says,

He

that any third person will ever be of that opinion. "Videtur sententia ad verbum sonare: quasi propter facta [adversariorum] quasi propter rependet; excandescentiam, &c. et sic reddidit Pagninus." This he converts, by a process which will not much edify my reader, into "Secundum summe merita, secundum summe [merita] rependet;" which is his translation. They that hold the present Hebrew text to be absolutely infallible, must make their way through it as they can; but they ought surely to give us somewhat that has at least the appearance of sense. However, I hope the case here is not quite desperate: the Chaldee leads us very fairly to the correction of the text, which is both corrupted and defective. The paraphrase runs

Dominus retributionum » מרי גמליא הוא גמל א ישלם :thus

is מרי מרירותא as ;בעל גמלות is מרי גמליא כעל stead of

ipse retributionem reddet." He manifestly ready, in

Nya, Prov. xxii. 24. And so in the same Chaldee paraphrase on Isaiah xxxv. 4. ' xin” æpa", "Dominus retributionum JEHOVAH ipse revelabitur :" words very near to those of the Prophet in this place. The second by, which the Chaldee has omitted, must be read by likewise. With this only addition to the Chaldee, which the Hebrew text justifies, we are supplied with the following clear reading of the passage:

בעל גמולות הוא בעל גמולות ישלס.

The in by twice seems to have been at first in MS. This verse in LXX is very imperfect. In the first part of it they give us no assistance; the last part is wholly omitted in the printed copies; but it is thus supplied in MSS Pachom. and 1. D. II;—τοις ὑπεναντίοις αυτου αμυναν τοις εχθροις αυτού" ταις νήσοις αποδομα αποτίσει.

fugit.

19.which a strong wind driveth along] " Quam spiritus Domini cogit:" Vulg. DD, pihel a D Kimchi says his father thus explained this word: “DD interpretatur in significatione fugæ; et ait, Spiritus Domini fugabit hostem;-nam secundum eum DD est ex conjugatione quadrata, ejusque radix est D." The object of this action I explain otherwise. The conjunction prefixed to

1

seems necessary to the sense: it is added by the corrector in one of the Koningsberg MSS collated by Lilienthal. 20. And shall turn iniquity away from Jacob] So LXX, and St Paul, Rom. xi. 26.; reading, instead of 'a and

and ; והשיב Syr. likewise reads .מיעקב and והשיב ביעקב

Chald. to the same sense, . Our translators have expressed the sense of the present reading of the Hebrew text: "And unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob."

21.-which I make with them] For DN, them, twentyfour MSS (four ancient) and nine editions have DЛN, with them.

CHAPTER LX.

THE subject of this chapter is the great increase and flourishing state of the church of God, by the conversion and accession of the heathen nations to it; which is set forth in such ample and exalted terms as plainly show, that the full completion of this prophecy is reserved for future times. This subject is displayed in the most splendid colours, under a great variety of images highly poetical, designed to give a general idea of the glories of that perfect state of the church of God which we are taught to expect in the latter times when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in; and the Jews shall be converted and gathered from their dispersions; and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.

Of the use in prophecy of general or common poetical images, in setting forth the greatness and importance of a future event universally, without descending to particulars, or too minutely explaining circumstances, I have already pretty largely treated in the xxth Prelection on the Hebrew Poetry; and have more than once observed in these Notes, that such images are not always to be applied particularly to persons and things, and were never intended to be minutely explained. I shall add here the opinion of a very learned and judicious person upon this subject: "It is, I think, a mark of right understanding, in the language of prophecy, and in the design of prophecy too, to keep to what appears the design and meaning of the prophecy in general, and what the whole of it, laid together, points out to us; and not to suffer a warm imagination to mislead us from the real intention of the spirit of prophecy, by following uncertain applications of the parts of it:" Lowman on the Revelation, note on chap. xix. 21. 4.-shall be carried at the side] nursed, LXX and Chald. read NW, shall be carried.

shall be ,תאמנה For

shall ; על צד תאמנה instead of על כתף תנשאנה A MS has

E E

be carried on the shoulder, instead of shall be nursed on the side. Another MS has both and . Another MS

with a line drawn over the תנשאנה :תאמנה :has it thus

first word. Sir John Chardin says, that it is the general custom in the East to carry their children astride upon the hip, with the arm round their body. His MS note on this place is as follows: "Coutume en Orient de porter les enfans sur le coste à califourchon sur la hanche: cette façon est generale aux Indes; les enfans se tiennent comme cela, et la personne qui les porte les embrasse et serre par le corps; parceque sont [ni] emmaillottes, ni en robes qui les embrassent."

"Non brachiis occidentalium more, sed humeris, divaricatis tibiis, impositos circumferunt:" Cotovic. Iter Syr. cap. xiv. This last quotation seems to favour the reading by; as the LXX likewise do: but upon the whole I think that NW 3y is the true reading, which the Chaldee favours; and I have accordingly followed it. See chap. lxvi. 12.

5. Then shalt thou fear-] For ", thou shalt see, as ours, and much the greater number of the translators, ancient and modern, render it: forty MSS (ten ancient), and the old edition of 1488, have N, thou shalt fear; the true reading, confirmed by the perfect parallelism of the sentences; the heart ruffled and dilated in the second line answering to the fear and joy expressed in the first. The Prophet Jeremiah (chap. xxxiii. 9.) has the same natural and elegant sentiment:

And [this city] shall become to me a name of joy;

A praise and an honour for all the nations of the earth;

Which shall hear all the good that I do unto them:

And they shall fear, and they shall tremble, at all the goodness, And at all the prosperity, that I procure unto her."

And David, (Psal. cxxxix. 14.)

"I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

"His tibi me rebus quædam divina voluptas

Percipit atque horror."

Recenti mens trepidat metu, Plenoque Bacchi pectore turbidum Lætatur."

6. And the praise of JEHOVAH-]

Lucret. iii. 28.

Hor. Carm, ii. 19.
Thirty-three MSS

and three editions have , in the singular number; and

so read the ancient versions.

7. Unto thee shall the rams of Nebaioth minister] Vitringa (on the place) understands their ministering, and ascending, or going up on the altar, as offering themselves voluntarily: "Ipsi se, non expectato sacerdote alio, gloriæ et sanctificationi Divini nominis ultro ac libenter oblaturi." This gives a very elegant and poetical turn to the image. It was a general notion that prevailed with sacrificers among the heathen, that the victim's being brought without reluc tance to the altar was a good omen; and the contrary a bad "Sabinos petit aliquanto tristior; quod sacrificanti hostia aufugerat:" Sueton. Titus, cap. x. "Accessit dirum omen, profugus altaribus taurus:" Tacit. Hist. iii. 56.

one.

by,

8. And like doves upon the wing] Instead of N, to, fortytwo MSS have y, upon. For л, their windows, read DN, their wings, transposing a letter: Houbigant. The LXX render it ovv VEOGG015, with their young: they read DEN; nearer to the latter, than to the present reading.

9. among the first-] For N, twenty-five MSS and Syr. read, as at the first.

13. the place whereon I rest my feet] The temple of Jerusalem was called the house of God, and the place of his rest or residence: the visible symbolical appearance of God, called by the Jews the Shechinah, was in the most holy place, between the wings of the cherubim above the ark. This is considered as the throne of God, presiding as king over the Jewish state; and as a footstool is a necessary appendage of a throne, (see note on chap. lii. 2.), the ark is considered as the footstool of God; and is so called, Psal. xcix. 5. 1 Chron. xxviii. 2.

Ibid. The glory of Lebanon] That is, the cedar.

19. Nor by night shall the brightness of the moon enlighten thee] This line, as it stands in the present text, seems to be defective. The LXX and Chald. both express the night, which is almost necessary to answer to day in the preceding line, as well as to perfect the sense here. I therefore think that we ought, upon the authority of LXX and Chald. to read either and by night, instead of

בלילה adding the word ולנגה בלילה and for brightness ; or

by night.

21.--of my planting]

D, so with the Keri read fortyfour MSS (seven ancient) and six editions; with which agree Syr. Chald. Vulg,

1. The Spirit of JEHOVAH-] The LXX, Vulg. and St Luke iv. 18. and MS, and two old editions, omit the word

the Lord; which was probably added to the text through the superstition of the Jews, to prevent the pronunciation of the word following. See Kennicott on the State of the Printed Heb. Text, i. p. 510.

Ibid. perfect liberty] Ten MSS and one edition have mpП in one word; and so the LXX and Vulg. appear to have taken it.

The proclaiming of perfect liberty to the bounden, and the year of acceptance with JEHOVAH, is a manifest allusion to the proclaiming of the year of jubilee by sound of trumpet; see Lev. xxv. 9, &c. This was a year of general release-of debts and obligations; of bondmen and women; of lands and possessions, which had been sold from the families and tribes to which they belonged. Our Saviour, by applying this text to himself, Luke iv. 18, 19. a text so manifestly relating to the institution above-mentioned, plainly declares the typical design of that institution.

3. To impart [gladness] to the mourners] A word necessary to the sense is certainly lost in this place; of which the ancient versions have preserved no traces. Houbigant, by conjecture, inserts the word X, gladness, taken from the line next but one below, where it stands opposed to, sorrow, or mourning; as the word lost here was to mourners: I follow him.

Ibid. —a beautiful crown, instead of ashes] In times of mourning the Jews put on sackcloth, or coarse and sordid raiment; and spread dust and ashes on their heads: on the contrary, splendid clothing, and ointment poured on the head, were the signs of joy. "Feign thyself to be a mourner," says Joab to the woman of Tekoah, "and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil;" 2 Sam. xiv. 2. These customs are at large expressed in the book of Judith: "She pulled off the sackcloth which she had on, and put off the garment of her widowhood, and washed her body all over with water, and anointed herself with precious ointment, and braided the hair of her head, and put on a tire [mitre, marg.] upon it; and put on her garments of gladness;" chap. x. 3.

Phear, instead of apher; a paronomasia, which the Pro