John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 51:22

"Thus saith thy Lord Jehovah, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath; thou shalt no more drink it again:" — Isaiah 51:22 (ASV)

Thus says Jehovah. Not at random does the Prophet add three epithets to the name Jehovah: namely, that he is the Lord or Defender of his Church, that he is God, and lastly, that he is her Avenger. We ought always to consider the nature of our relation to God, for he addresses us in a familiar manner because he once chose us to be his people, uniting himself to us in an everlasting covenant.

This preface encouraged the Jews in ancient times not to hesitate to embrace what is promised here. At the present day, the same argument applies to a new people, who have been taken under God’s care and protection no less than them. The Lord declares himself to hold the office of an “Avenger,” so that when we are threatened with the most alarming dangers, and when it appears as if all were over with us, we may turn to this anchor: that God is the “Avenger” of his people. This ought to support us, not only when we are assailed by outward enemies but also when we are assailed by Satan.

Behold, I have taken from your hand. He holds out the ground of hope, for it is only by temporary stripes that the Lord chastises his Church. Hence also the Jews ought to learn that all the calamities to which they were subjected were the just reward of their transgressions, for those calamities would never come to an end except through their reconciliation with God. The general meaning is that the Lord’s wrath will be appeased, so that he will restrain and bring to a close the chastisements he had formerly inflicted on his Church.

The cup of your affliction, or, the cup of your trembling. We have already spoken of the metaphor of “the cup;” and the explanation of it which we gave is fully confirmed by this passage, in which God calls it “the cup of his indignation,” though it had made the Church to tremble, as if she had been seized with giddiness. Yet it is the same word which he formerly used, תרעלה (targnelah,) which some translate as “anguish,” and others as “trembling.” By dregs, as I have said, he means the full measure of vengeance with which God is satisfied on account of his fatherly kindness.