Isaiah 41:2

Verse

Who has aroused one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness ? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.

American Standard Version (1901)

Who hath raised up one from the east, whom he calleth in righteousness to his foot? he giveth nations before him, and maketh him rule over kings; he giveth them as the dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow.

Bible in Basic English

Who sent out from the east one who is right wherever he goes? he gives the nations into his hands, and makes him ruler over kings; he gives them as the dust to his sword, as dry stems before the wind to his bow.

Free Bible Version

Who has encouraged this one from the east who is called into God's service to do what is right? He gives him nations, and helps him trample kings underfoot. He makes them like dust with his sword, and turns them into chaff with his bow, blown before him on the wind.

Geneva Bible 1599

Who raised vp iustice from the East, and called him to his foote? and gaue the nations before him, and subdued the Kings? he gaue them as dust to his sword, and as scattered stubble vnto his bowe.

King James (Authorized) Version

Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.

One Unity Resource Bible

Who has raised up one from the east? Who called him to his foot in righteousness? He hands over nations to him, and makes him rule over kings. He gives them like the dust to his sword, like the driven stubble to his bow.

Translation for Translators

Who has urged this king to come from the east? Who has enabled his army to righteously defeat many nations and to trample their kings under their feet? With their swords they cut their enemies into tiny pieces [HYP]; with their arrows they cause their enemies to scatter like [SIM] the wind scatters chaff.

Unlocked Literal Bible

Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and helps him subdue kings. He turns them to dust with his sword, like windblown stubble with his bow.

Noah Webster Bible

World English Bible

Who has raised up one from the east? Who called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands over nations to him and makes him rule over kings. He gives them like the dust to his sword, like the driven stubble to his bow.

Young's Literal Translation

Who stirred up from the east a righteous one? He calleth him to His foot, He giveth before him nations, And kings He causeth him to rule, He giveth [them] as dust [to] his sword, As driven stubble [to] his bow.

Context

God’s Help to Israel

¹“Be silent before Me, O islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come forward and testify; let us together draw near for judgment. ²Who has aroused one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness ? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. ³He pursues them, going on safely, hardly touching the path with his feet.

Summary

In Isaiah 41:2, the prophet Isaiah speaks of a righteous ruler who will rise from the east, one whom God calls to His presence and gives victory over nations. This verse foreshadows the coming of a powerful leader who will conquer enemies and establish justice. It signifies God's sovereignty in raising up and empowering individuals for His divine purposes, demonstrating His control over the affairs of the world. The imagery used in this verse conveys the idea of divine intervention and protection, assuring believers of God's faithfulness and provision in times of trouble.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
Keil-Delitzsch
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill
Tyndale

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

The righteous man - The Chaldee and Vulgate seem to have read צדיק tsaddik. But Jerome, though his translation has justum, appears to have read צדק tsedek; for in his comment he expresses it by justum, sive justitiam. However, I think all interpreters understand it of a person. So the Septuagint in MS. Pachom. εκαλεσεν αυτον, "he hath called him;" but the other copies have αυτην, her. They are divided in ascertaining this person; some explain it of Abraham, others of Cyrus. I rather think that the former is meant; because the character of the righteous man, or righteousness, agrees better with Abraham than with Cyrus. Besides, immediately after the description of the success given by God to Abraham and his posterity, (who, I presume, are to be taken into the account), the idolaters are introduced as greatly alarmed at this event. Abraham was called out of the east; and his posterity were introduced into the land of Canaan, in order to destroy the idolaters of that country, and they were established there on purpose to stand as a barrier against the idolatry then prevailing, and threatening to overrun the whole face of the earth. Cyrus, though not properly an idolater or worshipper of images, yet had nothing in his character to cause such an alarm among the idolaters, Isa 41:5-7. Farther, after having just touched upon that circumstance, the prophet with great ease returns to his former subject, and resumes Abraham and the Israelites; and assures them that as God had called them, and chosen them for this purpose, he would uphold and support them to the utmost, and at length give them victory over all the heathen nations, their enemies; Isa 41:8-16. Kimchi is of the same mind and gives the same reasons. He gave them as the dust to his sword "Hath made them like the dust before his sword" - The image is strong and beautiful; it is often made use of by the sacred poets; see Psa 1:4; Psa 35:6; Job 21:18, and by Isaiah himself in other places, Isa 17:13; Isa 29:5. But there is great difficulty in making out the construction. The Septuagint read קשתם חרבם kashtam, charbam, their sword, their bow, understanding it of the sword and bow of the conquered kings: but this is not so agreeable to the analogy of the image, as employed in other places. The Chaldee paraphrast and Kimchi solve the difficulty by supposing an ellipsis of לפני liphney before those words. It must be owned that the ellipsis is hard and unusual: but I choose rather to submit to this, than, by adhering with Vitringa to the more obvious construction, to destroy entirely both the image and the sense. But the Vulgate by gladio ejus, to his sword, and arcui ejus, to his bow, seems to express לחרבו lecharbo, to his sword, and לקשתו lekashto, to his bow, the admission of which reading may perhaps be thought preferable to Kimchi's ellipsis.

Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

The parties invited are now to be thought of as present, and Jehovah commences in Isa 41:2 : "Who hath raised up the man from the rising of the sun, whom justice meets at his foot, He giveth up nations before him, and kings He subdues, giveth men like the dust to his sword, and like driven stubble to his bow?" The sentence governed by "who" (mı̄) ends at leraglō (at his foot); at the same time, all that follows is spoken with the echo of the interrogative accent. The person raised up is Cyrus, who is afterwards mentioned by name. The coming one (if, that is to say, we adhere to the belief in Isaiah's authorship of these addresses) first approaches gradually within the horizon of the prophet's ideal present; and it is only little by little that the prophet becomes more intimately acquainted with a phenomenon which belongs to so distant a future, and has been brought so close to his own eyes. Jehovah has raised up the new great hero "from the east" (mimmizrâch), and, according to Isa 41:25, "from the north" also. Both of these were fulfilled; for Cyrus was a Persian belonging to the clan of Achaemenes (Hakhâmanis), which stood at the head of the tribe, or of the Pasargadae. He was the son of Cambyses; and even if the Median princess Mandane were not his mother, yet, according to nearly all the ancient accounts, he was connected with the royal house of Media; at any rate, after Astyages was dethroned, he became head and chief of the Medes as well as of the Persians (hence the name of "Mule" which was give to him by the oracle, and that given by Jerome, "agitator bigae"). Now Media was to the north of Babylonia, and Persia to the east; so that his victorious march, in which, even before the conquest of Babylon, he subjugated all the lands from the heights of Hinduku to the shores of the Aegean Sea, had for its starting-point both the east and north. (Note: See Pahl'es Geschichte des Oriental. Alterthums. (1864), p. 170ff.) The clause לרגלו יקראהוּ צדק is an attributive clause, and as such a virtual object: "him whom (supply עת־אשׁר) justice comes to meet (קרא) = קרה, Ges. 75, vi.) on his track" (cf., Gen 30:30; Job 18:11; Hab 3:5). The idea of tsedeq is determined by what follows: Jehovah gives up nations before him, and causes kings to be trodden down (causative of râdâh). Accordingly, tsedeq is either to be understood here in an attributive sense, as denoting the justice exercised by a person (viz., the justice executed successfully by Cyrus, as the instrument of Jehovah, by the force of arms); or objectively of the justice awarded to a person (to which the idea of "meeting" is more appropriate), viz., the favourable result, the victory which procures justice for the just cause of the combatant. Rosenmller, Knobel, and others, are wrong in maintaining that tsedeq (tsedâqâh) in chapters 40-66 signifies primarily justice, and the prosperity and salvation as its reward. The word means straightness, justice, righteousness, and nothing more (from tsâdaq, to be hard, firm, extended, straight, e.g., rumh-un-tsadq, a hard, firm, and straight lance); but it has a double aspect, because justice consists, according to circumstances, of either wrath of favour, and therefore has sometimes the idea of the strict execution of justice, as in this instance, sometimes of a manifestation of justice in fidelity to promises, as in Isa 41:10. יתּן is repeated here in Isa 41:2 (just like וילמדהו in Isa 40:14) with the same subject, but in a different sense. To make sword and bow the subject, in the sense of "his sword gives (sc., 'the foe')," is a doubtful thing in itself; and as cherebh and qesheth are feminines, it is by no means advisable. Moreover, in other instances, the comparative כ leaves it to the reader to carry out the figure indicated according to his own fancy. And this is the case here: He (Jehovah) makes his sword as if there were dust, his bow as if there were hunted stubble (Bttcher), i.e., pounding the enemy like dust, and hunting it like flying stubble. Our text has כּעפר, but in certain codices we find כּעפר with tzere; and this reading, which is contrary to rule, has in its favour the express testimony of Moses the punctuator. (Note: In his הנקוד דרכי (rules of pointing), with which the Masora finalis is surrounded.)

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Who--else but God? The fact that God "raiseth up" Cyrus and qualifies him for becoming the conqueror of the nations and deliverer of God's people, is a strong argument why they should trust in Him. The future is here prophetically represented as present or past. the righteous man--Cyrus; as Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1-4, Isa 45:13; Isa 46:11, "from the East," prove. Called "righteous," not so much on account of his own equity [HERODOTUS, 3.89], as because he fulfilled God's righteous will in restoring the Jews from their unjust captivity. Raised him up in righteousness. The Septuagint takes the Hebrew as a noun "righteousness." MAURER translates, "Who raised up him whom salvation (national and temporal, the gift of God's 'righteousness' to the good, Isa 32:17; compare Isa 45:8; Isa 51:5) meets at his foot" (that is, wherever he goes). Cyrus is said to come from the East, because Persia is east of Babylon; but in Isa 41:25, from the north, in reference to Media. At the same time the full sense of righteousness, or righteous, and of the whole passage, is realized only in Messiah, Cyrus' antitype (Cyrus knew not God, Isa 45:4). He goes forth as the Universal Conqueror of the "nations," in righteousness making war (Psa 2:8-9; Rev 19:11-15; Rev 6:2; Rev 2:26-27). "The idols He shall utterly abolish" (compare Isa 7:23, with Isa 2:18). Righteousness was always raised up from the East. Paradise was east of Eden. The cherubim were at the east of the garden. Abraham was called from the East. Judea, the birthplace of Messiah, was in the East. called . . . to . . . foot--called him to attend His (God's) steps, that is, follow His guidance. In Ezr 1:2, Cyrus acknowledges Jehovah as the Giver of his victories. He subdued the nations from the Euxine to the Red Sea, and even Egypt (says XENOPHON). dust-- (Isa 17:13; Isa 29:5; Psa 18:42). Persia, Cyrus' country, was famed for the use of the "bow" (Isa 22:6). "Before him" means "gave them into his power" (Jos 10:12). MAURER translates, "Gave his (the enemy's) sword to be dust, and his (the enemy's) bow to be as stubble" (Job 41:26, Job 41:29).

John Gill Bible Commentary

Who raised up the righteous man from the east,.... The Targum interprets this of Abraham; and so the Talmud (h); and this way go most Jewish and Christian commentators, and to him the characters agree; he was a righteous man, believed in Christ for righteousness, had the righteousness of faith when circumcised, did justice, and wrought righteousness himself, and required his children and servants to do the same, Gen 15:6, he was raised up out of an idolatrous family, from Ur of the Chaldees, on the other side the river Euphrates, which lay east of Judea; he was called by the Lord to his foot, as it follows, and was obedient to him; he went forth at his command, not knowing whither he went, Heb 11:8. God gave him by promise the land of Canaan, possessed by several "nations", and which his seed afterwards inherited; yea, he made him, in a spiritual sense, "the father of many nations", even of all believers, in all nations of the world, Gen 15:18, he made him a conqueror "over" the "kings" that had vanquished the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, and plundered their cities; who were no more able to stand before him, though he had no more than three hundred and eighteen servants of his household, than "dust and stubble" can resist the force of a mighty wind; he "pursued them" in an unknown tract, got an entire victory over them, without being hurt or losing a man; which was so extraordinary an affair, that Melchizedek, priest of the most high God, and a type of Christ, went forth to meet him, and blessed him, Gen 14:14, and who but the mighty God could or did raise up this man, and make him what he was, and do the things he did? some, as Aben Ezra, and several Christian writers also, think that Cyrus is meant, spoken of as raised up already, though to come, in the manner of prophetic language, called the ravenous bird from the east, Isa 46:11, who came from Persia, which lay east of Judea; whom God called to his foot, and who performed his pleasure, and executed his counsel, and so said to be a "righteous man" in that respect; and is expressly said to be "raised up in righteousness"; before whom the Lord subdued "nations", and loosed the loins of "kings"; see Isa 44:28, some understand it of him as a type of Christ, who is the righteous One, or "righteousness" itself, as the word properly signifies, the Lord our righteousness; whose name is "Oriens", or the east, the rising sun in the east, Zac 3:8, the angel ascending from the east, Rev 7:2, born in the eastern part of the world; called to be the servant of the Lord, and was; to whom he has given the Heathen for his inheritance, and made him his firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth, and whom he will overcome and slay with his twoedged sword: but since rather Christ is the person speaking, and concerning whom the controversy is, therefore some person distinct from him must be meant; and I am inclined to think, with Coeceius, that the Apostle Paul is intended, that wonderful man; though this sense is rejected by Vitringa: he was a "righteous" one, made so by the righteousness of Christ; he believed in it, and was a preacher of it, and lived a holy and righteous life and conversation; whom the Lord raised up for uncommon service and usefulness, and to whom he appeared personally to make him a minister, and send him out to do his work; he was raised up in the eastern part of the world, in Judea, being a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and from thence sent forth into various parts; see Act 26:16, called him to his foot; and though he was like a furious lion, raging against his saints, breathing out slaughter and threatenings against them, and in the height of his rage and fury; yet was at once, at the call of Christ, made as tame as a lamb, and said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" he was willing to do anything and everything he pleased, Act 9:1 and when he signified it as his will that he should preach his Gospel, he was not disobedient, he did not confer with flesh and blood, but at once set about it with the greatest zeal and readiness: gave the nations before him; made him an apostle of the Gentiles, or of the nations, and made those Gentiles or nations obedient by word and deed; he triumphed in Christ everywhere, and diffused the savour of his knowledge in every place, Rom 11:13, and made him rule over kings? governors, princes, potentates, and kings of the earth; he had power over their spirits, being an instrument either of converting them, as Sergius Paulus the Roman deputy, from whence some think he had his name; or to make them to tremble at his discourses, as Felix the Roman governor; and of bringing them at least to own there was something in the Christian religion, as Agrippa, a crowned head, who was obliged to confess he had almost persuaded him to be a Christian, Act 13:7, and of bringing their kingdoms, and the inhabitants of them, into subjection to Christ: he gave them as dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow; whose weapons were not carnal, but spiritual, and mighty through God; his sword was the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; his bow and arrows were the Gospel, and the truths of it, in whose ministry Christ went forth conquering, and to conquer: and this being attended with the power of God, men could no more stand against them than dust and stubble before the wind. (h) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 156. 2. Bava Bathra, fol. 15. 1. Sanhedrin, fol. 108. 2. and Taanith, fol. 21. 1.