Isaiah 42:11

11 Let the waste land and its flocks be glad, the tent-circles of Kedar; let the people of the rock give a glad cry, from the top of the mountains let them make a sound of joy.

Isaiah 42:11 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 42:11

Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice,
&c.] The eastern part of the world, Arabia Deserta, and the inhabitants of the cities which were in it: the villages that Kedar doth inhabit;
or the "courts" ^F20, or tents, the Kedarenes inhabited, who were Arabians, and dwelt in tents, which they pitched here and there, for the convenience of their flocks; and so the Targum,

``the Arabians that inhabit the wilderness shall praise:''

let the inhabitants of the rock sing:
or of Petra, which Jerom says was a city of Palestine. It was the metropolis of Arabia Petraea, which whole country may be here meant, and the inhabitants of it, who had reason to sing for joy, when the Gospel was preached unto them; as it was by the Apostle Paul in Arabia, ( Galatians 1:17 ) : let them shout from the top of the mountains;
the wild, savage, and barbarous people that dwell there, but now become civilized, as well as evangelized, by the Gospel; or the messengers and ministers of the word, whose feet on those mountains were beautiful, bringing the good tidings of peace and salvation by Christ. The Targum interprets this of the resurrection of the dead,

``the dead, when they shall go out of the house of their world, from the tops of the mountains shall lift up their voice ^F21.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 (Myrux) "atria", Montanus; "tentoria", Grotius.
F21 Ben Melech interprets the rocks and mountains of towers built on rocks and mountains, where men dwelt.

Isaiah 42:11 In-Context

9 See, the things said before have come about, and now I give word of new things: before they come I give you news of them.

10 Make a new song to the Lord, and let his praise be sounded from the end of the earth; you who go down to the sea, and everything in it, the sea-lands and their people.

11 Let the waste land and its flocks be glad, the tent-circles of Kedar; let the people of the rock give a glad cry, from the top of the mountains let them make a sound of joy.

12 Let them give glory to the Lord, sounding his praise in the sea-lands.

13 The Lord will go out as a man of war, he will be moved to wrath like a fighting-man: his voice will be strong, he will give a loud cry; he will go against his attackers like a man of war.