14

15

16

17

18

For their wickedness is great.

Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of excision:
For the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of excision.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
And the stars withdraw their shining.

Jehovah also will roar from Sion,

And from Jerusalem will he utter his voice;
And the heavens and the earth shall shake:
But Jehovah will be a refuge to his people,
And a strong hold to the sons of Israel.
And ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God,
Dwelling in Sion mine ‡ holy mountain:
And Jerusalem shall be § holy,

And strangers shall no longer pass through her.
And it shall come to pass, in that day,

That the mountains shall drop down sweet wine,

Hebr. the mountain of mine holiness.

§ holiness.

Spumat plenis vindemia labris.
Huc, pater O Lenæe veni, nudataque musto
Tinge novo mecum direptis crura cothurnis.

Virg. Georg. ii. 6. "Harare 6. Chald. 177. Recte. Vide Thren. i. 15. Sed vid. Pocock." Secker.

-their wickedness is great] This explains the figurative language which precedes. They are ripe for excision. Let the wine press of my wrath be trodden. is the calcatorium; n p the lake, vronov. See Bishop Lowth on Isai. v.

2.

14. Multitudes, multitudes] That is, very great multitudes. -of excision] I attribute to the sense of to cut, to cut off. See Lev. xxii. 22. Job xiv. 5. The word may mean decided vengeance: or, it may refer to the threshing-instrument which forced out the grain and at the same time cut the straw.

15. The sun-] That is, great revolutions shall happen in the vanquished nations.

16.-will roar] See on Amos i. 2.

-from Sion] This may refer to the conquests under the Maccabees.

17. no longer] But my people shall return from Babylon. If we render, no more, we must suppose a reference to Jerusalem on its establishment.

18. in that day] After the return from Babylon.

sweet wine] Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva. Virg. See Amos ix. 13.

19

20

21

And the hills shall flow with milk;

And all the torrents of Judah shall flow with water: And a fountain shall come forth from the House of Jehovah,

And shall water the valley of Shittim.

Egypt shall be || a desolation,

And Edom shall be a * desolate wilderness:
For their violence against the sons of Judah;
Because they shed innocent blood in their land:
But Judah shall dwell for ever,

And Jerusalem shall remain † from generation to
generation:

And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged;

And Jehovah will dwell in Sion.

Hebr. for a desolation. * for a wilderness of desolation. † to generation and generation. -milk] Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant. Ovid. -Shittim] In the plains of Moab, near Jordan. Numb. xxxiii. 49. Josh. iii. 1. In this v. either the times of the Messiah are described; or we have a description of Jerusalem after its final restoration, when a golden age shall commence among its inhabitants, and when the knowledge of God and of his Christ shall a second time be widely diffused from it. See Ezek. xlvii. 8. Zech. xiv. 8.

19. Egypt-] There shall be a signal difference between Egypt and Idumea, whose people shall be lost in the mass of other nations, and whose sovereignty shall not be restored; and Judah and Jerusalem, whose inhabitants shall be reinstated after their captivity, and on their future return, shall dwell for ever in their land; Jehovah displaying his glory among them.

21. -avenge] I will, as it were, declare it pure and innocent; by punishing their unjust and cruel adversaries. "ó. Syr. videntur legisse np." Secker.

It is uncertain whether we have the key to this difficult chapter; which may not be fully understood till Jerusalem is rebuilt, and till the prophecies, Ezek. xxxix. 5, 11, Rev. xx. 8, 9, are accomplished.

For the valley of Jehoshaphat may be rightly explained v. 2, and may be used in an inferior sense; as Tyre, Sidon and Palestine are mentioned v. 4. and the Grecians and Sabeans v. 6, 3 ; and yet it may take its primary and proper sense v. 12, and refer to a great event still future: and such an event as will give due emphasis to v. 13-18.

THE BOOK OF

ZEPHANIAH.

CHAP. I.

1 THE WORD of Jehovah, which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.

2

3

1.

2.

I will* utterly take away all things
From off the face of the land, saith Jehovah.
I will take away man and † beast;

I will take away the birds of the heavens, and the
fishes of the sea;

And the stumbling-blocks of the wicked.

* Hebr, in taking away I will take away.

+cattle.

Josiah] That is, from before Christ 640 to 609.
utterly]" Surely." Dr. Wheeler.

3. beast Of the tame and domestic kind.

lation

-birds-fishes] I will bring judicial and extraordinary desoupon the land, which shall extend itself even to the birds and fishes. See Hos. iv. 3. Jer. iv. 25.

Ipsis est aer avibus non æquus, et illæ
Præcipites alta vitam sub nube relinquunt.
Virg. Georg. iii. 546.

It is known that birds are affected by pestilential disorders arising from putrified carcases. They fall dead, when they alight on bales of cloth infected by the plague.

Jam maris immensi prolem, et genus omne natantum,
Littore in extremo, seu naufraga corpora, fluctus,

Proluit. Virg. ib. 541.

Commentators observe that such collections of water as the Hebrews sometimes call seas might be made destructive to fishes by blood and carcases.

-the stumbling-blocks] The idols. is sometimes the sign of the genitive case. But Houbigant reads 'nwn and I will overthrow, and observes that 6. read " et infirmabuntur, or, et cadent.

"And the stumbling-blocks, even the wicked." Dr. Wheeler.

k k

4

5

And I will cut off man from the face of the land,
saith Jehovah.

And I will stretch out mine hand upon Judah,
And upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
And I will cut off from this place the residue of Baal,
The name of the sacrificers with the priests:
And those who bow themselves on the house tops
to the host of heaven;

And those who bow themselves, and who swear by Jehovah, and who swear by Malchom. 6 And those who have turned back from following

17

Jehovah;

And those who have not sought Jehovah, neither have inquired of him.

Be silent before the Lord Jehovah ;

For the day of Jehovah is near:

For Jehovah hath made ready a sacrifice, he hath appointed his guests.

Hebr, sanctified.

of the wicked] "See Lowth: i. e. idols, which make them stumble." Secker.

4. The name] The versions, Chald. eleven MSS. and three editions read on, and the name.

-sacrificers] See on Hos. x. 5.

5. And those who bow themselves-] The original word in the second hemistich of this v. is ommitted in ó. MS. A. and Arab. and 6. MS. A. read 'yawam And who swear. "MS. Copt. reads only jurantes per Molochum regem." Mr. Woide.

-on the house tops] Where altars were raised for the worship of the heavenly host in their brightness. See 2 Kings xxiii. 5, 12. Jer. xix. 13. xxxii. 29.

-Malchom] See on Hos. iv. 15: and on Amos v. 26. “Hos. iv. 5." Lowth. "2 Kings xvii. 33.” Secker.

6. enquired of him] Many MSS. read . Have not consulted God by the high priest, or by prophets, to learn his will. Or, we may render,

"Neither have inquired for, or after, him."

Dr. Wheeler translates,

"Nor searched after him."

7. guests] The Babylonians. Here is a beautiful allusion

8

9

. 10

11

And it shall come to pass, in the day of the sacrifice of Jehovah,

That I will

visit the || chief men, and the sons of the king,

And all that are clothed with strange apparel. And I will visit every one that leapeth on the threshold in that day;

Who fill the house of their master by violence
and deceit.

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah,
That there shall be the noise of a cry from the
Fish-gate,

And of an howling from the Second city;
And of a great breach from the hills.
Howl, Ye inhabitants of the Lower city;
For all the trafficking people are cut off,

§ Hebr. visit upon.

H princes.

to the custom of a feast on a sacrifice. See Bishop Lowth on Isai. xxxiv. 6.

8. sacrifice of Jehovah] One MS. reads "in this day, saith Jehovah" inserting for a, the words ONI NA: and two other MSS. have inn.

-strange apparel] Used for idolatrous purposes. See Deut. xxii. 11. 66 strange: foreign, i. e. idolatrous." See Lowth.

Secker.

9.-leapeth] Invadeth the house of his neighbour, joyfully bounding on the threshold. Capellus. This sense is favoured by what follows.

-on the threshold] "Or, over. See Lowth. Master's. Lord's. 6. Vulg. understand it of God." Secker.

10. Fish gate] Mentioned Neh. iii. 3. It was opposite to Joppa, according to Jerom.

-Second city] A part of Jerusalem mentioned 2 Kings xxii, 14: 2 Chron. xxxiv. 22.

-breach] vos ó. A great breaking in of the Chaldean army from the hilly part of Jerusalem.

11. Lower city] A valley in Jerusalem, which divided the Upper from the Lower city. Čast. lex. This is agreeable to the etymology of the word, which signifies a hollow place, a mortar. Ev T Babu. Theod. In torrente Cedron. Chald.