I 2 3 2, If CHAP. II, AND now to you is this commandment, O ye priests. ye will not hearken, If ye will not lay it to heart, Behold, I will take away from you the shoulder, Even the dung of your solemn sacrifices. And one shall carry you to the same place therewith, This commandment, That my covenant may remain with Levi; Or, And ye shall be carried, your blessing] Read on with 6. Ar. Chald. one MSS. and Doctor Durell. The vau is omitted in eighteen MSS. which brings us nearer to the true reading. By blessing is meant the portion of the priests, which a dearth would lessen. See c. iii. 10. 11. The word is sometimes used for a present. See Joel ii. 14. I have cursed it] By sending you unfruitful seasons. 3. take away-the shoulder] Houbigant reads yn with 6, Ar. The shoulder, y, which is also the reading of ó. Ar. Houbigant, was the part which belonged to the priest. See Lev. vii. 32. Deut. xviii. 3. "Perhaps the true reading is, y will cut off." Secker. dung] The maw was also the priest's. See Deut. xviii. 3. But such priests deserved only the dung which it contained. -solemn sacrifices] Or victims. See the Hebrew word, Ex. xxiii. 18. Ps. cxviii. 27. And one shall carry] Or, as ó. And I will carry: et auferens eró, Ye shall be destroyed, and cast on a dunghill. 4. my covenant may remain] That you may reform, and not be cast off. 5 6 7 8 9 10 5. Saith Jehovah God of hosts. My covenant was with him, even that of life and peace; And I gave them unto him, for the fear wherewith he feared me, And was dismayed before my face. The law of truth was in his mouth, And unrighteousness was not found in his lips: Ye have caused many to stumble at the law; Therefore have I also made you Despicable and base before all the people; But have respect to persons in the law. Have we not all one Father? § Or, retain. || Hebr. corrupted. gave them] Life and peace. One MS. reads ; and this, or N, with the paragogic, which might easily pass into the Mem final, is the reading of V. ó. Ar. Chald. And I gave him reverence that he might fear me; And he was dismayed &c. 7. should keep] Preserve, store up: so as to distribute it. 8. caused many to stumble] To sin by offering blemished sacrifices. 9. have respect to persons] Having one decision for the poor, and another for the rich. See Lev. xix. 15. 10. From this v. to v. 16. the prophet censures intermarriages of Israelites with women of another country, which Moses had forbidden, Deut. vii. 3; and also divorces, which seem to have been multiplied for the purpose of contracting these prohibited marriages. Why do we deal unfaithfully, every man against his brother, By breaking the covenant * made with our fathers? And abomination is committed in Israel and in For Judah hath profaned the holiness of Jehovah And hath married the daughter of a strange god. And him that bringeth an *Hebr. of our fathers. + Or, wakeneth. offering to Jehovah, Hebr. an offering of flour. -deal unfaithfully] Act an unjust and inhuman part by putting away the daughter of a Brother-Jew. -breaking the covenant] See Deut. vii. 3. signifies to perforate; and as one ancient way of cancelling bonds was by striking a nail through them, see Col. ii. 14, hence the word signifies to make void. See Tayl. conc. in voc. 11. hath dealt unfaithfully] Hebr. So Ephraim is used in the feminine Hos iv. 18, 19. v. 9. ix. 13. -which he loveth] Which Jehovah hath always loved, Or, rather, by a change of the points, which he [Jehovah] loveth .אוהב -the daughter of a strange god] That is, the worshipper of a different god from Jehovah. See Deut. xxxii. 19. 12. the man] we may be equivalent to w' N, or may be rendered to the man. Him that teacheth-] We have here a proverbial expression for the whole family, yy, 1 Kings xiv. 10, vinctus et liber; that is, all. Bahrdt. So Ezek. xxxv. 7. "I will cut off him that passeth out and him that returneth:" that is, all. See also 2 Chron. xv. 5. Possibly y, &c. may be a substantive signifying the waker; that is, the speaker, or the caller. To waken the ear, Isai. 1. 4, is to pour instruction into it. Hence Vulg. may translate magistrum et discipulum: and the words may mean "the priest and the people." That some of the priests married strange wives, see Neh. xiii. 23-30. And him that bringeth-] Notwithstanding his oblations. 13 14 15 And this also ye do: Ye cover with tears the altar of Jehovah, Insomuch that he regardeth not an offering any morej Because Jehovah was a witness Between thee § and the wife of thy youth, Yet she was thy companion, and thy | covenanted And did not he make one flesh? And is there not one spirit thereto? § Hebr. and between. || the wife of thy covenant. But Houbigant observes that Syr. and Chald. read w:-" So that there shall be none to bring near &c." This reading would oblige us to interpret y in a sense applicable to the priest. Jehovah will cut off the man that doeth this, Even him that teacheth &c. 13. also] ó. Ar. read . "And this which I hate ye do." This furnishes a very good sense. Ye cover-] Or, overwhelm. The infinitive is here used as in Latin. See Ezek. i. 14. Isai. xxi. 5. The passage refers to the tears and groans of wives, divorced by priests, or referring to them for decisions. Nor receiveth it with good-will] See Chald. We may render," Nor receiveth an acceptable sacrifice," or, "what is acceptable." Placabile quid. V. xl. 6. The natural cause of good-will: See Prov. x. 32. 14. was a witness] He having been solemnly appealed to as a witness of the contract. ed. -dealt unfaithfully] is found in twelve MSS. and four 15. And did not-] I much question whether sense can be made of the text, as it now stands. "And did he not make one?" Did not God make man and wife one flesh. Here the ellipses are harsh. "And hath he the residue of the spirit?" No; he hath its fulness; and can do what he pleaseth. wherefore one:" Wherefore did he make two one? sought a goodly seed:" as opposed to a sensual one. "And "He 16 17 And what doth he seek? A * godly seed. And deal not thou unfaithfully to the wife of thy youth. For I hate him that putteth away, Saith Jehovah [Lord of hosts] the God of Israel: Therefore take heed unto your spirit, and deal Ye have wearied Jehovah by your words, Or thus: Hebr. a seed of God. And did not One make us? See v. 10. And hath he the residue of the spirit? And what doth the One God seek? An holy seed. See Thelyphthora i. 136. ed. 2. But I prefer transposing thus: So one MS. ולא אחד עשה שאר: ורוח לו האחד: ומה מבקש וגו' The allusion is to Gen. ii. 24. one soul. Man and wife are one flesh and -to your spirit] To your mind, or disposition. -deal not thou unfaithfully] V. 6. Houbigant, and ten or .תגבוד or תגבד eleven MSS. read 16. -I hate] Both N and w are participles. -Jehovah] After this word ó. MS. A. and Syr. read y of hosts. And him-] As I do him that endeavoureth to conceal under his garment what he hath taken by violence: sub vestimento suo. See Syr. Chald. Nold. by §. 30. But is often construed with by before its transitive case. See on Hab. ii. 14. This led De Dieu to render thus: For violence covereth his garment: that is, overspreadeth or defileth it. Jude v. 23. Nocturnam maculat violentia vestem. His second marriage is an act of injustice and violence to his former wife. 6. Ar. Chald. read .www לבושכם read 17. From this v. to the thy garment: and 6. MS. Pachom. end of c. iii. 6, the prophet reproves |