*H If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return to me: if thou wilt take away thy stumblingblocks out of my sight, thou shalt not be moved.
Ver. 1. Blocks; idols, (C.) and other occasions of sin. H.
*H And thou shalt swear: As the Lord liveth, in truth, and in judgment, and in justice: and the Gentiles shall bless him, and shall praise him.
Ver. 2. Swear, when requisite. C. — Thus thou wilt learn to confess one God. Theod. — If all were upright, oaths would be unnecessary. Mat. v. 34. But as they are not so, (C.) this may be a religious act. W. — Justice. These three conditions are essential. H. — Him; the people, (C.) or God. S. Jer. — An oath must attest God, and be used when a thing is true and of moment. W.
*H For thus saith the Lord to the men of Juda and Jerusalem: Break up anew your fallow ground, and sow not upon thorns:
Ver. 3. Thorns. Your misconduct hinders your advancement. C.
* Footnote * Osee 10 : 12
Sow for yourselves in justice, and reap in the mouth of mercy, break up your fallow ground: but the time to seek the Lord is, when he shall come that shall teach you justice.*H Be circumcised to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, ye men of Juda, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my indignation come forth like fire, and burn, and there be none that can quench it because of the wickedness of your thoughts.
Ver. 4. Hearts. Understand, and act with purity. H.
*H Declare ye in Juda, and make it heard in Jerusalem: speak, and sound with the trumpet in the land: cry aloud, and say: Assemble yourselves, and let us go into strong cities.
Ver. 5. Cities. Nabuchodonosor is at hand.
*H The lion is come up out of his den, and the robber of nations hath roused himself: he is come forth out of his place, to make thy land desolate: thy cities shall be laid waste, remaining without an inhabitant.
Ver. 7. Robber. Nabuchodonosor attacks unjustly, (C.) though he be God's scourge.
*H And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord: That the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes: and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall be amazed.
Ver. 9. Heart; counsel and vigour. — Prophets of falsehood.
*H And I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, hast thou then deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying: You shall have peace: and behold the sword reacheth even to the soul?
Ver. 10. Alas! Prot. "Then I said: Ah! Lord God, surely thou hast deceived," &c. (H.) by permitting the people to follow false prophets. Is. lxi. 17. Ps. xliii. 19.
*H At that time it shall be said to this people, and to Jerusalem: A burning wind is in the ways that are in the desert of the way of the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse.
Ver. 11. Desert of Arabia. It may designate Nechao, (2 Par. xxxv. 20.) who slew Josias, after whose death all fell to ruin.
*H For a voice of one declaring from Dan, and giving notice of the idol from mount Ephraim.
Ver. 15. Ephraim. At Bethel and Dan the calves were adored. C. — But they were now no more. H. — The irruption of Nabuchodonosor is announced. He set himself up for a god.
*H Say ye to the nations: Behold it is heard in Jerusalem, that guards are coming from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Juda.
Ver. 16. Guards. The Chaldees will besiege the city, and prevent provisions from entering. 4 K. xxv. 1. C.
*H My bowels, my bowels are in part, the senses of my heart are troubled within me, I will not hold my peace, for my soul hath heard the sound of the trumpet, the cry of battle.
Ver. 19. My. God, (S. Jer.) the people, (Grot.) or rather Jeremias speaks.
*H Destruction upon destruction is called for, and all the earth is laid waste: my tents are destroyed on a sudden, and my pavilions in a moment.
Ver. 20. Moment. The cities are destroyed as easily as a tent.
*H For my foolish people have not known me: they are foolish and senseless children: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
Ver. 22. Me, practically. They have not honoured me as they ought. C. — If they were indeed devoid of sense, they would be excused. W.
*H I beheld the earth, and lo it was void, and nothing: and the heavens, and there was no light in them.
Ver. 23. Void. Heb. "Thohu and bohu," like chaos. Gen. i. 2. H.
*H I beheld, and lo there was no man: and all the birds of the air were gone.
Ver. 25. Gone. Beasts feel the wrath of God, and in a land uninhabited; not even birds will remain. Osee iv. 3. S. Jer.
*H I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the wrath of his indignation.
Ver. 26. Carmel: the beautiful country of Palestine, (H.) Jerusalem, (Theod.) or the mountain so called.
*H For thus saith the Lord: All the land shall be desolate, but yet I will not utterly destroy.
Ver. 27. Destroy, when Jechonias was led captive. God allowed the people still eleven years to repent; and he afterwards restored the Jews. C. — He will never suffer his church to perish. W.
*H The Earth shall mourn, and the heavens shall lament from above: because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I have not repented, neither am I turned away from it.
Ver. 28. Repented. Only a finite being can do this. God's resolution is here unconditional and fixed.
*H But when thou art spoiled what wilt thou do? though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, and paintest thy eyes with stibic stone, thou shalt dress thyself out in vain: thy lovers have despised thee, they will seek thy life.
Ver. 30. Stone, or antimony, like Jezabel, (4 K. ix. 30.) to darken and enlarge the eye-lids. — Lovers. Infidel nations of Egypt, &c.
*H For I have heard the voice as of a woman in travail, anguishes as of a woman in labour of a child. The voice of the daughter of Sion, dying away, spreading her hands: Woe is me, for my soul hath fainted because of them that are slain.
Ver. 31. Child. Heb. and Sept. "a first-born," when the pains are most acute. C.