts of the sea."] For בארים beurim, in the valleys, I suppose we ought to read באיים beiyim, in the isles, which is in a great degree justified by the repetition of the word in the next member of the sentence, with the addition of הים haiyam, the sea, to vary the phrase, exactly in the manner of the prophet. איים iyim is a word chiefly applied to any distant countries, especially those lying on the Mediterranean Sea. Others conjecture ביארים biorim, בהרים beharim, באמים beummim, בעמים beammim, בחורים bechorim, באורים beurim, a באר bar, illustrate - Le Clerc. Twenty-three MSS. of Kennicott's, many of De Rossi's, and some of my own, read באורים beorim, in the valleys. The Septuagint do not acknowledge the reading of the text, expressing here only the word איים iyim, εν ταις νησοις, in the islands, and that not repeated. But MSS. Pachom. and I. D. II. supply in this place the defect in the other copies of the Septuagint thus,

Δια τουτο ἡ δοξα Κυριου εσται εν ταις νησοις της θαλασσης· εν ταις νησοις το ονομα του Κυριου Θεου Ισραηλ ενδοξον εσται·

"Therefore the glory of the Lord shall be in the isles of the sea: in the islands shall the name of the Lord God of Israel be glorified."

Kimchi says, that by באורים beurim, in the valleys, is meant the cities, because they were generally built in valleys. The Vulgate has in doctrinis, and so my old MS., in techingis. Coverdale translates, Praise the name of the Lord God of Israel in the valleys and in the floodis. It should not be rendered in the fires; none of the ancient Versions understood it thus. According to which the Septuagint had in their Hebrew copy באיים beiyim, repeated afterwards, not בארים beurim.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

24:1-27:13 FINAL JUDGMENT AND SALVATION

The judgment of various contemporary nations leads the prophet to consider God’s final great judgment on the world. Naturally, his illustrations are taken from the world that he knew, and the nations he mentions are those of his time, but the principles of judgment and salvation that he presents are those of the unchangeable God. They will find their fullest expression in God’s mighty triumph at the end of the world’s history.

Some will mourn, others rejoice (24:1-25:12)

When God judges sinners, he will make no distinctions on the basis of status or class. All who have rebelled against God and ignored his law will be punished (24:1-5). There will be few survivors (6). In a world where people previously lived mainly to enjoy themselves, the most noticeable feature will be an absence of joy and merriment (7-11). The only ones spared in the widespread judgment will be the few who have remained faithful to God. These are compared to the odd grapes left here and there after harvest (12-13).
This remnant then praises God for his salvation. The prophet finds it difficult to share their joyous feelings, for he thinks of the sinful people around him and foresees their terrible punishment (14-16). There will be no way of escape when that day of judgment comes. The world will stagger and fall under the weight of its sins (17-20).
High rank will not save those who have rebelled against God. The rulers of nations will be thrown together like prisoners locked in a crowded dungeon as they await their final punishment (21-22). After all the sinners are removed, God will reign in glory so dazzling that even the sun and moon will appear dark by comparison (23).
At this reminder of the final triumph and glory of God, the prophet breaks forth in a song of praise to him whose victory has been planned from the beginning. When people see God destroy the things they have proudly built, they will turn and praise him (25:1-3). He will give relief to those who are oppressed and will silence the boastful oppressors (4-5).
God will celebrate his victory with a great feast, and introduce an era of joy where all signs of mourning are removed and the possibility of death is gone for ever (6-8). God’s people rejoice in his salvation (9), but his enemies suffer humiliating destruction. Their boasting cannot save them, and all their clever achievements finish in ruin (10-12).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"These shall lift up their voice, they shall shout; for the majesty of Jehovah they cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye Jehovah in the east, even the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the isles of the sea. From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs: Glory to the righteous."

Here is a classic example of a pattern found over and over again in the prophecies, especially in Revelation. Right in the midst of the most terrible prophecy, there suddenly appears a kind of prolepsis, a looking away from the trials of the wicked, and a focus upon the saints singing in heaven, or upon the joyful happiness of the "righteous remnant." So it is here. The joy and praise represented here, according to Dummelow, belong to "The righteous remnant described figuratively in Isaiah 24:13."J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 433.

The latter half of Isaiah 24:16 actually belongs in a separate paragraph, but we shall notice it here.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Wherefore glorify ye the Lord - The prophet, in this verse, calls upon the people to join in the praise of Yahweh wherever they are scattered. In the previous verse he describes the scattered few who were left in the land, or who had escaped to the adjacent islands in the sea, as celebrating the praises of God where they were. In this verse he calls on all to join in this wherever they were scattered.

In the fires - Margin, ‘Valleys.’ The Septuagint reads, Ἐν τοῖς νήσοις En tois nēsois - ‘In the islands.’ The Chaldee, ‘Therefore, when light shall come to the just, they shall glorify the Lord.’ Lowth supposes that the word: בארים bâ'uriym should have been באיים bâ'iyiym, ‘in the islands,’ or ‘coasts.’ But the MSS. do not give authority for this reading; the only authority which Lowth refers to being that of the Septuagint. Other conjectures have been made by others, but all without any authority from MSS. The Hebrew world in the plural form does not occur elsewhere in the Scriptures. The proper signification of the word אור 'ôr is light, and it is applied

(a) to daylight, or daybreak, 1 Samuel 14:36; Nehemiah 8:3;

(b) to light from daybreak to mid-day, Job 24:14;

(c) the sun, Job 31:26; Job 37:21;

(d) light as the emblem of happiness;

(e) light as the emblem of knowledge is also used to denote fire, Ezekiel 5:2; Isaiah 44:16; Isaiah 47:14,

In the plural form it is applied, in connection with the word “Thummim,” to the gems or images which were on the breastplate of the high priest, and from which responses were obtained. Exodus 28:30 : ‘And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim (האוּרים hâ'ûriym) and the Thummim’ (compare Leviticus 8:8; Ezra 2:63). Probably it was thus used to denote the splendor or beauty of the gems there set, or perhaps the light or instruction which was the result of consulting the oracle. The proper meaning of the word is, however, light, and it usually and naturally suggests the idea of the morning light, the aurora; perhaps, also, the northern light, or the aurora borealis. It in no instance means caves, or valleys. Vitringa supposed it referred to caves, and that the address was to the “Troglodytes,” or those who had been driven from their homes, and compelled to take up their residence in caves. The word probably refers either to the regions of the morning light, the rising of the sun; or of the northern light, the aurora borealis; and in either case, the reference is doubtless to those who would be carried away to Babylon, and who were called on there by the prophet to glorify God. ‘In those regions of light, where the morning dawns; or where the northern skies are illuminated at night, there glorify God’ (see the note at Isaiah 14:13). The reasons for this opinion are,

(1) That such is the natural and proper sense of the word. It properly refers to light, and not to caves, to valleys, or to islands.

(2) The parallelism, the construction, demands such an interpretation.

It would then be equivalent to calling on the scattered people to glorify God in the East, and in the West; in the regions of the rising sun and in the coasts of the sea; or wherever they were scattered. And the sense is,

(1) that they should be encouraged to do this by the prospect of a return;

(2) that it was their duty still to do this wherever they were; and

(3) that the worship of the true God would be in fact continued and celebrated, though his people were scattered, and driven to distant lands.

In the isle of the sea - The coasts and islands of the Mediterranean Isaiah 24:14)

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

15.Wherefore glorify Jehovah in the valleys. ⁽¹²⁷⁾ God’s benefits ought to excite us to gratitude, and we testify it by singing his praises. “What return shall we make,” as David says, “for all the benefits which he has bestowed on us, but to take the cup of thanksgiving for salvation, and call on the name of the Lord?” The Prophet therefore observes this order; having spoken of the restoration of the Church, he exhorts us to offer the sacrifice of praise.

By the valleys, he means countries that are hidden and, as it were, separated from others; for those which are surrounded by mountains are separated and disjoined by nature. The consequence is, that the inhabitants of valleys are less civilized, because they have fewer opportunities of conversing with each other. The meaning is the same as if the Prophet had said, that there will not be a corner so obscure or retired that the praises of God shall not be heard in it.

The name of Jehovah the God of Israel. He uses the expression, “the name of the God of Israel,” in order to intimate that all nations will call upon the true God; for, as all nations have a knowledge of God that is natural to them, so all easily turn aside to superstition and false worship. (Romans 1:19.) But here he speaks of spreading the true religion through the whole world; and this makes it still more evident that the prophecy relates to the kingdom of Christ, under which true religion has at length penetrated into foreign and heathen nations.

(127) Bogus footnote

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 24

Now as we get into chapter 24, we get into, really, things that the earth will be facing very soon, because we get into things that will be happening during the Great Tribulation as the Lord is preparing the earth for the return of Jesus Christ. Purging the earth before the return in His second coming.

Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty, he makes it waste, and turns it upside down, and scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof ( Isaiah 24:1 ).

Now this sounds like it could refer to a polar axis flip. "He turneth it upside down." There are some physicists who speak of a polar axis flip. By studying the ions in iron ore, because the positive poles are in the wrong direction they theorized that at one time the magnetic poles were different than what they are today, and that there has actually been a polar shift. And you can get quite a bit of material in the various papers and all that were done by the physicists who have made a study of this ion in, the ionic structures really, and the changes that have taken place through periods of time.

In the book Worlds in Collision by Immanuel Velikovsky, it is his premise in the book that the planet Venus was introduced into our solar system during the time of recorded history. That it actually was a comet that came into our solar system, made a close pass to the earth during the time of the plagues upon Egypt. And he attributes many of these plagues to this Venus being introduced. In fact, the pillar of fire he theorizes was actually this comet, the planet Venus. And that it moved out, but yet came back in at the time of Joshua's long day when the earth stood still. And that the earth stood still as the result of this close pass of this comet Venus. It came so close that a gigantic electrical spark came between the earth and Venus that stopped the earth. And when the earth began its rotation again, it began to rotate in the opposite direction. That before the earth was actually rotating from west to east, but after this close pass...

And he gives some records out of Babylonian astronomy charts showing where in the older charts the planet Venus doesn't exist. And yet it's one of the brightest planets in the sky. And he gives all kinds. It's a fascinating book. It's created quite a furor in the scientific circles, but it would seem that more and more they are beginning to accept some of the theories at least that he presents in this book Worlds in Collision. If you like just good interesting reading of someone who brings up a lot of interesting things that he is seeking to make points off of. I found the book very fascinating. That with Ages in Chaos and then his latest book Earths in Upheaval. But the basic premise is that the planet Venus was then locked into a solar orbit and became a part of our solar system. But it happened during the period of history.

And he... I like the book because he proves that the long day of Joshua did exist. If it was a long night, or long evening, afternoon over there, then it would have been a long night over here. So he goes into the Inca records and finds a long night recorded in the Inca records. And all the way around he follows the whole thing around the earth and the Chinese records, and the Indian records, in the islands, some of the records. And he follows this thing all around the world and correlates. It would be a long morning here. It would be a long afternoon. It would be a long evening. Long night and so forth. And he correlates these things in the histories and the records of ancient men. And really confirming the fact that that long day did take place. The rest of the world didn't understand why, only Joshua and his men really knew why the sun stood still. It was to give them a chance to totally wipe out their enemy. But it was, he really, of course, when the long night took or when the long afternoon took place, it said that God began to throw rocks at their enemy and more were destroyed by the rocks.

And he believes that these were the debris from the tale of this comet Venus that just pelted the enemies of Joshua. Of course, that's man trying to look at it from a natural standpoint and explain things from a natural standpoint, because it would be sort of difficult to explain why the rocks only hit the enemy instead of Joshua's troops, too, you see.

But it is interesting, fascinating. I enjoyed reading it. It's a lot of original type of thinking and I just like original thinking. So the Lord speaks here about He's going to turn the world upside down. "Scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof." Velikovsky believes that it caused a polar shift at that time and that it's going to happen again.

And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied ( Isaiah 24:2-3 ),

In other words, it's going to come on everybody. Nobody's going to escape it; rich or poor are going to be affected alike. "The land shall be utterly emptied."

and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word ( Isaiah 24:3 ).

And, of course, this will take place during this Great Tribulation period, where not only will men through wars be devastating the earth, but there will also be corresponding cataclysmic events being sent from God that are just going to devastate the planet Earth. Be no time to be here, I'll tell you.

The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left ( Isaiah 24:4-6 ).

Very few will actually make it through the entire Great Tribulation period. Very few will come out on the other side.

The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceases, and the noise of them that rejoice ends, and the joy of the harp ceases. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down: and every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. And the city is left desolate, and the gate is smitten with destruction. When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the coasts of the sea. From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. For fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the eaRuth ( Isaiah 24:7-17 ).

"Fear, the pit and the snare." Now we are told that the antichrist, the beast "that thou sawest who was and is not shall ascend out of the pit, out of the abusso." So it's talking about the time during the reign of the antichrist, a reign of tyranny and fear. And Jesus speaks about the days of the Great Tribulation as being a snare. Jesus said that you should beware of gluttony, of drunkenness and the cares of this world. For they shall be as a snare upon the inhabitants of the earth in that time. So the Great Tribulation period.

And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake ( Isaiah 24:18 ).

It's going to be a tremendous cataclysmic, wild time upon the earth. They are saying more and more, I've heard it several times this week. Of course, because this week was the celebration, if you can call it that, of the earthquake that shook San Francisco seventy-five years ago. So this is the seventy-fifth year from the quake in San Francisco, 1906. And they had celebrations and so forth. They estimate that the quake that devastated San Francisco was about an 8.3 on the Richter scale. They didn't have Richter scales in those days so they estimated the earthquake to be about that intensity and all of the scientists said, "And we are expecting another earthquake to shake this area and it's overdue and it's coming very soon and we're sure that another one is coming soon and it will probably be about the same intensity."

I don't know where I would want to be if an 8.3 earthquake would shake this area. Surely not on the freeway, because it will topple every freeway overpass. The one in Sylmar a few years ago was only 6.5 and it devastated areas of the freeway up there. And, of course, with each point you're ten times more powerful. So you get an 8.3 earthquake and you've got total devastation. God says, "I'm gonna just shake the foundations of the earth." This isn't a localized quake. This is something that's going to hit the whole earth. What we see is kids' play, just a little move on the San Andreas fault line that shakes up us here along the coast. God's going to shake the foundations of the world.

Now it speaks about the foundations of the world being shaken one other time and that was the time of Noah's flood. And really a part of the great devastation from Noah's flood was from the shaking of the foundations of the world.

The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage [or a summer house]; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again ( Isaiah 24:19-20 ).

So God is going to shake the earth. It will reel to and fro like a drunkard, be removed like a cottage. Now those physicists who talk about the polar axis shift say that before the earth goes into the polar axis shift, that it goes into a wobble. Much like a top. You spin a top and as long as the momentum is going, it stands up straight. But as the momentum begins to slow down, then the top begins to wobble. And as the momentum continues to slow down, it begins to go into a violent wobble. And then what happens? The top flips over. So they say the earth is like a top spinning. But that as the earth's rotation seems to slow down that it goes into a wobble state and then it flips on its axis. And you have a polar axis shift.

Well, it has been interesting. They have been measuring the earth wobble lately. And, of course, it moves in cycles every seven years. It comes to its peak and then it seems to sort of straighten up again and then it begins to increase and increase and increase. But the wobble of the earth is increasing more all the time.

Now here is Isaiah knowing nothing about earth wobbles, knowing nothing about polar axis shifts or anything else, talks about it. He says the earth is going to be moving to and fro like a drunken man, and then it's going to be moved out of its place. So it would appear that there is going to be tremendous cataclysmic changes that are going to transpire upon the earth.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones ( Isaiah 24:21 )

Now who is he referring to here? "The host of the high one,s" is when God brings into judgment the angelic forces of evil. You see, when Jesus comes again, "in that day, the Lord will punish the host of the high ones." When Jesus comesthat again, the antichrist and the false prophet will be cast into Gehenna. Satan will be bound with a great chain and cast into the abusso. And those that follow with him. So that God is going to judge these spirit entities that, as Paul the apostle said in Ephesians, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against these spiritual entities in high places" ( Ephesians 6:12 ). So,

in that day the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the eaRuth ( Isaiah 24:21 ).

The twofold judgment of the spirit beings. Those demonic forces, also the evil men. The day of judgment, day of wrath.

And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit ( Isaiah 24:22 ),

Now you remember the demon said to Jesus, "Hey, don't throw us into the pit before our time." They were pleading with Jesus that He wouldn't throw them into the pit. They know that their time is coming when they are to be cast into the abusso with Satan. Satan is bound with a great chain and thrown into the pit. And so they will be gathered as prisoners and be put in the abusso in the pit.

and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited ( Isaiah 24:22 ).

After a thousand years Satan will be released for a short period. And then he and his followers will be cast into Gehenna, a place of outer darkness. A place that is out beyond the furthest galaxy. Out into space and to the darkness beyond the light of any galaxy. Outer darkness, where there's weeping and wailing.

The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously ( Isaiah 24:23 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The preservation of God’s people within a world under divine judgment 24:1-20

Isaiah revealed that the Lord’s people are at the center of His plans for the world (cf. Isaiah 14:2; Isaiah 21:10). He will preserve them even though He will judge sinful humanity. It is believers who will be living on the earth during the Lord’s devastation of this planet that are in view (Tribulation saints), not Christians living before the Tribulation who will be taken to heaven in the Rapture before the Tribulation begins. This passage contains many connections with the Flood narrative (Genesis 6-9). Essentially, what God did in Noah’s day-i.e., the preservation of the righteous-He will do in the future Tribulation (cf. Mark 13).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The effects of the coming judgment 24:7-20

Isaiah expounded on the effects of human sin in a poem, which follows.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Because the remnant will praise God in the west (Isaiah 24:14), Isaiah called for praise of Him in the east (Heb. ’ur, lit. place of fire) as well-for universal praise, in other words. Specifically, the Gentile nations (the coastlands of the sea, the people farthest from Israel) need to praise Him. Their response will be the beginning of a great pilgrimage to Zion to honor the Lord (Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1). [Note: See Otto Kaiser, Isaiah 13-39, p. 188.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Wherefore glorify ye the Lord, in the fires,.... These are the words of the remnant, now triumphing and singing, calling upon others also to glorify the Lord in the fires of affliction and tribulation, in which they had lately been, and had themselves done: or, "in the valleys" u; in low estates and conditions: or, "in holes" w; dens and clefts of rocks, where they fled from their persecuting enemies; but neither of these versions suit the state of the true church, as it will be at this time. The word "Urim", here used, which is one of the names of what was put into the breastplate of the high priest, signifies "lights"; which sense of the word the Vulgate Latin version retains, rendering it, "in doctrines glorify the Lord", and so the Targum,

"therefore, when light cometh to the righteous, they shall glorify the Lord;''

and so the words may be rendered, "glorify the Lord for the Urim", or "the lights"; for Christ, who has the true "Urim" and "Thummim", lights and perfections; for the light of his Gospel, and the truths of it, which will now be spread in a most wonderful manner throughout the world; to which times may be applied those words, "arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee--and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising", Isaiah 60:1 and which will be a just and sufficient reason for giving glory to the Lord:

[even] the name of the Lord God of Israel, in the isles of the sea; whose name will now be known, not in Israel, or among the Jews only, but in all distant and foreign countries, which are sometimes meant by the isles of the sea; and in all islands, even the most remote, who will have reason to join with them on the continent to glorify God, whose name will now be great in all the earth.

u בארים "in vallibus". So Kimchi, Ben Melech, Munster, Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator. w "In cavernis vel speluncis", Forerius, Sanctius.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.   14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.   15 Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.

      Here is mercy remembered in the midst of wrath. In Judah and Jerusalem, and the neighbouring countries, when they are overrun by the enemy, Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar, there shall be a remnant preserved from the general ruin, and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. And this method God usually observes when his judgments are abroad; he does not make a full end, Isaiah 6:13; Isaiah 6:13. Or we may take it thus: Though the greatest part of mankind have all their comfort ruined by the emptying of the earth, and the making of that desolate, yet there are some few who understand their interests better, who have laid up their treasure in heaven and not in things below, and therefore can keep up their comfort and joy in God even when the earth mourns and fades away. Observe,

      I. The small number of this remnant, Isaiah 24:13; Isaiah 24:13. When all goes to ruin there shall be as the shaking of an olive-tree, and the gleaning grapes, here and there one who shall escape the common calamity (as Noah and his family when the old world was drowned), that shall be able to sit down upon a heap of the ruins of all their creature comforts, and even then rejoice in the Lord (Habakkuk 3:16-18), who, when all faces gather blackness, can lift up their heads with joy, Luke 21:26; Luke 21:28. These few are dispersed, and at a distance from each other, like the gleanings of the olive-tree; and they are concealed, hid under the leaves. The Lord only knows those that are his; the world does not.

      II. The great devotion of this remnant, which is the greater for their having so narrowly escaped this great destruction (Isaiah 24:14; Isaiah 24:14): They shall lift up their voice; they shall sing. 1. They shall sing for joy in their deliverance. When the mirth of carnal worldlings ceases the joy of the saints is as lively as ever; when the merry-hearted do sigh because the vine languishes the upright-hearted do sing because the covenant of grace, the fountain of their comforts and the foundation of their hopes, never fails. Those that rejoice in the Lord can rejoice in tribulation, and by faith may be in triumphs when all about them are in tears. 2. They shall sing to the glory and praise of God, shall sing not only for the mercy but for the majesty of the Lord. Their songs are awful and serious, and in their spiritual joys they have a reverend regard to the greatness of God, and keep at a humble distance when they attend him with their praises. The majesty of the Lord, which is matter of terror to wicked people, furnishes the saints with songs of praise. They shall sing for the magnificence, or transcendent excellency, of the Lord, shown both in his judgments and in his mercies; for we must sing, and sing unto him, of both, Psalms 101:1. Those who have made, or are making, their escape from the land (that being emptied and made desolate) to the sea and the isles of the sea, shall thence cry aloud; their dispersion shall help to spread the knowledge of God, and they shall make even remote shores to ring with his praises. It is much for the honour of God if those who fear him rejoice in him, and praise him, even in the most melancholy times.

      III. Their holy zeal to excite others to the same devotion (Isaiah 24:15; Isaiah 24:15); they encourage their fellow-sufferers to do likewise. 1. Those who are in the fires, in the furnace of affliction, those fires by which the inhabitants of the earth are burned,Isaiah 24:6; Isaiah 24:6. Or in the valleys, the low, dark, dirty places. 2. Those who are in the isles of the sea, whither they are banished, or are forced to flee for shelter, and hide themselves remote from all their friends. They went through fire and water (Psalms 66:12); yet in both let them glorify the Lord, and glory him as the Lord God of Israel. Those who through grace can glory in tribulation ought to glorify God in tribulation, and give him thanks for their comforts, which abound as their afflictions do abound. We must in every fire, even the hottest, in every isle, even the remotest, keep up our good thoughts of God. When, though he slay us, yet we trust in him--when, though for his sake we are killed all the day long, yet none of these things move us--then we glorify the Lord in the fires. Thus the three children, and the martyrs that sang at the stake.