You will seek them but will not find them. Those who wage war against you will come to nothing.
12. Thou shalt seek them. That is, if thou seek them; for enemies are not sought, when they have been put to flight; and therefore I think that this future ought to be rendered as a subjunctive, “If thou seek them, thou shalt not find them; for they shall be destroyed and reduced to nothing.” Here it ought to be observed that he describes two...
The scope of these verses is to silence the fears, and encourage the faith, of the servants of God in their distresses. Perhaps it is intended, in the first place, for the support of God's Israel, in captivity; but all that faithfully serve God through patience and comfort of this scripture may have hope.
Commenting on Isaiah 41:10-20
They not existing, or being fled into holes and corners, to rocks and mountains, to hide themselves from the wrath of the Lamb, Rev 6:15, even them that contended with thee; or, "the men of thy contention" (p); who contended with them, not by words and arguments, but by severe persecutions, striving thereby to hinder the progress of the Gospel, and to root Christianity out...