4

5

And I will cast it forth, and will utterly destroy

it, saith Jehovah.

Go to Bethel, and transgress;

At Gilgal multiply transgression:

And bring your sacrifices every morning;
Your tithes, every three years.

And burn a thank-offering of leaven,

And proclaim, publish abroad, freewill-offerings.

Hebr. to transgress.

ment in which ye were caught. Houbigant reads

be

cause Vulg. Syr. actually supply the preposition; which in Hebrew is very often understood.

.fish דוגה .sc אשה [every one--

"et

---utterly destroy] Houbigant Proposes; "et projiciemini in sagenas." Possibly, naannn nnbum, " et projiciam eam perdendo eam." From Chald. Syr. we may collect 27, "to the mountains of Mini or Armenia." In v. 2, 3, the image is changed from that of v. 1, in the irregular eastern manner: and I suppose it continued through these two verses; and not interrupted by a second transition.

,הרי מני or

4. Gilgal] See c. v. 5. That this place, which lay between the river Jordan and Jericho, was the scene of idolatry, appears from the contempory prophet Hosea; c. iv. 15. ix. 15. xii. 11. It was so called, because at that place God 2 rolled away the reproach of circumcision from the Israelites. Josh. v. 9.

---years] So sometimes signifies. See Ex. xiii. 10. Numb. ix. 22. 1 Sam. i. 3. xxvii. 7. 2 Sam. xiv. 26. See the law for offering tithes at the end of three years, Deut. xxvi. 12.

-means by or on the third day without imply לשלשת ימם

ing any repetition, Ex. xix. 15. Ezr. x. 8, 9. The tithes of the third year were to be given by the Jews to the Levites and the poor, to be eaten within their gates: Deut. xiv, 28, xxvi. 12: but those mentioned here were brought to the temple: and the third day bears some proportion to the preceding every morning; but three years do not.Michaelis, whom see, understands days: and all the old versions translate so." Secker. 5. And burn] V. 6, Syr. read 10p.

---of leaven] Though of leaven, in contempt of the law Lev. ii. 11, makes a good sense; yet the Chaldee, by reading on, from violence, suggests a better sense.

---proclaim] Inviting many to feast on these sacrifices. See Spencer de leg. Hebr. L. iii. c. vii. The sense of these two

6

8

9

For thus ye love to do, O ye sons of Israel,
Saith the Lord Jehovah.

And moreover I have given you

Cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
And want of bread in all your places:

And yet ye have not returned unto me, saith
Jehovah.

And moreover I have withholden from you the rain,
When there were yet three months to harvest:
And I have caused it to rain upon one city,

And upon another city have I caused it not to rain:
One portion hath been rained on;

And another portion, whereupon I have caused it
not to rain hath withered:

And two or three cities have gone

Unto one city

To drink water, and have not been satisfied:

And yet ye have not returned unto me, saith
Jehovah.

I have smitten you with blasting, and with mildew,
very much:

verses is: With the punishment denounced, . 2, 3, impending over you, and notwithstanding past tokens of my anger, v. 6, &c.; continue to trust in your idols. A severe derision of their folly and mpiety.

6. And yet, &c.] A reprehension which occurs five times. in this chapter.

7. ---three months] Some understand this of the rain which fell in April, three months before wheat-harvest: others think that there is a reference to the snow and rains which filled the reservoirs in the beginning of February. Harmer i. 40.

--whereupon I have caused it not to rain] For oan, V. ó, Ar. read N. So does one MS. now; and a second read so originally, and perhaps a third. This reading is therefore

.תמטר preferable to

8. or three] ww. Houbigant. V. 6. But Syr. Chald. omit the vau. The rhyme in v. The rhyme in v. 7, 8, is prosaic: and yet the use of the future for the past, and the repetition at the close of v. 8, are in the poetical manner.

9. very much] Hebr. multiplicando. See Prov, xxv. 27,

10

11

Your gardens, and your vineyard, and your figtrees,
And your olive trees, hath the locust eaten :
And yet ye have not returned unto me, saith
Jehovah.

I have sent among you the pestilence, after the
manner of Egypt:

I have slain your young men with the sword,
And § your horses have I led away into captivity;
And I have made the smell of your camps to come
up into your nostrils:

And yet ye have not returned unto me, saith
Jehovah.

I have overthrown some of you, like the great
overthrow

Of Sodom and of Gomorrah;

And ye have been as a firebrand plucked out of
the burning:

And yet ye have not returned unto me, saith
Jehovah.

Hebr. Together with the captivity of your horses.

overthrow of God.

A good sense arises from thus changing the Masoretic division of the sentence, and adding to the former clause. By pointing the word differently we may render, "Your many gardens, &c."

---the locust] The verb in Ar. and Eth. and in the Talmudical writers, signifies "abscindere ramos arborum." See Boch. Hieroz. part. ii. p. 443, 484.

10. ---after the manner of Egypt] See Deut. vii. 15. xxviii. 60. The unwholesome effluvia, on the subsiding of the Nile, caused some peculiarly malignant diseases in this country. For the phrase, see Gen. xix. 31. Isai. x. 26. Ezek. xx. 30.

---into your nostrils] We may read without the vau, as V. ó. Ar. Syr. Houbigant, and one MS. in which the vau is erased. But Chald. has the vau: 66 even unto your nostrils."

The pestilential smell of the dead is meant.

11. great overthrow] See on Jon. iii. 3. and the parallel places Isai. xiii. 19. Jer. 1. 40. For the fact, see 2 Kings xiii. 3: xiv. 26.

---of Sodom] is sometimes the sign of the genitive case. See Nold. §. 24.

-plucked] Many MSS. read by here, and Zach. iii. 2.

Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: And because I will do thus unto thee,

Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

For, behold, he that formeth the mountains, and
createth the wind,

And declareth unto man what is his thought;
He that maketh the morning darkness,

And treadeth upon the high places of the earth;
Jehovah, God of hosts, is his name.

12. ---thus] I will overthrow thee with a great overthrow. Houbigant reads from Chald. and renders:

Nunc autem quit faciam tibi, Israel,

Postquam tibi hæ feci?

Para te ad occursum Dei tui, Israel.

Thus will I do] "This is a common form of imprecation, implying more than he who used it would, or perhaps could, express. Secker.

13. For behold, &c.] Prepare to meet him armed with vengeance: for he is a great and powerful God.

---the mountains] "Boven ó." Secker.

---darkness] ó. Ár. Houbigant, and above twenty MSS. or

: ועיפה impressions read

"He that maketh the morning and the darkness:"

Which is a very elegant various lection, and likely to be adopted by many readers. But God's power of changing day into night is mentioned c. v. 8: and in both these places there may be an allusion to the black clouds and smoke attending earthquakes which happen during the day. "Des nuages noirs & epais--sont ordinairement les avant-coureurs de ces funestes catastrophes. On a vu sortir une flamme de terre dans ces tremblemens, mais plus souvent de la fumee." Encyclop. 4to. tremblemens de terre. See also c. viii. 9.

Art.

---and treadeth] That is, hath all power and sovereignty: treading under foot the highest and strongest places. See Deut. xxxii. 13.xxxiii. 29. This description of the all-powerful and all knowing God is very sublime. This line is repeated Mic. i. 8.

СНАР. V.

*

HEAR ye this word which I take up against you: even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall not † rise again:

She is stretched out on her land; none shall raise

her up.

For thus saith the Lord Jehovah :

The city which went out by a thousand, shall leave an hundred,

And that which went out by an hundred shall leave ten,

To the house of Israel.

Wherefore thus saith Jehovah to the house of
Israel:

Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

5

But seek not Bethel,

And go not unto Gilgal,

And pass not over unto Beersheba.

* Or, utter,

Hebr. add to rise.

1. Hear, &c.] According to Bishop Lowth, Hebr. præl. xxii. p. 292, this verse is a part of the , or elegy. It may be divided thus:

'Hear this word

Which I take up against you;

Even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

I suppose this lamentation continued to the end of c. vi: though it may be confined to v. 2.

Or," For I take up a lamentation over you.” Secker.

2. No more rise] "The contrary seems often said, as c. ix. 15: even though Israel be taken as opposed to Judah. But y doth not signify, not for ever. Joel ii. 19." Secker.

3. went out Or, sendeth forth, emittit. For Bochart attributes a transitive sense to the verb in this place; agrecably to Deut. xiv. 22: and Ps. cxliv. 14: 66 nec sit in eis abortus, nec quæ ejiciat fœtum." Hieroz. L. ii. xxx. 295.

5. Gilgal In a there is an allusion to the word Gilgal. ---Beersheba] It belonged to Judah: 1 Kings xix. 3: which circumstance gives a propriety to the phrase, pass not over." That it was the scene of idolatry, see c. viii. 14.

66