son to execute his purposes. See Exod. xx. 24. And indeed the word visit implies coming, either to shew mercy, or to inflict punishment.

Ibid. hath this thing--] Twenty six MSS. three Editions, and the Babylonish Talmud, read 1777; in two other MSS. a letter is erased in the place of 17.

4.thy hands] Twenty three, perhaps twenty four, MSS. and eight Editions, read instead of 77 The LXX. Syr. and Vulg. also express the plural number.

Ibid.---and while it continueth so, it shall not be set aside]

---Interpreters seem much perplexed about the explanation of these words; but by connecting them at the end of this verse with the words preceding, the sense, I think, becomes perfectly clear. 17, "and while it is still" good and right in thine eyes, 2, "it shall not turn back," or "be set aside;" no one shall compel thee to take a different course.

7.-of those who were not carried away, &c.] In two MSS. for UN we read only w, which seems more agreeable to the LXX. and other ancient versions.

8. and Johanan and Jonathan---] The LXX. have only, xx. Iwavav vios Kagne; save that in MS. Pachom. after Kgn, or rather Kagi, follows xa Iavaday. Two MSS. omit 1, and it is erased in two others. One MS. omits . Thirteen MSS. and one Edition read

for; and the Chald. reads in the singular number.

Ibid.---Ephai---] The Masora reads for D, and so do fifteen, perhaps sixteen, MSS. and three Editions. In two MSS. and the first printed Edition, we read only. But the LXX. rather countenance Dy, rendering it Iaps; in the Alexandr. Edition 2, and in MS. Pachom. 09.

Ibid.---and Jezaniah the son of [Hoshaiah] the Maachathite] nor is doubtless a patronymic, and probably bespeaks a descendant of Maachah, Caleb's concubine, 1 Chron ii. 48. The name of Jezaniah's father, appears to have been Hoshaiah, Ch. xlii. 1. and it has most probably been lost out of the text in this place.

9. Fear not to serve the Chaldeans] The ancient Bodleian MS, No. 1. has a singular reading here, ay for may, "fear not to come over to the Chaldeans." This makes a very good sense; but the text needs no alteration.

10.---to stand before the Chaldeans---] That is, to be ready to receive and obey their commands.

16.---By no means do this thing] For won the Masora reads nurn, with the concurrence of twenty one MSS. and thres Edi tions.

CHAP. XLI. ·

5.---and from Shiloh] Seven MSS. with all the ancient versions prefix the conjunction. Shiloh is differently written in the Hebrew co

.שילה שלו,שלה שלו,pies

Ibid.--having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves] All these signs of mourning and great affliction (see Job i. 20. and Notes on Ch. xvi. 6.) seem to have been manifested on account of the calamity, which had befallen the city and temple.

Ibid.---to bring to the house of JEHOVAH] Though the temple was destroyed, it may be presumed that the people continued to offer up sacrifices and offerings on the spot where it stood, as long as they remained in the land; for we find this began to be their practice soon after their return, before the temple was rebuilt. See Ezra iii. 2, 3,

&c.

7.---massacred them at the pit] Our English Translators have rendered, "slew them [and cast them] into the midst of the pit," adding the words, and cast them, which are not in the Hebrew, in order to make out the sense. And Mr Lowth in his Note on the place undertakes to justify the Ellipsis as agreeable to the Hebrew idiom.

Others

has been lost out of the ושליכט or וישליך have supposed that the verb

text, it being expressed in the Syr. and also in the Complutensian Edition of the LXX. by na evaλey, in the MS. Pachom. by xaι eggs, and in one other of the Greek versions, cited in the Hexapla, by xa veter avras.--But on the other hand it may be observed, that is not expressed either by the LXX. or Syr. and I am therefore inclined to believe that, instead of an omission, we have here an undue repetition of this word after, which was occasioned by reading

- just before. In this case by rejecting 1, and reading only 11, we may render, "at, or, near the pit." So we read 2 Kings

66

and slew them at the pit of the * ,,וישחטום אל-בור בית עקד .14 .x

shearing house." So also 1 Maccab. vii. 19. a Book said to have been translated out of Hebrew, we find, xa: ¿ðvory MuTug Big To Deine to μeyd, which our English Translators have also rendered, "and when he had slain them, [he cast them] into the great pit ;" but in the Hebrew ori

וישחטם אל הבור,ginal it was doubtless as we suppose it here

9. Now the pit---] 12 signifies a Bason, Cistern, or Reservoir; a large pit for receiving rain water, which Asa, who built and fortified Mizpeh at the time he was at war with Baasha king of Israel (1 Kings xv. 22.) caused to be made in the midst of the city, in order that the people might not be in want of so necessary an article in case of a siege. Reservoirs of this kind were much in use in Palestina, as Jerome tells us in his Commentary upon Amos iv. 7, 8. His words are, "In his enim locis, in quibus nunc degimus, præter parvos fontes, omnes cisternarum aquæ sunt." And Josephus testifies the advantage of them to the besieged, when he tells us, that when Masada was reduced to the

greatest distress for want of water, it was relieved by a fall of rain in the night, which filled all the reservoirs. Ant. Lib. xiv. cap. 14. Edit. Hudson. Each private family seems also to have had one of these pits or reservoirs for its own use; "Drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern ;” 1712, "his pit," or " reservoir," says Rabshakeh to the people of Jerusalem, Isa. xxxvi. 16.

Ibid-along with Gedaliah] 72, "by the hand," or "side" of him.

So is used Ch. xxxviii. 16. See Note there.

12.---the great waters that are in Gibeon] Called "the pool, or

lake, of Gibeon," 2 Sam. ii. 13.

16.---after the murder that had been committed upon Gedaliah] I take to be here the infinitive in Hophat.

17.---in Geruth-Chimham] For in twenty six MSS. and four Editions read with the Masora, D. Geruth-Chimham signifies, the habitation of Chimham, and was so called, as the Chaldee Paraphrase informs us, from its having been given by David to Chimham the son of Barzillai the Gileadite, 2 Sam. xix. 38, 40. But I have followed the example of the LXX. in rendering the whole as a proper name, affixed to the place from a circumstance that belonged to it so long 2go.

2. Let

CHAP. XLII.

our supplication come humbly before thee---] See note on Ch. xxxvi. 7.

6.---to whom we send thee] For

fifty seven, perhaps sixty seven, MSS. and six Editions, read with the Masora, N.

10. If ye will indeed remain] All the ancient versions agree in rendering awn, as both from the verb aw, although the infinitive of according to the anomaly is naw; it is however found 2, written defectively for 1, 1 Sam. xx. 5. according to the form of regular verbs; and may either have dropt the by accident here, or it may have been taken away by Apheresis. But I see no reason why

may not be considered as the gerund of aw, to return, and so be rendered with wn, "if going back ye will remain"---that is, "if ye will go back to your former habitations, and remain in this land." Only it must be confessed that the usual Hebrew Idiom is the repetition of the same verb.

12.---and shall settle you in your own land] Both the Syr. and Vulg. seem to have considered ' as written defectively for aw; and it most probably was so; for the persons addressed are supposed not to have left their own land; the king of Babylon therefore might more probably be said to let them remain, or to confirm their settlement, there, than to bring them back to a place which they had never quitted.

16.--And the thing shall be] That is, if ye shall carry your resolve into execution.---Compare Ch. lii. 3. Isa. vii. 7. xiv. 24. where also the

verb is used in the feminine, as it is here. On the contrary, the verb is always masculine, when the design is to express the certainty of a prediction taking place, as announced in words that follow; as may be seen in places without number.

17. And it shall be that all the men] Instead of the ancient Bodl. MS. No. 1. reads '; which is more agreeable to the rule of the conversive. But perhaps we ought rather to read, '77).

Ibid.-and by famine-] Six MSS. read 1, and so the LXX. Syr. and Vulg. But the LXX. omit 72751, as Ch. xxxviii. 2. which however is expressed in MS. Pachom, by xai ev Javatw, as it is also by Theodotion. See again, ver. 22,

19. The word of JEHOVAH

ye shall know assuredly] is not a verb here, as our English Translators have rendered it, but a noun, and governed in the accusative by 1277 271. The meaning is, "Ye cannot plead ignorance of the divine command, for I have solemnly declared it to you this day."

20. Surely ye have practised deceit against your own souls] Twenty two MSS. and five Editions read with the Masora on ynn, which is certainly right. The deceit they had practised, the prophet tells them, would certainly turn to their own disadvantage.

22.-and by famine] Thirteen MSS. and three Editions read here,

,ובדבר Here also

, as do also the LXX. Syr. and Vulg. which is omitted in the common Editions of the LXX. is expressed in MS. Pachom. by the words xa v Javara, and so likewise in the ver sions of Aquila and Theodotion. See above on v. 17.

CHAP. XLIII.

2.—Azariah the son of Hoshaiah] The Syr. here reads "Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah," as Ch. xlii. 1. and there can be little doubt that the same name is intended here, the variation being no greater than is. to be found frequently in the use of proper names in Scripture. The name is written 17 2 Kings xxv. 23. from which may be found without farther deflection than the usage of the prophet in other instances may seem to justify. Coniah and Jeconiah are the same name, without and with the at the beginning; and so are Nebuchad nezzar and Nebuchadrezzar, where the and are used indiscriminately. With the like variations * becomes ; and the and are but different modes of aspiration, between which the modern Jew's at least make so little distinction, as to express them both nudo vocalis

sono.

·

to be but עזריה and,יאזניהו יזניה Hence we may conclude

different enunciations of one and the same name.

7.-Tahpanhes-] That is, Daphne Pelusiace. See Note on Ch.

ii. 16.

9.In the sight of some men of Judah] Literally," in the sight of men Jews;" which implies indefinitely some of that nation; not, as our present translation runs, "the men of Judah," as if the presence of

all the emigrants was required; for in that case the reading would at least have been, xn, with the definite article prefixed.

10.-and he shall spread forth his splendor over them] I cannot find any ground for 1endering 1 (so the Masora reads with the concurrence of fourteen, perhaps sixteen, MSS. and three Editions, instead of 7) "his tent" or "pavilion ;" for w signifies no more than beautiful, elegant, splendid; and therefore I understand the words here to denote, that Nebuchadrezzar should there display all the splendor and magnificence of his royal state; or if something more particular be intended, it would be, that as he sate upon his throne, his royal robes should spread themselves, and cover the place where those stones lay. The LXX. according to the Vatican Edit. render Tα OFÀM ST2 MUTES. The Alexandr. Edition, and MS. Pachom. Tα oñλa autɣ.

11. And he shall come-] Fifteen MSS. and two Editions with the Masora for 21 read a.

12. And I will kindle a fire---] The LXX. Syr. and Vulg. render the verb in the third person, as if they had read ; but it is not so found in any of the collated MSS. And the same phrase occurs in several other passages of this prophet, Ch. xvii. 27. xxi. 14. xlix. 27. 1. 32. in all which God speaks of himself as the agent or prime mover; as he does here, no doubt with design to inculcate this necessary and important lesson, that in all that is performed here below, both the plan is his, and the power of carrying it into execution, whatever other instruments he may choose to employ as the subordinate ministers of his providence. The other verbs which follow are to be referred to Nebuchadrezzar, as acting under the divine commission and autho rity.

Ibid.---he shall clothe himself with the land of Egypt---] This expression seems to denote, that he should appropriate to himself, and carry off the riches of the land of Egypt, or, as we say, load himself with the spoils of it, and go off as quiety, as a shepherd wraps his garment about him, and goes about his business. See Ezek. xxix.

19.

13.--the house of the sun] The LXX. render wow n Heliopolis, that is, the city of the Sun, where, as we learn from Herodot. Lib. ii. c. 59. the Egyptians celebrated a grand festival annually in honour of the Sun, who had a temple there. But wow n seems rather to mean the temple itself, in which the images of their Deity were erected.

CHAP. XLIV.

1. AT MIGDOL, &c.] Migdol is mentioned Exod. xiv. 2. as situate near the Red Sea. But I do not take this to be the place here intended. Migdol properly signifies a tower, and may in all probability have been given as a name to different cities in Egypt, where there was a distinguished object of that kind. The city of Magdolus is mentioned