Isaiah 51:17 - Exposition

Awake, awake (comp. Isaiah 51:9 and Isaiah 52:1 ). Isaiah marks the breaks in his prophecy, sometimes by a repetition of terminal clauses, which have the effect of a refrain ( Isaiah 5:25 ; Isaiah 9:12 , Isaiah 9:17 , Isaiah 9:21 ; Isaiah 10:4 ; and Isaiah 48:22 ; Isaiah 57:21 ); sometimes by a repetition of initial clauses of a striking character ( Isaiah 5:8 , Isaiah 5:11 , Isaiah 5:20 ; Isaiah 13:1 ; Isaiah 15:1 ; Isaiah 17:1 ; Isaiah 19:1 ; Isaiah 21:1 , Isaiah 21:11 ; Isaiah 22:1 ; Isaiah 23:1 ; Isaiah 28:1 ; Isaiah 29:1 ; Isaiah 30:1 ; Isaiah 31:1 ; Isaiah 33:1 ; Isaiah 48:1 , Isaiah 48:12 , Isaiah 48:16 ; Isaiah 50:4 , Isaiah 50:7 , Isaiah 50:9 , etc.). Here we have thrice over "Awake, awake"—not, however, an exact repetition in the Hebrew, but a near approach to it each summons forming the commencement of a new paragraph or subsection . Which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. The cup of God's fury was poured out on Jerusalem when the city was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, the temple, the royal palace, and the houses of the nobles burnt ( 2 Kings 25:9 ), the walls broken down ( 2 Kings 25:10 ), and the bulk of the inhabitants carried away captive to Babylon. "The cup of God's fury" is an expression used by Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 25:15 ). The dregs of the cup; rather, perhaps, the goblet-cup (Cheyne), or the out-swollen cup. It is the fulness of the measure of Jerusalem's punishment, not its character, which is pointed at.