making equally good sense; "when the morning is light, or, rather, in the light of the morning, they practise it, although they lift up their hands to God:" which is very descriptive of their hypocrisy..

4th.

Is not the grammatical construction more easily rectified by reading pn for phr," how hath he departed from me, to return my

יחלק לחלק

fields to the divider?”

5th. Two MSS. omit pa, but perhaps the true reading might be

הקהל

"in the lot of the congregation of Jehovah." Unless we join it

to the beginning of the next verse. See Bishop Newcome.

་

6th. If we consult the context and the versions, perhaps we may be encouraged to read the words thus;

אל תטיפו נטיפים לא תטיפו לאלה - לא יסב כלמות

"Do not prophesy, O ye prophets, do not prophesy unto, or for, these; the reproach shall not be removed." Such repetitions are not unusual; one MS. reads 20 for 1, and the Sept awσera; and we have n in the singular, Jerem. xxiii. 40; though, in both places, it may be

.כלמת written for

7th.

From the sameness of the letters, I am apt to think that Dy, people, is dropt, and that the text stood thus; by by, "Shall not my words do good to the people that walketh uprightly?"

8th. The Chaldee makes these words relate to the punishment of the Israelites; and, taking the words in this sense, they may bear this translation: "As of old, my people shall rise up to the enemy, (i. e. in token of submission, see Lev. xix. 32,) ye shall strip the mantle off the garment, (as another mark of subjection ;) those who pass on securely shall become captives of war."

9th. -“The women of my people shall ye cast out from the house

of their delight;" i. e. cause them to leave them, &c. Several MSS.

,מעל עלליה which is more usual; and, probably, instead of ,עולליה read

we should read, in one word,

hy, unless the final pronoun is

written, by mistake, in both places, for

.

12th. This and the following verse seem to predict the restoration of Jacob and Israel; and therefore might not □ 'n be rendered thus; "they bleat aloud for the man," i. e. the shepherd of Israel; and, under this idea, there is a particular beauty in the following words, to which our blessed Saviour may refer, when he compares himself to the door of the sheep-fold and the good shepherd; and the last verse is understood, by Munster and Castalio, to relate to Christ; see Poole's Synopsis, and c. vii. 14.

C. iii. 6th. May not the first part of this verse be literally translated thus; "Wherefore there shall be night unto them instead of vision, and darkness unto them instead of divination?" See Poole's Synopsis.

10th.

Instead of we should probably read 1; "They build Zion by blood."

C. v. 2. — ↳, which is unnecessary, is, most probably, by a very easy mistake, written for ; see Matt. ii. and Arab.

3d. Might not the second be considered as a noun, with the feminine affix ; "Therefore will he deliver them up till the time when she bringeth forth her Son;" i. e. till the birth of the Messiah, at which time his kingdom commenced? see Matth. ii. 11: and this construc

tion of the words gives a proper nominative case to the verb TAYT, " and he shall stand."

4th.

May not

be rendered, " And he shall stand, and shall cry aloud, in the name of Jehovah," &c. alluding to the preaching of the Evangelists and Apostles, by which he was magnified unto the ends of the earth?

10th.

C. vi. 2d.

Twenty-five MSS. read, which is more regular..

Before I had seen Bishop Newcome, I had conjectured: that we should read for Un; but Archbishop Secker's correction is still better..

5th.- The Sept. Syr. and Ar. supply the word hy ; "what Balak,, the King of Moab, consulted against thee," which still improves the

sense.

9th. -Before I had consulted Bishop Newcome, from comparing the versions it had occurred to me, that we should read

; תשועה ליראי שמי or,,שמו

"The voice of Jehovah crieth unto the city, Salvation to them that. fear my name, or his name. See Ps. cxix. 41.

בבית האיש

10th. As so many MSS. read N, and one ', may not the words be transposed in '; "Are there yet in the house of the wicked man the treasures of wickedness?" And I cannot but think that the preposition was originally prefixed to all words beginning with , though the MSS. do not justify this supposition; for, it cannot be well imagined that any language, however simple, should be formed upon so irregular a plan.

C. vi. 12th.

The Sept. Ar. and Vulg. read D, From which her rich men are full of violence," i. e. from the wicked balances and

deceitful weights.

16th.

Might not the latter words of this verse be better rendered thus ; "wherefore I will make her a desolation, and her inhabitants a hissing, and she shall bear the reproach of my people;" reading Nun

? תשאו for

C. vii. Ist. Twelve MSS. read bby, which is proper, if we understand it plurally.

3d. I should rather suppose to be written, through carelessness, for ; "their hands are for evil, not for good;" see Amos, ix. 4. Bishop Newcome supposes, with great probability, that a word is wanting before or after 1, which more than thirty MSS. read, more properly, by, but he does not give it: perhaps it might be men, which may have been omitted, from its similitude to preceding, "the prince asketh for a gift and the judge for a reward." Perhaps the difficulty, with respect to the last word of this verse, may be removed by reading, with the Sept. ' for ny”, and joining it with the first word of the following verse; "but I will take away their good things;" see Zech. iii. 4: and this disposition of the words does not materially affect the sense of the next, as they will bear this' construction; the upright man is as a briar in a thorn hedge;” i. ė, offends every one who touchest it; and by the upright man here may be meant the prophet, (see Poole's Synopsis,) whose denunciations upon a profligate people might be as so many thorns.

C. vii. 11th. None of the explanations of pn seem very satisfactory; and it is most probable that it is written, by mistake, for рn; K k

"in

"in that day the oppressor shall be removed afar off." See Judges,

12th. Before I had seen Bishop Newcome on this passage I had supposed that we should render in both places, Egypt; "in that day they shall come unto thee from Assyria, and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt, even unto the river;" as Assyria and Egypt are generally contrasted with each other: see also 2 Kings, xix. 25, where YD, most probably signifies Egypt. Should we not also read 'D' for D'," and from sea to sea;" as likewise for 1, "and from mountain to mountain ?” See my sermon on Jeremiah.

13th.

מצור

-Should we not render 8, in this place, the earth, as it seems to relate to the territories at large of the gentile world, and not to the land of Israel?

14th. If we consider the context, in this place, as describing the happy situation of the Israelites, after their return to their own land, it will be proper to render the words thus ; "feed thy people with thy crook, the flock of thine inheritance, that have dwelt solitary in the wood, in the midst of Carmel, let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old."

20th.

66

Bishop Newcome has given us the sense, but has omitted to observe, that two MSS, read on," our sins;" which the context requires.

JOEL.

C. i. 7. Is not aph rather written for nyyph, from pyp, truncare

mutilare?