12

13

Yet ye shall not drink the wine of them.
For I know your manifold transgressions,
And your mighty sins;

Ye who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe,
And turn aside the poor in the Gate.

Therefore the wise man shall be silent at that time;
For it shall be an evil time.

14 Seek ye good and not evil, that ye may live:
And so Jehovah, the God of hosts, shall be with you,
As ye
have said.

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:
Wailing shall be in all the broad places;

And in all the streets they shall say, Alas Alas!
And they shall call the husbandman to mourning;
And those who are skilful of lamentation, to wailing:

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
Jehovah.

Woe unto them who desire the day of Jehovah.
What is this day of Jehovah unto you?

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.
Although ye offer unto me burnt-offerings,

§ 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 the peace-offerings of your fatlings I will not
regard.
Take thou away from me the sound of thy songs:
And the melody of thy viols I will not hear.
But let judgment roll down as waters,

And righteousness as a mighty stream.

Did ye offer unto Me sacrifices, and an offering
of flour,

In the desert during forty years, O ye house of
Israel?

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
Acts vii. 43. Perhaps MS, 575 reads. Moloch, or Mal-
chom, was probably the name of any famous king worshipped
by the heathens. But Spencer thinks that it was oftenest given
to the sun. Selden and Grotius observe, that Saturn was thus
called by the Phenicians. See Spencer 360.

---the tabernacle] "The Carthaginians carried in their
camp ιεραν σκηνην, which was placed near the altar in their
camp: Diod. Sic. 1. 20. c. 65: with which Wesseling there
compares this tabernacle; as he might also have done Moses's."
Secker.

And the star] I have ranged the words as in ó. and Acts vii.
43. Their collocation in the Hebrew is unnatural, and points
out a mistake in the copies:

Nay, but ye bare the tabernacle of your Moloch,
And Chiun, your images, the star of your God
Which ye made to yourselves.

MS. 612 places the words thus: Chiun your God the star
[of] your images.

---the star] "Probably the figure of a star fixed on the head
of an image of a false God. Drusius on the place quotes the
following passage from a Greek scholiast: Erat fimulachrum
Moabitarum cum gemma pellucida et eximia in summa fronte ad
figuram Luciferi." Doctor Forsayeth.
Doctor Forsayeth. "I incline to think
that the sin here reproved was not the sin of the Israelites in the
wilderness, but of those who lived in the time of the prophet.
In the former verse God appeals to them by the prophet whe
ther he did not bear with them forty years in the wilderness,
notwithstanding their many provocations, although they did not
during that time offer sacrifices or other offerings, excepting on
particular occasions. In the verse following this, he denounces
his judgments on them for their abominable idolatry, notwith-
standing their burnt offerings and their meat offerings, their
hymns and songs in his praise." Doctor Forsayeth.

According to this sense we should render,

Ye have even borne the tabernacle of your Moloch, &c.
Chiun] That this was a name for Saturn, see Spencer de leg.
Hebr. p. 666: who discusses the place before us at large. The
God may have been represented as a star, with certain
symbols of distinction. See Selden ii. 396. See also Camp.
Vitringa obs. sacr. 1, ii. c. 1. p. 233. 4to. The reading of Pipa,

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,