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3. You shall draw waters with joy. In this verse he confirms what we have already noticed, that this chapter may be regarded as a seal to confirm the promise which he gave about the redemption of his people. As if he had said, “The salvation of God hath been set before you, as if it were a constant running fountain, from which you can draw waters in abundance.” This is a very beautiful metaphor; for in this life nothing is more necessary than water, so that there is no kind of scarcity that gives us more uneasiness or more distress than a scarcity of water. Thus, by a figure of speech, in which a part is taken for the whole, he declares that everything necessary for supporting life flows to us from the undeserved goodness of God. And since we are empty and destitute of everything good, he appropriately compares the mercy of God to a fountain, which satisfies those who are thirsty and dry, refreshes those who are parched with heat, and revives those who are worn out with fatigue.

From the fountains of the Savior. ¹⁹⁵¹⁹⁵    {Bogus footnote} This word is more appropriate to this passage than if he had said, “from the fountains of God;” for it yields more consolation when we know that he is the author of our salvation, and therefore the Prophet has skilfully adapted this term to the situation in which it is placed. Now, if this promise includes the whole of Christ’s reign, we ought constantly to apply it to our use. Let us therefore know that the goodness of God is held out to us, that we may be satisfied with it; for we ought to be like a dry and thirsty land, as the Psalmist says, (Psalm 143:6,) that we may desire the waters of the Lord. This goodness of God is wonderful and beyond what could have been believed, that he does not suffer us to burn with unsatisfied desire, but presents a fountain from which we may draw abundantly. That fountain is Christ, in whom all God’s benefits are imparted to us; for out of his fullness, as John says, we all draw. (John 1:16.) It remains, therefore, that whenever we feel our want we go directly to him.

4. And in that day shall ye say. He now exhorts them not only to sing praise and give thanks to God individually, but to excite others to do the same. As he had formerly said, Many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up into the mountain of the Lord, (Isaiah 2:3,) that is, exciting each other by mutual exhortation to embrace the pure worship of God; so after having enjoined them individually to be thankful to God, he now also commands them mutually to excite each other to thanksgiving. He means that they ought to speak not to one, but to all, and not at one time only, but during their whole life.

Call upon his name. ¹⁹⁶¹⁹⁶    {Bogus footnote} He now gives a short description of the manner in which praise is properly rendered to God, when he enjoins us to

call upon him, that we may not glory in any other.
(Jeremiah 9:23,24.)

Hence also, by taking a part for the whole, (συνεκδοχικῶς,) Scripture frequently describes the whole of worship under the designation of calling upon God. In this way we show that our confidence is placed in God; and this is also what he chiefly demands from us. In like manner, I think that here the Prophet connects calling upon God with praises, in order to include the whole of the worship of God.

Make known his works among the peoples. ¹⁹⁷¹⁹⁷    {Bogus footnote} He means that the work of this deliverance will be so excellent, that it ought to be proclaimed, not in one corner only, but throughout the whole world. He wished, indeed, that it should be first made known to the Jews, but that it should afterwards spread abroad to all men. This exhortation, by which the Jews testified their gratitude, might be regarded as a forerunner of the preaching of the gospel, which afterwards followed in the proper order. As the Jews proclaimed among the Medes and Persians, and other neighboring nations, the favor which had been showed to them, so, when Christ was manifested, they ought to have been heralds to sound aloud the name of God through every country in the world. Hence it is evident what is the desire which ought to be cherished among all the godly. It is, that the goodness of God may be made known to all, that all may join in the same worship of God. We ought especially to be inflamed with this desire, after having been delivered from some alarming danger, and most of all after having been delivered from the tyranny of the devil and from everlasting death.