Isaiah 63:15

King James Version (KJV)

Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

And thy strength "And thy mighty power" - For גבורתיך geburotheycha, plural, thirty-two MSS. (seven ancient) and twenty-one of De Rossi's, and seven editions, have גבורתך geburathecha, singular.

Are they restrained? - For אלי elai, from (or in regard to) me, the Septuagint and Syriac read אלינו eleynu, from us. - L.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

Look down from heaven - This commences an earnest appeal that God would have mercy on them in their present calamities and trials. They entreat him to remember his former mercies, and to return and bless them, as he had done in ancient times.

And behold from the habitation - (See the notes at Isaiah 57:15).

Where is thy zeal - That is, thy former zeal for thy people; where is now the proof of the interest for their welfare which was vouchsafed in times that are past.

And thy strength - The might which was formerly manifested for their deliverance and salvation.

The sounding of thy bowels - Margin, ‹Multitude.‘ The word rendered ‹sounding‘ (המון hâmôn ), means properly a noise or sound, as of rain; 1 Kings 18:41; of singing, Ezekiel 26:13; of a multitude, 1 Samuel 4:14; 1 Samuel 14:19. It also means a multitude, or a crowd of people Isaiah 13:4; Isaiah 33:3. Here it relates to an emotion or affection of the mind; and the phrase denotes compassion, or tender concern for them in their sufferings. It is derived from the customary expression in the Bible that the bowels, that is, the organs in the region of the chest - for so the word is used in the Scriptures - were the seat of the emotions, and were supposed to be affected by any strong and tender emotion of the mind (see the notes at Isaiah 16:11). The idea here is, ‹Where is thy former compassion for thy people in distress?‘

Are they restrained? - Are they witcheld? Are thy mercies to be exercised no more?

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

They beseech him to look down on the abject condition of their once-favoured nation. Would it not be glorious to his name to remove the veil from their hearts, to return to the tribes of his inheritance? The Babylonish captivity, and the after-deliverance of the Jews, were shadows of the events here foretold. The Lord looks down upon us in tenderness and mercy. Spiritual judgments are more to be dreaded than any other calamities; and we should most carefully avoid those sins which justly provoke the Lord to leave men to themselves and to their deceiver. "Our Redeemer from everlasting" is thy name; thy people have always looked upon thee as the God to whom they might appeal. The Lord will hear the prayers of those who belong to him, and deliver them from those not called by his name.

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