384. and corroborated by experience, even as to methods - that is, they would be held as captives by the devil. From that captivity they were freed only by the Messiah, for which reason it is said, "to bring out from the prison him who is bound".* The like is meant by the words, "from the prison house, those sitting in darkness." The prison is connected with the "pit" in Ch. 24:22. 7883. ....[Is. 42:] verse 25. In the innermost sense of this verse, the people of God is meant, and that they were punished in this way; but the punishment did not go so far that [this people] perished. For it soon follows, in the first verse of the next Chapter, that they were rescued and brought back, or redeemed. But in the highest sense, the Messiah is meant, and that He endured all the anger of Jehovah, and thus suffered for the human race. This also comes out clearly in the words of the next verse. *KJV has "the prisoners."