could suppose a mistake in the word w, and by the slightest alteration imaginable substitute w, it would clear up every difficulty, and the sense of the passage would be highly improved. wa signifies her own flesh, one of her own kind, a part of herself, in whose preservation she is interested by the strongest impulse of nature; yet even this is abandoned through dire necessity. Near relations are called one's own flesh. "He is our brother and our flesh." Gen. xxxvii. 27. Much more may the offspring of a female be called "her own flesh.” I submit this however as a mere conjecture only; as the corruption, if one, must have been of a date prior to the oldest versions; and there is no trace to be met with of any thing like the alteration proposed. But of the substitution of the and for each other by mistake we have numberless instances; and perhaps there is no mistake more easy to be fallen into. 6.-the plains] ---See note on Ch. iv. 11, 12. Ibid. They snuffed up the wind like dragons] They sucked in the air for want of water to cool their internal heat. Bochart (De sacr. Animal. P. I. Lib. iii. c. 16.) observes that the comparison to dragons or great serpents is very just; for Ælian Cap. ii. 19. describes these animals as standing daily for some hours with the head erect, and the mouth wide open towards the sky, and by the force of their breath, Doves wy, as by an attractive charm, drawing to them not only the air, but the very birds as they fly along. Varro thus speaks of the Ox, Et bos suspiciens cœlum (mirabile visu !) Naribus aerium patulis decerpsit odorem. And is imitated by Virgil, Georg. I. 375. bucula colum Suspiciens patulis captavit naribus auras. But The same author, Bochart, adds, that "the eyes of the wild asses are properly noticed, as being by nature extremely sharpsighted." for want of nourishment these must fail and be exhausted. 7.-do thou act with a regard to thine own name] That is, deal not with us according to our deservings, but so as not to give occasion to strangers to speak evil of thy name, to question thy power, wisdom, or goodness. So God says, Ezek. xx. 9, 14, 22, 44. that amidst the various provocations he had received, he had still acted uniformly upon this principle. 8. as a stranger---and as a traveller---] That is, as one who, having no permanent interest in the land, is little concerned for its welfare. 9.---as one in a deep sleep] 72 is a word that occurs no where else in the Hebrew, nor is acknowledged by the kindred dialects, The LXX. seem to have preserved the true reading, 73, umywy, somno obrutus. In one MS. the is upon a rasure. Of God it is said, Ps. cxxi. 3, 4. that he is a guardian and protector, that never. slumbereth nor sleepeth. 10. Their feet] Four MSS. read man with the conjunction; "And their feet have they not refrained." Ibid. When JEHOVAH bruised them not] All the ancient versions, as well as our English one, consider as formed from, to accept or delight in. But it seems rather to belong to the verb px, to bruise or crush. 11.-in a friendly manner] maio denotes a kind, benevolent and friendly disposition in the prophet, inducing him to wish and promote the welfare of the people as far as it lay in his power. And such seems to be the general sense of 21 in the Old Testament. 13.---assuredly---] nox is here also used adverbially, as Ch. x. 10. 14.---and vanity--] For the Masoretes read, which is confirmed by sixteen MSS. and three Editions. Ibid. And the guile---] For in the Masoretes read 'n, and so do thirteen MSS. and four Editions, with the Syr. Chald. and Vulgate. But the LXX. render in the plural number, xai #gonigroris. 16.---I will pour upon them their own wickedness] That is, by metonymy, the ill effects and consequences of it. 18. Go trafficking about the city] The meaning is, they go about with their false doctrines and lying predictions, as pedlars do with their wares, seeking their own gain. St Paul characterizes such sort of teachers in much the same terms ; περιπατοῦντες εν πανουργία, και δολούνίες τον λόγον του Θεου, 2 Cor. iv. 2. And St Peter says of them, εν πλεονεξία πλάσοις λόγοις υμας εμπορεύσονται. 2 Pet. ii. 3. Ibid.---and take no knowledge] They pay no regard to the miseries in which their country is involved, but act as if they were totally insensible of them. See the verb y used in this sense, Isai. i. 3. lviii. 3. 19. We look for peace] Here the construction is more marked by the preceding words N, than it is Ch. viii. 15. for the translation might proceed thus, "a looking for peace, &c." or, more at large, "Wherefore is there to us a looking for peace, &c. ?" See note on Ch. viii. 15. 20. And the iniquity of our fathers---] The Syr. and Chald. read and it is not improbable that the conjunction may have been lost in the 1 preceding. But if there be no conjunction, then I conceive that ay may be considered as a verb, and construed thus, "We acknowledge, O JEHOVAH, that we have wrought wickedly the iniquity of our fathers;" that is, have practised over again the same wickedness, of which our fathers set the example. CHAP. XV. To the supplications at the close of the preceding Chapter God replies by declaring, that not even the intercession of his favoured servants Moses and Samuel should divert him from executing his purpose of vengeance against Judah, which is denounced in terms of great severity; v. 1---9. At ver. 10. Jeremiah breaks out into a passionate exclamation on account of the odium and persecution that was brought upon him. God reproves him for speaking slightingly of the divine aid, the benefit of which he had already experienced; and threatens him with the loss of his fortunes as a punishment for his sins; v. 11--14. The prophet deprecates the ill effects of God's displeasure, representing the cheerful readiness with which he had obeyed the divine call, and the continual uneasiness he had felt in contemplating the melancholy subject of his commission; v. 15.-18. Assurances of protection and security are renewed to him, on condition of obedience and fidelity on his part; v. 19---to the end. 1. Send them away from before me, and let them depart] That is as much as to say, Tell them to come no more to me with their supplications, but to go out of my sanctuary. So Isai. i. 12, 13. "When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hands? Tread my courts no more." A strong declaration of determined resentment! 2. for death-] It is obvious from the foregoing enumeration, Ch. xiv. 12. that "death" here means "the pestilence." So also Ch. xviii. 21. : 4.-to vexation] "According to the Masora we have here a metathesis of a letter, for my but the word in the text bears a greater affinity to its root 7, and is in general more agreeable to the genius of the language than the proposed lection." Dr DURELL. Twenty MSS. and three Editions concur with the abovementioned Masoretic reading. But though the word is read with the like variation in other places, the Samaritan text represents it Deut. xxviii. 25. as we read here, myub ; and my occurs Isa. xxviii. 19. without any opposition from the Masoretes, or any variation in the MSS. except that in one MS. it is contractedly written .-But it is more material to observe, that the sense in which our translators have generally rendered, "to be removed," or "for a removing," seems not at all competent to it. For the verb y signifies to move, agitate, or disquiet; but not to remove or transfer from one place to another. Accordingly is rightly rendered "a vexation," Isa. xxviii. 19. and ,"to trouble," 2 Chron. xxix. 8. Ibid. Because of all that he did] Instead of wx; all the an and so it is found in ; על כל אשר cient versions appear to have read the text of three MSS. and in the margin of one more. 5.-to solicit for thy welfare]ww-This phrase 2 Sam. viii. 10. seems to signify simply, "to enquire after one's welfare." The meaning here is, "Who will go out of his way to shew thee any office of humanity; either to enquire after thy welfare, or to petition God for it?" Either sense is admissible. 7. I am weary of forbearing them] Our translators have rendered, "I am weary of repenting ;" deriving on from on; and the sense is a very unexceptionable one, as God is said to repent, when he remits in mercy the punishment due to sin, and is moved by some sufficient reason not to execute his threatened vengeance. But in this place I am rather inclined to follow the LXX. and Syr. which seem to have considered as the infinitive Hiphil, from, with the affix, and signifying, to "leave them unpunished," or "unmolested." Ibid. With my whirlwind---] rw with a Sin signifies a storm or whirlwind, the same as ; and this seems more apposite here, than to render prva," in the gates of the land." 66 Ibid. From their ways---] Two MSS. and the Syr. version read 77," BUT, or YET, from their ways, &c." There is however a like ellipsis of the discretive particle, ver 1. and again, ver 10. of this Chapter. 8. Their widows have been multiplied by me] Eleven MSS. and three Editions read with the Masora nn; besides eight MSS. more, which read contractedly non-h, "by" or "through me," that is, according to my disposition or appointment. See Note on Ch. iv. 12. לי---אלמנתיו Ibid.---against their mother-] by omb-or signifies here a mother city ;" see 2 Sam. xx. 19. and is used as a possessive pronoun. One MS. reads on which being interpreted war or fighting, would afford a good sense. The LXX. totally omit pn. Ibid.-a chosen one-] Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is undoubtedly here designed, who might be called "a chosen one," as being selected by God to be the instrument and executioner of his vengeance. In the margin of our Bibles 2 is rendered " a young man ;" and this also would very properly characterize the same person. For Josephus (Contra Apion. Lib. i.) cites from Berosus, the Chaldean historian, a passage to the following purport; that "Nabopollassar king of Babylon, hearing that the provinces of Egypt, Cole Syria, and Phoenice had revolted, and being himself infirm through age, sent a part of his forces under his son Nebuchadnezzar, then in the prime of youth, ovti eti ev nainia, by whom those provinces were again reduced." This was the expedition said to have been undertaken by him in the third year of Jehoiakim king of Judah; in the course of which, after having first defeated the Egyptian army at Carchemish, he laid siege to Jerusalem, took, and plundered it, carrying away much spoil and many captives to Babylon. See Ch. xlvi. 2. Dan. i. 1, 2, 3. 2 Kings xxiv. 1. Ibid. an enemy and terrors.] None of the ancient versions except 66 the Vulgate seem to have conceived to signify a city" in this place; nor is it possible to construe the text as it is done there, and in our English version. It is most probable that is either a mistake for, an enemy, or that it is sometimes used in that sense. And by may by an Hendiadys stand for "a terrible enemy." 9. She that hath born seven-] See 1 Sam. ii. 5. SEVEN is put for many; and the multitude of the inhabitants or children of Jerusalem, the mother city, is here alluded to. Ibid. Her sun is gone down-] Literally, as the text now stands, "She is gone down, her sun, while it is yet day." But the Masora .and has the sanction of four MSS ,באה instead of בא שמשה reads Houbigant however insists that wow is both feminine and masuline. ;ל 10. For thou hast born me a man of strife-] The prophet here complains of the opposition he met with from his countrymen for speaking unwelcome truths, which had occasioned him as much uneasiness as if he had engaged in the most invidious of all occupations, and the most likely to engender strife, that of lending and borrowing upon usury. The discretive particle is here elliptically wanting before ɔwɔx; as has been already noted on ver. 7. One MS. reads xb. 11. They have reviled me, all of them, saith JEHOVAн.] cannot certainly be right; for it does not appear how such a word can be formed. I apprehend therefore that the reading should be on; and that they are the words not of Jeremiah, but of God; who, resenting what had fallen from the mouth of the prophet, complains that the whole nation one and all, his prophet as well as the rest, had spoken reproachfully of him; and then proceeds to remind the prophet what an especial care he had taken of him. p Ibid. Have I not brought thee off advantageously?] For nw the Masoretic reading is, and it is countenanced by five MSS. and three Editions. But there are many other variations. Nineteen MSS. one ; שאותך one ; שארותיך one ; שריתך twelve ; שרותיך read seems the שריתיך But among all these .שאריתך and one ; שאריתיך most probable, which coming from w, to set loose, or let go, may very properly be understood of God's extricating or bringing the prophet out of all the dangers and difficulties he had hitherto encountered, 2, happily or in an advantageous manner; so that he had little reason to censure or reproach his patron and benefactor. 12. Shall he break iron in pieces-] The subject of seems to be the enemy,' 2', mentioned in the preceding verse; and the meaning may be," Shall the enemy crush or overpower one whom I have made like the hardest iron and brass?" alluding to what God had said to the prophet when he first engaged him in his service; Ch. i. 18.— "Iron from the north" is perhaps justly supposed to denote in a primary sense that species of hardened iron, or steel, called in Greek zaav, from the Chalybes, a people bordering on the Euxine sea, and consequently lying to the north of Judea, by whom the art of tempering steel is said to have been discovered. Strabo speaks of this people as known in former times by the name of Chalybes, but afterwards cal |