And in that day thou shalt say, Jehovah, I will praise thee; for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou hast comforted me.
Isaiah 11 describes a King reigning and a scattered people brought home. Chapter 12 is what those people say when it happens. This verse is their song. Its first line looks back at something painful — a God who had been angry — and calls it over.
A repeated phrase dates this song. It ties it to the scene the prophet has just described.
Isaiah 12 is clearly prophetic, and finds special application to Israel in millennial days. You can see this by tracing its link with the chapter before. Both chapters use the phrase "In that day" twice. The phrase points to the restoration of God's earthly people to their own land. It also points to the state of things that goes with Messiah's reign, described in Isaiah 11.
The singer does not soften what God had been toward him. He names the anger, calls it deserved, and then names what took its place.
Israel will receive redemption blessing far more wonderful than their past redemption from Egypt. Then, as Isaiah 12 opens, comes the triumph song of this new redemption. Jehovah had been angry with them, and rightly so, given their past of tragic wickedness. But now He has become their Comforter, their Strength and their Salvation.
The song does not stop at anger removed. It goes on to call God Himself their salvation, and it names Him as Jehovah, not as Father.
Here we have a song of praise and thanksgiving for their deliverance. "You will say," etc. (v. 1) means unmistakably Israel. God's anger has not only turned away and ceased, but He is their salvation (v. 2)... But it is Jah Jehovah, not the Father as we know Him now through the Lord Jesus. The effect of their deliverance is that His glory as the Eternal is known in all the earth (v. 5). The Father is known in His family, not in all the earth as such, though His children everywhere know Him. But here it is the kingdom, and He is known as the Holy One of Israel in Zion.
Kelly asks who can speak these words. He rules out the church as the singer, without denying that Christians gain from the passage now.
This is certainly not only a rescue in outward circumstances, however astonishing and complete. There are rich blessings for the soul too. Best of all, the Holy One of Israel dwells in their midst. This, however, in no way takes it from Israel, and does not force us to apply it to the Gentiles — though we ourselves now profit even more deeply during the gospel, by the grace of God known still more profoundly in Christ. But plainly the language as a whole belongs to a people once forsaken by God, and long under His displeasure. That is not true of the church. It fits the ancient people of God exactly, in the day when Messiah is shown to them.
The wording is not new. Israel had sung it once before, at the Red Sea.
Here Israel uses the words the people sang on the wilderness side of the Red Sea, after God saved them from the oppression and slavery of Egypt. Israel returns, as it were, to his first love, to the goodly words that marked him at the beginning. It is the same story in Isaiah 26 and in many of the Psalms: praise to the Lord from His redeemed people, when He delivers them from the enemy.
Verse 3 promises joy in drawing water. In the older translation used here it opens with "Therefore" — the joy rests on what verses 1 and 2 have already said. One writer lists those steps.
We notice the word, "Therefore with joy shall you draw," which assumes a certain condition of soul. This condition may be gathered from the first two verses of our chapter. So: (1) God is the soul's object; (2) His wrath is turned away; (3) He acts as comforter, and as a shield. (4) He is the soul's strength and its song; (5) and has become its salvation.
That order is not locked in the future. The same writer notes that what Israel will enjoy is offered to faith already: "drawing 'water out of the wells of salvation' may be with us a present joyous exercise."
- Anger. God's anger against His people was real and deserved. The song opens by naming it, not denying it.
- Turned. The whole change rests on one fact: the anger has been turned away. Everything the singer says next stands on that.
- Comfort. The God who was angry becomes the Comforter. He does not just stop punishing; He becomes their salvation.
- Song. The words are the Red Sea song sung again. A redeemed people return to their first love after God rescues them.
- Spread. The praise does not stay private. Their deliverance makes God's glory known in all the earth, with the Holy One of Israel among them.
Behold, God is my salvation I will trust, and not be afraid; for Jah, Jehovah, is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
The verse closes a song Israel has not yet sung. It belongs to a day when God's anger has turned away and He Himself has become their salvation. Drawing water raises three questions: whose wells are these? When do they open? Can anyone drink from them now?
A people already rescued sing this song. One writer names who sings it, and which name of God they use:
Here we have a song of praise and thanksgiving for their deliverance. "You will say" in verse 1 means Israel and no one else. God's anger has not only turned away and ceased, but He is their salvation. For all Israel in that day shall be saved. So with joy they draw water out of those inexhaustible wells and say Hallelujah. But it is Jah Jehovah, not the Father as we know Him now through the Lord Jesus.
What is drawn is not a benefit held apart from God. The song has already said that He has become their salvation, and the wells carry the same sense:
Salvation known and enjoyed is the main theme of the chapter — the keynote of the song. God Himself is that salvation. The heart seeks salvation, takes hold of it, and learns it. And for satisfaction in it, a person, not a thing, must be the object.
The joy is not worked up. Older translations open the verse with "Therefore," pointing back to verses 1 and 2:
Notice the words, "Therefore with joy you will draw." They assume a certain condition of soul. We can gather that condition from the first two verses of our chapter. So: (1) God is the soul's object; (2) His wrath is turned away; (3) He acts as comforter, and as a shield; (4) He is the soul's strength and its song; (5) and has become its salvation.
The Hebrew word here is not the ordinary word for a dug pit. It carries the idea of an opening in the ground that gives water of itself:
The word ayin differs from the other Hebrew words for wells. It means "an eye." It was like an eye in the ground from which the waters sprang up. It is not said to be dug, and yet it is called a "well."
Israel had met such wells once before, at a desert camp called Elim. One writer sees Elim behind this verse, then measures the difference:
If verses 1 and 2 remind us of Exodus 14 and 15, verse 3 recalls Elim, which is mentioned in the last verse of chapter 15. The Elim wells were very welcome and refreshing. But here is something far more wonderful, and Elim was only a faint picture of it. The salvation Israel will then receive will not only meet their needs in this life; it will also be spiritual and eternal.
One writer pictures the crowds at their feast, acting out this verse with water and golden vessels:
Their feast has come and is nearly gone. How useless all their celebration had been! How empty it was to draw up water in golden vessels and pour it out, reciting the prophet's words about Israel's millennial blessing: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." Sadly, they had no salvation, no water, no joy worth the name. Faced with an empty ritual, our Lord cries aloud. His words have found an echo in so many hearts: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink." Here we have not just the satisfaction of thirst, but rivers of living water flowing out from the once empty heart of man — now so full that it overflows with joy and carries refreshment to others. ... So it all looks forward to the gift of the Spirit, after redemption had been accomplished.
The verse looks ahead to Israel's day. Yet one writer presses it into the present:
Fruits of grace await Israel in such abundance in a future day. They are offered to faith now, though in higher measure and in a more blessed way... So it is plain that drawing "water out of the wells of salvation" may be for us a present joyous exercise.
So a dry soul is something to examine, not to accept:
It is a sad thing when believers get neither pleasure nor profit from the word of God, which opens the wells of salvation to us. When we lack joy in drawing water from them, it is clear something has gone wrong, and we ought to think it over. Waiting on God is the secret of strength; and the same, in a self-judging spirit, is the secret of discovering the cause of weakness.
- Therefore — the joy of verse 3 rests on verses 1–2: anger turned away, God as comforter, strength, song and salvation. Remove the cause and the drawing stops.
- Wells — the word pictures springs that open in the ground, not pits men dig. The supply rises on its own.
- Person — you draw God Himself as salvation, so satisfaction rests in someone, not in something.
- Empty vessels — at the feast men chanted this verse while pouring water, but they had no salvation. Christ answered by offering drink to anyone thirsty, and the one who drinks overflows to others.
- Now — the full song waits for Israel's day. Yet the wells stand open through the word of God, and joyless drawing is a signal to stop and examine.
And in that day shall ye say, Give ye thanks to Jehovah, call upon his name, declare his deeds among the peoples, make mention that his name is exalted.
Isaiah's opening section closes with a song for a coming day, sung by a people who once knew God's anger and now know His salvation. Verse 4 turns that relief outward and aims their voices at the nations.
The chapter divides at this verse. Before it, Israel spoke about itself. From here the singers turn to each other and to the world.
The song for "that day" closes this section of our prophet. It falls into two parts. The first (vv. 1-3) is Israel's praise for what God has been and is to itself. The second (vv. 4-6) is the call to one another to spread His praise in all the earth, though Zion is still the centre where God dwells.
The order matters. Those who call on God's name are already a rescued people. Telling the nations follows the rescue; it does not cause it.
First, we have here the restored nation calling upon the name of the Lord, and therefore saved. Second, the passage presents the proclamation of the name of Jehovah to the nations as an effect of this restoration and salvation. Earth is the scene of this chapter, and not heaven. The God of Israel is known in the middle of Zion, having returned there after His anger turned away.
One of the psalms opens with the same three commands. One writer sums up what they make of the people who obey them.
The psalm opens with a call to Israel to give thanks to the Lord; to call upon His name, and to make known His deeds among the peoples. So restored Israel are to be a praising people, a dependent people and a witnessing people.
Such witness rests on memory. What they tell the nations is what God has done.
To be witnesses among the peoples they must remember His marvellous works that He has done. They must remember the judgments of His mouth, and the judgments He has executed in all the earth.
The singers do not hope their news will travel. They sing as people who already know it has.
Jehovah's doings in restoring His ancient people are not only for Israel to celebrate. As they celebrate them, they speak as people who recognise that the whole earth knows them — "known in all the earth."
The verse ends with God's name exalted. He is the one who makes it known, and Israel is the means.
The effect of their deliverance is that His glory as the Eternal is known in all the earth. The Father is known in His family, not in all the earth as such, though by His children everywhere. But here it is the kingdom, and He is known as the Holy One of Israel in Zion. Jehovah reigns, and by Israel He makes Himself known in all the earth.
Some have read the chapter as a Christian hymn. Kelly argues the wording itself rules that out.
Every word fits the Jews once they are delivered and living under the Messiah's reign. Not a sentence fits the church of God. There is no God and Father of Christ before us. There is no Christ in heaven made known by the Holy Spirit's power in the saints. There is no sense of union in one body… here it is earth only that is in view.
Yet the chapter still speaks to readers now. One writer says the blessings in it are not locked in the future.
Fruits of grace which await Israel in such abundance in a future day are offered to faith now, in higher measure and in a more blessed way. Isaiah could only speak of these "things which God has prepared for those who love Him" as hidden. His Spirit now reveals them and ministers them to us for our comfort and support. It is plain therefore that drawing "water out of the wells of salvation" may be with us a present joyous exercise.
- Saved first. Calling on His name marks a people already rescued. The telling that follows is the effect of salvation, never its cause.
- Then sent. At verse 4 the song turns outward, from what God has been to Israel to a call to spread His praise everywhere.
- Three marks. A restored people become a praising people, a dependent people and a witnessing people. Witness rests on memory of what God has done.
- All the earth. Their deliverance spreads Jehovah's glory through all the earth. He reigns, and He makes Himself known through them.
- Earth, not heaven. Kelly says every word fits Israel under Messiah's reign. Another writer adds that the same wells are open to faith now.
Sing psalms of Jehovah, for he hath done excellent things this is known in all the earth.
Isaiah 12 is a short song. It closes a long stretch of prophecy about judgment and rescue, and verse 5 is its call to sing. Two questions follow. Who sings it, and how does one people's song reach the whole earth?
The chapter is not a stray hymn. It closes a long section, and that section follows a fixed pattern:
Isaiah 9:8 takes up again the punishments on Israel, with deliverance at the end (Isaiah 11 and 12), for there is always deliverance after judgment.
So the singers are people who have come through something. They receive this song at the end of the story, not the beginning.
The whole passage ends with a fitting song of praise (Isaiah 12) on the lips of Israel, now truly and for ever blessed by Jehovah, their Holy One among them.
The song has a reason behind it. The chapter's opening verses give it, and it is more than a rescue from enemies:
Chapter 12, the first song of redemption, shows this beautifully. The chapter before it predicts their regathering, and closely tied to that is their thankful response for the spiritual blessings they received. His anger has turned away; comfort has come at last. They sing and praise, for Jehovah has done excellent things.
The older translation reads "excellent things" here; the ESV has "he has done gloriously."
The verse commands singing, and singing has a cause. Praise is not a mood. It reports what God has done.
As it is in redemption that God comes to light, the first song in Scripture is the song of Moses and the people of Israel on the shore of the Red Sea. Their song simply celebrates Jehovah's triumph over the might of the enemy, and the people's confidence in Him as their Deliverer. He must be known before He can be praised, since praise sets out His excellencies, and those excellencies come into view in the work of redemption. So until He shows Himself as the Redeemer of a people, we have no singing in Scripture.
That explains the order of the verse: first "He has done gloriously," then the singing, then the spreading of it.
The last clause gives a national song a worldwide reach. Darby draws out how God is known here, and what this knowing does not cover:
The effect of their deliverance is that all the earth knows His glory as the Eternal (v. 5). His family knows Him as Father — not all the earth as such, though His children everywhere know Him so. But here the subject is the kingdom, and He is known as the Holy One of Israel in Zion. Jehovah reigns, and through Israel He makes Himself known in all the earth.
The singers know their song has listeners far beyond their own borders:
Jehovah's acts in restoring His ancient people are not only celebrated by them. As they celebrate, they are shown recognising that these acts are known everywhere — "known in all the earth."
Readers have long borrowed this hymn for the church. Kelly argues from the wording itself that it belongs to Israel:
This is certainly not a deliverance for this life only, however astonishing and complete; there are rich blessings for the soul as well. Best of all, the Holy One of Israel lives among them... But clearly the language as a whole belongs to a people once forsaken by God, and long under His displeasure. That is not true of the church. It fits the ancient people of God exactly, in the day when the Messiah is shown to them, and they say with heart and mouth, Blessed is He who comes in the name of Jehovah.
Kelly does not leave Christian readers without a song. He points them elsewhere for their own words:
As the church of God, we have the fullest ground, material, and pattern for our praise in the New Testament. And it differs deeply from Israel's. They do not speak of the Father and the Son, and they do not know what it is to draw near into the holiest place through the torn veil.
- Judgment first. The song comes at the close of the section. In this prophecy, deliverance always follows judgment, so Isaiah 11 and 12 end the story.
- Deed next. The chapter itself says what God has done: His anger turned away, comfort came, and spiritual blessing came with the regathering.
- Song follows. Praise sets out God's excellencies, and redemption is where they come into view. That is why the first song in Scripture waits until the Red Sea.
- Reach after that. One people's deliverance makes His glory known in all the earth. The singers know their song is not private.
- Right owner. The words fit a people once forsaken and long under God's displeasure. So Kelly holds them for Israel, and sends Christian readers to the New Testament for the ground of their own praise.
Cry out and shout, thou inhabitress of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
Isaiah 12 is a song of praise for a deliverance, and its last line is a command: shout. The reason is not a rescue or a victory but a Person — the Holy One of Israel, standing among His people.
The chapter is placed where it is on purpose. It follows the promise of Israel's restoration, and it answers that promise with praise that reaches past the borders of the nation.
Here we have a song of praise and thanksgiving for their deliverance. "You shall say," and so on (v. 1) means unmistakably Israel. God's anger has not only turned away and ceased, but He is their salvation (v. 2). For all Israel in that day shall be saved... The effect of their deliverance is that His glory as the Eternal is known in all the earth (v. 5)... But here it is the kingdom, and He is known as the Holy One of Israel in Zion. Jehovah reigns, and by Israel He makes Himself known in all the earth.
Commentators are careful about the addressee. The one called "inhabitant of Zion" is a people with a particular history behind them — a history of being under God's displeasure.
This is not only a rescue from earthly trouble, however astonishing and complete. There are rich blessings for the soul too. Best of all, the Holy One of Israel dwells in their midst. This does not take the promise away from Israel. It does not force us to apply it to the Gentiles either, though we now gain even more from it, because God's grace is known far more deeply in Christ. Still, the language as a whole clearly belongs to a people God once forsook and was long displeased with.
The song saves its best for last, and what it points to is not new. Israel had seen a picture of it once before.
Our short chapter ends with praise in view of what will be the very climax of their blessing — the "Holy One of Israel" in the midst of them. This was pictured long ago. After God redeemed them from Egypt, the Tabernacle stood in their midst with the cloud of glory resting on it. What God will bring to pass "in that day" will far exceed what happened under Moses.
The same title runs forward as well as backward, and it never softens as it goes.
To Israel the word ran, "great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel"; to the Christian the word is, God is found in "the holy places"; to the inhabitants of heaven, in the presence of God's throne and glory, the cry arises, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty." The triune God was, is, and ever will be the Holy One; and so, access to Him was, and is, and ever will be access to Him in His absolute holiness.
You might expect a holy God's nearness to produce fear. Instead the song overflows with joy, and one writer says what that joy proves.
In these songs of praise, the soul that has found rest in God's presence is full of the sense of His absolute holiness. But instead of this being an occasion for distance or fear, it is linked with overflowing joy. That joy on its own would prove a perfectly clear conscience — one freed from the burden of its sins. God has blotted those sins out completely, in a way that suits the nature of a holy and righteous God.
The command names one city, but the praise does not stop there. It travels to the nations, and it changes the singers too.
The inhabitant of Zion has the foremost place, and is called to cry aloud and shout, for great is the Holy One of Israel who dwells in its midst. But the Jews, blessed themselves to overflowing, are called too. They will answer that call. They will declare Jehovah's deeds among the peoples and announce that His name is exalted. All the earth learns what magnificent things He has done. Mercy so rich causes greed and jealousy, pride and vanity, to vanish.
Kelly holds that these words belong to Israel. Another writer agrees, and then points to how God works here — a way anyone who admits they are helpless can count on.
Are you one of these "poor in spirit"? Have you taken this place before God — a convicted sinner, powerless for good — and accepted His grace, which is offered to us in Christ? The blessing cannot fail. God reveals Himself as the redeemer. He comes into the midst of His people, as the Holy One, to bless them... God is showing the principle He acts on in His grace — the way He blesses according to His holy nature.
- Anger turned — the song begins with God's anger turned away. The shout at the end answers a rescue already given. It is praise, not a plea.
- Great in the midst — the high point of the blessing is where God stands: among His people. The Tabernacle once pictured this. What is coming will far surpass it.
- Holy, and near — His holiness does not hold the singer at a distance. It becomes part of the joy. Only a conscience cleared of sin can sing like that.
- Zion first, then the earth — the city shouts, and the news travels to the nations. Mercy this rich drives out greed, jealousy, pride and vanity.
- The principle stands — commentators hold that this language belongs to Israel. Yet God's way of working does not change. He comes as Redeemer to the poor in spirit, and the blessing cannot fail.