12 13 Yet ye shall not drink the wine of them. Ye who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, Therefore the wise man shall be silent at that time; 14 Seek ye good and not evil, that ye may live: 15 16 Hale ye evil and love good, And establish judgment in the Gate. It may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious Unto the residue of Joseph. Because, thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts: And in all the streets they shall say, Alas Alas! 12. ---turn aside] Sc. from his right: unjustly overthrow him in the place of judicature. c. ii. 7. 13. The wise man shall be silent] The wise and eloquent shall be struck dumb by the judgments of God. 14. ---have said.] By your false prophets. Mic. iii. 11. 15. God] Eight MSS. omits, which favours the rhyme. 16. Jehovah] The word in this verse is omitted by .ó Ar. Syr. and seven MSS. So c. iii. 8, 13, this word is likewise omitted in one MS. It is often a gloss on , denoting how it ought to be read according to the Jewish superstition. C. vii. 7, 8. and c. ix. 1. many MSS. read Jehovah for Adonai. The reader will often have occasion to make this remark. ---husbandman] On account of the drought which shall prevail: c. i. 2. ---skilful of lamentation] See c. viii. 3. and Jer. ix. 17. "Mercede quæ conductæ flent alieno in funere præficæ." Lucilius. Which Hor. imitates: Art. poet. 431. And Homer, speaking of Hector's dead body, says, Παρα δ εισαν αοιδής Θρηνων εξαρχους οίτε ςονόεσσαν αοιδην Οι μεν αις εθρήνον επί δε σενάχοντο γυναίκες, Il. xxiv. 720. 17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: 18 19 20 21 22 For I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Woe unto them who desire the day of Jehovah. It is darkness, and not light.. As if a man fled from a lion, And a bear met him: Or went into the house, and leaned his hand on a wall, And a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? Even thick darkness, and no shining in it? I hate, I § despise your feasts; And I will not smell on your solemn days. § Or. reject, --to wailing] Read 790 with. V. Syr. Houbigant, and Bishop Lowth Hebr. præl. xxii. p. 293. 17. ---vineyards] The usual scenes of joy. 18. desire] Deriding the prophetical predictions. Jer. xvii. 15. Ezek, xii. 22. 19. As if, &c.] The calamities foretold are inevitable. 20. Shall not, &c.] A strong asseveration is beautifully conveyed in this question. The 18th, 19th, and 20th verses are very sublime. Darkness is naturally put for calamity, and light for gladness. So Hor. Od. iv. iv, 40. Pulcher fugatis Ille dies Latio tenebris. "We use light to denote knowledge: the sacred writings, with no less propriety and elegance, apply it also to prosperity, honour, wealth, or any kind of happiness." Tayl. pref. to conc. §. iv. See on Mic. vi. 14, 21. feasts] The word may also be rendered sacrifices. See Ex. xxiii. 18 Mal. ii. 3. Ps. cxviii. 27. Spencer de leg. Hebr. 703. ---solemn days] Days when the people were restrained from the common business of life. Deut. xvi. 8. Taylor in voc. Bishop Lowth on Isai. i. 13. vid. Additions. 23 24 25 26 And your offerings of flour, I will not accept them: And righteousness as a mighty stream. Did ye offer unto Me sacrifices, and an offering In the desert during forty years, O ye house of Nay, but ye bare the tabernacle of your Moloch, 22. ---accept them] ó. MS. Al. read & zgodiμal auta. As if .ארצם the text had been ---fatlings] Some think that the buffalo is meant. See Boch. L. ii. xxviii. 282. 23. ---songs---viols] The usual accompaniments of sacrifices among the Jews and Heathens. Sacrifica dulces tibia effundat modos, Et nivea magna victima ante aras cadat. Sen. Troad. See Spencer de leg. Hebr. 1105. There is great authority and majesty in this passage, v. 21 ---24; and the grandeur of the image with which it closes must strike every reader. 24. let judgment] "Rather, judgment shall. See Isai. xxviii. 27." Secker. 25. Did ye offer unto Me] Verborum emphasis in MIHI sita. Spencer, 744. Did ye offer such sacrifices as were acceptable to ME; such entire and undivided service as I enjoined? Did ye offer--] "Peters on Job, p. 312, thinks that they are not here reproached with a neglect, which Moses would not have suffered, and that probably they had no cattle to sacrifice: and that therefore Jeremiah, when he saith, vii. 22, 23, God commanded not sacrifice when they came out of Egypt, means that he did not immediately expect it: and that this question is here asked to shew that sacrifice is not the chief thing he is pleased with; but that, notwithstanding their offering it, their injustice, v. 24, and their idolatry, v. 26. will provoke him to send them into captivity." Secker. 26. Nay but, &c.] God is introduced as replying: No: ye sometimes carried about Moloch in his sacellum, Y, shrine, or tabernacle. The true reading seems to be 2, See c. i, 15. oby I Vide And the star of your God Chiun; Your images which ye made unto yourselves. . and Ar. omit the pronoun: and Syr. has. See also ---the tabernacle] "The Carthaginians carried in their And the star] I have ranged the words as in ó. and Acts vii. Nay, but ye bare the tabernacle of your Moloch, MS. 612 places the words thus: Chiun your God the star ---the star] "Probably the figure of a star fixed on the head According to this sense we should render, Ye have even borne the tabernacle of your Moloch, &c. A 27 1 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, Saith Jehovah, the God of hosts is his name. CHAP. VI. Woe unto them that dwell at ease in Sion, And that rest secure on the mountain of Samaria: of to the manner of? That are named after the chief of the nations: in 6. and of Fμper, 'Paipay, 'Papar, 'Pippar, Pipa, Acts vii. 43, where the MSS. vary, may be accounted for two ways: may have been read, there being a similar ty in the two initial letters: or Rephan, the Egyptian name for Saturn, may have been used by translators, who lived in Egypt, as an equivalent term to Chiun. See the authors already referred to: and Hammond on Acts vii. 43. П in Acts seems supplied by way of interpretation: and one MS. for Babλvo; reads son as Justin Martyr did, accord ing to Beza. The Æth. version omits the last clause, Kai Mitoxio ύμως επέκεινα Βαβυλωνος, in v. 43, 27. beyond Damascus] To which city it seems probable that Hazael carried many captives. 2 Kings x. 32, 3. But now the Israelites were to be led away captives into Assyria and Media, 2 Kings XV. 29. xvii. 6. CHAP. VI. 1. mountain] Samaria was situated on a mountain. 1 Kings xvi. 24. ---named after] The Hebrew word implies an allusion to the custom of marking a name, or character, by punctures. See Bishop Lowth on Isai. xliv. 5. They call themselves, not after their religious ancestors, but after the chief of the idolatrous nations; with whom they intermarry, contrary to their law. See Chald. But this and the next line are very obscure. wrap Justinus: f. ex Aq." Secker. 66 נקבי "Persons of name in, or the known ones, DWA IZPI TEN, of the principal of the nations; and to whom the house of Israel come i. e. for justice, and to pay court. See Ps. cxxii. 4, 5. Comp. Numb. 1. 16. used of Amalek, Numb. xxiv. 20. N principal of, v. 6." Secker. is גוים .4 .Gen. vi אנשי השם I do not find that ever signifies to give or take a name, |