erroneous politics. Ignorant of the designs of Providence, they formed false conjectures of the effect of their alliances, of the event of their wars and their treaties, and misinterpreted what Providence brought to pass at every step.

Verse 15. "Neither shall there be any work for Egypt," &c.; literally, "And the work which he shall do, shall not be unto Egypt head or tail, bending or boss." This is still a declaration of the dullness of the Egyptians to perceive the hand of God in their affairs, and foresee the impending judgment. In things brought about by God's providence, they will have no apprehension of any scheme or design, no discernment of the connection of one thing with another, and of consequence no forecast of calamity till it come upon them. All will seem to them chance and confusion.

I take to be a well כפה

shaped turn or joint in any piece of elegant workmanship; and a round knob or boss, or perhaps something like a vase, for ornament at the ex

=are a prover ראש וזנב כפה ואגמון tremity. Hence

bial expression for the whole and every part of a thing, (Is. ix, 14); and to have neither nor

nor, is to be destitute of all regularity and

elegance of workmanship; and applied figuratively to actions, to want design and coherence.

Verse 23." and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians." The plain sense of the original, however difficult it may be to connect it with the other parts of the prophecy, is this: "and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrian.", after the verb y, is in many instances the sign of the accusative following the verb; but I cannot find a single text in which it is the preposition of the concomitant or adjunct of the subject of the verb, as it is supposed to be here.

Upon second thoughts, I am inclined to believe that the force of may vary according to its position in the sentence. That when it follows a verb transitive immediately, it is always the sign of the accusative; but if another word intervene between the verb transitive and, then the object of the verb transitive may be understood, and may be the preposition of fellowship or concomitance. Thus, had the words in the clause in question stood in this

-they would have ren ומצרים עבדו את אשור,order

dered this sense only, "and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrian." But being placed be

tween 1 and 8, the words may bear the other

sense;

"and the Egyptians shall serve [Jehovah] with the Assyrians."

Verse 24. a blessing," i. e. an object of benediction.

Verse 25. "Whom"- rather "Which"

i. e.

which triple object of benediction, God shall bless in this form of words.

CHAP. XXI.

This prophecy of the overthrow of the Babylonian empire by Cyrus, contained in the first ten verses of this chapter, is certainly a masterpiece in the ecstatic style. It opens with a general declaration in the 1st verse of sudden danger from a distant land. In the 2d verse, the prophet signifies that he is speaking with reference to a grievous vision set before him. The particulars of the vision make the whole sequel of the song; except that in the 3d and 4th verses the detail is interrupted with expressions of the horror and distress which the scene creates in the prophet's mind. The particulars of the vision are these. 1st, The prophet hears God himself declaring the crimes of Babylon, national perfidy and violence, and calling the Medes and Persians to execute vengeance, (verse 2). Then he sees the

festivity of the royal banquet the night that the city was taken: he sees the enemy enter, and gives the alarm (verse 5). Then a watchman is ordered to tell what he sees. The watchman sees a man riding in a military car, drawn by a camel and an ass yoked together, driven by two postillions, one on each beast. (This car is evidently emblematic of the united armies of the Persians and Medes, under their respective leaders; the man in the car, Cyrus: verses 6, 7). Upon the watchman's discerning the near approach of the man in this car, he proclaims that Babylon is fallen. In the 10th verse the prophet signifies that he is himself the watchman of the foregoing verses; that his prediction of the fate of Babylon came from God, and is delivered to the Jews for their comfort and edification.

St Jerome and Bishop Lowth imagine that the prophet in this effusion speaks in some parts in his own person, and in others personifies Babylon. But they disagree in the distribution of these parts; the one making him speak in his own person, what the other supposes to be put into the mouth of Babylon personified; and the contrary. It seems to me that the whole is delivered in the prophet's own person; except that in the 2d verse he abruptly recites the

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order which he hears given by the Almighty for the immediate execution of vengeance upon the perfidious tyrannical nation, without any previous or subsequent intimation that God was the speaker: and yet in this he can hardly be said to speak in another person, but in the height of the prophetic ecstasy he omits a circumstance which the imagination of the hearer or reader would easily supply.

Verse 1.-" whirlwinds in the south"- The allusion is to the hurricanes in the sandy deserts of Africa and Arabia, that sweep up the whole surface of the plain, and bury every thing they overtake. The weary traveller, with wild surprise

Sees the dry desert all around him rise,

And, buried in the dusty whirlwind, dies.

In the original, a comma should be placed at JS, for the word, though it alludes to the devastation of these whirlwinds, belongs to the next clause.

"the desert," the champaign between Babylon and Persia.

"terrible land,” Media. The Medes had long been an object of terror to the Babylonians, insomuch that the security of the country against that powerful enemy had been the principal object of