Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 42:22

"But this is a people robbed and plundered; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison-houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore." — Isaiah 42:22 (ASV)

But this is a people robbed and spoiled ... — It is hard to say whether the prophet contemplates the state of the exiles in Babylon, or sees far off yet another exile, following a second and more fatal falling away from the true ideal.

None delivers ... none says, Restore. — The tone of despondency seems to come in strangely after the glorious promise of deliverance. On the whole, therefore, the second view seems the more probable; and, taken this way, the verse finds its best commentary in Romans 9–11, which is permeated through and through with the thoughts of 2 Isaiah. The “holes” are, primarily, rock-caves, used, not as places of refuge (Isaiah 2:19), but as dungeons.