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shall be with tabrets and harps: and about 713. in battles of shaking will he fight Il with it.

|| Or, against them.

+ Heb. from yesterday.

about 713.

+ Heb. remove.

33 For Tophet is ordained † of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

CHAP. XXXI.

1 The prophet sheweth the cursed folly in trusting to Egypt, and forsaking of God.

6 He exhorteth to conversion. 8 He sheweth the fall of Assyria.

WOE to them that go down to

Egypt for help; and stay 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, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is

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battles of shaking] Shaking," or stretching out, the hand of the Lord. See chap. xix. 16. Parkhurst.

33. Tophet is ordained of old; &c.] See note at 2 Kings xxiii. 10.

:

The sense of the verse may be given thus: For God from the foundations of the world hath ordained a place and state of torment for His wicked and reprobate enemies; yea, for the proud king of Assyria, and all those cruel tyrants which do here oppress His church, hath God prepared a woeful and inconceivably dreadful condemnation in hell fire which is poorly represented in that hideous valley of Ben-Hinnom, wherein with much shrieking and horrour the bodies of men are consumed in the fire; but, alas, what is that flame to this unquenchable one, which is kindled by the breath of the Lord as with streams of brimstone; and therefore never can go out, never can be abated! Bp. Hall.

Chap. XXXI. ver. 1. stay on horses, and trust in chariots,] See note on chap. ii. 6, 7. Egypt is described here, and elsewhere in Scripture, as abounding in horses; it has been remarked that profane writers have not much noticed this circumstance; but it must be remembered, that the period they chiefly treat of was subsequent to the cutting up of the country with the multitude of canals, which would greatly alter its face, and which alone is mentioned by Herodotus as rendering it unfit for horses; we may add also the circumstance of the seat of government's being, under the

and forsaking of God.

holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.

Before CHRIST about 713.

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 Or, LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.

5 As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.

6 Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.

a

multitude.

7 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and a Chap. 2. 20. † his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.

Heb. the gold.

idols of kis

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latter kings of Egypt, fixed at a place very near upon the sea, Alexandria. Bochart, Vitringa. 5. As birds flying &c.] Compare Deut. xxxii. 11. W. Lowth.

and passing over he will preserve it.] Most interpreters observe in this place an allusion to the deliverance which God vouchsafed his people, when, going through the land of Egypt to smite the firstborn, He "passed over" the houses of the Israelites. The similitude designed in this verse seems to be, As the mother bird spreads her wings to cover her young, throws herself before them, and opposes the rapacious bird that assaults them, so shall the Lord defend Jerusalem, protecting and delivering, springing forward and rescuing her. In the same manner may the act of passing over," Exod. xii. 23, be supposed to consist in the Lord's springing forward to arrest the hand of the destroying angel. Bp. Lowth.

8. Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man ;] Literally rendered, "of no man. Bp. Lowth. See note on chap. x. 15. He shall not fall by any mortal power, but by the hand of an angel, chap. xxxvii. 36. If we follow the common opinion, that the Assyrian army was destroyed by a pestilential disease, the immediate stroke of Heaven, the expressions here exactly agree with the description of the angel who smote the Jews with a pestilence, 1 Chron. xxi, who is there represented as standing with “a sword drawn in his hand," ver. 16. W. Lowth. See note on chap. x. 16.

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about 713.

CHAP. XXXII.

15 Restoration is

1 The blessings of Christ's kingdom. 9 Desolation is foreshewn. promised to succeed.

Desolation is foreshewn.

things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

Before CHRIST about 713.

+ Or, be

9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless established. daughters; give ear unto my speech. 10+ Many days and years shall + Heb. Days

BEHOLD, a king shall reign in ye be troubled, ye careless women:

righteousness, and princes shall

rule in judgment.

2 And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a + Heb. heavy. † great rock in a weary

↑ Heb. hasty.

| Or, elegantly.

land.

3 And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.

4 The heart also of the trash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak || plainly.

5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.

6 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

7 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices II Or, when he to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. 8 But the liberal deviseth liberal

speaketh against the

poor in

judgment.

for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.

11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones : strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.

above a year.

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9.—whose fire is in Zion,] Compare Obad. ver. 18; man, shall be a sure refuge to His elect in all their Zech. ii. 5; xii. 6. W. Lowth.

Chap. XXXII. ver. 1. Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.] Under the government and example of Hezekiah, inferiour princes and magistrates shall execute their office with integrity and faithfulness; and this prince, ver. 2, shall be a refuge to us when the storms of calamity overtake us. Accordingly, the wisdom and piety of Hezekiah was a support and comfort to his subjects; but what follows, especially in ver. 3, 4, relates to happier times than Hezekiah ever lived to enjoy; his reign_can only be glanced at here, as an image and shadow of the great improvements in grace and holiness, which belong to the Gospel times, under the government of Christ, and the assistance of His Spirit. W. Lowth.

The Messiah is "the righteous King" to come, by whom (as ver. 3.) the curse shall be removed from them that heard but understood not, and saw but perceived not. Bp. Chandler. See notes on chap. viii. 16; xxix. 11.

The first and second verses may be thus paraphrased: 1. Behold, the Messiah, the true King of His Church, shall reign in righteousness; and those, who shall have the administration thereof under Him, shall rule in due equity and moderation: 2. And that man, God and VOL. II.

distresses and calamities; and shall be a gracious refreshing to them, even as a clear river, &c. Bp. Hall. 4.-the rash] The inconsiderate. Dr. Waterland.

the tongue of the stammerers &c.] The most rude and illiterate shall discourse clearly and intelligibly of God and of their duty. W. Lowth.

This will well apply likewise to the first followers of Christ, who by the miraculous power of the Spirit, from plain, simple, illiterate men, became endued at once with such wisdom and eloquence, as none of their adversaries were able to gainsay or resist. Wogan.

9. Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters;] The Prophet returns to the calamities that should befall, addressing, as some think, the careless and delicate women of his time, (as chap. iii. 16;) as others say, the cities of Judea, under this figurative name. Vitringa.

15. Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high,] See note on chap. xxxv. 6, 7.

17.-the work of righteousness shall be peace; &c.] The "peace" which was promised at the coming of Christ, and of which He is styled Prince, is here explained to consist in assurance and confidence towards God, which is the genuine result of that righteousness which is introduced by the new dispensation. Dr. Berriman.

T

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about 713.

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20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.

CHAP. XXXIII.

1 God's judgments against the enemies of the church. 13 The privileges of the godly.

WOE

OE to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.

2 O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.

3 At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.

19. — the city shall be low] See note on chap. xxv. 2. 20. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, &c.] This sowing in watery places exactly answers the manner of planting rice; for they sow it upon the water; and before sowing, while the earth is covered with water, they cause the ground to be trodden by oxen, horses, and asses; and this is the way of preparing the ground for sowing. As they sow the rice on the water, they transplant it in the water. Sir J. Chardin.

The Prophet foresees and pronounces blessed the lot of those that should go out in the Gospel times to sow the word in all lands, when the desert of the Gentiles should be changed into a fruitful field, and the parched ground become springs of water, chap. xxx. 25; xxxv. 7. We may suppose him to contrast withal this happy prospect with his own fruitless labours in preaching to the obstinate and impenitent Jews. Vitringa.

Chap. XXXIII. We may call this chapter a triumphant ode upon the destruction of Sennacherib's army before Jerusalem. The Prophet sets forth the several scenes of that transaction with all the beauties of poetical description. At the beginning he addresses himself to Sennacherib, "Woe to thee that spoilest," &c. expressing the injustice of his ambitious designs, and the sudden disappointment of them. W. Lowth, Bp. Lowth.

Ver. 2. O Lord, be gracious unto us; &c.] The Jews are here introduced offering up their earnest supplications to God in their present distressful condition; with expressions of their trust and confidence in His protection. Bp. Lowth.

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be thou their arm] Several versions give it, our arm or strength." Bp. Lowth.

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- at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.] It has been usual to consider God the person

the enemies of his church.

Before CHRIST

4 And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: about 713. as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.

5 The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.

6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of Heb. the LORD is his treasure.

salvations.

messengers.

7 Behold, their || valiant ones shall Or, cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.

8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.

9 The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wil- Or, withered derness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

10 Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.

11 Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.

away.

addressed here; and the Assyrians, ver. 4: it seems better to consider the Prophet, or God Himself, to be addressing Sennacherib, and threatening him, that notwithstanding the terrour he had occasioned in the invaded countries, (the people mentioned ver. 3,) yet he should fall, and become an easy prey (ver. 4.) to him (that people) whom he had intended to subdue. Bp. Lowth.

5, 6. The Lord is exalted; &c.] A chorus of Jews is introduced, acknowledging the mercy and power of God, who had undertaken to protect them; extolling it in opposition to the boasted power of their enemies; and celebrating the wisdom and piety of their king Hezekiah, who had placed his confidence in the favour of God. Bp. Lowth.

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6. shall be the stability of thy times, the fear of the Lord is his treasure.] Such variation of persons, as we have here, and above, ver. 2, is not uncommon. Vitringa, W. Lowth. See Bp. Lowth's note on Deut. xxxii. 5.

7-10. In these verses the Prophet describes the disappointment of Hezekiah's ambassadours, who humbly sued for peace, (which indeed had been bought, 2 Kings xviii. 14-16, though Sennacherib would not stand to the agreement;) the damp that struck upon the spirits of the whole nation; and, ver. 10, the immediate interposition of God when matters became desperate. W. Lowth.

10. Now will I rise, saith the Lord;] God Himself is again introduced, declaring that He will interpose in this critical situation of affairs, and disappoint the vain designs of the enemies of His people, by discomfiting them and utterly consuming them. Bp. Lowth.

11, 12. Ye shall conceive chaff, &c.] Here follows, still in the person of God, which, however, falls at last into that of the Prophet, a description of the dreadful appre

The privileges

Before CHRIST

CHAP. XXXIII, XXXIV.

12 And the people shall be as the about 713. burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.

24. 4.

+ Heb. in righteous

Resses.

13 ¶ Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.

14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

a Ps. 15. 2. & 15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of || oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding Or, deceits. of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

+ Heb. uprightnesses.

↑ Heb. bloods.

+ Heb. heights, or,

16 He shall dwell on +high: his high places. place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

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hensions of the wicked in those times of distress and imminent danger, finely contrasted with the confidence and security of the righteous, and their trust in the promises of God, that He will be their never-failing strength and protector. Bp. Lowth. So will the second coming of the Messiah to judge the world, which brings joy and gladness to such as look for His salvation, be dreadful and terrible to His opposers. Dr. Berriman. And the exclamations of the "sinners in Zion," ver. 14, may be well applied to the terrours of hell torments, which, when the consciences of sinners begin to be awakened, fill them with just apprehension of the Divine wrath. W. Lowth. The Chaldee Paraphrast renders "everlasting burnings," "the gehenna of everlasting fire." Bp. Lowth. See notes on chap. xxx. 33; lxvi.

24.

17.- they shall behold the land that is very far off.] Or," they shall see thine own land far extended." Bp. Lowth.

18. Thine heart shall meditate terror, &c.] Shall reflect on the past terrour, and every one shall be ready to exclaim in a triumphant manner, Where is the scribe or muster-master? where is the collector of the taxes? where the commander of the enemy, to survey the fortifications of the city, and take an account of the height, strength, and situation of the walls and towers? W. Lowth, Bp. Lowth.

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A people of deeper speech than thou canst perceive;] The Hebrew expresses a foreign language by a "deep lip" or " speech;" our translators render it, strange speech," Ezek. iii. 5, 6. W. Lowth.

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22. For the Lord is our judge, &c.] We must observe that in this verse, as in many other places of the Old

of the godly.

Before
CHRIST

people, a people of deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a ||stam- about 713. mering tongue, that thou canst not understand."

20 Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.

|| Or,

ridiculous.

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23 Thy tacklings are loosed; Or, They they could not well strengthen their thy tacklings. mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.

24 And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

CHAP. XXXIV.

1 The judgments wherewith God revengeth his Church. 11 The desolation of her enemies. 16 The certainty of the prophecy.

Testament, the name of the Lord thrice repeated has been usually thought to refer to the mystery of the blessed Trinity. Vitringa. This passage is parallel to the form of blessing given Numb. vi. 24—26. Bp. Kidder. See notes on that place.

23. Thy tacklings are loosed; &c.] Having compared the Assyrian army to a naval force, ver. 21, the Prophet persists in that metaphor, and describes them as in a shipwrecked condition, the spoil of the wreck to be divided among the citizens of Jerusalem, even the sick and diseased of them throwing aside their infirmities, and recovering strength enough to hasten to the general plunder. W. Lowth, Bp. Lowth.

24. the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.] The last sentence is parallel to the former, and expresses the same sense in other words: sickness being considered as a visitation from God, and punishment for sin, the forgiveness of sin is equivalent to the removal of a disease. We find them thus coupled, Ps. ciii. 3; and our blessed Saviour reasons with the Jews on the same principle, Mark ii. 9. Bp. Lowth.

The fulfilment of this prophecy appears from the history of the great event given by the Prophet: it is plain that Hezekiah, by his treaty with Sennacherib, had stripped himself of his whole treasure, 2 Kings xviii. 15, 16: his "exceeding much riches," afterwards, 2 Chron. xxxii. 27, cannot be otherwise accounted for, than by the prodigious spoil that was taken on the destruction of the Assyrian army. Bp. Lowth.

Chap. XXXIV. This chapter and the next make one distinct prophecy; an entire, regular, and beautiful

The judgments wherewith

Before CHRIST about 713.

+ Heb. the

fulness thereof.

ISAIAH.

NOME near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.

2 For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.

3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountain shall be melted with their blood.

4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be a Rev. 6. 14. a rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a

b Rev. 6. 13. b falling fig from the fig tree.

5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.

6 The sword of the LORD is filled

God revengeth his church.

Before CHRIST

with blood, it is made fat with fatness,
and with the blood of lambs and about 713.
goats, with the fat of the kidneys of
rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice
in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in
the land of Idumea.

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sent, as it were, the dissolution of all things: presently, (ver. 5-7,) a vast and splendid sacrifice is introduced, of such animals as best represent the pride, cruelty, insolence of tyrants, leaders of the nations hostile to God; next is this complete destruction represented by allusion to the overthrow of Sodom, (ver. 9, 10,) and the whole concludes (ver. 11, to the end) with a picture of the most gloomy solitude and frightful devastation. Bp. Lowth.

5.

-my sword shall be bathed] In the blood of these people: the same word is rendered in Jer. xlvi. 10, "shall be made drunk." This is said to be done "in heaven," because it was there decreed to be done. Poole, Bp. Hall.

poem, consisting of two parts: the first, containing a denunciation of Divine vengeance against the enemies of the people or church of God; the second, describing the flourishing state of the church consequent upon the execution of those judgments. The event foretold is represented as of universal concern; all nations are called upon to attend to the declaration of it; and the wrath of God is denounced against all the nations, that is, against all those who had provoked to anger the defender of the cause of Zion. Among those Edom is particularly specified. Accordingly, the Edomites were, with the neighbouring nations, ravaged and laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar: (see Jer. xxv. 15–26; Mal. i. 3, 4) and this may be the event which the Prophet has primarily in view in chap. xxxiv; but this event seems by no means to come up to the terms of the prophecy, or to justify so high-wrought and so terrible à description also, that the thirty-fifth chapter has a view beyond any thing that could be the immediate consequence of this event, is plain from every part of it, and especially from ver. 5, 6. It seems therefore that (Edom and Bozrah being put by a common figure for God's a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the enemies in general) this prophecy has a farther view to land of Idumea.] Considering the original sense of these events still future, to some great revolutions to be words, they may fitly be applied to a place of slaughter: effected in later times, antecedent to that more perfect" Edom" signifying red, as blood is; and "Bozrah," a state of the kingdom of God upon earth, which the Holy Scriptures warrant us to expect, and serving to introduce it. Bp. Lowth. The second and third verses may very fitly be applied to "the battle of that great day of God Almighty," mentioned Rev. xvi. 14, compared with chap. xvii. 14; xix. 19; as do several parts of this chapter correspond with several verses of Revelation, chap. xvii, xviii. W. Lowth.

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Ver. 3. Their slain also shall be cast out, &c.] The prophet, in the description of this terrible judgment, begins with the common circumstances which attend the slaughter made by a victorious enemy; ver. 4, he rises in tone, and, borrowing his images from original chaos, (as is usual in describing the overthrow of kingdoms, see notes on chap. xiii. 10, 13,) goes on to repre

6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, &c.] God shall take full vengeance on His enemies; His sword shall be, as it were, fed with the blood of His great and noted adversaries: this slaughter of His shall be like to that of an universal sacrifice, which shall be killed on the altar of the land of Edom, and all the regions of His proud opposites. Bp. Hall.

vintage; which in the prophetick idiom often denotes God's vengeance on the wicked. See particularly chap. lxiii. 3, in which chapter these words are again joined together. W. Lowth. Ezekiel has manifestly imitated this passage of Isaiah, chap. xxxix. 17, 18. The sublime author of the Revelation (chap. xix. 17, 18.) has taken this image from Ezekiel rather than Isaiah. Bp. Lowth. The destruction of Edom is foretold in a strain not less hyperbolical than this of Isaiah by Jeremiah, chap. xlix. 7-22; by Ezekiel, chap. xxxv. and xxv. 12; and by Obadiah. Jos. Mede.

11. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; &c.] Beside the passages referred to in the margin, with this verse and with ver. 13-15, compare chap. xiii. 21; xiv. 23. W. Lowth.

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