wretched in the full sense; for they harden themselves against the suffering, or seek to divert themselves in it; they do not take it fully to heart. The τῷ πνεύματι, "in their consciousness," which in Matthew is added to the simple πτωχοί, which alone we find in Luke, must be understood as a matter of course. He only is poor in the full sense, who feels and takes to heart his poverty. According to an interpretation widely spread, repenting sinners are designated [Pg 216] by the bent reed, and dimly burning wick. Thus Luther writes: "That means that the wounded conscience, those who are terrified at the sight of their sins, the weak in life and faith are not cast away by Him, are not oppressed and condemned, but that He cares for them, tends and nurses them, makes them whole and embraces them with love." But repenting sinners do not here come into consideration _per se_, but only as one species of the wretched, inasmuch as, according to Luther's expression, truly to feel sin is a torment beyond all torments.--The last words: "In truth shall He bring forth right" again take up the close of ver. 1, after the means have been stated, in the intervening words, by which He is to bring about the result. The לאמת must not be translated: "For truth" (LXX: εἰς ἀλήθειαν); for there is a thorough difference between ל and אל; the former does not, like the latter, designate the motion towards some object, but is rather, here also, a preposition signifying "belonging to;" hence לאמת means "belonging to truth," "in a true manner," "in truth." By every other mode of dealing, right would be established _in appearance_ and _outwardly_ only. Matthew renders it: ἕως ἂν ἐκβάλῃ εἰς νῖκος τὴν κρίσιν, "until He has led right to victory." By the addition of ἕως he intimates, that the last words state the result which is brought about by the conduct of the Servant of God described in the preceding words. Εἰς νῖκος is a free translation of לאמת; κρίσις is "right," as in chap. xxiii. 23.--How objectionable and untenable all the non-Messianic explanations are, appears very clearly in this verse. If Israel were the Servant of God, then the _Gentile world_ must be represented by the bent reed and dimly burning wick. But in that case, we must have recourse to such arbitrary interpretations as, _e.g._, that given by _Köster_: "The weak faith and imperfect knowledge of the Gentiles." No weak faith, no imperfect knowledge, however, is spoken of; but the Servant of God appears as a Saviour of the poor and afflicted, of those broken by sufferings. Those who, by the Servant of God, understand the better portion of the people, or the prophetic order, speak of "the meek spirit of the mode of teaching, which does not by any means altogether crush the sinner already brought low, but, in a gentle, affectionate manner, raises him up," (_Umbreit_); or say with _Knobel_: "These poor and afflicted He does not [Pg 217] humble still more by hard,