Ver. 8. Witnesses. The history of the true religion is its best proof. C. xliii. 9. 10. --- Known. Ruled, consequently no other can be truly God. C. --- Idolaters are foolish, trusting in those who cannot announce future events. W.

Ver. 9. Ashamed of the origin and imbecility of their idols. C. --- All this may be turned against heretics, who worship their own fictions; which the Church never does. S. Jer. W.

Ver. 12. File. Heb. mahatsad, (H. Jer. x. 3.) "to make an ax, with," &c. This is the remote cause of the idol.

Ver. 13. Man. To be styled afterwards a god. C. --- Maluit esse deum. Hor. i. ser. 8.

Ver. 18. Covered. Sept. "darkened." Are Catholics in the same predicament? C. xl. 18. H.

Ver. 20. Lie. Can I assert in conscience that it is a god?

Ver. 22. Return from captivity, (C.) and from their former errors. Mat. xi. 26. H.

Ver. 25. Mad. That people may be no longer deluded.

Ver. 26. Servant. The prophets and Jesus Christ, whose works never fail. Mat. xxiv. 35. C. --- In all this prediction of the Church, Isaias alludes to Jerusalem destroyed, and afterwards rebuilt. W.

Ver. 27. Deep. Babylon, situated amid waters. C. xxi. 1. C. --- Rivers, as Cyrus did. Herod. i. 191.

Ver. 28. Cyrus. This was spoken 110 years before his birth, which shews the prescience and power of God, so as not to injure free-will. The parents of Cyrus could not give him this name to fulfill the prediction, as they knew nothing of it. Amon was apprised that a person called Josias would overturn idolatry; but he had no reason to suppose that it would be his son. 1 K. xiii. 2. --- My shepherd. Chal. "that he shall reign." This was shewn by the Jews to Cyrus, on which account, (C.) he gave them leave to return, &c. Joseph. xi. 1. --- The title of shepherd is given to Agamemnon by Homer, and it denotes a good prince, such as historians represent Cyrus to have been. He observed that kings and shepherds had the like duties to perform; (Xenoph. viii.) and after his death he was bewailed as a "father." Herod. iii. 89. --- At first he did not bear the name of Cyrus, (Herod. i. 113.) which in the Persian language means "the sun." Ctesias. Plut.