4 Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins , They will raise up the former devastations ; And they will repair the ruined cities , The desolations of many generations . 5 Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks , And foreigners e will be your farmers and your vinedressers . 6 But you will be called the priests of the Lord ; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God . You will eat the wealth of nations , And in their riches you will boast . 7 Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion . Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land , Everlasting joy will be theirs . 8 For I, the Lord , love justice , I hate robbery in the burnt offering ; And I will faithfully give them their recompense And make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Then their offspring will be known among the nations , And their descendants in the midst of the peoples . All who see them will recognize them Because they are the offspring whom the Lord has blessed .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 61:4-9
Commentary on Isaiah 61:4-9
(Read Isaiah 61:4-9)
Promises are here made to the Jews returned out of captivity, which extend to all those who, through grace, are delivered out of spiritual thraldom. An unholy soul is like a city that is broken down, and has no walls, like a house in ruins; but by the power of Christ's gospel and grace, it is fitted to be a habitation of God, through the Spirit. When, by the grace of God, we attain to holy indifference as to the affairs of this world; when, though our hands are employed about them, our hearts are not entangled with them, but preserved entire for God and his service, then the sons of the alien are our ploughmen and vine-dressers. Those whom He sets at liberty, he sets to work. His service is perfect freedom; it is the greatest honour. All believers are made, to our God, kings and priests; and always ought to conduct themselves as such. Those who have the Lord for their portion, have reason to say, that they have worthy portion, and to rejoice in it. In the fulness of heaven's joys we shall receive more than double for all our services and sufferings. God desires truth, and therefore hates all injustice. Nor will it justify any man's robbery to say, it was for burnt-offerings; and that robbery is most hateful which is under this pretence. Let the children of godly parents be such, that all may see the fruits of a good education; an answer to the prayers for them, in the fruit of God's blessing.