Isaiah 60:4

Lift up thine eyes round about, and see,.... The Gentiles and kings coming to Christ and his church; the vast number of converts flocking from all parts of the world to join themselves to the church

Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Lift up thine eyes round about.

Lift up thine eyes round abrupt; or in a circle; into all parts of the earth: it seems to relate to the apostles and disciples, with their successors, carrying the gospel into all parts of the world. And in regard it would be as it were a thing incredible, he bids them lift up their eyes, as if they were to behold it in some vision, or upon some watch tower in Jerusalem: there is the like expression . All they gather themselves together: he speaks more particularly, either of the Jews flocking from all parts to Jerusalem, when they shall hear of their return from Babylon, which may be true in the type; or especially, of the coming in of some of all nations to the gospel. Thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side; the same thing, only for elegancy’ sake expressed in its parts; the sense respects both persons and place; as to persons, Thy sons and thy daughters also shall be brought unto thee tenderly, as it were in arms, , where by thy side, by equivalent expressions of arms, bosoms, and shoulders, is supplied with reference to them both, and may import they shall be brought unto the church of Christ as unto their mother; and it may be further observed, that where the masculine gender is joined with the feminine of the same species, it notes multitude and variety, as , men singers and women singers, i.e. all sorts and variety of vocal music: and as to place, Both thy sons and thy daughters that are not only near, but also afar off, shall come to thee, as we say, far and near, ; or it is the same with what was said before, round about in all quarters of the world; from far noting the longitude, and ad latus, at or on thy side, the latitude, and even those that perhaps were before at enmity one with another.

Isaiah 60:4 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at [thy] side.Ver. 4. Lift up thine eyes.] As from a watchtower; for so Zion signifieth. All they gather themselves together, &c.] See Isaiah 49:18. Thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.] Like sucking children, they shall suck, and be satisfied. The Vulgate version here hath surgent for sugent; as it hath unus de similibus for unus e millibus and evertit for everrit with other such gross mistakes not a few.

(4) Lift up thine eyes . . .—Repeated from Isaiah 49:18. Thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side . . .—Asin Isaiah 66:12, the words point to the Eastern custom of carrying young children on the hip of their mother, with their arms clasped round her waist.

Verse 4. Shall be nursed at thy side - "Shall be carried at the side."] For תאמנה teamanah, shall be nursed, the Septuagint and Chaldee read תנשאנה tinnasenah, shall be carried. A MS. has על כתף תנשאנה al catheph tinnasenah, "shall be carried on the shoulder;" instead of על צד תאמנה al tsad teamanah, "shall be nursed on the side." Another MS. has both כתף catheph and צד tsad. Another MS. has it thus: תאמנה:תנשאנה tinnasenah : teamanah, with a line drawn over the first word. Sir John Chardin says that it is the general custom in the east to carry their children astride upon the hip with the arm round their body. His MS. note on this place is as follows: - Coutume en Orient de porter les enfans sur le coste a; califourchon sur la hanche: cette facon est generale aux Indes; les enfans se tiennent comme cela, et la personne qui les porte les embrasse et serre par le corps; parceque sont (ni) emmaillottes, ni en robes qui les embrassent. "In the east it is the custom to carry the children on the haunch, with the legs astride. This is the general custom in India. The children support themselves in this way, and the arm of the nurse goes round the body and presses the child close to the side; and this they can easily do, as the children are not swathed, nor encumbered with clothes." Non brachiis occidentalium more, sed humeris, divaricatis tibiis, impositos circumferunt. "They carry them about, not in their arms after the manner of the western nations, but on their shoulders; the children being placed astride." Cotovic. Iter. Syr. cap. xiv. This last quotation seems to favour the reading על כתף al catheph, on the shoulder, as the Septuagint likewise do: but upon the whole I think that על צד תנשאנה al tsad tinnasenah is the true reading, which the Chaldee favours; and I have accordingly followed it. See Isaiah 66:12. - L. This mode of carrying children is as common in India as carrying them in the arms is in Europe.

4, 5. In this and the two following strophes two things are closely associated: the restoration of Zion’s banished children, and the influx of wealth from all parts of the world. The first half of Isa 60:4 is repeated literally from ch. Isaiah 49:18.

Lift up thine eyes - Jerusalem is here addressed as a female with eyes cast down from grief. She is directed to lift them up, and to see the great multitudes that were flocking to her.

4. Lift up thine eyes — Zion is directed to look about her, and see the crowds approaching from afar. The crowds consist of dispersed Jews, thy sons; and more numerously of heathen as well.