Isaiah 65:21

And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) They shall build houses . . .—The proverbial type of national security and peace, as the opposite was of national misfortune (Leviticus 26:16; Deuteronomy 28:30).

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 65:21-23. They shall build houses and inhabit them — The prophet here describes another privilege of the church in these happy days. They shall enjoy blessings the very reverse of the curses denounced on the disobedient, Deuteronomy 28:30. They shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. See note on Isaiah 62:8. They shall not plant and another eat — Which might happen, either through their enemies seizing the fruits of the trees they planted, or through their own premature death before those fruits were brought to perfection. For as the days of a tree are the days of my people — Not like the fading of a leaf, to which our present frail state is often compared, but their age shall equal the duration of the trees planted by them; yea, of the oaks, the most long-lived of trees, supposed to last about a thousand years, being five hundred years growing to full perfection, and as many decaying; “which,” says Bishop Lowth, “seems to be a moderate and probable computation.” The LXX. translate this clause, γαρ τας ημερας του ξυλου της ζωης εσυνται αι ημεραι του λαου μου; As the days of the tree of life shall be the days of my people. They shall not labour in vain — As those do who do not enjoy the fruit of their labour; nor bring forth — Beget and bring forth children; for trouble — Those that shall give them trouble by their bad conduct, or by the poverty and misery in which they shall be involved; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, &c. — There is a blessing entailed upon them by descent from their ancestors, which their offspring with them shall partake of; who shall be a comfort to them, and whom they shall have the happiness to see walking in the truth.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

65:17-25 In the grace and comfort believers have in and from Christ, we are to look for this new heaven and new earth. The former confusions, sins and miseries of the human race, shall be no more remembered or renewed. The approaching happy state of the church is described under a variety of images. He shall be thought to die in his youth, and for his sins, who only lives to the age of a hundred years. The event alone can determine what is meant; but it is plain that Christianity, if universal, would so do away violence and evil, as greatly to lengthen life. In those happy days, all God's people shall enjoy the fruit of their labours. Nor will children then be the trouble of their parents, or suffer trouble themselves. The evil dispositions of sinners shall be completely moritified; all shall live in harmony. Thus the church on earth shall be full of happiness, like heaven. This prophecy assures the servants of Christ, that the time approaches, wherein they shall be blessed with the undisturbed enjoyment of all that is needful for their happiness. As workers together with God, let us attend his ordinances, and obey his commands.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And they shall build houses - (See the notes at Isaiah 62:8-9).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. (See on [875]Isa 62:8; Am 9:14).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The quite contrary to what is said of the slothful man, Proverbs 12:27: see Job 27:13-17.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they shall build houses, and inhabit them,.... In Jerusalem, and other parts of Judea: though this need not be limited to the Jews, but be considered as reaching to all the Lord's people, the Gentiles also; who will be in no fear of enemies, or ever be disturbed by them, but shall dwell in their own houses peaceably and quietly; this is the reverse of what is threatened to the wicked, Deuteronomy 28:30,

and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them; they shall both live to dwell in their houses when built, and till their vineyards bring forth fruit, and then eat of them; and they shall be preserved from enemies breaking in upon them, and wasting their plantations.

Geneva Study Bible

And they shall {b} build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

(b) He proposes to the faithful the blessings which are contained in the law, and so under temporal things comprehends the spiritual promises.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21, 22. In consequence of this extension of the term of life, each man shall enjoy the fruit of his own labour (cf. Deuteronomy 28:30). The idea is therefore somewhat different from that of ch. Isaiah 62:8-9.

as the days of a tree] Cf. Psalm 92:12-13.

mine elect (= my chosen, Isaiah 65:15) shall long enjoy &c.] lit. “shall wear out,” “use up” (Job 21:13).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - They shall build houses, and inhabit them. The curse pronounced on apostasy in Deuteronomy 28:30 shall no more rest on God's people. They shall have the fruition of their labours. No enemy shall be able to deprive them of their crops and houses. Isaiah 65:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In the place of the threatened curses of the law in Leviticus 26:16 (cf., Deuteronomy 28:30), the very opposite will now receive their fullest realization. "And they will build houses and inhabit them, and plant vineyards and enjoy the fruit thereof. They will not build and another inhabit, nor plant and another enjoy; for like the days of trees are the days of my people, ad my chosen ones will consume the work of their hands. They will not weary themselves in vain, nor bring forth for sudden disaster; for they are a family of the blessed of Jehovah, and their offspring are left to them." They themselves will enjoy what they have worked for, without some one else stepping in, whether a countryman by violence or inheritance, or a foreigner by plunder or conquest (Isaiah 62:8), to take possession of that which they have built and planted (read יטעוּ without dagesh); for the duration of their life will be as great as that of trees (i.e., of oaks, terebinths, and cedars, which live for centuries), and thus they will be able thoroughly to enjoy in their own person what their hands have made. Billâh does not mean merely to use and enjoy, but to use up and consume. Work and generation will be blessed then, and there will be no more disappointed hopes. They will not weary themselves (יגעוּ with a preformative י without that of the root) for failure, not get children labbehâlâh, i.e., for some calamity to fall suddenly upon them and carry them away (Leviticus 26:16, cf., Psalm 78:33). The primary idea of bâhal is either acting, permitting, or bearing, with the characteristic of being let loose, of suddenness, of overthrow, or of throwing into confusion. The lxx renders it εἰς κατάραν, probably according to the Egypto-Jewish usage, in which behâlâh may have signified cursing, like bahle, buhle in the Arabic (see the Appendices). The two clauses of the explanation which follows stand in a reciprocal relation to the two clauses of the previous promise. They are a family of the blessed of God, upon whose labour the blessing of God rests, and their offspring are with them, without being lost to them by premature death. This is the true meaning, as in Job 21:8, and not "their offspring with them," i.e., in like manner, as Hitzig supposes.