Isaiah 47:3

Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) I will not meet thee as a man.—The words in italics show that the phrase is difficult. Omitting them we get I shall not meet a man, i.e., there will be none to oppose me, or I will not spare a man.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 47:3. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered — Either for want of raiment to cover it, or rather, by thine enemies in the way of scorn and contumely. I will take vengeance — Upon thee, for thy many and great injuries done to my people. I will not meet thee as a man — But like an Almighty God, whose power thou canst not resist. I will not treat thee with moderation and gentleness, as those men who have not quite put off humanity use to do, but like a lion, to tear thee to pieces: see Hosea 5:14; and Hosea 13:7-8. Thou shalt feel the most dreadful effects of my anger, and I will show no humanity or pity toward thee. The original expression, לא אפגע אדם, is peculiar, and is literally, I will not meet a man, which may be an inverted sentence put for, a man shall not meet me, that is, no man shall prevent or hinder the effects of my wrath. Bishop Lowth renders it, “Neither will I suffer a man to intercede with me.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

47:1-6 Babylon is represented under the emblem of a female in deep distress. She was to be degraded and endure sufferings; and is represented sitting on the ground, grinding at the handmill, the lowest and most laborious service. God was righteous in his vengeance, and none should interpose. The prophet exults in the Lord of hosts, as the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel. God often permits wicked men to prevail against his people; but those who cruelly oppress them will be punished.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thy nakedness - This denotes the abject condition to which the city would be reduced. All its pride would be taken away; and it would be brought to such a state as to fill its inhabitants with the deepest mortification and shame. Vitringa supposes that it means, that all the imbecility and weakness; the vileness; the real poverty; the cruelty and injustice of Babylon, would be exposed. But it more probably means, that it would be reduced to the deepest ignominy. No language could more forcibly express the depths of its shame and disgrace than that which the prophet here uses.

I will take vengeance - This expresses literally what had been before expressed in a figurative manner. The whole purpose of God was to inflict vengeance on her for her pride, her luxury, and oppression, and especially for her want of kindness toward his people (see Isaiah 47:6).

And I will not meet thee as a man - This phrase has been very variously interpreted. Jerome renders it, 'And man shall not resist me.' The Septuagint renders it, 'I will take that which is just of thee, and will no more deliver thee up to men.' The Syriac, 'I will not suffer man to meet thee.' Grotius, 'I will not suffer any man to be an intercessor.' So Lowth, 'Neither will I suffer man to intercede with me.' Noyes, 'I will make peace with none.' So Gesenius (Lex. by Robinson) renders it, 'I will take vengeance, and will not make peace with man; that is, will make peace with none before all are destroyed.' The word used here (אפגע 'epega‛) is derived from פגע pâga‛, which means, "to strike upon" or "to strike against"; "to impinge upon anyone, or anything; to fall upon in a hostile manner" 1 Samuel 22:17; "to kill, to slay" Judges 8:21; Judges 15:12; "to assail with petitions, to urge, entreat anyone" Ruth 1:16; Jeremiah 7:16; "to light upon, or meet with anyone" Genesis 28:11, and then, according to Gesenius, "to strike a league with anyone, to make peace with him." Jarchi renders it, 'I will not solicit any man that he should take vengeance;' that is, I will do it myself. Aben Ezra, 'I will not admit the intercession of any man.' Vitringa renders it. 'I will take vengeance, and will not have a man to concur with me; that is, although I should not have a man to concur with me who should execute the vengeance which I meditate; on which account I have raised up Cyrus from Persia, of whom no one thought.' In my view, the meaning which best accords with the usual sense of the word, is that proposed by Lowth, that no one should be allowed to interpose, or intercede for them. All the interpretations concur in the same general signification, that Babylon should be totally destroyed; and that no man, whether, as Jerome supposes, by resistance, or as Lowth, by intercession, should be allowed to oppose the execution of the divine purpose of vengeance.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. not meet … as a man—rather, "I will not meet a man," that is, suffer man to intercede with me—give man an audience [Horsley]. Or, "I will not make peace with any man," before all are destroyed. Literally, "strike a league with"; a phrase arising from the custom of striking hands together in making a compact [Maurer], (see on [828]Pr 17:18; Pr 22:26; 11:15, Margin). Or else from striking the victims sacrificed in making treaties.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thy nakedness shall be uncovered; either,

1. For want of raiment to cover it; or rather,

2. By thine enemies in way of scorn and contumely, by comparing this place with Ezekiel 16:37 23:29.

Thy shame shall be seen upon thee for thy many and great injuries done to my people.

I will take vengeance, as a man meets his enemy in the field, to contend with thee.

I will not meet thee as a man, with moderation and gentleness, as those men who have not quite put off humanity use to do; but like a lion tearing thee to pieces, to which God in such case compareth himself, as Hosea 5:14 13:7,8: compare Hosea 11:4.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen,.... Not only stripped of their garments, and have nothing to cover their naked bodies, being spoiled of all by the soldiers; but should have nothing to cover those parts which women are most ashamed should be exposed to view, and which is often the case of such who fall into the hands of the conquerors. It is said of the whore of Rome, of mystical Babylon, that the kings of the earth should hate her, and make her desolate and naked, Revelation 17:16,

I will take vengeance; for though the Medes and Persians were the instruments, the destruction was of the Lord, who took vengeance of the Chaldeans, for their ill usage of his people; as he will on mystical Babylon, Revelation 18:20,

and I will not meet thee as a man; in a humane way, with lenity, tenderness, and compassion, but with inflexible wrath and fury; not with human strength, which is but weakness, but with the strength of the mighty God; as is said of mystical Babylon,

strong is the Lord God that judgeth her, Revelation 18:8 or it may be rendered, "I will not meet a man" (d); or a man shall not meet me, to stop or hinder me, by strength or might, or by prayers and entreaties. So some give the sense, "I will not receive the "intercession of any man for thee"; which is observed by Kimchi. The Targum is, "I will change "thy judgment from the children of men"; which agrees with the first sense.

(d) "et non occurram homini", Cocceius; so some in Vatablus; "neque feram obstare quenquam mihi", Junius & Tremellius. So Ben Melech, "I will not receive the request of a man, his supplication for them."

Geneva Study Bible

Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a {e} man.

(e) I will use no humanity nor pity toward you.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. Thy nakedness … seen] These words, which undoubtedly spoil the rhythm of the verse, are deleted by Duhm as a gloss suggested by the latter part of Isaiah 47:2.

and I will not meet thee as a man] The sense is very obscure. Either (a) “I will spare no man” (i.e. meet him with friendly intentions); the figure of the virgin being dropped: or (b) “I will not entreat any man (for help)”: or (c) the vowel-points being changed, “I will let no man intercede,”—all unacceptable on one ground or another. The difficulty lies in the word for “man”; this would be got rid of by simply changing ’âdâm into ’âmar (= “saith”) read by some MSS. of the LXX. as the first word of Isaiah 47:4. The verb then stands absolutely, and is best pointed and translated as Niphal tolerativum: “I will not (let myself) be entreated.” (Oort and Duhm). See further on Isaiah 47:4.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - I will not meet thee as a man; literally, I shall not meet a man; i.e. "I shall not find any one to oppose me." Isaiah 47:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

From the gods of Babylon the proclamation of judgment passes onto Babylon itself. "Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter Babel; sit on the ground without a throne, O Chaldaeans-daughter! For men no longer call thee delicate and voluptuous. Take the mill, and grind meal: throw back they veil, lift up the train, uncover the thigh, wade through streams. Let thy nakedness be uncovered, even let thy shame be seen; I shall take vengeance, and not spare men. Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is His name, Holy One of Israel." This is the first strophe in the prophecy. As v. 36 clearly shows, what precedes is a penal sentence from Jehovah. Both בּת in relation to בּתוּלת (Isaiah 23:12; Isaiah 37:22), and בּבל and כּשׂדּים in relation to בּת, are appositional genitives; Babel and Chaldeans (כשׂדים as in Isaiah 48:20) are regarded as a woman, and that as one not yet dishonoured. The unconquered oppressor is threatened with degradation from her proud eminence into shameful humiliation; sitting on the ground is used in the same sense as in Isaiah 3:26. Hitherto men have called her, with envious admiration, rakkâh va‛ânuggâh (from Deuteronomy 28:56), mollis et delicata, as having carefully kept everything disagreeable at a distance, and revelled in nothing but luxury (compare ‛ōneg, Isaiah 13:22). Debauchery with its attendant rioting (Isaiah 14:11; Isaiah 25:5), and the Mylitta worship with its licensed prostitution (Herod. i. 199), were current there; but now all this was at an end. תוסיפי, according to the Masora, has only one pashta both here and in Isaiah 47:5, and so has the tone upon the last syllable, and accordingly metheg in the antepenult. Isaiah's artistic style may be readily perceived both in the three clauses of Isaiah 47:1 that are comparable to a long trumpet-blast (compare Isaiah 40:9 and Isaiah 16:1), and also in the short, rugged, involuntarily excited clauses that follow. The mistress becomes the maid, and has to perform the low, menial service of those who, as Homer says in Od. vii. 104, ἀλετρεύουσι μύλης ἔπι μήλοπα καρπόν (grind at the mill the quince-coloured fruit; compare at Job 31:10). She has to leave her palace as a prisoner of war, and, laying aside all feminine modesty, to wade through the rivers upon which she borders. Chespı̄ has ĕ instead of ĭ, and, as in other cases where a sibilant precedes, the mute p instead of f (compare 'ispı̄, Jeremiah 10:17). Both the prosopopeia and the parallel, "thy shame shall be seen," require that the expression "thy nakedness shall be uncovered" should not be understood literally. The shame of Babel is her shameful conduct, which is not to be exhibited in its true colours, inasmuch as a stronger one is coming upon it to rob it of its might and honour. This stronger one, apart from the instrument employed, is Jehovah: vindictam sumam, non parcam homini. Stier gives a different rendering here, namely, "I will run upon no man, i.e., so as to make him give way;" Hahn, "I will not meet with a man," so destitute of population will Babylon be; and Ruetschi, "I will not step in as a man." Gesenius and Rosenmller are nearer to the mark when they suggest non pangam (paciscar) cum homine; but this would require at any rate את־אדם, even if the verb פּגע really had the meaning to strike a treaty. It means rather to strike against a person, to assault any one, then to meet or come in an opposite direction, and that not only in a hostile sense, but, as in this instance, and also in Isaiah 64:4, in a friendly sense as well. Hence, "I shall not receive any man, or pardon any man" (Hitzig, Ewald, etc.). According to an old method of writing the passage, there is a pause here. But Isaiah 47:4 is still connected with what goes before. As Jehovah is speaking in Isaiah 47:5, but Israel in Isaiah 47:4, and as Isaiah 47:4 is unsuitable to form the basis of the words of Jehovah, it must be regarded as the antiphone to Isaiah 47:1-3 (cf., Isaiah 45:15). Our Redeemer, exclaims the church in joyfully exalted self-consciousness, He is Jehovah of Hosts, the Holy One of Israel! The one name affirms that He possesses the all-conquering might; the other that He possesses the will to carry on the work of redemption - a will influenced and constrained by both love and wrath.