the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be."]-Even that leading tribe of Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of my vengeance: I have signified unto the tribes of Israel what they shall surely find, how incredulous soever they may be for the present.

IO. "The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water."] -The princes of Judah were lawless in their carriage, as men that resolved not to regard those bounds and limits which my law hath set unto them in their callings; therefore I will abundantly pour out my wrath upon them.

11. "Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment."]-Ephraim is oppressed by the Assyrian, and gone to wrack; because he willingly walked after the commandment of their wicked and idolatrous governors.

12. "Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness."]-Therefore will I consume Ephraim, as a moth eateth a garment; and will consume Judah, as a worm (or rottenness) consumeth wood: so will I decay them, by an insensible yet certain judgment.

13. "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound."]

-When Israel saw the danger wherein he was, he made means to the Assyrian for help; and when Ahaz, the king of Judah, was in distress, he sends to Tiglath Pileser, that should stand out for him; but all in vain: neither shall any aid of mortal man be able to cure you of those wounds which the hand of my justice shall inflict upon you.

15. "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.”]—I will go, saith the Lord, and will withdraw myself from them; not giving them any testimony of my grace or presence till they shall be humbled in the sense of their sins, and seek to recover my favour in their affliction: and if any means can possibly prevail with them, it must be this; in their affliction they will seek me instantly.

VI. 1. "Come, and let us return unto the LORD."]-And, in their seeking after me, they shall exhort and excite one another to repentance; Come, and let us return, &c.

2. "After two days will he revive us."]-After a very short space of our afflictions he will be gracious unto us, and so cheer and restore us as if he had given us a new life, &c.

3. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth."] -Then shall we attain to the perfect knowledge of the Lord, if we do carefully and constantly persist in using those good means that he hath appointed: he shall then so reveal himself to us, as the sun shows himself to the world in his morning rising, by degrees ascending to his full height; and he shall come to us, not at once, but as the rain that falls down by drops, even as the rain of the autumn and spring, that descends sweetly in soft and gentle showers.

4. "O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away."]—O Israel and Judah, what course should I take with you? I have neglected no means of your good; yet there is no hold to be taken of you: some profession you make, but it is altogether fickle and inconstant: your appearing goodness vanishes away like as a morning cloud, or an early dew in summer.

5. "Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth."]-Therefore I have wrought upon them by my prophets, denouncing judgment against them: I have, as it were, smitten them dead by the terrible threats of my punishments; and I have given them such means of information as have been no less clear than the light itself that goeth forth upon the world.

6. "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."]-For it was true inward goodness and mercy that I required of them, and not the outward formalities of sacrifice; and the true knowledge of God was that which I called for, more than their burnt offerings.

7. "But they like men have transgressed the covenant."]—But they like the right sons of Adam have transgressed the covenant that I made with them, &c.

8. "Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood."]-Even Gilead itself, a city of the priests, is a society of notoriously wicked men; and is full of murders.

11. "Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.”]—Also, O Judah, corrupted Israel hath prepared an harvest of revenge for thee, in sowing the seeds of idolatry in thee; upon occasion of that captivity, whereinto thy brethren of Israel led thee, under Pekah, the son of Remaliah, from which I procured and wrought thy deliver

ance.

VII. 1. "When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood."]-When I would have healed those Ten Tribes of Israel, by the medicines applied by my prophets, then did the iniquity of Ephraim, which was the chief of them, and the wickedness of Samaria, the chief city of Israel, break out most outrageously, &c.

3. "They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies."]-They are readily obsequious to their governors in all their wicked commands, and do gladly soothe them up with their lies and flatteries.

4. They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened."]-They are all adulterers, burning with filthy lust, as hot as an oven heated by the baker; who forbears meddling any further with that flame, while the dough that he hath kneaded be sufficiently leavened; in which space the heat of the oven grows to the height.

5. "In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners."] -In the day of the solemnity of our king there hath been excess of surfeit and drunkenness, whereinto the princes have not stuck to draw in their sovereign himself; so as he hath been miscarried to consort with them in their wicked debauchedness.

6. "For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire."]-They have given up their heart to beastly concupiscences, wherewith they have burned like an oven, while they lie in wait for an opportunity of fulfilling those wicked lusts; even like an oven which the baker hath overnight filled with kindled wood, and awaking in the morning finds flaming with a strong fire.

7. "They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that

calleth unto me."]-They have burned with unclean and with malicious desires and affections, and have made away with many of their governors: all their late kings have come to an untimely end; and, indeed, there was none of them that had any piety or goodness, or that cared to call upon me.

8. "Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned."]-For Ephraim, he hath mixed himself with heathens, and is a professed associate with them: Ephraim is grown irresolute in his religion; like a cake that is half dough and half baked, so is he, half Israelite, half Pagan.

9. "Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.”]—God hath sent foreign enemies to spoil and waste his country, and to carry away his substance, yet he is not sensible of this Divine hand; yea, that part of his cake which is not turned is grown musty and hoary, and worthy to be cast out, yet he perceiveth it not.

11. "Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria."]-Ephraim is like a silly dove; going on without wit, without heed, into that net which is spread for him: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria for help, whereas these will be their bane.

12. "When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard."]-I will be as a fowler to this silly dove of Ephraim: I will spread my net upon them, and catch them in their own devices: I will fetch them into the compass of my judgments, as the fowls of heaven are caught in a snare: I will chastise them in the same manner that my prophets have forewarned them.

13. "Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me."]-Woe be unto them! for they have forsaken me, and have vainly sought help of impotent strangers: destruction will fall upon them, because they have willingly transgressed against me : though I have done much for them, and delivered them from their enemies, yet they have falsely and injuriously imputed these benefits to their Egyptians and Assyrians, and not to me.

14. "And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn

and wine, and they rebel against me."]-And though they have made show of some great repentance and humiliation, howling and crying upon the beds of their distress, yet they have not with their hearts unfeignedly sought unto me: they can meet together to consult how to prevent or remedy their dearth, but they nevertheless rebel against me who do justly send it.

15. Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me."]-And though I have deserved well of them in strengthening their hands against their enemies, and giving them many victories, yet do they requite me with imagining mischief against me, distrusting my power or will to save them.

16. "They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow."]-They turn to their idols, instead of the most High God: they turn aside like a broken bow, shooting out their arrows at a wrong mark, &c.

VIII. 1. "Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD."]-Call the people to war. The Assyrian enemy shall come like an eagle against the professed Church of God, the people of Israel, &c.

2. "Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.”]— Israel shall feignedly cry unto me, and challenge favour from me; and say, My God, we make profession of thy name.

4. "They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made. princes, and I knew it not of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off."]—They have set up kings, but ever since their defection I have had no hand in the appointment of them; for they have not been of the seed of David, which I have chosen, but men of their own designing: and as they have made princes, so they have made gods to themselves; for of their silver and gold have they made them idols, as if they had aimed at nothing else but their own destruction.

5. "Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?"-O Samaria, the chief city of Israel, the calf which thou hast made and worshipped, hath failed thee, and left thee miserable: mine anger is justly kindled against those idolaters: how long will it be ere they bethink themselves of their wicked ways and attain to their former innocency?

6. "For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; there