Isaiah 49:9 That you may say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways… This is part of the prophet's glowing description of the return of the captives, under the figure of a flock fed by a great shepherd. We have seen a flock of sheep driven along a road; some of them hastily trying to snatch a mouthful from the dusty grass by the wayside. Little can they get there; they have to wait until they reach some green pasture in which they can be folded. This flock shall "feed in the ways"; as they go they will find nourishment. That is not all; the top of the mountains is not the place where grass grows. There are bare, savage cliffs, from which every particle of soil has been washed by furious torrents, or the scanty vegetation has been burnt up by the fierce "sunbeams like swords." There the wild deer and the ravens live, the sheep feed down in the valleys. But "their pasture shall be in all high places." The literal rendering is even more emphatic: "Their pasture shall be in all bare heights" where a sudden verdure springs to feed them according to their need. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. |
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