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The people threatened for

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to the rebellious chil- and their treasures upon the A. M. cir. 3291. dren, saith the LORD, that bunches of camels, to a people Olymp. XVI. 4. Numa Pompilii, take counsel, but not of me; and that shall not profit them. that cover with a covering, but 7 For the Egyptians shall not of my spirit, that they may add sin to help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, "Their strength is to sit still.

sin:

2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

3. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

8 Now go, "write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever :

9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:

4 For his princes were at Zoan, and his 10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to ambassadors came to Hanes.

5 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses,

Chap. xxix. 15. Deut. xxix. 19.- Chap. xxxi. 1. 4 Num, xxvi. 21; Josh. ix. 14; 1 Kings xxii. 7; Jer. xxi. 2; xlii. 2, 20- Chap. xx. 5; Jer. xxxvii. 5, 7.—Chap. xix. 11. Jer. n. 36 —— Ch. lvii. 9; Hos. viii. 9; xii. 1.—Deut. viii. 15.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXX.

Verse 1. And that cover with a covering—" Who ratify covenants"] Heb. “Who pour out a libation." Sacrifice and libation were ceremonies constantly used, in ancient times by most nations in the ratifying of: covenants: a libation therefore is used for a covenant, as in Greek the word woven, for the same reason, stands for both. This seems to be the most easy explication of the Hebrew phrase, and it has the authority of the Septuagint, stundars divdyxag.

Verse 4. Hanes] Six MSS. of Kemnicott's, and perhaps six others, with four of De Rossi's, read Dan chunnam, in rain, for 0271 Hanes; and so also the Septuagint, who read likewise yr pageu, laboured, for U'D Megm, arrived at.

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the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:

* Jer. xxxvii. 7.—Or, to her.-
• Hab. ii. 2.——— Heb. the latter day.

Ver. 15; chap. vii. 4. Deut. xxxii. 20; chap. i. 4; ver. 1. - Jer. xi. 21; Amos ii. 12; vii 13; Mic. ii. 6. 1 Kings xxii. 13; Mic. ii. 11.————— Or, fraud.

land of distress and difficulty"] The same deserts are here spoken of which the Israelites passed through when they came out of Egypt, which Moses describes, Deut. viii. 15, as that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought; where there was no water." And which was designed to be a kind of barrier between them and Egypt, of which the Lord had said, “Ye shall henceforth return no more that way," Deut. xvii. 16.

Shall not profit them] A MS. adds in the margin the word 159 lame, them, which seems to have been lost out of the text: it is authorized by the Septuagint and Vuigate.

Verse 7. Their strength is to sit still—“ Rahab the Inactive." The two last words, now on hem shabeth, joined into one, make the participle pihel nawon hammeshabbeth. I find the learned Professor Doederlein, in his version of Isaiah, and note on this place, has given the same conjecture; which he speaks of as having been formerly published by him. A concur rence of different persons in the same conjecture adds

Verse 5. Were-ashamed] Eight MSS. (one ancient) of Kemnosti's, and ten of De Rossi's, read y`271 hobish, without & aleph. So the Chaidee and Vulgate. But a shame But proved even a share"] Four MSS. (three ancient) after 2 ki, add DN 1mm, wmirss, which seems wanted to complete the phrase in its usual form. ; Verse 6. The burden] 2292 massa seems here to be to it a greater degree of probability. taken in its proper sense; the lead, not the oracle. } The same subject is continued; and there seems to be no place here for a new title to a distinct propheer.

Does not Ave of the Arasts of the South in this place relate to the presente sent by Hoshea king of Tarael to the Souch to Bazypt, which lay south of Ju dea, to engage the Egyptians to succour him against

the king of Asaya!

far the land of trundle and angwick - Through a

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Verse 8. For ever and ever—“ For a testimony for ever"]" leed. So the Syriac, Chaidee, Vulgate, and Septuagint, in MSS. Pachom, and 1. D. 11. ng pagregion, which two words have been lost out of the other copies of the Septuagint.

Verse 19. In empression—” In obliquity"] appl Alved, transposing the two last letters of po bevarded, an approrom, which seems not to belong to this place: a very probable conjecture of Houbigant, s

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14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a shred to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

15 For thus saith the Lord GoD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. 16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee

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till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.

and favour.

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18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

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Psa. Ixii. 3. Chap. xxix. 5.- Psa. ii. 9; Jer. xix. 11. a Or, a tree bereft of branches or boughs; or, a mast. b Psa. wHeb. the bottle of potters. Ver. 7; chap. vii. 4.—y Matt. ii. 12; xxxiv. 8; Prov. xvi. 20; Jer. xvii. 7.- - Chap. lxv. 9. xxiii. 37. Rev. xxvi. 8; Deut. xxviii. 25; xxxii. 30; Josh.d1 Kings xxii. 27; Psa. cxxvii. 2.- Or, oppression. xxiii. 10. lxxiv. 9; Amos viii. 11.

Verse 13. Swelling out in a high wall—“ A swelling in a high wall"]It has been observed before, that the buildings of Asia generally consist of little better than what we call mud walls. "All the houses at Ispahan," says Thevenot, Vol. II., p. 159, "are built of bricks made of clay and straw, and dried in the sun; and covered with a plaster made of a fine white stone. In other places in Persia the houses are built with nothing else but such bricks, made with tempered clay and chopped straw, well mingled together, and dried in the sun, and then used: but the least rain dissolves them." Sir John Chardin's MS. remark on this place of Isaiah is very apposite: Murs en Asie etant faits de terré se fendent ainsi par milieu et de haut en bas. "The walls in Asia being made of earth often cleave from top to bottom.” This shows clearly how obvious and expressive the image is. The psalmist has in the same manner made use of it, to express sudden and utter destruction:-

"Ye shall be slain all of you;

Ye shall be like an inclining wall, like a shattered

fence."

Psa. lxii. 4. Verse 14. He shall not spare—“And spareth it not"] Five MSS. add the conjunction vau to the negative; velo.

Verse 17. At the rebuke of five shall ye flee-" At the rebuke of five, ten thousand of you shall flee"] In the second line of this verse a word is manifestly omitted, which should answer to one thousand in the first the Septuagint supply woλλ01, rabbim. But the true word is na rebabah, as I am persuaded any one will be convinced, who will compare the following passages with this place ;

Psa.

"How should one chase a thousand;
And two put ten thousand (2) to flight?"
Deut. xxxii. 30..
“And five of you shall chase a hundred ;
And a hundred of you shall chase (n) ten
thousand."
Lev. xxvi. 8.

Verse 18. And therefore will he be exalted—" Even for this shall he expect in silence"] For D yarum, he shall be exalted, which belongs not to this place, Houbigant reads DIT' yadum, he shall be silent: and so it seems to be in a MS. Another MS. instead of it The mistakes ocreads a yashub, he shall return. casioned by the similitude of the letters daleth and resh are very frequent, as the reader may have already observed.

Verse 19. For the people shall dwell in Zion"When a holy people shall dwell in Sion"] Aaos ayos, Septuagint; p by am kadosh. The word p kadosh, lost out of the text, but happily supplied by the Septuagint, clears up the sense, otherwise extremely obscure. When the rest of the cities of the land were taken by the king of Assyria, Zion was preserved, and all that were in it.

Thou shalt weep no more-"Thou shalt implore him with weeping"] The negative particle & lo is not acknowledged by the Septuagint. It may perhaps have been written by mistake for 1 lo, to him, of which there are many examples.

Verse 20. Though the Lord-"Though JEHOVAH"] For Adonai, sixteen MSS. and three editions have in Yehovah; many of De Rossi's have the same reading; all my own haven Yehovah.

Verse 21. When ye turn to the right hand, and

Promises of restoration

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ISAIAH.

when ye turn to the right hand,
and when ye turn to the left.

22h Ye shall defile also the R. Roman., 3. covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.

24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat a clean ° provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every a high hill, rivers

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Verse 22. Ye shall defile-" Ye shall treat as defiled"] The very prohibition of Moses, Deut. vii. 25, only thrown out of the prose into the poetical form: "The graven images of their gods ye shall burn with fire thou shalt not desire the silver or the gold that is on them; nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to JEHOVAH thy God." Verse 25. When the towers fall-"When the mighty fall."] Drɔ migdalim, peyaλovs, Sym.; peyaλuvoμevous, Aquila; ' rabrebin, Chald.; all signifying mighty ones.

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and streams of waters in the
day of the great slaughter, when
the towers fall. . `-

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26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

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27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

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Kimchi says it is for lehaniph. Houbigant supposes it to be a mistake, and shows the cause of it; the joining it to the he, which should begin the following word,

להניף הגוים The true reading is

lehaniph haggoyim, "to sift the nations."

The Vulgate seems to be the only one of the ancient interpreters who has explained rightly the sense; but he has dropped the image: ad perdendas gentes in nihilum, "to reduce the nations to nothing." Kimchi's explanation is to the following effect: “79) naphah is a van with which they winnow corn; and its use is to cleanse the corn from the chaff and straw: but the van with which God will winnow the nations will be the van of emptiness or perdition; for nothing useful shall remain behind, but all shall come to nothing, and Verse 26. Shall be sevenfold] The text adds perish. In like manner, a bridle is designed to guide ''n nya keor shibath haiyamayim, as the light the horse in the right way; but the bridle which God of seven days," a manifest gloss, taken in from the will put in the jaws of the people shall not direct them margin; it is not in most of the copies of the Septua- aright, but shall make them err, and lead them into gint. It interrupts the rhythmical construction, and destruction." This latter image the prophet has apobscures the sense by a false, or at least an unneces-plied to the same subject afterwards, ch, xxxvii. 29:— sary, interpretation.

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By moon, sun, light, are to be understood the abun-"I will put my bridle in thy jaws, dance of spiritual and temporal felicity, with which God should bless them in the days of the Messiah, which should be sevenfold, i. e., vastly exceed all that they had ever before possessed.

Verse 27. And the burden thereof is heavy-" And the flame raged violently"] ND massaah; this word seems to be rightly rendered in our translation, the flame, Judg. xx. 38, 40, &c.; a sign of fire, Jer. vi. 1; called properly masseeth, an elevation, from its tending upwards.

Verse 28. To sift the nations with a sieve of vanity "To toss the nations with the van of perdition"] The word na lahanaphah is in its form very irregu

And turn thee back by the way in which thou camest." And as for the former it is to be observed, that the van of the ancients was a large instrument, somewhat like a shovel, with a long handle, with which they tossed the corn mixed with the chaff and chopped straw into the air, that the wind might separate them. See Hammond on Matt. iii. 12.

There shall be a bridle in the jaws] A metaphor taken from a headstrong, unruly horse: the bridle checks, restrains, and directs him. What the true God does in restraining sinners, has been also attributed to the false gods of the heathen. Thus Eschylus, Prom, Vinct. 691

Destruction of the

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29 Ye shall have a song, as the Assyrian-be beaten down,

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Olymp. XVI, 4. in the night when a holy solem-
Numa Pompilii, nity is kept; and gladness of
R. Roman., 3. heart, as when one goeth with
a pipe to come into the mountain of the
LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.

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30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. 31 For through the voice of the LORD shall

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which smote with a rod.

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32 And in every place where Numa Pompilii, the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps and in battles of

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bedah, virgo domans, vel subjectionis,—" the taming rod, or rod of subjection."

With tabrets and harps] With every demonstration

"But the bridle of Jupiter violently constrained him to of joy and thanksgiving for the destruction of the ene

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Verse 30. The Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard] Kimchi understands this of the great destruction of the Assyrian host by the angel of the Lord. Instead of yi bezaaph ats, "with swift anger," five of Dr. Kennicott's MSS. and one of my own, read

Dyi bezaam aph, "with detestation indignant." For 7 ats, "swift," which is the common reading, forty-two of Kennicott's, forty-three of De Rossi's, and two of my own, have aph, "wrath or fury." The former reading, fats, is not found in any Bible previously to that of Van der Hooght, in 1705; and there it seems to be a typographical mistake.

my in so wonderful a manner with hymns of praise, accompanied with musical instruments. See ver. 29.

With it—“ Against them."] For na bah, against her, fifty-two MSS. and five editions read □ bam, against them.

Verse 33. For Tophet is ordained] Tophet is a valley very near to Jerusalem, to the south-east, called also the valley of Hinnom or Gehenna; where the Canaanites, and afterwards the Israelites, sacrificed their children, by making them pass through the fire, that is, by burning them in the fire, to Molech, as some suppose. It is therefore used for a place of punishment by fire; and by our blessed Saviour in the Gospel for hell-fire, as the Jews themselves had applied it. See Chald. on Isa. xxxiii. 14, where by pin

Verse 31. Which smote with a rod" He that was ready to smite with his staff"] "Post ashshur, forte excidit washer."SEOKER. After mokedey olam is rendered “the Gehenna of everlasting ashshur, probably washer, "which," has been omitted.

fire." Here the place where the Assyrian army was destroyed is called Tophet by a metonymy; for the Assyrian army was destroyed probably at a greater distance from Jerusalem, and quite on the opposite side of it: for Nob is mentioned as the last station, from which the king of Assyria should threaten Jerusalem, chap. x. 32, where the prophet seems to have given a very exact chorographical description of his march in order to deshue-attack the city; which however he never reached.-L.

Verse 32. The grounded staff—" The rod of his correction"] For 10 musadah, the grounded staff, of which no one yet has been able to make any tolerable sense, Le Clerc conjectured in musarah, of correction; (see Prov. xxii. 15 ;) and so it is in two MSS., (one of them ancient,) and seems to be so in the Bodleian MS. The Syriac has y

CHAPTER XXXI.

Exhort

The Jews again reproved for their confidence in Egypt, finely contrasted with their neglect of the power and protection of God, 1-3. Deliverance and protection are, notwithstanding, promised, expressed by two similes; the first remarkably lofty and poetical, the latter singularly beautiful and tender, 4, 5. ation to repentance, joined with the prediction of a more reformed period, 6, 7. This chapter concludes, like the preceding, with a prophecy of the fall of Sennacherib, 8, 9.

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The Israelites reproved

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WO to them that go down to both he that helpeth shall fall,
Egypt for help; and stay and he that is holpen shall fall
down, and they all shall fail Numa Pompilii,
together.

Numa Pompilii, on horses, and trust in chariots,
because they are many; and in
horsemen, because they are very strong; but
they look not unto the Holy One of Israel,
neither seek the LORD!.

2 Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evil-doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.

3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand,

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NOTES ON CHAP. XXXI. Verse 1. Wo to them that go down to Egypt] This is a reproof to the Israelites for forming an alliance with the Egyptians, and not trusting in the Lord.

And stay on horses-" Who trust in horses"] For hy veal, and upon, first twenty MSS. of Kennicott's thirty of De Rossi's, one of my own, and the Septuagint, Arabic, and Vulgate, read by al, upon, without the conjunction, which disturbs the sense.

Verse 2. His words" His word"] 1 debaro, singular, without yod, two MSS. of Dr. Kennicott's, the Septuagint, and Targ. Hieros. 1 derachaiv, his ways, is found in one MS.

Verse 3. He that helpeth (the Egyptians) shall fall, and he that is holpen (the Israelites) shall fall down— together.

Verse 4. Like as the lion] This comparison is exactly in the spirit and manner, and very nearly approaching to the expression, of Homer,

Βη ρ' ίμεν, ὥστε λέων ορεσίτροφος, όστ' επιδευης
Δηβον τη κρείων, κέλεται δε ὁ θυμος αγήνωρ,
Μηλων πειρήσοντα, και ες πυκινον δομον ελθειν
Είπερ γαρ χ' εύρησι παρ' αυτοφι βωτορας άνδρας
Συν κυσι και δουρεσσι φυλάσσοντας περί μηλα,
Όν ρα τ' απείρητος μέμονε σταθμοιο διεσθαι.
Αλλ' όγ' αν η ἡρπαξε μεταλμένος, ηε και αυτος
Εβλητ' εν πρώτοισι ποης από χειρος ακοντι,

Iliad xii. 299.

As the bold lion, mountain-bred, now long
Famished, with courage and with hunger stung,
Attempts the thronged fold: him nought appals,
Though dogs and armed shepherds stand in guard
Collected; he nathless undaunted springs
O'er the high fence, and rends the trembling prey;
Or, rushing onward, in his breast receives
The well-aimed spear,

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4 For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion, and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.

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5 As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending 1also he will

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Verse 5. Passing over-" Leaping forward"] The generality of interpreters observe in this place an allusion to the deliverance which God vouchsafed to his people when he destroyed the first-born of the Egyptians, and exempted those of the Israelites sojourning among them by a peculiar interposition. The same word is made use of here which is used upon that occasion, and which gave the name to the feast which was instituted in commemoration of that deliverance, no pesach. But the difficulty is to reconcile the commonly received meaning of that word with the circumstances of the similitude here used to illustrate the deliverance represented as parallel to the deliverance in Egypt.

"As the mother birds hovering over their young,

So shall JEHOVAH God of hosts protect Jerusalem; Protecting and delivering, passing over, and rescuing her."

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This difficulty is, I think, well solved by Vitringa, whose remark is the more worthy of observation, as it leads to the true meaning of an important word, which hitherto seems greatly to have been misunderstood; though Vitringa himself, as it appears to me, has not exactly enough defined the precise meaning of it. He says, “No pasach signifies to cover, to protect by covering; xaow ipaç, Septuagint. JEHOVAH obteget ostium; The Lord will cover or protect the door:"" whereas it means that particular action or motion by which God at that time placed himself in such a situation as to protect the house of the Israelite against the destroying angel; to spring forward, to throw one's self in the way, in order to cover and proCocceius comes nearer to the true meaning than Vitringa, by rendering it gradum facere, to march, to step forward; Lexicon in voc. The common meaning of the word П pasach upon other occasions is to halt, to be lame, to leap, as in a rude manner of danc

tect.

Of metaphors, allegories, and comparisons of the Hebrew poets, in which the Divine nature and attri-ing, (as the prophets of Baal did, 1 Kings xviii. 26,) butes are represented under images taken from brutes and other low objects; of their effect, their sublimity, and the causes of it; see De Sac. Poës, Heb., Prælect. xvi. sub. fin,

all which agrees very well together; for the motion of a lame person is a perpetual springing forward, by throwing himself from the weaker upon the stronger Leg, The common notion of God's passage over the

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