Isaiah 43:17

17 The God who summons horses and chariots and armies - they lie down and then can't get up; they're snuffed out like so many candles:

Isaiah 43:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 43:17

Which bringeth forth the chariot and the horse, the army and
the power
Who brought forth the chariots and horses, and the mighty army of Pharaoh, out of Egypt, to pursue the Israelites into the Red sea, where they were drowned. The present tense is put for the future, as in the preceding verse; the future is put for the past tense in the next clause: they shall lie down together, they shall not rise;
they lay down in the Red sea, where they sunk to the bottom, and perished, and never rose more, at least to life, nor never will, till the general resurrection: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow;
or flax, or as the wick of a candle ^F16, when put into water, is quenched at once; so the Egyptian, became extinct in the Red sea. Some observe an allusion to the commodity of flax, for which Egypt was famous. Kimchi interprets the whole of the army of Sennacherib, which was brought out of their own land to Jerusalem, and was destroyed in one night by an angel. Aben Ezra of the Chaldeans being brought out to fight with the Persians. But others rather of the army of the Medes and Persians being brought against them, by whom they became extinct as tow or flax.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (htvpk) "ut ellychnium" Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Gataker, Vitringa.

Isaiah 43:17 In-Context

15 I am God, your Holy One, Creator of Israel, your King."

16 This is what God says, the God who builds a road right through the ocean, who carves a path through pounding waves,

17 The God who summons horses and chariots and armies - they lie down and then can't get up; they're snuffed out like so many candles:

18 "Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history.

19 Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.