Isaiah 42:23

"But this is a robbed and plundered people. All of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prisons. They have become captives, and no one delivers, and a plunder, and no one says, ‘Restore them!’"

Key Reflection

This verse vividly describes the plight of Israel as a people who have been oppressed and enslaved, symbolizing their spiritual state under sin and exile. The imagery of being "snared in holes" and "hidden in prisons" portrays them as trapped and forgotten, needing rescue and restoration, which ultimately comes through the redemptive work of God.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Who among you will give ear to this? -Who is there in the nation that will be so warned by the judgments of God, that he will attend to the lessons which he designs to teach, and reform his life, and return to him? It is implied by these questions that such ought to be the effect; it is implied also that they were so sunken and abandoned that they would not do it. These judgments were a loud call on the nation to turn to God, and, in time to come, to avoid the sins which had made it necessary for him to interpose in this manner, and give them to spoil.

More from Isaiah 42

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