9

10

And mourning, like the daughters of the ostrich.

For her wound is grievous:

For it is come to Judah,

It hath reached to the gate of my people, even to

Jerusalem.

In Gath tell it not.

Weep ye not with loud weeping.

In Beth-Ophrah roll thyself in the dust.

serpernt kind, that it is derived from the same root in the signification of duplicare, complicare.

Bochart says,

-ostrich] So Aquila and Symmachus. "Nota in Struthione foeminam appellari uy vel ny ; quasi clamosam dices, vel filiam clamoris. Clamosum enim est animal." Hie. l. i. c. ix. p. 65. "It is affirmed by travellers of good credit, that Ostriches, make a fearful skreeching lamentable noise." Pocock in loc. "During the lonesome part of the night, they often make a very doleful and hideous noise. I have often heard them groan, as if they were in the greatest agonies; an action beautifully alluded to by the prophet Micah." Shaw 4to. p. 456. See Job xxx. 28, 29.

9. her wound] The versions and Chald. read no. Six MSS. and one ed. read 'n, and one MS. omits the '.

It hath reached] The versions and Chald. lead us to read
Or thus:

"The stroke hath reached to the gate, &c."

If we read, we have this rendering:

"For the stroke is come to Judah;

To the gate of my people, to Jerusalem."

-Jerusalem] This city will soon be distressed by the Edomites, Philistines and Assyrians. 2 Chron. xxviii. 16-21. 10. tell it not-] From 2 Sam. i. 20.

Beth-Ophrah] Öphrah is mentioned Josh. xviii. 23, as in the tribe of Benjamin. Houbigant prefers уn.

-roll thyself] Seven MSS. read on: and three read so originally agreeably to Keri in Vanderhooght. naw inhabitress may be understood. Or we may read on roll yourselves, with V. Syr. á. Ar.

-in the dust] Here the word by pulvis alludes to the etymology of Beth-Ophrah, which signifies domus pulveris.

Ah! nimis ex vero tunc tibi nomen erit.

Ovid. See Præl. Lebr. xv. 138. n. 1.

Επωνυμῳ δι καρία Πολυνείκη λεγω.

Esch. Septem in Theb. 664. Eurip. Phan. 1500.

11

Pass on, thou inhabitress of Saphir, naked and in confusion.

The inhabitants of Zanan went not forth to wailing. O Beth-Ezel, he shall receive of you the reward of his station against you.

That this reference to the meaning of names was natural among the Hebrews, see on Hosea i. 4. It also served to imprint prophecies on the memory of those to whom they were delivered.

The paronomasia, a figure likely to strike a rude people, often occurs in the Hebrew writers. See Boch. geogr. iii. i. 148. Bishop Lowth on Isai. v, 7.

This particular way of expressing grief is often mentioned in the classics.

"The old versions vary. Perhaps there were originally three places mentioned here, and three paronomasias." Secker.

"I imagine is corrupt, and that here was the name of some place." Dr. Forsayeth.

11. Saphir] Houbigant says that Eusebius places this city, the name of which signifies fair or clegant, in the tribe of Judak between Eleutheropolis and Ascalon.

-naked] See on Hosea ii. 3. Observe the opposition to the meaning of Saphir. For vobis in this line Houbigant reads tibi, with Syr. "Naked to thy shame." Dr. Wheeler.

-Zanan] In the tribe of Judah. Josh. xv. 37. There was no burial of her dead with solemn mourning, out of the precincts of her city; but she was besieged, and put to the sword.

--Beth-Ezel] Near Jerusalem. Zech. xiv. 5.

-station] The standing, or encamping [1 Sam. xvii. 3.] of an army against a city: and hence the effect of such encampment, or the plunder arising from it. Chald. seems to read

: חמדתו

"O Beth-Ezel, he shall receive from you his pleasant portion." Thus we shall have an allusion to the name of the city;

by signifies reponere.

12

13

14

15

Surely the inhabitress of Maroth is sick unto death. Surely evil hath come down from Jehovah unto the gate of Jerusalem.

Bind the chariot to the swift beast,

O inhabitress of Lachish:

She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of
Zion:

For in thee were found the transgressions of Israel;
Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth-
Gath.

The habitations of Achzib † shall deceive the
kings of Israel.

Moreover I will bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitress of Mareshah:

He shall reach to Adullum, the border of Israel.

+ Hebr. shall be a lie to.

12. -Maroth] A city of like name is placed in the tribe of Judah, Josh. xv. 59,

-unto death] For

death, from 2 Kings xx. 1.

furnish a paronomasia.

unto good Houbigant reads in unto unto bitterness, or bitterly, will

Observe Ny and Ny v. 11; and in the following verse, wh

.רכש and

13. Bind the chariot] We may read na nan: The inhabitress of Lachish hath bound the chariot, &c.

-Lachish] In the tribe of Judah. Josh. xv. 39. Sennacharib possessed himself of it. 2 Kings xviii. 14.

-the transgressions] The idols of Israel were first adopted by Lachish. Houbigant reads thou, for she, in the foregoing line: but if any alteration is necessary, which may well be doubted, in her, for in thee, would be a more easy one in the following line.

14. presents to Moresheth-Gath] To Moresheth of Gath, to the Philistines of that country, for safety and protection.

-Achzib] This name is derived from to lie. Perhaps we should read . Beth-Achzib shall be a liar, &c. shall repeatedly frustrate the expectations of her kings, and become, an easy prey to the invader.

-to the kings] Perhaps to the king. Jod follows. 15. Mareshah] The word is derived from w to inherit. -the border] For the glory I read with Chald. border. Adullum was a fenced city in Judah. 2 Chron. xi. 7.

the

Make thee bald, and cut off thine hair, for thy delicate children:

Enlarge thy baldness as the eagle:

For they are gone into captivity from thee.

CHAP. II.

WOE unto them who devise iniquity,
And who work evil on their beds:

When the morning is light they practice it,
Because it is in the power of their hand.

And they covet fields, and possess them by vio-
lence; houses, and take them away :

And they oppress a man and his

man, and his heritage.

Therefore thus saith Jehovah:

house; a great

Behold against this family do I devise evil,
From which ye shall not remove your necks;

+ Or, family.

Eusebius places it twelve miles from Eleutheropolis to the eastward: which answers to the situation in De Lisle's posthumous map, where it is placed about midway between Eleutheropolis and Jerusalem.

16. Make thee bald] "O inhabitress of Mareshah," may be understood. For the custom, see on Amos viii. 10.

-as the eagle] When he sheds his plumage. Ps. ciii. 5. Aves calvescere dicuntur cum deplumes sunt. Boch. Hieroz. p. 14. There is also a species of eagle, called the bald eagle from the whiteness of its head.

CHAP. II.

1.-work evil] In their imagination.

-in the power] Houbigant refers to Prov. iii. 27. ↳ power is written more fully . See in Noldius.

2. houses] Eight MSS. read na: which is elegant, and agreeable to the Hebrew manuer.

-a great man] So w sometimes signifies. Many MSS. and four editions read w. So V. 6. MS. A. and ed. Ald. and Arab. The omission of the vau in both clauses better suits the usual turn of the sentence in Hebrew poetry.

3. family] See on Amos iii. 1.

4

5

6

Neither shall ye go haughtily:

For it shall be an evil time.

In that day shall a proverb be § taken up against

you;

And a grievous lamentation shall be made:
Saying: "We are utterly laid waste:
He hath changed the portion of my people:
How hath he departed from me,

To bring again him that divided our fields!"
Surely there shall not || remain unto thee
One that stretcheth out a line by lot.

In the congregation of Jehovah prophesy not,
O ye that prophesy :

They shall not prophesy unto these:

§ Hebr. sball one take up.

be.

-haughtily] Hebr. in altitudine. It shall be an inextricable yoke; and one that shall bow you down.

4. a proverb] See præel. Heb. iv. p. 45. and the same author

on Isai. xiv. 4.

And a grievous-] Et lamentando lamentum conficietur: supposing the infinitive mood and the Niphal of 'n fuit. The here answers to ' Am. v. 1.

-changed] The original word is rendered removed, Ps. xlvi. 2. And in Arab. signifies commoveri, agitari, conturbari. Cast. lex. Another reading is, is measured, or, he hath measured. See ó. Ar. Syr.

-from me] Literally, to me: the pronoun being redundant, A mourner of Israel speaks.

To bring again] The Assyrians had ravaged Israel and Judah before their final destruction. See 2 Kings xv. 29. xviii. 13.

N who is to be supplied with vulg. before divided. 5. Surely-] Ye shall be wholly removed from your posses. sions.

6. O ye that prophesy] I understand who before ɲ›› : and for the construction refer the reader to such passages as c. iii. 3. Amos v. 7, 10, 12: where a verb in the third person plural, with understood, is used vocatively. My sarazite sadazoles. Aquila. But the word may be a various reading of the foregoing or following verb. See on Hos. iv. 18.

"Drop no longer your instruction.

"Let them that instruct instruct no longer such as these." Dr. Wheeler.