against thee, saith Jehovah, God of hosts, and I will surely burn thy den, or I will burn thy den with fire: and the sword shall devour thy lions, and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of the great lion shall be heard no more." For the first word see Ps. x. 9; for the second, the verse preceding.

C. iii. 9th. More than twenty MSS. read for n, and Bishop Newcome has followed that reading; but, instead of y, the Sept. reads, "Put and Lubim were her helpers." The pronouns should be uniform.

10th.

Instead of, which is quite irregular, should we not read an in Niph.?

12th. The former word ending with , probably occasioned its being dropped before 'n, where it is proper; " like the figs."

16th. Does not ', thy chariots, suit better with the context than, thy merchants? as the locust is as applicable to the one as the other.

17th.

Instead of 1, it is probable we should read 177," and they fly away."

18th. I had conjectured that we should read 1, with Archbishop Secker, for 15, and 1, with one MS. and Bishop Newcome, for 1, before, I had seen their remarks; and the sense is so much improved, from those readings, that the propriety of them is at once obvious. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles are asleep; thy people are scattered on the mountains, and none

66

gathereth them together." The Sept. and Ar. read in the singular, consopivit, which strengthens the intended reading.

ZEPHANIAH.

C. i. 3d. Before I had seen Bishop Newcome, I had conjectured that we should read, with Houbigant, nwn; but, if we retain the present text, the more natural version is, according to our translation, "and the stumbling blocks with the wicked;" П having often the signification of the preposition cum, see Buxtorf: i. e. “idola cum cultoribus suis;" see Poole's Synopsis.

4th. The Sept. and Ar. read instead of 8, nomina Baalis; but, perhaps, by transposing the letters, we should read , " and I will cut off, from this place, the head of Baal, and the name of the sacrificers," &c.

are probably in this place redundant, being הנשבעים ליהוה

5th.

not suitable to the context; and it is remarkable that they are omitted in the Ar. version, which in general is a servile copyer of the Sept.

-

14th. Would it not be more agreeable to the context to read p and for and, "the swift day of Jehovah hasteneth;” such repetitions being frequent and emphatical. The sense, which the present text, in the latter part of this verse, gives, is not very satisfactory; and, from the consideration of the context, it has occurred to me that it might possibly stand otherwise.

קול יום יהוה מר צרח שם גבור. The present text

קל יום יהוח מרצח ומגנב. ,The conjectural reading

"The day of Jehovah is swift, because of the murderer and because of the thief." See v. 9, and 17, 18, where the punishment corresponds with the crime.

C. ii. 2d. If we consult the versions and the commentators, we shall have some reason to conclude that this verse has been greatly corrupted. One MS. omits the first, and all the versions, “ both of them," which is certainly necessary to the sense, though Bishop Newcome has not noticed it; and, as the Sept. reads, probably, instead of at the beginning of the verse, the text might perhaps stand thus;

בטרם יבוא .c& בטרם יבוא .c. בטרם לכם דק כמוץ עברת יהוה

"Before the fierce anger of Jehovah shall beat you small as chaff, before," &c.

4th.

If we retain the present reading, me, it should be rendered, as for Ashdod, they shall drive her out at noon-day."

6th.

66

As is allowed to be transposed, may it not be the Puh. particle of, abscidit? "And the coast of the sea shall be cut off, it shall be the habitation of shepherds and the folds for flocks;" i. e. for the shepherds and flocks of the Israelites perhaps, who should afterwards have possession of it, as the next words intimate. The Sept. renders it Kern, and, in that case, Bishop Newcome observes, it must be put

נות before

.וישתחוו

11th. None of the versions, except the Vulg. seem to have read П, , emaciabit, and it does not accord very well with ". May it not, therefore, be written for 77, "for he shall have dominion over the gods of the earth, and they shall bow down to him, each in his place;

even all the gods of the nations;" reading

for "N? But how far this conjecture may be allowed is submitted to superior judgement.

12th. — can never be the true reading. May it not be written, by mistake, for П, and belong to the beginning of the next verse, behold, he will also stretch forth," &c. One valuable MS.

* ;הנה ויט

omits it.

14th.

חיות is written erroneously for חיתו think that

Notwithstanding what has been said by so great an authority as Bishop Lowth, of the paragogic in the poetical form, I still It is not improbable, also, that p, or, as one MS. has it, p, denotes some kind of bird, perhaps what we call the swift, which frequents uninhabited houses; deriving it from p, velocem esse.

,אין

15th.

66

.אני ואפסי עור

We have these words likewise in Isai. xlvii. 8; and Lud. de Dieu, being unwilling to admit an ellipsis of the word quæ sane durissima est," renders them interrogatively, 60 ego sum, et num præ me amplius?" But, if we consult other passages of Scripture where y occurs, we may reasonably conclude, from its resemblance to " going before and following, that it has been

,אני ואפסי אין עוד איך ;dropped, and that the text stood thus originally

"I am, and there is none else besides me, how," &c.

C. iii. 7th. The construction of the present text but, if we might read on for ', and Thy for

is not very clear; by, it might be thou wilt receive

rendered thus; "I said, surely thou wilt fear me, instruction: then thou shalt not be cut off for all the iniquity which I have visited upon thee," &c.

9th. Before I had seen Bishop, Newcome, I had conjectured that we should read DN for 78, and I am happy in concurring with so learned men as he and Houbigant.

10th. Bishop Newcome observes that the Sept. reads " for , and the Vulg. reads " for na, which may be a farther confirmation of that reading; but, from considering the Chald. and Ar. "from beyond versions, I am more inclined to read 18 instead of na; the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants shall come, my dispersed shall bring mine offering." Thirty-eight MSS. read ", which is more regular. See Ps. lxviii. 30.

11th. More than fifty MSS. read 'D'Din, which is more gramma

tical.

14th. Two MSS. read, with the Sept. Syr. Vulg. and Ar.

in the singular, and this accords best with the other verbs.

Perhaps, for y, we should read ynh, “mighty to

See Isai. lxiii. 1.

18th. The Sept. Syr. and Ar. joined, or, as they probably read,, with the last words of the former verse, where it affords a very good sense, and is not necessary where it now stands; "he will exult over thee with singing, as in a feast-day." And, reading for 17, with the Sept. Ar. and Chald.; with the Sept.; or 182) D with the Ar. and Chald.; and 7 for by with the Syr. and Chald. propose this together with Bishop Newcome and Houbigant; I would version; "I have taken away the afflicted from thee, woe to him, or them, that bringeth reproach upon thee."