Isaiah 44:22

“I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins, &c.] Sins and transgressions are compared to clouds, for the number of them, they being many as the fleeting clouds of the air; and for the nature and quality of them: as clouds are vapours rising out of the earth and sea, so these arise out of the earthly and corrupt heart of man, which is as a troubled sea; and, like the clouds, they reach up to the heavens, and the cry of them calls aloud for vengeance from thence; they cause darkness, even all that darkness, both in unregeneracy, and after conversion; they intercept the light of God’s countenance, and interpose between God and the souls of men, and cause him…”

“blotted out--the debt of thy sin from the account-book in which it was entered (Exo 32:32-33; Rev 20:12). as a thick cloud--scattered away by the wind (Psa 103:12). as a cloud--a descending gradation. Not only the "thick cloud" of the heavier "transgressions," but the "cloud" ("vapor" [LOWTH], not so dense, but covering the sky as a mist) of the countless "sins." These latter, though not thought much of by man, need, as much as the former, to be cleared away by the Sun of righteousness; else they will be a mist separating us from heaven (Psa 19:12-13; Jo1 1:7-9). return . . . for--The antecedent redemption is the ground of, and motive to, repentance. We do not repent in order that He may…”

“I have blotted out - The word used here (מחח mâchâh), means properly “to wipe away,” and is often applied to sins, as if the account was wiped off, or as we express it, blotted out (Psalms 51:3, Psalms 51:11; see the note at Isaiah 43:25). The phrase, ‘to blot out sins like a cloud,’ however, is unusual, and the idea not very obvious. The true idea would be expressed by rendering it, ‘I have made them to vanish as a thick cloud;’ and the sense is, as the wind drives away a thick cloud, however dark and frowning it may be, so that the sky is clear and serene, so God had caused their sins to disappear, and had removed the storm of his anger. Nothing can more strikingly represent sin in its…”

“As a cloud - So that there is no remnant of it left. Isaiah 44:23”

“blotted: Isa 1:18, Isa 43:25; Neh 4:5; Psa 51:1, Psa 51:9, Psa 103:12, Psa 109:14; Jer 18:23, Jer 33:8; Act 3:19 as a thick: Job 37:11; Lam 3:42-44 return: Isa 1:27, Isa 43:1, Isa 48:20, Isa 51:11, Isa 59:20, Isa 59:21; Jer 3:1, Jer 3:12-14; Hos 14:1-4; Luk 1:73, Luk 1:74; Act 3:18, Act 3:19; Co1 6:20; Tit 2:12-14; Pe1 1:18, Pe1 1:19 Isaiah 44:23”