4. For thou shalt forget] "Shame of thy youth; i. e. the bondage of Egypt: widowhood, the captivity of Babylon:" SECKER.

7. In a little anger-] So the Chald. and Syr. either reading for y, or understanding the latter word as meaning the same with the former, which they both make use of. See Psal. xxx. 5. xxxv. 20. in LXX, where they render y by ogyn.

8. I hid my face [for a moment] from thee] The word yan is omitted by LXX, Syr. and two MSS. It seems to embarrass rather than to help the sentence. "Forte reponi debet pro 3, quod potest a 3p errore scribæ originem. duxisse:" SECKER.

9.—as in the days of Noah] ", in one word, in a MS, and some editions; and so Syr. Chald. Vulg. Sym. Theod. Abarbanel, Salomo b. Melec, and Kimchi, acknowledge that their copies vary in this place.

11, 12. Behold, I lay thy stones-] These seem to be general images to express beauty, magnificence, purity, strength, and solidity, agreeably to the ideas of the eastern nations; and to have never been intended to be strictly scrutinized, or minutely and particularly explained, as if they had each of them some precise moral or spiritual meaning. Tobit, in his prophecy of the final restoration of Israel, describes the New Jerusalem in the same oriental manner : "For Jerusalem shall be built up with sapphires, and emeralds, and precious stones; thy walls, and towers, and battlements, with pure gold. And the streets of Jerusalem shall be paved with beryl, and carbuncle, and stones, of Ophir :" Tob. xiii. 16, 17. Compare also Rev. xxi. 18-21.

15. shall come over to thy, side] For, twentyeight MSS (eight ancient) have 5, in its more common form. For the meaning of the word in this place, see Jer. xxxvii. 13.

CHAPTER LV.

9. For as the heavens are higher-] I am persuaded that, the particle of comparison, is lost in this place, from the likeness of the particle immediately preceding it. So Houbigant, and SECKER. And their remark is confirmed by all the ancient versions, which express it; and by the

following passage of Psalm ciii. 11. which is almost the

same:

כי כגבה שמים על הארץ גבר חסדו על יראיו.

"For as the heavens are high above the earth,

So high is his goodness over them that fear him."

Where, by the nature of the sentence, the verb in the second line ought to be the same with that in the first:, not: so Archbishop Secker conjectured; referring however to Psal. cxvii. 2.

12. The mountains and the hills-] These are highly poetical images, to express a happy state attended with joy and exultation.

"Ipsi lætitia voces ad sidera jactant

Intonsi montes: ipsæ jam carmina rupes,
Ipsa sonant arbusta.'

Virg. Ecl. v.

13. Instead of the thorny bushes-] These likewise (see note on the preceding verse, and on chap. liv. 11.) are general poetical images, expressing a great and happy change for the better. The wilderness turned into a paradise, Lebanon into Carmel: the desert of the Gentiles watered with the heavenly snow and rain, which fail not to have their due effect, and becoming fruitful in piety and righteousness; or, as the Chaldee gives the moral sense of the emblem, "instead of the wicked shall arise the just, and instead of sinners, such as fear to sin." Compare ch. xxxv. 1, 2. xli. 19.

Ibid. And instead of-] The conjunction is added, лn, in forty-five MSS, and five editions; and it is acknowledged by all the ancient versions. The Masoretes therefore might have safely received it into the text, and not have referred us for it to the margin.

CHAPTER LVI.

5. —will I give them] dent that we ought to read Syr. Chald. and Vulg.

For in the singular, it is evi5 in the plural: so read LXX,

7. shall be accepted] A word is here lost out of the text: it is supplied from the LXX 17, dovrα1: Houbigant. 9. O all ye beasts of the field-] Here manifestly begins

a new section. The Prophet, in the foregoing chapters, having comforted the faithful Jews with many great promises of God's favour to be extended to them, in the restoration of their ruined state, and of the enlargement of his church by the admission of the Gentiles; here, on a sudden, makes a transition to the more disagreeable part of the prospect; and to a sharp reproof of the wicked and unbelievers, and especially of the negligent and faithless governors and teachers, of the idolaters and hypocrites, who would still draw down his judgments upon the nation-probably having in view the destruction of their city and polity by the Chaldeans, and perhaps by the Romans. The same subject is continued in the next chapter; in which the charge of corruption and apostasy becomes more general against the whole Jewish church. Some expositors have made great difficulties in the 9th verse of this chapter, where there seems to be none. It is perfectly well explained by Jeremiah ; where, having introduced God declaring his purpose of punishing his people, by giving them up as a prey to their enemies the Chaldeans, a charge to these his agents is given in words very nearly the same with those of Isaiah in this place:

"I have forsaken my house; I have deserted my heritage;

I have given up the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies.

Come away, be ye gathered together, all ye beasts of the field;

Come away to devour."

Jer. xii. 7. 9.

Ibid. -beasts of the forest] Instead of w, three MSS have, without the preposition: which seems to be right; and is confirmed by all the ancient versions.

10. dumb dogs, they cannot bark] See below, note on chap. lxii. 6.

Ibid. Dreamers] D, EVUTVIαCoμevoi, LXX. This seems to be the best authority for the meaning of this word, which occurs only in this place: but it is to be observed, that three MSS, and three editions, have D; and so Vulg. seems to have read, videntes vana.

12.-let us provide wine] For ps, first person singular, an ancient MS has P, first person plural; and another ancient MS has PN upon a rasure. So Syr. Chald, and Vulg. render it.

CHAPTER LVII.

2. He shall go in peace] D : the expression is elliptical, such as the Prophet frequently uses. The same sense is expressed at large and in full terms, Gen. xv. 15.

And thou shalt go to thy * ואתה תבוא אל אבותיך בשלום

fathers in peace."

Ibid. he shall rest in his bed; even the perfect man] This obscure sentence is reduced to a perfectly good sense, and easy construction, by an ingenious remark of Dr Du

RELL.

Two MSS (one of .ינוח על משכבו תם He reads

them ancient) have, singular; and so Vulg. renders it, requiescat. The verb was probably altered to make it plural, and so consistent with what follows, after the mistake had been made in the following words, by uniting and D into one word, See Merrick's Annotations on the Psalms, Addenda: where the reader will find, that J. S. Moerlius, by the same sort of correction, and by rescuing the adjective Dл, which had been swallowed up in another word in the same manner, has restored to a clear sense a passage before absolutely unintelligible :

66

כי אין חרצבות למו

תם ובריא אולם:

For no distresses happen to them;
Perfect and firm is their strength."

Psal. lxxiii. 4.

6. Among the smooth stones of the valley-] The Jews were extremely addicted to the practice of many supersti tious and idolatrous rites, which the Prophet here inveighs against with great vehemence. Of the worship of rude stones consecrated, there are many testimonies of the ancients. They were called Βαιτυλοι and Βαιτύλια ; probably from the stone which Jacob erected at Bethel, pouring oil upon the top of it. The practice was very common in different ages and places. Arnobius, lib. i. gives an account of his own practice in this respect, before he became a Christian: "Si quando conspexeram lubricatum lapidem, et ex olivi unguine sordidatum; tanquam inesset vis præsens, adulabar, affabar, et beneficia poscebam nihil sentiente de trunco." Clemens Alex. Strom. lib. vii. speaks of a worshipper of every smooth stone in a proverbial way, to denote one given up to superstition. And accordingly Theo phrastus has marked this as one strong feature in the

character of the superstitious man: Και των λιπαρών λίθων των εν ταις τριόδοις παρίων, εκ της ληκυθου ελαιον καταχειν, και επι γονατα πεσων και προσκύνησας απαλλαττεσθαι : “ Passing by the anointed stones in the streets, he takes out his phial of oil, and pours it on them; and having fallen on his knees, and made his adorations, he departs."

8. Behind the door, and the door-posts, hast thou set thy memorial] That is, the image of their tutelary gods, or something dedicated to them; in direct opposition to the law of God, which commanded them to write upon the door-posts of their house, and upon their gates, the words of God's law; Deut. vi. 9. xi. 20. If they chose for them such a situation as more private, it was in defiance of a particular curse denounced in the law against the man who should make a graven or a molten image, and put it in a secret place; Deut. xxvii. 15. An ancient MS, with another, has, without the conjunction 1.

9. And thou hast visited the king with a present of oil] That is, the king of Assyria, or Egypt. Hosea reproaches the Israelites for the same practice :—

It is well known, that in all parts of the East, whoever visits a great person must carry him a present. "It is counted uncivil," says Maundrell, p. 26. " to visit in this country without an offering in hand. All great men expect it as a tribute due to their character and authority; and look upon themselves as affronted, and indeed defrauded, when the compliment is omitted." Hence, to visit a person, is equivalent to making him a present: and n signifies a present made on such occasions; as our translators have rightly rendered it, 1 Sam. ix. 7.: on which Jarchi says, "Menachem exponit quod significet oblationem sive munus, ut aliquis aspiciat faciem regis, aut alicujus magnatis." 10. Thou hast said, there is no hope] In one of the MSS at Koningsberg, collated by Lilienthal, the words are left in the text unpointed, as suspected; and in the margin the corrector has written N. Now, if we compare Jer. ii. 25. and xviii. 12. we shall find, that the subject is in both places quite the same with this of Isaiah; and the sentiment expressed, that of a desperate resolution to continue at all hazard in their idolatrous practices, the very thing that in all reason we might expect here. Pro. bably therefore the latter is the true reading in this place.