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66 dettes ;" our Translation in present use, your your labours ;" and Bishop Lowth," your demands of labour." But none of these, I think, reach the true and proper sense of y, how near soever they approach to the general meaning of the passage. The LXX. render ry, "those who are subject to, or are in your power. υποχειρίες υμων, Symmachus and Theodotion, voxess vv, according to Jerome, who professes to follow them in rendering, et debitores vestros repetitis. Grotius observes, that in Arabic signifies ligare; and thence 23y, obligati. Now from all this it may be concluded, that are no other than those who are called in the Roman jurisprudence nexi, that is, persons delivered up for insolvency to serve their creditors under. confinement, till they had made full satisfaction by their labour for the

תנגשו In this case .אסירי ארץ debt, and consequently the same as

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may most properly be rendered, ye oppress;" for was signifies to oppress, particularly by compelling to hard labour; See Taylor's Concordance. In exact correspondency with which it is required, as a means of rendering their fasts acceptable, that they should "take off the burdens of the yoke, and let the oppressed wretches, 37, go free." Isa. lviii. 6.

35. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of a superior] properly signifies a superior, one exalted above others. It is often put for God, THE MOST HIGH, who is above all. But here it cannot be so. For though a person may be made to suffer greatly by having his judgment turned aside, that is, by being calumniated and misrepresented before an earthly superior, yet all such malicious attempts must fail and come to nothing, where God is the judge, who cannot be so deceived or imposed on. must therefore be 'understood here of an earthly superior.

36. To subvert a man in his cause] That is, to prevent his having justice done him in a law suit or controversy by any undue interference; as by bearing or suborning false witness, or exerting any kind of influence in opposition to truth and right.

Ibid. JEHOVAH seeth not] For seventeen MSS. read M. As to see often in Scripture connotes approbation and complacency; so here by not seeing is meant that God disapproves and dislikes such conduct as is before specified, turning his face away as a mark of disgust and abhorrence, and refusing to have any thing to do with it. So it is said, Hab. i. 13. "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil; and canst not look on iniquity."

337.-JEHOVAH-] Twenty two MSS. and one Edition readını. instead of K.

39. Wherefore should a living man complain, a man, &c.] There seems to be a peculiar emphasis laid on the words and 2 in this passage. is said to denote a man because of his excellence and superiority over all other earthly beings. Whilst a man therefore lives, and is possessed of those privileges of his nature, whatever else he undergoes must be less than his sins have deserved, because death, which implies the loss of all those privileges, is the allotted wages of sin.

Ibid. his suffering for sin] Forty MSS. and four Editions read with the Masora, 1, "his sins." But 18 is unexceptionable, as the verb un signifies not only to sin, but to suffer for it. See Bishop Lowth on Isaiah xl. 2. Taken in this sense, Non is the infinitive mood used as a noun with the affix. The LXX. and Chaldee ap

.חטאו parently read

40. unto JEHOVAH] For y five MSS. read N.

41.---our hearts---] For 1222 thirty one MSS. and two Editions read 122, which agrees with all the ancient versions.

42.---thou hast not pardoned] Four MSS. read with the conjunction, which is also expressed in the LXX. Syr. Vulg. and Arab.

43. Thou hast fenced about with anger] ---The verb 750 appears to have this sense Job iii. 23. x. 11. xxxviii. 8. There seems to be a manifest allusion to the manner of hunting wild beasts by surrounding at first a large tract of country with toils, which the beasts could not break through; and these being drawn in by degrees, the beasts were driven into a narrower space, where they were massacred with darts and javelins at the will of the hunters. See Bishop Lowth's Note on Isa. xxiv. 17, 18.

Sic curva ferás indago latentes
Claudit, et admotis paulatim cassibus arctat.

Statius Achill. 1. 459.

Ibid.---thou hast not spared] Thirty five MSS. and three Editions read, with the conjunction. So the Alexandr. copy of the LXX. the Syr. Chald. Arab. and Vulg. See note on Ch. ii. 2.

46, 47, 48.] According to alphabetical order these verses should follow ver. 49, 50, 51. and they are so disposed in the Syriac version, and in two MSS. But the 46th and 47th verses seem to have so natural a connection with those that now immediately precede them, as not to suffer a transposition. See what was before observed in note on Ch. ii. 16, 17.

47. The terror and the pit---] See Jer. xlviii. 43. and note there.

48.] In this and the three following verses the prophet shews the misfortunes of his country to constitute no small part of his personal affliction.

51.---the daughters of my city] Probably the lesser cities and towns dependent on the metropolis are hereby meant. Ses Jer. xlix. 2.

52. They that are mine enemies without cause] Compare Ps. xxxv. 19. lxix. 5. and see Bishop Lowth's Preliminary Observations on Isaiah, p. xl. Here the prophet begins to celebrate the deliverance he had experienced from former dangers and difficulties; from whence he is led to trust, that the same good providence will again be his support, and avenge him of his present persecutors.

53. They cut off my life in the pit, &c.] See Jer. xxxviii. 6, &c. 54. Waters flowed over my head] A metaphor taken from a person

ready to drown, to denote imminent danger and distress. See Ps. lxix. 1, 2. cxxiv. 4, 5.

56. Hide not thine ear from my relief at my cry] That is, Shut not thine ear, refuse not to attend, and grant me relief, when I cry unto thee. From 1 air, or wind, derives the signification of refreshment or relief; giving a person air, or fanning him, when he is fainting, being a ready means of refreshing and relieving him. Accordingly the LXX. render 777 Exod. viii. 15. avaĻužis.

58.---O JEHOVAH---] Thirty one MSS. together with one in the margin, and one ancient Edition, read here, instead of 7.

59. Thou hast seen, &c.] Here the prophet adverts to his present sufferings and ill usage.

60.---all their devices against me] Seven MSS. read in the plural Dawn, conformably with the LXX. and Vulg.---Fifteen MSS. read instead of; and one has a letter erased before.

61.---all their devices---] Here again eight MSS. with the LXX.

.מחשבותם and Vulg. read

62.---their muttering---]

properly signifies to speak in a low im

perfect voice, uttering a confused sound.

63. Behold their sitting down, &c.] That is, Behold at all times, whether they sit down or rise up, I am made the object of their merriment. See note on ver. 14.

65. Thou wilt give with a hearty accordance---] The LXX. render

D VπECHOTIOμev, and the Vulg. scutum, from an, a shield. In the margin of our Bibles it is translated obstinacy; and Taylor in his Concordance explains an, a heart shielded or hardened against good impressions. Others, who perhaps read, man, as it stands in twenty two MSS. render it sorrow, as from the verb ain. But it seems.

most natural to derive it from the verb jan, to deliver or make over; in which case in means a delivery of the heart, that is, a willing one, to which the heart consents. It is further to be noted, that none of the ancient Versions express, more than once, and that one MS. omits it after inn. Perhaps therefore we should read ansan, according to, or with, a delivery of the heart," that is, freely and without the least reluctance.

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66.---the heavens of JEHOVAH] So stands the text at present, 77 But the LXX. and Vulgate seem to have read

.ש מי

,"from under heaven, O JEHOVAH." And it is not unusual to find the final defective in the MSS. probably having been first expressed by a stroke over the *, which afterwards was lost. See Kennicott's Dissert. Gener. § 26. According to the Syr. it was in ,"thy heavens, O JEHOVAH.”

CHAP. IV.

THE prophet contrasts in various affecting instances the wretched and deplorable circumstances of the Jewish nation with the flourishing state of their affairs in former times; and ascribes the unhappy change principally to the profligacy of their priests and prophets, which had drawn upon them the universal abhorrence of God and man. The people proceed with lamenting their hopeless condition, and in a par-, ticular manner the captivity of their sovereign. The judgment of Edom is at length foretold, together with a final cessation of Sion's calamities.

1.---changed] For N twenty five MSS. and one Edition read

.ישנה

Ibid.---the hallowed stones] Literally," the stones of holiness," meaning, as is most probable, the men of Israel, who were the stones of which the church of God was built.

sig סלה or סל The verb---המסלאים [---of worth equal to---.2

nifies to weigh down, against any thing put in an opposite scale. 3.---in cruelty is like the ostriches in the desert] For three MSS. ready, and forty three MSS. and ten Editions with the See Taylor's Concordance at the word ', where an account of the Ostrich is given from Shaw's Travels, Supplem. p. 66. See also Job xxxix. 14, 15, 16.

.כיענים,Masora

5.-..have embraced dunghills] That is, they lie on them, instead of the scarlet carpets or couches which they were bred to..

6. The punishment---] See note on Jer. li. 6.

Ibid.---nor were hands weakened in her] Sodom was destroyed by a sudden act of God, which the prophet thinks preferable to lingering and wasting away with disease or want, as was the case in Jerusalem during the long siege.

not to understand persons who had set

7. Her nobles---] signifies to separate or distinguish from the vulgar. I therefore think that we are here by those who are properly called Nazarites, that is, themselves apart by a religious vow, but persons of rank and distinction above the common sort. is thus applied to Joseph, Gen. xlix. 26. as one distinguished in eminence and dignity above his brethren. See DR DURELL'S Note in Parallel Prophecies of Jacob and Moses, p. 100.

Ibid. They were ruddier on the bone] In the preceding line the whiteness of their skin is described; in this their flesh, which was red underneath towards the bone, marking their high health.

Ibid. --their veining was the sapphire] signifies to divide or intersect, as the blue veins do on the surface of the body. These therefore are without doubt intended.

8.---duskier than the dawn] nw signifies the dawn of day, when it is neither light nor dark, but between both, at which time objects are not easily distinguished.

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Ibid.---Their skin is strait bound upon their bones] in Arabic signifies to bind; and to be hide bound is a common expression, and is what is here meant in opposition to the former juicy ruddiness of the flesh upon the bones, ver. 7.

9.---In that those, being thrust through, pass away before the fruits of the field.] That is, they pass away at one stroke before the means of subsistence fail, and so expérience not the misery of wanting them which is far preferable to the case of those, who outlive the necessaries of life, and pine away by slow degrees.

;

12.--nor all the inhabitants---] Ten MSS. and two Editions with the Masora read without the . The LXX. also omit the conjunction. But it is expressed in the Syr. Chald. and Vulgate, and, I think, rightly.

14.---frantic--] Our English Translators have with the Vulgate rendered, blind. But the LXX. and Syr. interpret it otherwise. They seem indeed to have read it with the feminine affix nly. But I conceive to be the participle Pahul of the verb, to rouse or excite:

Ibid.---Such as they could not overpower---]

באשר לא Ellipsis for

stands here by See the like, Jer. ii. 8, 11. The meaning is, that if they could no otherwise harm those they met with in the streets, they defiled them by touching their garments.

,גם. נער.

15. Because they were contentious, even when they were fugitives---] "whilst they wandered;" See □ thus used, Psal. xcv. 9. $ 18," they tempted me whilst they saw my work." ---As their mischievous behaviour rendered them obnoxious at home, so carrying with them abroad the same litigious and turbulent spirit, they made the nations unwilling to admit of their sojourning among them. Or the rendering might be, "When they wrangled, and were also fugitives," that is, when in consequence of their intestine broils they (namely, the weaker faction) became exiles, the neighbouring nations would have nothing to do with persons, who, they said, as it follows in the next verse, were discarded of their God, and had shewn no sort of respect, where on account of character and age it was due.

16.---their portion---] See note on Jer. x. 16.

Ibid.---to elders---] Twenty three MSS. and three Editions read

זוקנים with the Masora

17. While yet we existed] The prophet, after having digressed in the five last verses to make observation on the wickedness of those who had been the principal cause of the national ruin, here returns again to his lamentable description of the particulars.--- cannot certainly be right. Twenty one MSS. read 71 or 7. But the Masoretes read 17, as it is found in three MSS. and one Edition, in the margin of Felix Pratensis's Bible, and among the various readings in the London Polyglott, Vol. vi. Three other MSS. read 12715, which is still more probable, as I find no other instance of the following 1. But this emendation is not of itself sufficient. For the idiom of the language seems generally at least to require, that the suc

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