Isaiah 54:15

WEB

Behold, they may gather together, but not by me: whoever shall gather together against you shall fall because of you.

KJV

Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.

Commentary

Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me,.... Not by the Lord, by his command or order to do his will, and execute his pleasure, which sometimes was the case, as in Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, and others; but so it shall not be, when the enemies of Christ and his people gather together against them in the latter day; this will be by the means of th ree unclean spirits like frogs that will come out of the mouth of the dragon, beast, and false prophet; even spirits of devils, Popish priests, and Jesuits, who will instigate, stir up, and get together the antichristian kings of the earth to the battle of almighty God, Rev 16:14 . Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, interpret them of Gog and Magog: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake; because of the love that I bear to thee, they shall not succeed, or do thee any hurt, but shall perish; or, "shall fall to thee" (c); so far from doing thee any hurt, they shall come over to thee, and be on thy side; be joined to thee, as the Vulgate Latin version; that is, the remnant that shall escape, and be converted, and give glory to God, Rev 11:13 or rather, "shall fall before thee" (d), in thy sight; or, as the Targum, in the midst of thee; which remarkably paraphrases the words thus, "at the end the kings of the nations, which are gathered together to afflict thee, O Jerusalem, shall fall in the midst of thee;'' for the kings of the earth that shall be gathered together against Christ and his church shall fall in battle before them, and their flesh shall become meat for the fowls of the heaven; the beast and false prophet, in company with them, will be taken and cast alive into the lake of fire, and the remnant be slain with the sword of Christ, Rev 19:17 . (c) "ad te cadet", Cocceius. (d) "Cotam te cadet", Grotius, Gataker.