CHAP. VIII. 1 THE Lord Jehovah thus shewed unto me: and, 2 behold, a basket of late summer-fruits. And he said, What seest thou, Amos? And I said, A basket of late summer-fruits. Then said Jehovah unto me; 3 4 The latter end is come upon my people Israel: And the singing-women of the palace shall howl Saith the Lord Jehovah. There shall be many dead bodies in every place: Hear this, O ye that bruise the needy, And set yourselves to make the poor of the land to fail §: 5 Saying: When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? making the And the sabbath, that we may set || forth wheat? And falsifying the deceitful balances: Hebr. add to pass. § Or, cease. || open. to pervert the balances of deceit. * to make. 1. a basket] K«^«l Symm. ayy☞ ó. Arab. vas. Chald. There is a paronomasia in late summer-fruits, and the latter end. "Harvest, or vintage, expresseth judgment: Joel iii. 13. Mr. Lowth." Secker. 3. ---the singing women] I adopt Houbigant's reading: n, cantatices. ---cast forth] is understood, as frequently. ---be silent] See c. vi. 10. 4. bruise] Read . See c. ii. 7. ---to make &c.] See c. vi. 10. Read nuns to cause to cease, that is, to cut off, to destroy. See Hos. i. 4. Deficere facitis. V. 5.---new moon] See Numb. x. 10. xxviii. 11. set forth] Open our repositories of wheat for sale. 8 9 Buying them that are brought low for silver, And selling the refuse of wheat. Jehovah hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob; || Surely I will never forget all their deeds. And shall not all mourn that dwell therein ? And be driven out of its place, and sink down, And it shall come to pass in that day, Saith the Lord Jehovah, That I will cause the sun to go down at noon, Hebr. to buy. § that we may sell. If I will forget forever. * day of light buying] His labour, or his person. See on c. vi. 10. for the construction. 6. ---sandals] See c. ii. 6. 7. excellency] By the state of exaltation to which he raised Jacob and his posterity. Or, By Jacob's most Eminent and incommunicable One. J. Mede. fol. p. 8. 8. be shaken] See c. i. 1. ---as the river] Five MSS. read ; two read so originally; and perhaps three more. And six MSS. and one edition read .כיאור So c. ix. 5. eleven MSS. and five editions read 7. That the Nile was called the river, by way of eminence, see Præl. Hebr. xxiv. p. 325. On Gussetius observes, "Radii lucis e luminari, ut e fonte suo rivi, exeunt. Quapropter & nomen alterum ex altero effictum suspicor." In Cast. lex. I find that the Arabic word signifies fudit. ---and be driven out]" non agnoscunt ó. nec habetur c. ix. 5. qu. an any." Secker. The word is wanting in MS. 96: and MS. 154 reads . ---sink down] Sixteen MSS. read with Keri nypwn. See c. ix. 5. The rising and falling of the ground with a wave-like motion, and its leaving its proper place and bounds on occasion of an earthquake, are justly and 'beautifully compared to the swelling, the overflowing, and the subsiding of the Nile. "Le mouvement qu'elles impriment à la terre est tantôt une espece d undulation semblable à celle de vagues." Encycl. 4to. vid. tremblement de terre. 10 11 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, And I will make it as a mourning for an only son; Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, 12 And men shall wander from the western-sea to the eastern-sea, And from north to south shall they run to and fro, --cause--to go down] Houbigant prefers the reading of Chald. nm, and 1 will hide. That this passage may be understood literally see c. iv. 13. It may also be interpreted metaphorically, of changing a prosperous and joyful state into an adverse and mournful one. Lowth on Isai. xv. 2, and Jer. 10. ---baldness] See Bishop Ας και αποφθιμενας πασαι νεοθηγεί χαλκω Sapph. Epigr. H. Steph. 229. Non mihi te licuit lacrymis perfundere justis, Ovid Epist. Canace. 115. Planxere puellæ Naiades, et sectos fratri imposuere capillos. Metam. iii. 506. ---it---thereof] 7, this matter, this event, may be understood. If we supply the land, 2 may be a participle: And I will make it as one that mourneth for an only son: And the end thereof as a day of bitterness. Nunc & amara dies, et noctis amarior umbra est. Tib. 1. ii. iv. 11. 11. ---the Lord] V, ó. Ar. Syr. omit. ---of hearing] See Ezek. vii. 26. In the calamity which shall befall Israel, there shall be no prophet to direct them. 12. --to south] The Hebrew is, "from sea to sea,” i. e. from the Mediterranean to the dead sea, or, from west to east: ❝and from north to east." It is plain that there must have been N 13 14 To seek the word of Jehovah; and shall not find it. And the young men, faint for thirst: And they shall fall, and shall not rise up again. CHAP. IX. 1 I Saw the Lord standing upon the altar; and he said: Smite the upper-lintel, that the door-posts may shake. + Hebr. way. a mistake of transcribers, though neither versions, paraphrase, nor MSS. remove it. Houbigant proposes, 1, from the western sea to scuth, and from north to east, It seems more natural to adopt the word ', and likewise to think that a transposition has taken place: ונעו מים עד מזרח ומצפון ועד ימין ישוטטו : Eight MSS. instead of Ty read T. And a transcriber's eye might more easily mistake, if each of the transposed clauses began with the same three letters. 13. ---for thirst] From being forsaken by Jehovah: according to v. 11, 12. The pause is at nabynn. 14. --worship] Hebr. way: i. e. religious way. Acts xix. 9. 6. have 8. and it is well conjectured that they read thy rock. "Reponenda vox aliqua quod numen tuum significat. Nescio an : nam et idem: Ps. Ixix. 32. vitulus autem Israelitarum na cvi. 20. Remotius est 17. Conf. Gen. xxxi. 53. Putat Lowth 777 notare cultum: Hos. x. 13: ubi vide notam. Sed vix puto de cultu usurpari; sed neque de vitulo fusili." Secker. AH TOTE Ζη ταυλα. sc. νομιμα. CHAP. IX. Soph. Antig. 465. 1. ---upon the altar] "Or over, or by." Secker. ---the upper-lintel] The upper part of the door-frame in the temple, which bound the whole together: so called because adorned with knops of pomegranates. This vision denotes the breach and ruin of the kingdom of Israel: and the earthquake may really have produced the effect mentioned. 2 3 4 5 For I will wound them in the head, even all of And their posterity will I slay with the sword. And he that escapeth of them, shall not escape If they dig down to the grave, Thence shall mine hand take them: Thence will I bring them down: And if they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search for them, and thence will I take them out: And if they hide themselves from § mine eyes in the bottom of the sea, There will I command the serpent, and it shall bite them: And if they go into captivity before their enemies, There will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: And I will set mine eyes upon them For evil, and not for good. For the Lord Jehovah, the God of hosts, Or. cut. § Hebr. from before. : and this, or I will wound] Houbigant reads ,is necessary ובצעתים ing line. ---head] This corresponds to the upper-lintel in the forego"seems to be the front, as 2 Chron. xx. 27. Mich. ii. 13. the rear." Secker. ---flee away] Observe in ó. diaquyn and diaowon. 3. ---top of Carmel] Which may have abounded in caverns. See Bishop Lowth on Isai. ii. 19. ---the bottom] The Arabic root in Cast. lex. signifies loco plano incessit. There- See on in Noldius. ---serpent] "Serpentes in aquis degunt." Boch. Hieroz. i, iv. 26. Immensis orbibus angues Virg. Æn. ii. 204. |