Judah's dreadful]

I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.

10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.

11 Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy de'testable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.

12 A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

CHAP. V.

[calamities predicted.

14 Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.

15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonish ment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judg ments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.

16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:

17 So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it. (F)

CHAP. VI.

AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,

(F) Under the type of hair clipped and burned, is further shewn the awful judgments of Jerusalem.-The city' (ver. 2) intends the portraiture he had drawn of it on a tile (chap. iv. 1); the balance was an emblem of the divine justice; the razor or knife, and the fire, signified the divine wrath. The hairs which the prophet cut off from his head and beard represented the Jews; and the dividing of the hair the fate or punishment of individuals: the hair scattered by the wind prefigure those who fled into Egypt: the few bound up in the skirt of his garment intend the small remnant that should be left in the land; and those which he burnt (ver. 4) allude to the fate of these few, after the murder

of Gedaliah.-The type or allegory is then dropped, and God is introduced declaring, in express terms, the awful judgments which he was about to bring on this nation, which had proved so unworthy of the many mercies by which it had hitherto been distinguished. The most transient view of the calamities inflicted on the Jewish nation, first by the Chaideans, and afterwards by the Romans, and the miseries and dispersions consequent on both, may show how fully those predictions have had their accomplishment." Ask every wind of heaven, ask every nation of the earth, and they will shew their scattered monuments; preserved, as it were, ou purpose to evince the fulfilling of these awful prophecies."

omitted in 22 MSS. four Editions, and the Syriac. Abp. Newcome therefore reads, "but have done," &c. as in chap. xi. 12. So Boothroyd.

Ver. 10. The fathers shall eat the sons, &c.-See vit. xxvi. 33, Deut. xxviii. 53; 2 Kings vi. 28, 29; xix. 9; Lam. iv. 10. Six or seven MSS.

er. 11. I will diminish.

read, "Cut off;" but the present text may be redered "Cut short," or close. It is applied to clipping the beard in token of mourning, Isa. xv. 2; and to making small the drops of rain, Jab xxxvi.. Ver. 12. I will draw, &c.-See ver. 2. Ver. 17. Evil beasts-that is, wild beasts,

1

Judgments against Israel]

3 And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GoD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the vallies; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.

4 And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.

5 And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

6 In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

. 8 Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.

9 And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me;

CHAP. VI.

[for their idolatry.

and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

10 And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain, that I would do this evil unto them.

11 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

12 He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.

13 Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.

14 So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD. (G)

(G) The destruction of the nation with the exception of a remnant.—In this chapter, which forms a distinct section, the Prophet denounces the judgments of God against the Jews for their idolatry. It is promised, however, that a remnant should be preserved and brought to a proper sense of their transgressions by their severe amflictions. It is with great propriety and elegance that the Prophet, in the beginning

of this chapter, directs his speech to the mountains of Judea, in order to upbraid the stupidity of his countrymen, from whom he seems to expect less attention than eveu from the inanimate creation. Stupid, however, as they were, he assures them that' God would awfully make himself known to them by his judgments. A severe denunciation, often repeated by the Prophet, as an epiphonema, or conclusion to his threatenings.

We may here also remark, the earnest

CHAP. VI. Ver. 4. Images Margin, "Sunimages." So ver. 6. Cyrus, just before his death, offered sacrifices to Jupiter, the sun, &c. Ver. 5. I will lay-Heb. " Give."

Ver. 8. That ye may have, &c.-Heb. "In that there shall be unto you escapers from the sword."

Ver. 9. Whorish heart. This term evidently means idolatrous, as appears by the next clause. Ver. 13. Sweet savour---Heb. "A savour of rest.” N. B. Abp. Newcome renders these first six chapters in prose: so Boothroyd. The next chapter is in measured lines: then all is prose again to chap, xvi

Israel's]

CHAP. VII.

MOREOVER, the word of the

LORD came unto me, saying,

2 Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GoD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.

3 Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.

4 And mine eyes shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

5 Thus saith the Lord Gon; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.

6 An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is

come.

7 The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.

8 Now I will shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. 9 And mine eye shall not spare,

[sentence of captivity

neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.

10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.

11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall there be wailing for them.

12 The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

13' For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.

14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

16 But they that escape of them

pleasures; those who are awakened to a just sense of its nature and consequences know, that it is "an evil thing and bitter to forsake the Lord," or turn our back upon his precepts.

CHAP, VII. Ver.3. Recompence--Heb. "Give." Ver. 5. An evil, an only evil. — Newcome reads, "Evil after evil," upon the authority of 27 MSS, and three Editions. The difference is only part of a letter in the original.

Ver. 6. It watcheth for thee-Heb. "Awaketh against thee."

Ver. 7. The day of trouble- Newcome, "Tumult." See Isaiah xxii. 5. — The sounding aguin (Marg, "echo") of the mountains-that is, in joyful acclamations. Newcome and Michaelis, "Joiful shoutings."

Ver. 10. The rod (i. e. of oppression) hath blossomed → meaning, a wauton display of arbitrary power. See the next verse,

Ver. 11. Nor of their multitude - Marg. "To mult, or tumultuous persons:" Boothroyd, following Jarchi, understands this of the rabble and their leaders.

Ver. 13. Shall not return-namely, in the year of jubilee, (See Levit. xxv. 10.) although they were yet alive. - Heb. Though their life were yet among the living.”. The whole multitude perhaps, all the turbulent shall not retorn." Com pare Note on chap. v. 7.—In the iniquity — Hed. His iniquily of his life."

Ver. 16. They that escape-Heb. "The escapert of them;" i. e. according to Newcome, They that are to escape, siall escape."On the mountainsthat is, moaning among the cliffs.

shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.

17 All hands shall be feeble and all knees shall be weak as water.

18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.

19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall =not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall =not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.

21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.

CHAP. VII.

[irreversible.

22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.

25 Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be

none.

26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.

27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD. (H)

(H) The desolation of the country and defilement the sanctuary. This chapter, which forms another distinct prophecy, foretells the final desolation of the land of Israel or Judah, (for after the captivity of the teu tribes these terms are often used for the Jews in general,) on account of the heinous sins of its inhabitants, and the great distress of the small remnant that should eventually escape. The temple itself, which they had polluted with idolatry, is devoted to destruction, and the Prophet is directed to make a chain, as a type of their being led, both king and peo

ple, in bonds of captivity to Babylon. The whole chapter abounds in bold and beautiful figures, flowing in an easy and forcible stream of poetical language.

The higher classes of the Jews, as appears by the prophetic writings, were generally the most criminal. Their gold and silver became their snare; partly by fostering their pride, and partly by supporting their idolatry. Thus riches become "the stumbling block of their iniquity." Our punishment often arises out of our pride; and those things in which men place their confidence and their glory, are sometimes made to them objects of horror and detestation.

Ver. 17. Be weak as water - Heb. "Go into water." Newcome," Flow (with) water." See Joel in. 18.

Ver. 19. Their gold skall be removed-Hebrew, "Shall be for a separation;" shall be abhorred as an unclean thing, as being not only useless but detrimental, by bringing upon them the vengeance of their enemies.

Ver. 20. As for the beauty of his ornament — Newcome," Of their ornaments." He set it in pride-Newcome, "They turned it to pride."Therein → rather, "thereof." The sense appeara

to be, that their ornaments were abused to the ends of pride and idolatry.I set it far from thêm— Marg. "As an unclean thing."

Ver. 23. Make a chain-that is, to lead them into captivity. Bloody crimes — Heb. “ Judgment of bloods."

Ver. 24. The worst of the heathen.-Newcome, "Cruel nations." See chap. xxx. 24.

Ver. 25. Destruction-Heb. “Cutting off." See Note ch. v. 11.

Ver. 27. According to their deserts-Heb, “With their judgments will I judge them."

The image]

CHAP. VIII.

AND it came to pass in the sixth

year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.

2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.

3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.

4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.

5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the

[of jealousy.

house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.

7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.

8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.

9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.

10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.

11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.

12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.

13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.

14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

CHAP. VIII. Ver. 2. As the appearance of fire. For ash," fire," the LXX read ish, (or aish) “a man," which makes this verse nearly synonymous with chap. i. 26, 27. Secker, Newcome, Boothroyd, &c. consider this the true reading, and it seems implied in the following sentence, "From the appearance of his loins, &c.

Ver. 4. According to the vision, &c.--See chap. i. 28; iii. 22, 23.

Ver. 5. At the gate of the altar "Probably so called from the time of Ahaz." 2 Kings xvi. 14, 15. Ver. 6. That I should go-that is, to provoke me to go; so Vulgate and Chaldee: or, that they should go," (or be driven) from my sanctuary, LXX. and Syriac. See chap. ix. 3.

Ver. 7. A hole in the wall.-Mr. Maurice considers this as the description of a cavern temple, with its mystic cells; such as are to be found in the

mountains of Chusistan to this day. Indian Antiq. vol. ii. p. 212.

Ver. 10. Abominable beasts. - Diodorus Siculus relates, that round the room where the body of King Osymandnas seemed to be buried, a multitude of chambers was built, which had elegant paintings of all the beasts sacred in Egypt. Seeker in Newcome.-Round about-Heb. About, about." Ver. 11. Jaazaniah- one of the princes of the people. Chap. xi. 1.

Ver. 12. Do in the dark

"His eye survey'd the dark idolatries
Of alienated Judab." Par. Lost. b. i. p. 455.
Ver. 14. Women weeping for Tammtz-

The love-tale

Infected Sion's daughters with like heat,
Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch
Ezekiel saw."
Ibid. i. 453.