*H And thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God to the land of Israel: The end is come, the end is come upon the four quarters of the land.
Ver. 2. Israel, or Judea, in all its parts. W. — In five or six years' time all shall be destroyed.
*H Now is an end come upon thee, and I will send my wrath upon thee, and I will judge thee according to thy ways: and I will set all thy abominations against thee.
Ver. 3. Set, as accusers, to increase thy confusion.
*H Thus saith the Lord God: One affliction, behold an affliction is come.
Ver. 5. One. A second shall not be necessary. Nah. i. 9. C.
*H An end is come, the end is come, it hath awaked against thee: behold it is come.
Ver. 6. Awaked. Justice seems to have slept. H. See v. 10. Jer. i. 12.
*H Destruction is come upon thee that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of slaughter is near, and not of the joy of mountains.
Ver. 7. Destruction, (contritio.) S. Jerom reads "contraction," as also v. 10. Prot. "the morning." H. — Chal. "the reign." C. — Heb. tsephira, is variously rendered. H. — Joy. Heb. "echo or cry" of people in the vintage.
*H Behold the day, behold it is come: destruction is gone forth, the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
Ver. 10. Budded; figurative expressions, denoting a speedy vengeance. C. — Chal. "the reign is open, the ruler has flourished, the wicked hath appeared." In this reign of Nabuchodonosor ye shall be chastised. H. — Sept. or rather Theodotion, from whom many things have bee supplied according to S. Jerom, (C.) have, "The deceit (or thick foliage; πλοκη ) has gone forth, the rod," &c. H.
*H Iniquity is risen up into a rod of impiety: nothing of them shall remain, nor of their people, nor of the noise of them: and there shall be no rest among them.
Ver. 11. Iniquity. What other fruit could be expected from wickedness? It draws on chastisement. — Noise, or grandees. None will repent, and therefore none shall escape, from the highest to the lowest.
*H For the seller shall not return to that which he hath sold, although their life be yet among the living. For the vision which regardeth all the multitude thereof, shall not go back: neither shall man be strengthened in the iniquity of his life.
Ver. 13. Sold, as in the year of jubilee. Lev. xxv. 25. C. — Now there shall be no recovery. W. — They shall be driven from the land. — Although. By supplying the former negation, (C.) we may render "Nor," &c. (H.) which seems better. C. — It may also mean, "those who are now alive" shall witness these things. H. Back. It is not a mere threat.
*H Blow the trumpet, let all be made ready, yet there is none to go to the battle: for my wrath shall be upon all the people thereof.
Ver. 14. Ready. He describes the vain attempts of the Jews to make resistance.
*H And such of them as shall flee shall escape: and they shall be in the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them trembling, every one for his iniquity.
Ver. 16. Doves, not daring to vent their complaints. C.
*H All hands shall be made feeble, and all knees shall run with water.
Ver. 17. Water; urine, (S. Jer.) sweat, &c. the usual effects of fear.
*H And they shall gird themselves with haircloth, and fear shall cover them and shame shall be upon every face, and baldness upon all their heads.
Ver. 18. Heads. They cut their hair in times of penance and of mourning.
* Footnote * Isaias 15 : 2
The house is gone up, and Dibon to the high places to mourn over Nabo, and over Medaba, Moab hath howled: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard shall be shaven.* Footnote * Jeremias 48 : 37
For every head shall be bald, and every beard shall be shaven: all hands shall be tied together, and upon every back there shall be haircloth.*H Their silver shall be cast forth, and their gold shall become a dunghill. Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They shall not satisfy their soul, and their bellies shall not be filled: because it hath been the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
Ver. 19. Iniquity. Riches have fostered their passions: they will not now procure food or liberty. Soph. i. 18. C. — The riches of the idols invited the enemy to plunder. W.
* Footnote * Proverbs 11 : 4
Riches shall not profit in the day of revenge: but justice shall deliver from death.*H And they have turned the ornament of their jewels into pride, and have made of it the images of their abominations, and idols: therefore I have made it an uncleanness to them.
Ver. 20. And. Prot. "As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the," &c. The sacred ornaments of the temple, appointed by God, (H.) have been converted into idols, and shall be carried to Babylon. v. 21. C.
*H And I will turn away my face from them, and they shall violate my secret place: and robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
Ver. 22. Secret: the inward sanctuary, the holy of holies. Ch. — God would guard it no longer. C.
*H Make a shutting up: for the land is full of the judgment of blood, and the city is full of iniquity.
Ver. 23. Shutting up. Heb. "chain," for imprisonment and captivity. Ch. — Pronounce sentence upon all.
*H And I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses: and I will make the pride of the mighty to cease, and they shall possess their sanctuary.
Ver. 24. Sanctuary; the temple of God, or of idols. C. vi. 3.
*H When distress cometh upon them, they will seek for peace and there shall be none.
Ver. 25. Distress. When the enemy is before the city, they will see their error; but it will be too late. They shall not obtain peace. Jer. xxxviii. 1.
*H Trouble shall come upon trouble, and rumour upon rumour, and they shall seek a vision of the prophet, and the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.
Ver. 26. Ancients. Priests shall afford no consolation, nor counsellors any advice. They shall be all confounded. C. — During the captivity a few only were found to give instruction. Mal. ii. W.