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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

ISAIAH :
A
NEW TRANSLATION; WITH
A PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION,
AND
NOTES,
CRITICAL, PHILOLOGICAL, AND EXPLANATORY.

By ROBERT LOWTH, D.D. F.R.SS. Lond. & Goet.
LORn BISHOP OP LONDON.

FROM THE TENTH ENGLISH EDITION,
CAREFULI-r CORRECTED AND REVISED.

BOSTON:
WILLIAM HILLIARD, 14 WATER STREET.
CAMBRIDGE:
JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY.
18 3t4.» • '

Mi-.^m44S

THE

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.

The design of the following translation of Isaiah, is not only
to give an exact and faithful representation of the words and
of the sense of the Prophet, by adhering closely to the letter of
the text, and treading as nearly as may be in his footsteps ;
but, moreover, to imitate the air and manner of the author, to
express the form and fashion of the composition, and to give
the English reader some notion of the peculiar turn and cast
of the original. The latter part of this design coincides per
fectly well with the former : it is indeed impossible to give a
just idea of the Prophet's manner of writing, otherwise than
by a close literal version. Aud yet, though so many literal
versions of this Prophet have been given, as well of old as in
later times, a just representation of his manner, and of the
form of his composition, has never been -attempted, or even
thought of, by any translator, in any language, whether an
cient or modern. Whatever of that kind has appeared in
former translations, (and much indeed must appear in every
hteral translation), has been rather the effect of chance than
of design, of necessity than of study : for what room could
there be for study or design in this case, or at least for success
in it, when the translators themselves had but a very imperfect
notion, an inadequate or even false idea, of the real character
of the author as a writer ; of the general nature, and of the
peculiar form, of the composition ?
It has, I think, been universally understood, that the
Prophecies of Isaiah are written in prose. The style, the
thoughts, the images, the expressigps, have been allowed to
be poetical, and that in the highest degree; but that they
1

U PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
J
are written in verse, in measure, or rhythrd, or whatever it
is that distinguishes, as poetry, the composition of those
books of the Old Testament which are allowed to be poetical,
such as Job, the Psalms, and the Proverbsj from the
historical books, as mere prose ; this has never been supposed,
at least has not been at any time the prevaiUng opinion.
The opinions of the learned concerning Hebrew verse
have been various; their ideas of the nature of it vague,
obscure, and imperfect : yet still there has been a general
persuasion, that some books of the Old Testament are
written'' in verse ; but that the writings of the prophets are
not of that number.
The learned Vitringa says,* that Isaiah's composition has
a sort of numbers, or measure; "esse orationem suis ad-
strictam numeris : " he means, that it has a kind of oratorial
number, or measure) as he afterwards explains it ; and he
quotes Scaliger as being of the same opibion, and as adding,
that " however upon this account it could not rightly be
called poetry." t About the beginning of this century,
Herman Von der Hardt, t the Hardouin of Germany,
attempted to reduce Joel's Elegies, as he called them, to
iambic . verse : and, consistently with his hypothesis, he
affirmed, that the prophets wrote in verse. This is the only
exeption I meet with to the ' universality of the contrary
opinion. It was looked upon as one of his paradoxes, and
little attention ¦ was paid to it. JBut what was his success jn
making out Joel's iambics, and in helping his readers to
form in consequence a more just idea of the character of the
prophetic style, I Cannot say, having never seen his treatise
on that subject.
The Jews of early times were of the same opinion, that
the hooks of the prophets are written in prose, as far as we
have any evidence of their judgment on this subject. Je
rome § certainly speaks the sense of his Jewish preceptors
as to this matter. Having written his translation of Isaiah
from the Hebrew Verity in stichi, or lines divided according
to the cola and commata, after the manner of verse
which was II often done in the prophetic writings for the
* Prolegom.^in lesaiam, p. 8.
t Scaliger, Animadvers. in Chron. Eusebii, p. 6.
t See Wolfii Biblioth. Hebr. torn. ii. p. 169.
§ Prraf. in Transl. Esaise ox Heb. Veritate.
II See Grabe,' Proleg. in LXX Intt. tom. i. cap. i. § 6.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. ii{
sake of perspicuity, he cautions his reader '' not to mistake
it for metre, as if it were any thing like the Psalms, or the
writings of Solomon ; for it was nothing more than what
was usual in the copies of the prose works of Demosthenes
and Cicero." The later Jews have been uniformly of the
same opinion ; and the rest of the learned world seem to
have taken it up on their authority, and have generally
maintained it.
But if there should appear a manifest conformity between
the prophetical style and that of the books supposed to be
metrical, — a conformity in every known part of the poetical
character, which equally discriminates the prophetical and
the metrical books from those acknowledged to be prose — it
will be of use to trace out and to mark this conformity with
all possible accuracy ; to observe how far the peculiar charac
teristics of each style coincide ; and to see whether the agree
ment between them be such as to induce us to conclude,
that the poetical aiid the propheitical character of style and
composition, though generally supposed to be different, yet
are really one and the- same.
This I purpose to do in the followhig dissertation; and'
I the more readily embrace the present opportunity^ of re
suming this subject, as what I have,formerly written* upon
it seems to have met with the appirobation of the learned.
And here I shall endeavour to treat it more at large; ta
pursue it farther, and to a greater degree of minuteness ;
and to present it to the English reader in the easiest and
most intelligible form that I am able to give it. The ex
amples with which I shall illustrate it, shallbe more nume
rous, and all (a very few excepted) different from those al
ready given' ; that they may serve by way of supplement to
that part of the former work, as well as of themselves to
place the subject in the fullest and clearest light.
Now, in order to make this comparison between the pro
phetical and the poetical books, it will be necessary, in the
first place, to state the true character of the poeticed or
metrical style, to trace out carefully whatever plain signs or
indications yet remain of metre, or rhythm, or whatever else
it was that constituted Hebrew verse ; to separate the true,
or at least the probable, from the manifestly false ; and to
* De Saera Po6si Hebrteorum Praslect. xviii. six.

iv PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
give as clear and satisfactory an explanation of the matter
as can now reasonably be expected,, in the present iinperfect
state of the Hebrew language, and on a subject which for
near two thousand years has been involved in great obscurity,
and only rendered still more obscure by the discordant opin
ions of the learned, and the various hypotheses whicji they
have formed concerning it. '
The first and most manifest indication of verse in the
Hebrew poetical books, presents itself in the acrostic or al
phabetical poems; of which there happily remain many ex-
apiple^, and those of various kinds ; so that we could not
have hoped, or even wished, for more light of this sort to
lead us on in the very entrance of our inquiry. The na
ture, or rather the form, of these poems is this : The poem
consists of tv?enty-two Unes, or of twenty-two systems of
lines, or periods, or stanzas, according to the number of
the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; and every line, or
every Tstanza, hegips wifh^ each letter in its order, as it
stands in the alphabet ; that is, the first line, or first stan
za, begins with «, the second with a, and so on. This
was certainly intended for the assistance of the memory,
and was chiefly employed in subjects of common use, aa
maxima of morality, and forms of devotion; which being
^spressed in detached sentences, or aphorisms, (the form
in which the. sages of the most ancient times deUvered
their instructipos,) tbe inconvenience arising from the sub
ject, the want of connexion in the parts, and of a regular
train of thought carried through the whole, was remedied
by this artificial contrivance in the form. There are still
extant, in the books of the Old Testament, twelve* of
theise poems ; (for I reckon the four first chkpters of the
Lamentations of Jeremiah as so many distinct poems) 5
three of them perfectly f alphabetical, in which evei?y line
is marked by its initial letter ;, the other nine less perfectly
alphabetical, in which every stanza only is so distinguished.
Of the three former it is to be remarked, that not only
every single line is distinguished by its initial letter, but
that the whole poem is laid out into stanzas ; two t of these

* P3al4xxT. xxxiv. xxxvii. cxi. cxii. cxix. cxlv. Prov. xxxi. 10 — 31.
Lam. i. ii. iii. iv.
t Fsal. cxi. cxii. Lam-, iii. i Peal. cxi. cxii.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. V
Sioems each into ten stanzas, all of two Unes, except the two
ast stanzas in each, which are of three lines : in these, the
sense and the construction manifestly point out the division
into stanzas, and mark the limit of every stanza. The
third* of these perfectly alphabetical poems consists of
twenty-two stanzas of three Unes ; but in this the initial let
ter of every stanza is also the initial letter of every line of
that stanza ; so that both the lines and the stanzas are in
fallibly limited : And in all the three poems, the pauses of
the sentences coincide with the pauses of the lines and
stanzas. It is also further to be observed of these three poems, that
the lines so determined by the initial letters in the same
poem, are remarkably equal to one another in length, in the
number of words nearly, and probably in the number of
syllables ; and that the Unes of the same stanza have a re
markable eongruity one with another, in the matter and the
form, in the sense and the construction.
Of the other *iine poems less perfectly alphabetical, in
which the stanzas only are marked with initial letters, six t
consist of stanzas of two lines, two+ of stanzas of three
lines, and one § of stanzas of four Unes ; not taking into the
account at present some irregularities, which in all proba
bility are to be imputpd to the mistakes of transcribers.
And these stanzas Ukewise naturally divide themselves into
their distinct lines, the sense and the construction plainly
pointing out their limits ; and the Unes have the same eon
gruity one with another in matter and form, as was above
observed in regard to the poems more perfectly alpha
betical. Another thing to be observed of the three poems perfectly
alphabetical is, that in two II of them tbe Unes are shorter
than those of the third ** by about one-third part, or almost
•half; and of the other nine poems, the stanzas only of
¦which are alphabetical, that threett consist of the longer
lines, and the six others of the shorter.
Now from these examples, which are not only curious,
but of real use, and of great importance in the present
* Lam. iii.
+ Psal. xxv. xxxiv. cxix. cxlv. Prov. xxxi. Lam. iv,
t Lam. i. ii. g Fsal. xxxvii.
II Psal. cxi. cxii. ** Lam. iii.
¦H- Lam. i. ii. iv.
. I*

vi PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
inquiry, we may draw some conclusions, which plainly fol
low from the premises, and must be admitted in regard to the
alphabetical poems themselves ; which also may by analogy
be applied with great probabiUty to other poems, -where the
Unes and stanzas are not so determined by initial letters,
yet which appear in other respects to be of the same kind.
In the first place, we may safely conclude that the poems
perfectly alphabetical consist of verses properly so called ;
of verses regulated by some observation of harmony or ca
dence ; of measure, numbers, or rhythm. For it is not at
aU probable in the nature of the thing, or from examples of
the like kind in other languages, that a portion of mere
prose, in which numbers and harrnony are totaUy disregard
ed, should be laid out according to a scale of division, which
carries with it such evident marks of study and labour, of
art in the contrivance, and exactness in the execution. And
I presume it will be easily granted in regard to the other
poems which are divided into stanzas by the initial letters,
which stanzas are subdivided by the pauses of the sentence
into Unes easily distinguished one from another, commonly
the same number of lines to a stanza in the same poem,
that these are of the same kind of composition with the
former, and that they equally consist of verses : And, in
general, in regard to the rest of the poems of the Hebrews,
bearing evidently the same marks and characteristics of
composition with the alphabetical poems in other respects,
and falling into regular lines, often into regular stanzas,
according to the pauses of the sentences ; which stanzas and
lines have a certain parity or proportion to one another;
that these likewise cofisist of verse,' — of verse distinguished
from prose, not only by the style, the figures, the diction,
by a loftiness of thought and richness of imagery, but by
being divided into lines, and sometimes into systems of
Unes ; Avhich lines, having an apparent equaUty, similitude,.
or proportion one to another, were in some sort measured
by the ear, and regulated according to some general laws
of metre, rhythm, harmony, or cadence.
Further, we may conclude, from the example of the per
fectly alphabetical poems, that whatever it might be that
constituted Hebrew verse, it certainly did not consist in
rhyme, or similar and correspondent sounds at the ends of
the verses ; for, as the ends of the verses in those poems are
infallibly marked, audit plainly appears that the • final sylla-

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. VU
bles of the correspondent verses, whether in distichs or
triplets, are not similar in sound to one another, it is mani
fest that rhymes, or similar endings, are not an essential
part of Hebrew verses. The grammatical forms of the
Hebrew language in the verbs, and pronouns, and the
plurals of nouns, are so simple and uniform, and bear so
great a share in the termination of words, that similar end
ings must sometimes happen, and cannot well be avoided ;
but, so far from constituting an essential or principal part
of the art of Hebrew versificatijBn, they seem to have been
no object of attention and study, nor to have been industri
ously sought after as a favourite accessary ornament.
That the verses had something regular in their form and
composition, seems probable from their apparent parity and
uniformity, and the relation which they manifestly bear to
the distribution of the sentence into its members. But as
to the harmony and cadence, the metre or rhythm, of what
kind they were, and by what laws regulated, these examples
give us no light, nor afford us sufficient principles on which
to build any theory, or to form any hypothesis. For har
mony arises from the proportion, relation, and correspond
ence of different combined sounds; and verse, from the
arrangement of words, and the disposition of syUables, ac
cording to number, quantity, and accent ;— therefore the
harmony and true modulation of verse depends upon a per
fect pronunciation of the language, and a knowledge of the
principles and rules of versification ; and metre supposes an
exact knowledge of the number and quantity of s}'llables,
and, in some languages, of the accent. But the true pro
nunciation of Hebrew is lost,— lost to a degree far beyond
what can ever be the case of any European language pre
served only in writing ; for the Hebrew language, like most
of the other Oriental languages, expressing only the con
sonants, and being destitute of its vowels, has lain now for
two thousand years in a manner mute and incapable of
utterance : the number of syllables is in a great many words
uncertain, the quantity and accent wholly unknown. We
are ignorant of all these particulars, and' incapable of ac
quiring any certain knowledge concerning them ; how then
is it possible for us to attain to the knowledge of Hebrew
verse 1 That we know nothing of the quantity of the sylla
bles in Hebrew, and of the number of them in many words,
and of the accent, will hardly now be denied by any man ;

Viii PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
but if any should still maintain the authority of the Masoret-
ical punctuation, (though discordant in many instances from'
the imperfect remains of a pronunciation of much earUer date^
and of better authoriliy, that of the Seventy, of Origen, andi
other writers,) yet it must be allowed, that no one, accord
ing to that system, hath been able to reduce the Hebrfew
poems to any sort of harmony.* And indeed it is not to
be wondered, that rides of pronunciation, formed, as it is
now generally admitted, above a thousand years after the
language ceased to be spalosh, shouM fail of giving us the
true sound of Hebrew verse. But if it was impossible for
the Masoretes, assisted in some measure by a traditionary
pronundation delivered down from their ancestors, to attain
to a true expression of the sounds of the language, how is it
possible for us at this time, so much further removed from
the only source of knowledge in this case, the audible voice,
to improve or to amend their system, or to supply a more
genuine system in its place, which may answer our purpose
better, and lay open to us the laws of Hebrew versification ?
The pursuit is vain ; the object of it lies beyond our reach ;
it is not within the compass of human reason or inventionv
The question concerning Hebrew metre is now pretty much
upon the same footing with that concerning the Greek ac
cents. That there were certain- laws of ancient Hebrew
metre is very probable ; abdthat the living Greek language
was modulated by certain rules of accent is beyond dispute :
but a man born deaf may as reasonably pretend to acquire
an idea of sound, as the critic of these days to attain to the
true modulation of Greek by accent, and of Hebrew by
metre.t Thus much then, I think, we may be allowed to infer
from the alphabetical poems; namely, that the Hebrew
poems are written in verse, properly so called ; tbat the
harmony of the verses does not arise from rhyme, that isj-
from similar corresponding sounds terminating the verses, but
from some sort of rhythm, probably from some sort of metre,
the laws of which are now altogether unknown, and wholly
undiscoverable ; — yet tbat there are evident marks of a cer
tain correspondence of the verses with one another, and of
a certain relation between the composition of the verses and
• See Hare, Prolegomena in Psalmos, p! xl. &c.
i See A Larger Confutation of Bishop Hare's Hebrew Metre j London
1766 J -where I have fuliy treated of thi» subject. '

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. IX
the composition of the sentences, — the formation of the for
mer depeiiding in some degree upon the distribution of the
latter, — so that generally periods coincide -with stanzas, mem
bers with verses, and pauses of the one with pauses of the
other ; which peculiar form of composition is so observable,
as plainly to discriminate in general the parts of the Hebrew
Scriptures which are written in verse, from those which are
written in prose. This will require a larger and more
minute explication, not only as a matter necessary to our
present purpose, that is, to ascertain the character of the
prophetical style in" general, and of that of the Prophet
Isaiah in particular, but as a principle of considerable use,
and of no smaU importance, in the interpretation of the
poetical parts of the Old Testament
The correspondence of one verse or Une with another, I
call paralleUsm. When a proposition is delivered, and a
secdnd is subjoined to it, or drawn under it, equivalent, or
contrasted with it in sense, or similar to it in the form of
grammatical construction, these I call parallel lines ; and
the words or phrases, onowcring one to another in the cor
responding lines, parallel terms.
Parallel. Unes may be reduced to three sorts, — parallels
synonomous, paraUels antithetic,' and parallels synthetic.
Of each of these I shall give a variety of examples, in order
to shew the various forms under which they appear; first,
from the books universaUy acknowledged to be poetical ;
then, correspondent examples from the Prophet Isaiah, and
sometimes also from the other prophets, to- shew that the
form and character of the composition is in all the same.
As some of the examples which follow are of many lines,
the reader may perhaps note a single line or fcwo intermixed,
which do not properly belong to that class under which they
are ranged. These are retained, to preserve the connexion
and harmony of the whole passage ; and it is to be observed,
that the , several sorts of parallels are perpetually mixed with
one another, and this mixture gives a variety and beauty to
the composition.
First, of parallel Unes synonomous ; that is, which corre
spond one to another, by expressing the same sense in dif
ferent but equivalent terms ; when a proposition is delivered,
and is immediately repeated, in the whole or in part, the

X PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
expression being varied, but the sense entirely or nearly the-
same. As in the foUowing examples : —
" O-Jehovah, in-thy-strength the-king shall-rejoicC';
And-in-thy-salvation how greatly shall-he-exult!
The-desire of-hisrheart thou-hast-granted unto-him;
And-the-request of-his-Hps thou-hast-not denied." Psal. xxi. 1,,2^
''^ Because I-called, and-ye-refused;
I-stretched-out my-hand, antf-no-one regarded;
But-ye-have-defeated all my-counsel;
And-would-not incline to-nry-re proof:
I also will-laugh at-your-calamity;
I-will-mock, when-whcit-you-feared cometh;:
When-what-you-feared cometh like-a-devastation ;
And-yoMT-calamity advanceth like-a-tempest;
'When-distress and-angiiish come upon-you :
Then shall-they-call-upon-me, but-I-will-not answer;
They-shall seek-me-early, but-they-shaU not find-me;
Because they-hated. knowledge; a
And-did-not choose the-fear of-.TaliQvah;
Did-not incline to^y-qpunsel;
Contemptuously-rejected all my-reproof :
Therefbre-shall-they-eat of-the-fruit of-their-Ways;
And-shall-be-satiated witfi-their-own-devices.
For the-defectibn of-the^simple shall-slay-them ;
And-the-security of-foolS shall-destroy them." Prov. i. 24—32.
" Seek-ye Jehovah, while-he-may-be-found;
Call-ye-upon-him, while-he-is-near;
Let-the--wicked'' forsake his-'way;
And-the-Hnrighteous man his-thoughts:
And-let-him-neturn to Jehovah, and-he-will-compassionate
.him; •
And-unto our-God, for be-aboundeth in forgiveness." Isa. Iv. 6,,7.
'* Fear not, for thou-shalt-not be-ashamed;
And-blnsfrnot, for thou-shalt-not be-brought-to-reproach:
For thou-shalt-forget the-shame of-thy-youth;
And-the-reproach of-thy--widowhood thou-shaU-remember no
more." Isa. liv. 4..
" Hearken unto-me, ye-that-know righteousness;
The-ppople in-whose-heart is-my-law:
Fear not the-reproach of-wretched-man ;
Neither be-ye-borne-down by-their-revilings j,

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. Xl
For the-moth shall-consume-them like-a-garment;
And-the-worm shall-eat-them' like wool:
But-my-righteousness shall-endure for-ever;
And-my-salvation to-the-age of-ages." Isa. li. 7, 8.
*' Like-mighty-meri shaU-ithey-Kush-on;
Like-warriors shall-they mount the-wall:
And-every-one in-his-way shallTthey-march;
And-they-shall-not turn-aside from-their paths." Joel, ii. 7.
" Blessed-is the-man, that-feareth Jehovah;
That-greatly delighteth in-his-commandments." Psal. cxii. 1.
" Hearken unto me, O-house of-Jacob;
And-all the-remnant of-the-house of-Israel. Isa. xlvi. 3.
" Honour Jehovah with-thy-riches;
And-with-the-first-fruits of-all thine-increase." Prov. iii. 9.
" Incline your-ear, and-come unto-me;
Hearken, and-your-soul shall-live." Isa. lv. 3.
In the foregoing* examples may be observed the diffe
rent degrees of synonymous parallelism. The parallel lines
sometimes consist of three or more synonymous terms ;
sometimes of two, which is generaUy the case when the
verb, or the nominative case of the first sentence is to be
carried on to the second, or understood there ; sometimes
of one only, as in the four last examples. There are also
among the foregoing a few instances, in which the lines con
sist each of double members, or two propositions. I shall
cidd one or two more of these, very perfect in their kind : —
" Bow thy heavens, O Jehovah, and descend;
Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke:
Dart forth lightning, and scatter them;
Shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them." Psal. cxliv. 5, 6.
" And they shall build houses, and shall inhabit them;
And they shall plant vineyards, and shall eat the fruit thereof:
They shall not build, and another inhabit;
They shall not plant, and another eat:
For as the days of a tree, shall be the days of my people;
And they shall wear out the works of their own hands."
Isa. Ixv. 21, 22,
* The termsin English, consisting of several words, are hitherto distinguish
ed with marks of connexion, — to shew, that they answer to single words in
Hebrew.

xii PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
Parallels are also sometimes formed by a repetitiori of
part of the first sentence : —
"My voice is unto God, and I cry aloud;
My voice is unto God, and he will hearken unto me."
" I will remember the works of Jehovah; •
Yea, I will remember thy wonders of old."
" The waters saw thee, O God!
The waters saw thee; they were seized with anguish."
Psal. Ixxvii. 1. 11. le.
" For he hath- humbled those that dwell on high;
The lofly city, he hath brought her down:
He hath brought her down to the ground,
He hath levelled her with the dust.
The foot shall trample upon her;
The feet of the poor, the steps of the needy." Isa. xxvi. 5, 6.
" "VThat shall I do unto thee, O Ephraim!
"What shall I do unto thee, O Judah!
For your goodness is as the morning cloud,
And as the early dew it passeth away." Hosea, vi. 4.
Sometimes in the latter line a part is to be supplied from
the former to complete the sentence : — ,
" And those that persecute me thou wilt make to turn their
backs to me;
Those that hate me,* and I will cut them off." 2 Sam. xxii. 41.
" The mighty de^d tremble from beneath;
The waters, and they that dwell therein. Job, xxvi. 5.
" And.I looked, and there was no man;
Even among the idols,"!" and there was no one that gave ad
vice; "
" And I inquired of them, and [there was no one] that returned
an answer." Isa. xli. 28.
Further, there are, parallel triplets-^when three lines cor-
'respond together, and form a kind of stanza, of which, how
ever, only two commonly are synonymous : —
* In the parallel place, Psal. xviii. the poetical form of the sentence is inuch
hurt, by the removing of the conjunction from tHe second to the first word in
this line ; but a MS. in that place reads as here.
t See the note on the place.

PETELIMINARY DISSERTATION. Xlll
**Trhe wicked shall see it and it ^hall grieve him ;
He shall gnash his teeth, and pine away ;
The desire of the wicked shall perish." Psal. cxii. 10,
'" That day, let it become darkness ;
Let not God from above inquire after it ;
Nor let the flowing light radiate upon it.
That night, let utter darkness seize it.
¦Let it not be united with the days of the year ;
Jjet it not come into the number of the months.
Let the-^tars of its twilight be darkened ;
Let it look for light, and may there be none ;
And let it not behold the eyelids of the morning." Job, iii. 4. 6. 9.
'." And he shall snatch on1;he right, and yet be hungry ;'
And he shall devour on the left, and not be satisfied ;,
Every man shall devour the flesh of his neighbour."* Isa. ix. 20.
" Put ye in Qie sickle, for the harvest is ripe ;
Come away, get you down, for the wine-press is full ;
The vats overflow ; for great is their wickedness." Joel, iii. 13.
There are likewise parallels consisting of four lines ; two
tlislichs being so connected together, by the sense and the
construction, as to make one stanza. Such is the form of
the xxxviith Psalm, which is evidently laid out by the initial
letters in stanzas of four lines; though in regard to that
disposition some irregularities are found in the present copies.
Fi'om this Psalm, which gives a sufficient warrant for consid
ering the union of two distichs as making a stanza of four
Unes, I shall take the first example : —
^' Be not moved with indignation against the evil-doers ;
Nor with zeal against the workers of iniquity :
For like the grass they shall soon be cut off;
And like the green herb they shall wither. Psal. xxxvii. 1, 2.
'" The ox knoweth his possessor ;
And the ass the crib of his lord :
But Israel doth not know Me ;*
Neither doth my people consider." Isa. i. 3.
'¦" And I said, I have laboured in vain ;
For nought and for vanity I have spent my strength :
¦* See the note on the place.
2

XIV PRFXIMINARY DISSERTATION.
Nevertheless my cause is with Jehovah ;
And the reward of my work with my God. Isa. xlix. 4.
" Jehovah shall roar from Sion ;
And shall utter his voice from Jerusalem :
And the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn ;
And the head of Carmel shall wither." Amos, i. 2.
In like manner, some periods may be considered as mak
ing stanzas of five lines, in which the odd line or member
either comes in between two distichs, or after two distichs
makes a full close : —
" If thou wouldst seek early unto God ;
And make thy supplication to the Almighty ;
If thou wert pure and upright;
Verily now would he rise up in thy defence ;
And make peaceable the dwelling of thy righteousness.
Job, viii. 5, 6.
" They bear him on the shoulder ; they carry him about ;
They set him down in his place, and he standeth;
From his place he shall not remove;
To him, that crieth unto him, he will not answer;
Neither will he deliver him from his distress." Isa. xlvi. 7.
" "Who is wise, and will understand these things?
Prudent, and will know them ?
For right are the ways of Jehovah;
And the just shall walk in them;
But the disobedient shall fall therein." Hosea, xiv. 9.
" And Jehovah shall roar out of Sion;
And from Jerusalem shall utter his voice;
And the heavens and the earth shall tremble :
But Jehovah will be the refuge of his people;
And a strong defence to the sons of Israel." Joel, iii. 16.
" Who establisheth the word of his servant;
And accompUsheth the counsel of his messengers :
Who say eth to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited;
And to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built;
And her desolate places I will restore." Isa. xliv. 26.
In stanzas of four lines, sometimes the parallel Unes an
swer to one another alternately ; the first to the third, and
the second to the fourth : —

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. XV
" As the heavens are high above the earth ;
So high* is his goodness over them that fear him:
As remote as the east is from the west;
So far hath he removed from us our transgressions." Psal. ciii. 11, 12.
" And ye said. Nay, but on horses will we flee;
Therefore shall ye be put to flight:
And on swift coursers will we ride ;
Therefore shall they be swifl, that pursue you." Isa. xxx. 16.
And a stanza of five lines admits of the same elegance : —
" Who is there among you that feareth Jehovah?
Let him hearken unto the voice of his servant:
That walketh in darkness, and hath no light ?
Let him trust in the name of Jehovah;
And rest himself on the support of his God." Isa. 1. 10.
The second sort of parallels are the antithetic, — when two
lines correspond with one another by an opposition of terms
and sentiments; when the second is contrasted with the
first, sometimes in expressions, sometimes in sense only.
Accordingly the degrees of antithesis are various; from an
exact contraposition of word to word through the whole
sentence, down to a general disparity, with something of a
contrariety, in the two propositions.
Thus, in the following examples : —
" A wise son rejoiceth his father ;
But a foolish son is the grief of his mother." Prov. x. 1.
Where every word hath its opposite ; for the terms father
and m,other are, as the logicians say, relatively opposite.
" The memory of the just is a blessing ;
But the name of the wicked shall rot." Prov. x. 7.
Here there are only two antithetic terras ; for memory and
name are synonymous.
" There is that scattereth, and still increaseth ;
And that is unreasonably sparing, yet groweth poor. "
Prov. xi. 24.
n3i ; compare the next verse ; and see Isaiah, lv. 9, and the note there.

xvi ¦ PRELIMINARY B>ISSEETATrON.-
Uere there is a kind of double antithesis ; one between the-
two Unes themselves; and Ukewise a subordinate opposition'
between the two parts of each.
" Many seek the face of the prince ;
But the determination concerning a man is from Jehovah."
Prov. xxix. 2Q^
Where the opposition is chiefly Between the single terms,
the Prince and Jehovah : but there is an opposition like
wise in the general sentiment ; which expresses, or inti
mates, the vanity nf depending on the former, . without!
seeking the favour of the latter. In the following, there is
much the same opposition of sentiment, without any con
traposition of terms at all : —
" The lot is cast into the lap ;
But the whole determination of it is from Jehovah." Prov. xvi. ,33:-
That is, the event seems (.o be the work of chance, but is.
really the direction of Piovidence..
The foregoing examples are all taken from the Proverbs-
of Solomon, where they abound : for this^ form is pecuUarly
adapted to that kind of writings — to adages; aphorisms, and
detached sentences. Indeed, the elegance, acuteness, and
force of a great, number of Solomon's wise sayings, arise in
a great measure from the antithetic form, the opposition of
diction and sentiment. We are not tberefore to expect
frequent instances of it in the other poems of tbe Old Tes
tament ; especially those that are elevated in the stj^le, and
more connected in the parts. However, I shall add a few-
examples of the Uke kind from the higher poetry.
" These in chariots, and those in horses- ;
But we in the nam« of Jehovah our Gsod will be strong.*
They are bowed down, and fallen ;
But we are risen, and maintain ourselvesfirm." Psal. xx. 7, 8..
" For his wrath is but for a moment, his favour for life ;
Sorrow may lodge for the evening, but in the morning glad
ness." Psal. XXX. 6t
" Yet a little while, and the wicked shall be no more-;
Thou shalt look at his place, and he shall not be found •-
• T3JJ . so LXX,. Syr. JEthiop.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. XVU
But the meek shall inherit the land;
And delight themselves in abundant prosperity." Psal. xxxvii. 10, 11.
In the last example the opposition lies between the two parts
of a stanza of four lines, the latter distich being opposed to
the former. So Ukewise the following : —
" For the mountains shall be removed;
And the hills shall be overthrown :
But my kindness from thee shall not be removed;
And the covenant of my peace shall not be overthrown." Isa. liv. 10.
" The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone;
The .sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with
cedars." Isa. ix. 10.
Here the lines themselves are syntheticaUy parallel ; and the
opposition lies between the two members of each.
The third sort of parallels I call synthetic or constructive
— where the parallelism consists only in the similar form of
construction ; in which word does not answer to word, and
sentence to sentence, as equivalent or opposite ; but there is a
correspondence and equaUty between different propositions, in
respect of the shape and turn of the whole sentence, and of
the constructive parts — such as noun answering to noun, verb
to verb, member to member, negative to negative, interroga
tive to interrogative.
"Praise ye Jehovah, ye of the earth;
Ye sea-monsters, and all deeps:
Fire and hail, snow and vapour;
Stormy wind, executing his command:
Mountains, and all hills;
Fruit-trees, and all cedars:
Wild beasts, and all cattle;
Reptiles, and birds of wing:
Kings of the earth, and all peoples;
Princes, and all judges of the earth:
Youths, and also virgins;
Old men, together with the children:
Let them praise the name of Jehovah;
For his name alone is exalted;
His majesty, above earth and heaven." Psal. cxlviii. 7 — 13.
2*

xviii PRELIMINARY IMSSERTATION.
" With him- is wisdom and might;
To him belong counsel and understanding.
Lo! he pulletb down, and it shall not be built;
He enclo'seth a man, and he shall not be set loose.
Lo! he withholdetb the waters, and they are dried up;
And he sendeth them forth, and they overturn the earth.^
With him is strength, and perfect existence;
The deceived, and th« deceiver, are his." Job, xu. 13 — i&
" Is such then the fast which I choose ;
That a man should afflict his soul for a day ?
Is it, that he should bow down his head like a bulrush j.
And spread sackcloth and ashes for his couch?
Shall this be called a fast;
And a day acceptable to Jehovah? —
Is not this the fast that 1 choose ?
To dissolve tbe bands of wickedness;
To loosen the oppressive burthens;
To deliver those that are crushed by violence;
And that ye should break asunder every yoke ?
Is it not to distribute thy b*ead to the hungry;
And to bring the wandering poor into thy house ?
When thou seest the naked, that thou clothe him;
And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ?
Then shall thy hght break fofthi like the morning;
And thy wounds shall speedily be healed over:
And thy righteousness shall go- before thee;
And the glory of Jehovah shall bring up thy rear."
Isa. Ixiii. 5 — 9,
Of the constructive kind is most commonly the parallelism
of stanzas of three lines ; though they are sometimes synony
mous throughout, and often have two lines synonymous ;
examples of both which are above given. The following are
constructively parallel : —
" Whatsoever Jehovah pleaseth.
That doeth he in the heavens, and in the earth;
In the sea, and in all the deeps:
Causing the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth;
Making the lightnings vrith the rain ;
Bringing forth the wind out of his treasures." Psal. cxxxv 6, 7
" The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear.
And I was not rebellious;
Neither did I withdraw myself backward, —
I gave my back to the smiters.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. xix
And my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair ;
My face I hid not from shame and spitting." Isa. 1. 5, 6.
" Thou shalt sow, but shall not reap;
Thou shalt tread the olive, but shah not anoint thee with oil;
And the grape, but shalt not drink wine." Micah, vi. 15.
Of the same sort of parallelism are those passages fre
quent in the poetic books, where a definite number is twice
put for an indefinite ; this being followed by an enumera
tion of particulars, naturally throws the sentences into a
parallelism, which cannot be of any other than the synthetic
kind. This seems to have been a favourite ornament. There
are many elegant examples of it in the xxxth chapter of
Proverbs, to which' I refer the reader ; and shaU here give
one or two from other places.
" These six things Jehovah hateth ;
And seven are the abomination of his soul : —
Lofty eyes, and a lying tongue ;
And hands shedding innocent blood :
A heart fabricating wicked thoughts-;
Feet hastily running to mischief :
A false witness breathing out lies ;
And the sower of strife between brethren." Prov. vi. 16 — 19.
" Give a portion to seven, and also to eight ;
For thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth."
Eccl. xi. 2.
" These two things have befallen thee; who shall bemoan thee?
Desolation and destruction, the famine and the sword ; who
shall comfort thee? " Isa. li. 19.
that is, taken alternately, desolation by famine, and de
struction by the sword. Of which alternate construction I
shall add a remarkable example or two, where the parallel
ism arises from the alternation of the members of the sen
tences : —
" I am black, but yet beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem :
Like the tents of Kedar ; like the pavilions of Solomon." Cant. i. 5.
that is, black as the tents of Kedar, '(made of dark-colour
ed goats hair) ; beautiful as the paviUons of Solomon.
" On her house-tops, and to her open streets.
Every one howleth, descendeth with weeping." Isa. xv. 3.

XX PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
that is, every one howleth on her house-tops, and descend
eth with weeping to her open streets.
The reader will observe in the foregoing examples, that
though there are perhaps no two Unes corresponding one
with another as equivalent, or opposite in terms; yet there
is a parallelism equaUy apparent, and almost as striking,
which arises from the similar form and equaUty of the , lines,
from the correspondence of the members and the construc
tion ; the consequence of which is a harmony and rhythm
Uttle inferior in effect to that of the two kinds preceding.
The degrees of the correspondence of the Unes ih this last
sort of parallels must, from the nature of it, be various.
Sometimes the parallelism is more, sometimes less exact ;
sometimes hardly at all apparent. It requires indeed parti
cular attention, much study of the genius of the language,
much habitude in the analysis of the construction, to be able
in all cases to see and to distinguish the nice rests and
pauses which ought to be made, in order to give the period
or the sentence its intended turn and cadence, and to each
part its due time and proportion. The Jewish critics,
called the Masoretes, were exceedingly attentive to their
language in this part, even to a scrupulous exactness and
subtile refinement, as it appears from that extremely compli
cated system of grammatical punctuation, more embarrass
ing than useful, which they have invented. It is therefore
not improbable, that they might have had some insight into
this matter ; and, in distinguishing the parts ©f the sentence
by accents, might have had regard to the harmony of the
period and the proportion of the members, as well as to the
strict grammatical disposition of the constructive parts. Of
this, I think, I perceive evident tokens ; for they sometimes
seem to have more regard in distributing the sentence to
the poetical or rhetorical harmony of the period, and the
proportion of the members, than to the grammatical con
struction. To explain what I mean, I shall here give some
examples, in whieh the Masoretes, in distinguishing the sen
tence into its parts, have given marks of pauses perfectly
agreeable to tbe poetical rhythm, but such as the gramma
tical construction - does* not require, and scarcely admits.
Though it is a difficult matter to know the precise quantity
of time which they allot to every distinctive point; for it
depends on the relation and proportion which it bears to
the whole arrangement of points throughout the sentence;

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. XXl
and though it is impossible to express the great variety of
them hy our scanty system of punctuation, —yet I shall en
deavour to mark, them out to the EngUsh reader, in a rude
manner, so as to give him some notion of what I imagine it
to have been their design to express. Thus then they dis
tinguish the following sentences : —
" And they that recompense evil for good ;*
Are mine adversaries, because I follow what is good."
Psal. xxxviii. 20.
" Upon Jehovah, in my distress ;*
I called, and he heard me."
" Long hath my soul had her dwelHng ;*
With him that hateth peace." Psal. cxx. 1. 6.
" I love Jehovah, for he hath heard ;*
The voice of my supplication.
I will walk, before Jehovah ;*
In the land of the living.
What shall I return unto Jehovah ;*
For all the benefits which he hath bestowed on me?
My vows I will pay to Jehovah;*
Now in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the eyes of Jehovah ;*
Is the death of his saints." Psal. cxvi. 1. 9. 12. 14, 15.
" Yea the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof,!
Shall not send forth their light." Isa. xiii. 10.
" In that day, shall his strongly fenced cities become,J
Like the desertion of the Hivites and the Amorites. Isa. .xvii. 9.
" For the glorious name of Jehovah shall be unto us,"t"
A place of confluent streams, of broad rivers." Isa. xxxiii. 21.
" That she hath received at the hand of Jehovah,"|"
Double of the punishment of all her sins." Isa. xl. 2.
Of the three different sorts of parallels, as above explain
ed, every one hath its peculiar character and proper effect ;
* Athnac. t Zakeph-katon. { Rebiah.
Atknac in the three metrical books, as the Jews account them, is but the third
in order of power among the distinctive points ; but, however, always takes
place when the period is of two members only ; in all the other books he is
second : in the latter, therefore, Rebiah and Zakeph-katon, which come next to
Athnac, have nearly the same distinctive power as Athnac has in the former.
They will scarce be thought over-rated at a comma.

XxH PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
and therefore they are differently employed on different!
occasions; and that sort of parallelism is chiefly made use
of which is best adapted to the nature of the subject and of
the poem. Synonymous parallels have the appearance of
art and concinnity, and a studied elegance : they prevail
chiefly in shorter poems; in many of the Pealms ; in Ba
laam's prophecies ; frequently in those of Isaiah which are
most of them distinct poems of no great length. The an
tithetic paraUelism gives an acuteness and force to adages
and moral sentences ; and therefore, as I observed before,
abounds in Solomon's Proveibs, and elsewhere is not often
to be met with. The poem of Job, being on a large plan,
and in a high tragic styfe, though very exact in the division
of the Unes, and in the paralleUsm, and affording many fine
examples of the synonymous kind, yet consists chiefly of the
constructive. A happy mixture of the several sorts gives an
agreeable variety ; and they serve mutually to recommend
and set off one another.
I mentioned above, that there appeared to be two sorts
of Hebrew verses, differing from one another in regard to
their length : the examples hitherto given are all, except
one, of the shorter kind of verse. The longer, though they
admit of every sort of parallelism, yet belonging for the
most part to the last class, that of constructive parallels, I
shall treat of them in this place, and endeavour to explain
the nature, and to point out the inarks of them, as fidly and
exactly as I can.
This distinction of Hebrew verses into longer and shorter,
is founded on the authority of the alphabetical poems ; one
third of the whole number of which are manifestly of the
longer sort of verse, the rest of the shorter. I do not pre
sume exactly to define by the number of syllables, supposing
we could with some probabiUty determine it, the limit that
separates one sort of verse from the other, so that every
verse exceeding or falUng short of that number should be
always accounted a long or a short verse ; all that I affirm
is this, — that one of the three poems perfectly alphabetical,
and therefore infallibly divided into its verses ; and three of
the nine other alphabetical poems, divided into their verses,.
after the manner of the perfectly alphabetical, with the
greatest degree of probability ; that these four poems, being
the four first Lamentations of Jeremiah, fall into verses

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. XXUl
about one-third longer, taking them one with' another, than
those of the other eight alphabetical poems. I shall first
give an example of these long verses from a poem perfectly
alphabetical, in which therefore the limits of the verses are
unerringly defined : —
" I am the man that hath seen affliction, by the rod of his
anger:
He hath led me, and made me walk, in darkness, not in
light:
Even again turneth he his hand against me, all the day long.
He hath made old my flesh and my skin, he hath broken my
bones:
He hath built against me, and hath compassed me, with gall
and travail:
He hath made me dwell in dark places, as the dead of old."
Lam. iii. 1 — 6.
The following is from the first Lamentation, in which the
stanzas are defined by initial letters, and are, Uke the former,
of three Unes : —
" How doth the city solitary sit, she that was full of people !
How is she become a widow, that was great among the na
tions!
Princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!
She weepeth sore in the night, and her tear is upon her
cheek :
She hath none to comfort her, among all her lovers :
All her friends have betrayed her, they became her enemies."
Lam. i. 1, 2.
I shall now give examples of the same sort of verse, where
the limits of the verses are to be collected only from the poeti
cal construction of the sentences ; — and first from the books
acknowledged on aU hands to be poetical ; and of these we
must have recourse to the Psalms only, for I believe there
Is not a single instance of this sort of verse to be found in
the poem of Job, and scarce any in the Proverbs of Solo
mon.
*' The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the, simple:
The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of Jehovah is clear, enHghtening the
eyes:
The fear of Jehovah is pure, enduring for ever;

XXiy PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION,
The judgments of Jehovah are truth; they are altogether
righteous:
More desirable than gold, and than much fine gold; ^^
And sweeter than honey, and the dropping of honey-combs.'
Psal. xix. 7— 10.
" That our sons may be like plants, growing up in their
youth ;
Our daughters like the corner-pillars, carved for the struc
ture of a palace : ^
Our store-houses fuU, producing aU kinds of provision :
Our flocks bringing forth thousands, ten thousands in our
' fields :
Our oxen strong to labour ; no irruption, no captivity ;
And no outcry in our streets." Psal. cxliv. 12 — 14.
*' Oh ! how great is thy goodness which thou hast treasured
up, for them that fear thee ;
Which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before
the sons of men !
Thou wilt hide them in the secret place of thy presence,
from the vexations of man ;
Thou wilt keep them safe in the tabernacle, from the strife
of tongues." Psal. xxxi. 19, 20.
*' A sound of a multitude in the mountains, as of many people ;
A sound of the tumult of kingdoms, of nations gathered to
gether :
Jehovah God of Hosts mustereth the host for the battle .
They come from a distant land, from the end of heaven ;
Jehovah and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the
whole land." Isa. xiii. 4, 5.
" They are turned backward, they are utterly confounded,
who trust in the graven image ;
Who say unto the molten image, ye are our gods !"
Isa. xiii. 17.
" They are ashamed, they are even confounded, his * adver
saries all of them ;
Together they retire in confusion, the fabricators of images :
But Israel shall be saved in Jehovah, with eternal salvation •
Ye shall not be ashamed, neither shall ye be confounded to
the ages of eternity." Isa. xlv. 16, 'l7.
These examples, all except the two first, are of long
verses thrown in irregularly, but with design, between
* See the note on the place.

¦PRELIMINARTT DISSERTATION. XXV
verses of another sort; among which they stand out, as it
were, somewhat distinguished in regard -to their matter as
well as their form.
I think I perceive some peculia«ties in the cast and
structure of these verses, which mark them, and distinguish
them from those of the other sort. The closing pause of
each Une is generally very fuU and strong; and in each line,
commonly towards the end, at least beyond the middle of
Jt, there is a sraaU ¦rest or interval, depending on the sense
and grammatical construction, whic^i I would call a half-
pause. The cpnpincticfti i, Jhe common ¦panicle of connexion,
which abounds in the Hebrew language, and is very often
used without any necessity at all, seems to be frequently and
studiously omitted at the half-pause ; the remaining clause
heing added, to use a grammatical term, fey apposition to
some 'Word preceding; or coming in as an adjunct, or cir
cumstance depending on tbe former part, and completing
the sentence. This ^ives a certain >air to these verses,
"Which may be esteemed in some sort as characteristic of the
kind. The first four Laa^eutaitJons arc four distinct poems, con
sisting -laniformly and entirely of * the long verse, which may
therefore be properly called the Elegiac verse-^from those
«legies, which give the plainest and the most undoubted ex-
iatoples of it. There may perhaps be found many other
very probable examples in the eame kind ; but this is what 1
cannot pretend to determine with any certainty. Such, I
think, are the 42d and 43d Psalins ; which I imagine make
* In the seoBnd Lamentation, the second line of the foartfc period is deficienS
in length ; and so likewise is the 31st verse of the third Lanssntation. In the
former, two words are lost out of the text ; in 'the tatter, one. This will plain
appear by supplying those words Srom the Chaldefe paraphrase, which has hap
pily preserved them. Tiisy prove their own genumeness by making the line
of a just lengtli, and by completely restoring the sense ; which in the former is
otherwise n6t uneKceptionable, in the latter manifestly imperfect. I will ad
the lines, with the Words supplied included in crotchets.
" And he slew {every youth] all that Were desirable to the eye."
'jix [via;?] th))h ror ah o
'" For the Lord will not cast off [his servants] forever,''
3 ,

xxvi PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
one entire poem,* and ought not to h,ave been divided into
two Psalms : the Unes are aU of the longer kind, except the
third line of the intercalary stanza three times inserted;
which third Une, like that at the close of an example given
above from the 144th Psalm, . is of the.shorter kind of verse,
somewhat Uke the Parcnraiac verse of the Greeks, which
commonly makes the close of a set of Anapaestic verses.
Such likewise, may perhaps be the lOlst Psalm, which seems
to consist of fourteen long verses, or seven distichs, thus di
vided : —
" Mercy and judgment will I celebrate ; to thee, O Jehovah,
will I sing.
I will act circumspectly in the perfect way ; when wilt thou
come unto me ?
I will walk with a perfect heart, in the midst of my house ;
I will not set before mine eyes, a wicked thing ;
Him that dealeth unfaithfully, I hate ; he shall not cleave
unto me ;
A perverse heart shall rembve from me ; the wicked I will not
know.
Whoso slandereth in secret his friend, him will I destroy.
The lofly of eyes, and the proud of heart, him I will not en
dure.
Mine eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may
dwell with me :
Whoso walketh in^the perfect way, he shall minister unto me.
He shall not dwell within my house, who practiseth deceit.
He that speaketh falsehood, shall not be established in my
sight.
Every, morning will I destroy all the wicked of the, land ;
To cut off, from the city of Jehovah, all the workers of ini
quity." ' .
The subUme ode of Isaiah in the 14tli chapter is aU of
this kind of verse, except, perhaps, a verse or two towards
the end ; and the prophecy against Senacheub in the 37th
chapter, as far as it addressed Senacherib himself.
I venture to submit to the judgment of the candid reader
the preceding observations, upon a subject which hardly
admits of proof and certainty ; which is rather a matter of
opinion and of taste, than of science ; especially in the latter
* This conjecture, offered some years ago, has since been confirmed by twen
ty-two MSS, which join them together.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. XXVU
part, which endeavours to estabUsh, and to point out the dif
ference, of two sorts of verse, the longer and the shorter. For
though the third Lamentation of Jeremiah gives a clear and
indubitable example of the elegiac or long verse, and the two
Psalms perfectly alphabetical of tbe shorter ; yet the whole
art of Hebrew versification, except only what appears in the
construction of the sentences, being totaUy lost, it is not easy
to try by them other passages of verse, so as to draw any
certain conclusion in all cases, whether they are of the same
kind or not : And that, for this among other reasons ; be
cause what I call the. half-pause, which I think prevails for
the most part in the longer verses, is sometimes so strong
and so full in the middle of the Une, that it seems naturally
to resolve it into a distich pf two short verses. I readily
therefore acknowledge, that in settling the distribution of
the lines, or verses, in the following translation, I have had
frequent doubts and particularly in determining the long
and short verses. I am stiU uncertain in regard to many
places, whether two lines ought not to be joined to make one,
or one line divided into two. But whatever doubts may re
main concerning particulars, yet, upon the whole, I should
hope that the method of distribution here proposed, of sen
tences info stanzas and verses in the poetical books of Scrip
ture, will appear to have some foundation, and even to carry
-with it a considerable degree of probability.^ Though no
complete system' of rules concerning this. matter can perhaps
be formed, which will hold ~ good in every particular; yet
this way of, considering the subject may have its use, in fur
nishing a principle of interpretation of some consequence,
in giving a general idea of the style and character of the
Hebrew poetry, and in shewing the close conformity of style
and character between, great part of the prophetical ¦ writings,
and the other books of the Old Testament universally ac
knowledged to be poetical.
And that the reader may not think his pains wholly lost,
in labouring through this long disquisition concerning sen
tences ahd i-nembers of sentences, in weighing words and
balancing periods, I shaU e'ndeavour to shew him something
of the use and application of the'^preceding observations;
and to convince him, that this branch of criticism, .minute
as it may appear, yet merits the attention of the translator
and of the interpreter of the Holy .Scriptures; so large a part

XXVUr PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
of which is entirely poetical, and where occasional pieces of
poetry are' interspersed through the whole.
It is incumbent on every translator to study the manner
©f his author ; to mark the peculiarities of his styBsi to imi
tate hfe features, his air, his gesture, and, as far as the dif
ference of language will permit, even his voice ; in a word,
-to give a just and expressive resemblance of the original.
If he does not carefully attend to this, he will sometinies fail
of entering into his meaniag ; he wilt always exhibit him un-
Uke himself, — in a dress, that wiU appear strange and unbe
coming, to all tbat are in any degree acquainted with hirn.
Sebastian CasteUio stands in the first rank for critical abili
ties and theological learning, among the modern translators
of Scripture ; but, by endeavouring to give tbe whole compo
sition of bis translation a new cast, to throw it out of the
Hebrew idiom, and to make it adopt the Latin phrase andi
structure in its stead, he has given us something, that ia
neither Hebrew nor Latin : the Hebrew manner is destroyed,
and the Latin manner is not perfectly acquired; we regret
the loss of the Hebrew simplicity, and we are disgusted with
the perpetual affectation of Latin elegance. This is in gen
eral the case, but chiefly in the poetical parts. Take the
following for a specimen.
" Quum Israelitse ex .ffigypto, quum Jacobsea domus emigraret
ex populo barbaro,
Jiidsei Israelitsp Deo fuere sanctitati atque potestatr.
Quo vise, mare fugit, et Jordanis retrocessit.
Montes arietum, colles ove natorum ritu exiliverunt."
Surely to this even the barbarism of the Vulgate is pre
ferable ; for though it has no elegance of its own, yet it still
retains the form, and gives us some ideia of the force and
spirit of the Hebrew. 1 will subjoin it here, for it needs nol-
fear the comparison.
" In exitUi Israel de JEgypto, domus Jacob de poputo barbaro.
Facta est Judaea sanctificatio ejus, Israel potestas ejus.
Mare vidit, et fugit : Jordanis conversus est retrorsum.
Montes exultaverunt ut arietes: et colles sicut agni ovium.'*
Flatness and insipidity will generaUy be the consequence
of a deviation, from the native manner of ani original, which
has a real merit and a peculiar force of its own: for it will
be very difiicult to compensate the loss of this by any adveu-

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. XXIX
titious ornaments. To express fully and exactly the sense
of the author is indeed the principal, but not the whole duty
of the translator. • In a work of elegance and genius, he is
not only to inform, he must endeavour to please ; and to
please by the same means, if possible, by which hie author
pleiases. If this pleasure arises in a great measure from the
shape of the composition and the form of the construction,
as it does in the Hebrew poetry perhaps beyond any other
example whatsoever, the translator's eye ought to be always
intent upon this : to neglect this, is to give up aU chance of
success, and all pretension ,to it. The importance of the sub
ject, and the consequent necessity of keeping closely to the
letter of the original, Jias confined the translators of Scrip-,
ture within such narrow limits, that they have been forced,
whether they designed it or not, and even sometimes con
trary to their design, as in the case of CasteUio, to retain
much of the Hebrew manner. This is remarkably the case
in our vulgar translation, the constant use of which has ren
dered this manner familiar and, agreeable to us. We have
adopted the Hebrew taste ; and what is with judgment, and
upon proper occasion, well expressed in that taste, hardly ever
fails, to suggest the ideas of beauty, solemnity, and elevation.
To shew the difference in this respect, I shaU here give an
example or two of a, free and loose translation, yet sufii-
ciently weU expressing the sense, contrasted with another
translation of the same, as strictly literal as possible.
¦ 1 . " The merciful and gracious Lord hath so done his mar
vellous works, that they ought to be had in remembrance."
Psal. cxi. 4. Old Version.
2. "Lo! children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage
and gift, that cometh from the Lord." Psal. cxxvii. 4. O. V.
3. " O put not your trust in pripces, nor in any child of
man; for there is no help in them.
" For when the breath of man goeth forth, he shall turn
again to his earth; and then all his thoughts perish.
4. " The Lord thy God, O Sion, shall be king for evermore,
and throughout all generations. Psal. cxlvi. 2, 3. 10. O. V.
1. " He hath made a memorial of his wonders : gracious and
of tender mercy is Jehovah."
2. "Behold, an heritage 'from Jehovah are children; are-
ward, the fruit of the womb." 3*

xxx PRlTLIMINARr DISSERTATICN.
3. " Trust ye not in princes; in tbe son of man, in whom is
no salvation.
" His breath goeth forth; he returnetb to his earth; in that
day his thoughts' perish.
4. " Jjehovah shall reign for ever;, thy God,© Sion, from
age to age."
The former examjfe are mere prose ; tbe latter retain
the outUnes and the features of the original Hebrew, and
from tbat cause alone are still poetry.
But this strict attention to the fwm and fashion of the
composition of the sacred writings of the Old Testament.
is not only useful, and even necessary, in the translator
who is ambitious of preserving in his copy the force,
and spirit, and elegance of the original ; k will be of
great use to bina likewise merely as an interpreter, and
will often lead him into the meaning of obscure words
and phrases; sometimes it will suggest the tme reading,
where the text in o«i' pi'esent copies is faulty; and will-
verify and confirm a correction offered on the authority
of MSS, or of the ancient vet®ic«is. I shall add a few ex
amples, as evidences of what is here advanced. One short
passage of Isaiah wiU furnish a number sufBcient for our
purpose ; and ihe observant reader wiR find several more in
the version and notes subjoined.
" Wherefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, ye scoffers ;
Ye who to this people in Jemsalem utter sentenliousspeeches.
Who say. We have entered, into a covenant with death ;
And with the grave we have made a treaty. 
But your covenant with death shall be broken ;
And your treaty with the grave shall not stand.*'
Isa. xxviii. 14^ 15. IS.
'^D, ye that rule this people, says our version ; and so the
generality of interpreters ancient and modern. But this
prophecy is not addressed to the rulers of the people, nor
ig it at all concerned with them in particular, but is directed
to the Ephraimites ia general ; and this part to the scoffers
among them, who ridiculed the denunciations of the pro-
phetSy by giving out parabolical sentences, and solemn
speeches, somewhat in the prophetic style, in opposition to
their prophecies ; of which speeches he gives specimens in the
next verse, as he had done before in the 9th and IGth verses.
•'iwQ therefore is parallel and synonymous to "ji3c'? •'&}»,

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. XXXl
scoffers; and is not to be translated rulers, but to be take^'in
the other sense of the word, and rendered, " those that speak
parables." And larch i in this place very properly explains -
it, "qui dicunt verba irrisionis paraboUce."
The next verse gives us an instance still more remarkable
of the influence which the parallelism has in determining
the sense of words :
" We have entered into a covenant with death ;
Ahd with the grave we have^made  "
what 1 Every one must answer immediately, an agreement,
a bargain, a treaty, or something to the same sense : and so
in eflfect say all the versions, ancient and modern. But the.
word nin means no such thing in any part of the Bible ;
(except in the 18th verse of this' chapter, here quoted, where
it is repeated in the same sense, and nearly in the same
fi)rm) ; nor can the lexicographers give any satisfactory
account of the word in this sense ; which however they are
forced to admit from the necessity of the case ; " Recte verto
vocem nrn, perinde ac nun, v. 18. transactionem, licet
neutra hac significatione aUbi occurrat : circumstantia enim
orationis earn neeessario exigit; " says the learned Vitringa
upon the place. It could not otherwise have been known
that the word had this meaning ; it is the paraUeUsm alone
that determines it to this meaning ; and that so clearly, that.
no doubt at aU remains concerning the sense of the passage.
Again :— - /
" And your covenant with death shall be broken :"
But 133 means to cover, to cover sin, and so to expiate, &c.
and is never used in the sense / of breaking or dissolving a
covenant, though that notwn so often occurs in the Scrip
tures ; nor can it he forced into this sense, but by a great deal
of far-fetehed reasoniiiag. Besides, it ought to be msD, or
I33n, in the feminine form, to agree with r^''^3. So that
the word, as it stands, makes neither grammar nor sense.
There is great, reason therefore to suspect some mistake
in our present copy. The true reading is probably nan,
differing by one letter. So conjectured Houbigant; and
so Archbishop Seeker : and I find their conjecture con
firmed by the Chaldee paraphrast, who renders it by han,
the word which he generally uses in rendering this common

XXXU PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
phrase, n"i3 TSn- And this reading is stiU further con
firmed by the parallelism ; for ian, shall be broken, in the
first line, is parallel and synonymous toCDipn nV, shall not
stand, in the second.
The very same phrases are paraUel and synonymous, Isa^
viu. 10.
" Take counsel together, . and it shaU come to nought, I3ni ;
Speak the word, and it shall not stand, I31fl' xbl."
I shall add one example more; and that of a reading
suggested by the parallelism, and destitute of aM autlmrity
of MSS, or ancient versions.
" But mine enemies living are numerous ;
And they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied." Psal. xxxviii. 19^
The word HT'rr, living,- seems not to belong to this place ;
besides, that the construction of it in the Hebrew is very
unusual and inelegant. The true reading in all probability
is Oin, without cause ; , parallel ahd synonymous to ipty,
wrongfully, in the next line, (as in Psal. xxxv. 19.) ; which
completes the paraUeUsm* through bo*h lines. Let the reader
compare " Psal. Ixix. 5. where the very same three terms
in each Une aire set parallel to one another, just in the same
manner as I suppose they must have been originally here.,
Which place likewise furnishes another example in the same
kind : for a fourth term being there introduced in each
line, the fourth term in the last line has been corrupted by
the smaU mistake of inserting a ' in the middle of it. It has
been well restored by a conjecture of the learned and ingeni
ous Bishop Hare. ,
" They that hate me without cause are multiplied beyond the
hairs of my head;
They that are mine enemies wrongfully are more numerous
then the hairs of niy locks."
For "'n'D^fD, who destroy me, read 'naso, more than my locks,
parallel to 'tysT nnjnyn, more than the hairs of my head, in
the first line. The Bishqi's conjecture is since confii;med by-
seven MSS. - , ¦
, Thus two inveterate mistakes, which have disgraced the
text above two thousand years, (for they are prior to the

PRELIMINARY DISSERlfATION. XXXBl
version of the seventy,) are happily corrected, and that, I
think, beyond a doubt, by the parallelism supported by the
example of similar passages.

Rabbi Azarias,'* a learned Jew of the sixteenth century,
has treated of the ancient Hebrew versification upon prin
ciples similar to those above proposed, and partly coincident
w'lth them : he makes the form of the verse to depend on
the structure of the sentence, and the measures in every
veree to be determined by the several parts of the proposi
tion. As he is the only one of the Jewish writers, who ap
pears to have had any just idea at all of this matter ; as his
system seems to be well founded ; and as his observations
may be of use on the present occasion, both by giving some
degree of authority to the hypothesis above explained, and
by setting the subject in a Ught somewhat different, — 1 shall
here give the reader at large his opinion upon it.
This author in a large work entitled Meor Enajim, (that,
is. The light of the Eyes,) containing a great variety of mat
ter, historical, critical, and philosophical, takes occasion to
treat of the Hebrew poetry in a separate chapter ; of which
the younger Buxtorf has given a Latin translation, t
" Azarias finding little satisfaction in what former writers
iiad said upon the subject; whether those who make the
Hebrew verse consist of a certain number of syllables and
certain feet, Uke that of the Greeks and Latins ; or those
who exclude all metre, and make the harmony of their verse
to arise froth accents, tones, and musical modulations ;. which
latter opinion he thinks agreeable to truth ; — and having con
sulted the most learned of bis nation without being able to
obtain any solution of his difficulties ; for tbey allowed thai
there was a sensible difference between the songs and the
other parts of the Hebrew Scriptures when they were read ;
* R. Azarias Min Haadumim, i. c. de Rubeis, or Rossi,, of Ferrara, finish
ed his treatise entitled Mear Enajim, A. D. 1573, and published it at Mantua,
the pfece of his birth, 1574. Wolfii Biblioth. Hebraja, vol. i. p. 944.
t, Mantissa Dissertationnm, p. 415. at the' end of his edition of Cosri.
Suspecting, from some obscurities, that Buxtorf's translation was not very
accurate, 1 procured the original edition ; and having carefully examined it,
I corrected from it this account of the author's sentiments.

XXXIV PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
a kind of metrical sweetness in the former, which the latter
had not ; but whence that difference arose no one could ex
plain ; — in this state of uncertainty, he long considered the
matter, endeavouring to obtain some satisfaction in his in
quiries. He at last came to the following determination
upon it : — That the sacred songs have undoubtedly certain
measures and propdrtions ; which, however, do not consist
in the number of syllables, perfect or imperfect, according
to, the form of the modern verse which tbe Jews make use
of, and which is borrowed from the Arabians ; (though the
Arabic prosody, he observes, is too complicated to be ap
plied to the Hebrew language) ; but in the number of things,
and of the parts of things, — that is, tbe subject, and the pre
dicate, abd their adjuncts, iri every sentence and proposition.
Thus a phrase, containing two parts of a proposition, con
sists of two measures ; add another containing two more, and
they become four measures ; another again, containing three
parts of a proposition, consists of thre^ measures ; add to it
another of the like, and you have six measures.
" For example ; in the Song of Moses, " Thy-right-hand,
O- Jehovah," is a phrase consisting of two terms, or parts of
a proposition ; to which is connected, " is-glorious in-power,"
consisting Ukewise of two terms: the^ joined together make
four measures, or a tetrameter : " Thy-right-hand, O-
Jehovah," repeated, makes two more ; " hath-crushed the-
enemy," two more ; which, together, make four n;ieasuresj or
a second tetrameter. So likewise,
" The-enemy said, I-will-pursue, I-will overtake ;
, I-will-divide the-spoil ; my-lust shall-be-satisfied-uponrthem ;
I-will-draw my-sword, ; my-hand shall-destroy-them ;
Thou-didst-blow with-thy-wind ; the-sea covered-them."
" The Song of Deuteronomy consists of propositions 6f
three parts, or three measures; which, doubled in the sanie
manner, makfe six, or hexameters : thus,
" Hearken, O-heavens, and-I- will-speak ; and-Iet-the-earth
hear the-words-of-niy-mouth :*
¦ My-doctrine shall-drop, as-the-rain ; my-word shall-distil, as,
the-dew."
* Two words joined together by maccaph are considered as d single word»
according to the laws of punctuation ; so 'a'^DX is one word.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION, XXXV
" Sometimes in the same period, much more in the same
song, these two kinds meet together, according to the divine
impulse moving the prophet, and as the variety suited his
-design,. and the nature of the subject. For example, —
" And-'fey the-blast of-thy-nostrils, the-waters were-compress-
ed ;"
These are each two measures, which together make, a tetra
meter : it follows, —
" The-floods stood-upright, as-in-a-heap :
The-deeps were-congealed in-lhe-heart-of-the-sea :'"*
These are two trimeters, which make an hexameter. So the
Song of the Well begins with trimeters ; to which are after
wards subjoined t dimeters. So in the prayer of Habakkuk
the verses are trimeters : —
" God came from-Teman ;
And-the-Holy-One from the-monnt-of-Paran.f Selah.
His-glory covered the-heavens ;
. And-his-splendour filled the-earti."
" The author proceeds to observe, that in sonje verses certain
words occur, which make no part of the measures, or are
dot taken into the accountof the veise ; as in the Song of
Deuteronomy : —
" And-he-said, I-will-hide my-face frpm-them :""
The word, " And-he-said," II stands fey itself, — and the re
maining words make a trimeter : —
••D^'aba, one word. . .
t The Song of the WellJ 'Numb. xxi. 17, 18., accordinglo our way of fixing
the conclusion of it,.and.if we measure it by Azarias's rules, consist of three
trimeters and one dimeter only. But the Targum of Onkelos continues the ¦
song to the end of the 20th verse, talcing in the catalogue of stations, (as we
understand it), which immediately follows, as part of the song j and interpret
ing it as such. Azarias follows his authority : so Aben Tybbon, (see Cozri,
p. 431.), and larchi upon the place., At this rate we shall ha-ve half a dozen
dimeters more.
t pNS'irTO, (from-the-mount-of-Paran,) being joined by waccapA, and so
making but one word, the author is obliged to take in Selah as part of the
verse, to make out his third term or measure. The authority of the Masoretic
maccaph has led him into an error. The verse without Selah is a trimeter ; as
it ought to be in conformity with the rest. ,. • '
,il So far the observation seems to be just; and, perhaps there maybe two
¦more examples of it in the same' poem, ver. 26. and 37. ; where, according ta

xxxvi PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
" I-will-se'e, what-is their-latter-end,"
is the trimeter answering to it. So in the prayer of Habak
kuk:—
« 0-Jehovah., I-have-heard thy-speech ; I-was-afraid ;
O-Jehovah,
Revive thy-work in-the-midst-of-the years :' *
The word, « O-Jehovah," is twice to be read separate; and
the words added to it toake a trimeter. But this verse,
" Though the-fig-tree shal!-not blossom,"
is of a different sort, consistingof the subject and predicate :
" Thou'gh the fig-tree," being the subject; " shall not blos
som," the predicate. So in a verse containing twelve terms,
those terms may be reduced to six measures. For you are
not to be reckon, either the syUables, or the words, but only
the things. And for this reason a particle is oftten joined to
the word next to it. Tbfe verses df the Psalms observe the
same order: —
" Have-mercy-upon-mte, . 0-G6d, according-to-thy-goodness ;
According-to-the-multitude-of-thy-mercies, f blot-out my-
transgressions."
Azarias's doctrine, the words, J Said, And he shall say, rnay conveniently
enough be considered as making no part of the verse. So m Isaiah, the com
mon forms, Thus saith Jehovah, And it shall come to pass in that day, and the
like, probably are not always to be reckoned as making part of the measure.
The period D in the 4th Lamentation' cannot well be divided into two Unes, as
it ought to be ; but if the words 1D7 INID, they cried unto them, and IIDX
D''U2, they said among the heathen, arc excluded from the measuro, the re
mainder will make two lines of just length : —
" Depart, ye are polluted, depart ; depart ye, forbear to touch :
Tea, they are fled, they, are removed ; they shall dwell here no more."
Or perhaps they may be two marginal interpretations, which by mistake have
got into the text ; which, I think, is better without them. So likevrise. Lam.
ii. 15. the word lipX'iy, of-which-they-said, either does not reckon in the
verse, which with it is too long ; or, as I rather think, should be omitted, as
an interpolation. i '
* In order- to make but the trimeter, it is necessary to suppose that Azarias
-tBadsD''Jtff"31p3 as one word.
t Azarias takes the liberty of joining the two words '^TTf^ 313 together
by a maccaph, which is not to be found in our editions, in order to bring the
verse within his rules. The feadfer will observe, that this distich, which in the
Hebrew contains but seven words, cannot be rendered in English in lees than

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. XXXVU
These are trimeters. So Ukewise,
*' In-God I-will-praise his-word ;
In-Jehovah I-will-praise his-word."
So Ukewise the Proverbs of Solomon,
" Wisdom crieth without ;
In4he-streets she-uttereth her-voice."
" I am aware, adds he, that some verses are to be found,
which I cannot accommodate to tiiesc rules and forms ; and
perhaps a great number. But l)y observing these things,
the intelligent may perhaps receive new Ught, and discover
what has escaped me. However, they may be assured, that
all the verses that are found in the Sacred Wriiings; such
as the song at the Red Sea, of the Well, of Mo.ses, of
Deborah,' of David, of the Book of Job, the Psalms, and the
Proverbs ; all of them have an established order and measure,
different in difierent places, or even sometimes different in
one and the same poem ; — as we may perceive, in reading
them, an admirable piopriety and fitness, though we can
not ariive at' the true method of measuring or scanning
them. "It is not to be wondered, that the same song should
consist of different measures ; for the case is the same in the
poetry of the Greeks and Romans: they suited their mea
sures to' the nature of the subject' and the argument; and
the variations which they admitted, were accommodated to
the motions of the body, and the affections of the soul.
Every kind of measure is not proper for every subject ; and
an ode, a panegyric, or a prayer, should not- be composed
in the same measure with an elegy. Do not you observe,
says he, in the Book of Lamentations of Jeremiah, that the
periods of the first and second chapters each of them consist
of three propositions ; and every one of these of a subject,
and a predicate, and of the adjuncts belouging to them?
The third chapter follows the same method; and for this
reason is placed next to them in order : but of this chapter
every period is distributed into three initial letters. But
the fourth chapter does not perfect the senses in every
one-and-twenty words. By this he will judge, under what great disadvantage
all the foregoing examples, whether of the parallelism or of the metre of things,
must appear iu an English version, in which many words are almost always
necessary to render what is exprq^sed by one word in Hebrew.
4

XXXVlH PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
verse ; * but consists of two and two, which make four. But
the fifth chapter, which contains a prayer, you will find to
be built on another plan ; that is, one and one, which make
two,t or a dimeter; Uke the verses of the Books of Job,
Psalms, and Proverbs. So the Song of Moses, and the
Song of Deborah, have a diflferent form ; consisting of three
and three, which make six ; that is, hexameters ; like the
heroic measure, which is the noblest of all measures.
"-Upon the whole, the author concludes, that the poetical
parts of tbe Hebrew Scriptures are not composed according
to the rules and measures of certain feet, dissyUables, tri
syllables, or the like, as the poems of the modern Jews are ;.
but nevertheless have undoubtedly other measures which de
pend on things,? as above explained. For which reason, they
are more excellent than those which consist of certain feet,
according to the number and quantity of syllables. Of this,
says be, you mayjudge yourself in the Songs of the Prophets.
For do you not see, if you translate some of them into another
language, that they still keep and retain their measure, if
not wholly, at least in part ? which cannot be the case in those
verses,, the measures of which arise from a certain quantity
and number of syllables."
*- He sard above, that in the 1st and 2d chapters each separate verse, or line,
was a single proposition : he now says, that this is not the case ia the 4th chap
ter ; for it does not perfect the sense in every verse ; that is,, each vtrse does
not consist of one single proposition. As, for example the line or verse, —
" How- is obscured the gold I changed the fine gold ! "
" How is obscured f the gold I " makes ons proposition, and two measures ;
"changed | the fine .gold!" another proposition, and two other measures;
which, according to rum mal^ a tetrameter. This, he says, makes the diffe
rence between the three first and the 4th chapter. But there seems to De no
such difference ; many single lines in the three first containing two propositions,
and many in the 4th containing only one.
i According to the author's own definition of his terms, one and one which
make two, should mean, one term and one term making two measures, or a
dimeter: but the 5th chapter does not at all seem to answer that description.
Besides, he says, the verses of it are like those of Job, Psalms, and Proverbs,
of two of which books he said before, that the verses were trimeters. I know
not what he means, unless it be that one and one sentences make two, that is a
distich ! and that this chapter consists of distichs, of two ^ort lines, as the
Books of Job, Psalms, and Proverbs, for the most part do ; which is true.
t Perhaps the harmony might depend in some degree on both ; for it may be
often observed, that where the words of an hemistich happen to be longer, and
consequently to consist of more syllables than the words of the adjoining hemis
tich, there the things expressed are fewer. See, for example, Psal. cviii. 4, 5.
Which seems to prove, that the measures of the verses did not depend on the
things expressed only, but on th^ syllables also.

PRELIMINARY DISSEETATION. XXXIX
Such is R. Azarias's hypothesis of the rhythmus of things ;
that is, of terms and of senses: of the grammatical parts of
speech, and of the logical parts of propositions. The prin
ciple seems to be right ; but, I think, he has not made the
best use, of which it was capable, in the application. He
acknowledges, that it will not hold in aU cases. I beUeve,
there is no such thing to be found in the Hebrew Bible, as
a whole poem consisting of "trimeters, tetrameters, or hexa
meters only, measured and scanned according to Ids , rules.
The Song of Moses, Beat, xxxii. is a very apt example for
his purpose ; but will not in aU parts fall in with his measures.
Besides, there is -no sort of reason for his making it to con
sist 'of hexameters, rather than trimetei" distichs ; such, as
he says, the Psa!!ms and Proverbs consist of Examine the
¦cxith and cxiith Psalms by his raks ; =and tliough they will
fell into his trimeters for the most part pretty well, yet w*
¦are sure, that these were not to be toupled together to make
hexameters ; for they are necessarily divided into twenty-two
distinct short lines by the initial letters. The Hebrew poe
try, consisting for the ihost part of short sentences, must
in general naturally fall into such measures as Azarias estab
lishes; or with some management may be easily reduced
rto his mlea. Every proposition must <consist of a subject
•and a predicate, joined together hy a copula; and the pre
dicate including the copula will generalli^ consist of two
tecm^, expressing the action, and the thing acted upon. In
Hebrew, sometimes the subject is <combined •with *the copula
in one word, ^nd sometimes the predicate ; sometimes all
three make but one term. In these cases, the addition of a
simple adjunct (for the shortness of the style will not admit
of much more) to the subject, or the predicate, or botli,
furnishes a second, a third, and sometimes a fourth term;
that is, makes the verse a dimeter, trimetei", or tetrameter..
For instance, in dimeters, —
¦^' They-made-him-jealous, witk-strange-Gods ;
They-prov®ked-him, with-abominations." Deut. xxxii. 16..
In trimeters, —
¦** I-will-bless Jehovah, at-all-time ;
His-praise [shall be] in my mouth, continually.
•My-sGul shall-make-her-boast, in-Jehov*h ;
Tifi meek shall-hear-itj and-rejoice.

PRELir.IINARY DISSERTATION.
O-magnify-ye Jehovah, wilh-me ;
And-let-us -praise his-name, together," Psal. xxxiv. 1 — 3.
In these examples, the first part of every line makes an en
tire proposition, and the last is an adjunct making the se
cond, or the third, term. In the following, the subject, and
Jhe predicate, with their adjuncts, consist of two terms, each
of them : that is, of two measures ; and, being joined toge
ther, make a tetrameter : —
" The-counsel of-Jehovah shall-stand for-ever."
The next line is in the same form, except that the verb is
understood, aud the latter adjunct divided into two terms;
and makes a second tetrameter to pair with the first : —
" The-thoughts of-his-heart, from-age to-age."
Something of this kind must necessarily be the result of this
senteiilious way of writing : it is what comes of course, with-'
out much study. But whatever attention the Hebrew poets
might give to the scanning of their verses by the number of
terms, it does not appear to have been their design to seoH
fine all the verses of the same poem to any set number of
terms ; whereas they do plainly appear to have studied to
throw the corresponding lines of the same distich into the
same number of»terms, into the same form of construction,
and still niore into an identity, or opposition, or a general
conformity of sense. I agree therefore with Azarids iri his
general principle of a rhythmus of things : but instead of
considering terms, or phrases, or senses, in single lines, as
measures ; determining the nature and denomination of
the verse, as dimeter, trimeter, or tetrameter ; I consider
only that relation and proportion of one verse to another,
which arises from the correspondence of terms, and from the
form of construction ; from whence results a rhythmus of
propositions, and a harmony of sentences.
This peculiar conformation of sentences; short, concise,
with frequent pauses, and regular intervals, divided into
pairs, for the most part, of corresponding lines ; is the most
evident characteristic now remaining of poetry among the
Hebrews, as distinguished from prose : and this, I suppose,
is what is implied in the name, Mizmor ;* which I under-
* lliDtO. IDT signifies to cut, to prune, to sing, to play on a musical in
strument. Casura is the common idea, which prevails in all.

"PRELIMINARY DISSERTATIOK. xU
Stand to be the proper name for verse; that is, for numerous,
rhythmical, or metrical language. This form .made their
^erse peculiarly fit for music and dance ; .which with them
were the iisual concomitants of poetry, on occasions of public
Joy, and in the most solemn offices of reUgion.* Both their
dance and song wei"e on such 'occasions perfornjed by two
choirs t taking their parts alternately in -each : the regular
form of the stanzas, cliiefly distichal, and the jparallelism of
the lines, were excellently well suited to this purpose, and
fell in naturally with the movements of the body, of ihe
vciice, and of the instruments, and with the division oT the
parts between the two sets of performers.
But, besides the poetical structure of the sentences, there
are other indications of verse in the poetical and prophetical
parts of the Hebrew Scriptures : such are, peculiarities of
, language ; unusual and foreign words ; phrases, and forms
of words, uncommon in prose ; bold elliptical expression ;
frequent and abrupt change of persons, and an use of the
t-enses out of the common order ; and lastly, the poetical
dialect, consisting chiefly in certain anomalies [peculiar Uo
poetry ; in letters and syllables added to the ends of words ;
a kind of 'license commonly permitted to poetry in every
language. "But as these cannot be explained by a few ex
amples, nor perfectly understood without some knowledge
of Hebrew,; I must heg leave to refer the learned reader,
who would inquire further into this subject, to what I have
said upon it in another place ;t or rather, to recommend it
to his own observation, in reading the sacred poets in their
own language.

Thus far of the genuine form and character Of ^e Pro
phet's composition ; which it has been the translator's endea
vour dosely to follow, and as exactly to express, as the dif
ference df the languages would permit': in which indeed he
has 'had great advantage in the habit, which our language
has acquired, of expressing with ease, and not without ele
gance, Hebrew ideas and Hebrew forms of speaking, from
* See Exod. xv. 20. 21. 2 Sam. vi. 14. 16.
t See 1 Sam. xviii. 6, 7. Ezra iii. 11. Nehem. -xii. 24. and Bhilo's Obser
vations (nfji TtufyMt) on the Song at the Red Sea.
'i De Sacra Poesi Hebrajorum, Prselect. iii. xiv. x.y.
4*

xUi PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
our constant use of a close verbal translation of both the Old
and New Testament ; which has by degrees moulded our
language into such a conformily with that of the original
Scriptures, that it can upon occasion assume the Hebrew
character without appearing altogether forced and unnatural.
It remains' to say something of the Translation in regard to
its fideUty ; and of the principles of interpretation by which
the translator has been -guided in the prosecution of it.
The first and principal business of a translator, is to give
the plain literal and grammatical • sense of his author ; the
obvious meaning of his words, phrases, and sentences ; and
to express them in the language into wbich he translates, as
far as may be, in equivalent words, phrases, and sentences.
Whatever indulgence may be allowed him in other respects ;
however excusable he may be, if he fail of attaining the ele
gance, the spirit, the sublimity of his author, — i-which will
generally be in some degree the case, if his author excels at
all in those qualities ; want of fidelity admits of no excuse,
and is entitled to no indulgence. This is peculiarly so in
subjects of high importance, such as the Holy Scriptures, in
which so much depends on the phrase and expression ; and
particularly in the prophetical books of Scripture ; where
from the letter are often deduced deep and recondite senses,.
which must owe aU their weight and solidity to the just and
accurate interpretation of the words of the prophecy. For
whatever senses are supposed to be included in the Prophet's
words, spiritual, mystical, aUegorical, analogical, or the like,
they must all entirely depend on the literal sense. This
is the only foundation upon wbich such interpretations can
be securely raised ; and if this is not firmly and well estab
lished, all £hat is built upon it will fall to the ground.
For example ; if ib3d «in3, Isa. li. xx. does not signify
as f£«TA/o» 'iifiiiipSiit, like parboiled bete, as the LXX render it ;
but like an oryx (a large, fierce, wild beast) in the toils ;
what becomes of Theodoret's explication of this image ?
[KjtievS'cvlei *« irivT^iot 'ri(tt£<p6i\\ E^ei|e» aurm Sict fiev th vtdih to paSvfuii,
hct S'l TH >Mx»^n TO mcei^pof. According to this interpretation,
the Prophet would express the drowsiness and flaccidity, the
slothfulness and want of spirit, of his , countrymen : where
as his idea was impotent rage, and obstinate violence, sub
dued by a superior power ; the Jews taken in the snares of
• their own wickedness, struggling in vain, tiU, overspent and

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. xUU
exhausted, they sink under the weight of God's judgments.
And Procopius's explication of the same passage, according
to the rendering of the words by Aqiiila, Symmachus, and
Theodotion, which is probahly the true one, is almost as
foreign to the purpose : " He compares, saith he, the people
of Jerusalem to the oryx,' that is, to a bird ; because they
are taken in the snares of the devil, and therefore are de
livered over to wrath." Such strange and absurd deduc
tions cff notions and ideas, foreign to the author's drift and
design, will often arise from the invention of commentators
who have nothing but an inaccurate translation to work
upon. This was the case of the generality of the Fathers of
the Christian Church, who wrote comments on the Old
Testament : and it is no wonder, that we find them of little
service in leading us into the true meaning and the deep
sense of the prophetical writings.
.It being then a translator's indispensable duty faithfully
and religiously to express the sense of his author, he ought
to take great care that he proceed upon just principles of
criticism, in a rational method of interpretation ; and that
the .copy from which he translates be accurate and perfect in
itself, or corrected as carefully as possible by the best autho
rities, and on the clearest result of critical inquiry.
The method of studying the Scriptures of the Old Testa
ment has been yery defective hitherto in both these respects.
Beside the difiiculties attending it, arising from the nature
of the thing itself, from the language in which it is written,
and the condition in -w'hich it is come down to us through
so many ages ; what we have of it being the scanty relics o:^
a language formerly copious, and consequently the true
meaning of many words, and phrases being obscure and du
bious, and .perhaps incapable of being clearly ascertained ;
beside these impediments, necessarily inherent in the subject,
others have been thrown in the way of our progress in the
study of these writings, from prejudice, and an ill-founded
opinion of the authority of the Jews, both as interpreters
and conservators of them.-
The Masoretic punctuation, by which the pronunciation of
the language is giyen, the forms of the several parts of speech,
the construction of the words, the distribution and limits' of
the sentences, and the connexion of the several members
are fixed, is in effect an interpretation of the Hebrew text

XUV^ PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
made by the Jews of late ages, probably not earlier than
the eighth century ; and may be iconsidered as their trans
lation of the Old Testament. Where the words unpointed
are capable of various meanings, according as they may be
-Variously pronounced and constructed, the Jews by their
pointing have determined them to one meaning and con
struction ; and the sense which they thus give, is their sense
of the passage: just as the rendering of a translator into
another language is his sense ; that is, the sense in jvhich,
in his opinion, the original words 'are to be taken ; and it
has no other authority, than what arises from its being
agreeable to the rules of just interpretation. But because
in the languages of Europe the vowels are essential parts
of written words, a notion was too hastily taken up by the
learned at the revival of letters, when the original Scriptures
began to be more carefully examined, that the vowel points
were necessary appendages of the Hebrew letters, and there
fore coeval with them ; at least, that they became absolutely
necessary when the Hebrew was become a dead language,
and must have been added by Ezra, who collected and
formed the canon of the Old Testament, in regard to all
the books of it in his time extant. On this supposition, the
points have been considered as part of the Hebrew text,
and as giving the meaning of it on no less than divine
authority. Accordingly our public translations in the mo
dern tongues for the use of the chujrch among Protestants,
and so likewise the modern Latin translations, are for the
most part close copies of the Hebrew pointed text, and
are in reality only versions at second hand, translations of
the Jews' interpretation of the Old Testament. We do not
deny the usefulness of this interpretation, nor would we be
thought to detract from its merit by setting it in this light :
it is perhaps, upon the whole, preferable to any one of the
ancient versions ; it has probably the great advantage of
having been formed upon a traditionary explanation of the
text, and of being generally agreeable to that sense of Scrip
ture which passed current, and was commonly received by
the Jewish nation in ancient times ; and it has certainly
been of great service to the moderns, in leading them into
txe knowledge of the Hebrew tongue. But they would have
made a much better use of it, and a greater progress in the
explication of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, had they
consulted it, without absolutely submitting to its authority^;

PRELIMINARY DISS6RTAT10N. xlv
had they considered it as an assistant, , not as an inftiUible
guide. To what a length an opinion lightly taken up, and em
braced with a full assent, without due examination, may be
carried, we may see in another example of much the same
kind. The learned of the Church of Rome, who have
taken .the liberty of giving translations of Scripture in the
modern languages, have for the most part subjected nnd
devoted themselves to a prejudice equally groundless nnd ab
surd. The Council of Trent declared the Latin translation
of the Scriptures called the Vulgate, which had been for
many ages in use in their church, to be authentic. — a very
ambiguous term, which ought to have been more precisely
defined than the Fathers of this Council chose to define it.
Upon this ground many contended, that the Vulgate verr
sion was dictated by the Holy Spirit ; at least was provi
dentially guarded against ail error ; was consequently of
divine authority, and more to be regarded than even the,
original Hebrew and Greek texts. And in effect the decree
of the Council, however limited and moderated by the ex
planation of some of their judicious divines, has given to the
Vulgate such a high degree of authority, that, in this in
stance at least, the translation has taken place of the original :
for these translators, instead of the Hebrew and Greek texts,
profess to translate the Vulgate. Indeed, when they find the
Vulgate very notoriously deficient in expressing the sense,
they do the original Scripiures the honour of consulting
them, and take the liberty, by foUowing them, of departing
from their ' authentic guide; but in general the Vulgate is
their original text, and they give us a translation of a trans^
latiou ; by which second transfusion of the Holy Scriptures
into another tongue, still more of the original sense inust
be lost, and more of the genuine spirit roust evaporate.
The other prejudice, which has stood in the way, and
obstructed our progress in the true understanding of the
Old Testament,— a prejudice even more unreasonable than
the former, is the notion that has prevailed of the great care
and skill of the Jews in preserving the text, and transmitting
it down to the present times pure, and entirely free from all
mistakes, as it came from the hands of the authors. In
opposition to which opinion it has been often observed, that
such a perfect degree of integrity no human skiU or care

JlIvi Preliminary DtssEttfAflON.
could warrant ; it must imply no less than a constant mira
culous superintendence of divitle Providence, to guide the
hand of the copyist, and to guard hira from error, in re
spect to every transcript that has been made through so
long a succession of ages. Aud it is universally acknow
ledged,' that Almighty God had not thought such a miracu
lous interposition necessary in regard to the. Scriptures of
the. New Testament, at least of equal authority and impor
tance with those of the Old : We plainly see, that he has not
exempted them from the common lot of other books; tbe
copies of these, as well as of other ancient writings, differ^
ing in some degree frotn one another, so that no one of .them
has any just pretensibti to be a perfect and entire copyj
truly arid precisely representing in every word and letter
the (iriginals, as they came from the hands of the several
authors. All writings transmitted to Us, like these, from
early times, the original copies of which have long ago
perished, have suffered iu their passage to us by the mistakes
of many transcribers through whose hands we have received
them ;• errors continually accumulating in proportion to the
number of transcripts, and the stream generally becoming
more impure, the more distant it*is from the, source. Now,
the Hebrew writings of the Old' Testament being for much
the greater part the roost ancient of any ; instead of finding
them absolutely perfect, we may reasonably expect to find,
that they have suffered in this respect more than others of
less antiquity generally have done.
put beside this common source of errors, there is a cir
cumstance very unfavourable in this respect to these writings
in particular, which makes them pecuUarly liable to mis- ¦
takes in transcribing ; that is, the great simiUtude which
some letters bear to others in the Hebrew alphabet: such
as 3 to 3, 1 to 1, n to n, i to 3 ; 1, t, and "j, to one another ;
more perhaps "than are to be found in any other alphabet
whatsoever ; and in so great a degree of likeness, that they
are hardly distinguishable even in some printed copies ; and
not only these letters, but others likewise beside these, are
not easily distinguished from one another in niany manu
scripts. This must have been a perpetual cause of frequent
mistakes ; of which, in regard to the two first pairs of letters
above noted, there are many undeniable examples ; inso
much that a change of one of the similar letters for the
other, when it remarkably clears up the sense, may be fairly

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. xlvU
allowed to criticism, even without any other authority than
that of the context to support it.
But to these natural sources of error, as we may call them,
the Jewish copyists haye added others, by some absurd prac
tices which they have adopted in transcribing ; — such as
their consulting more the fair appearance of their copy than
the correctness of it ; by wilfully leaving mistakes uncor
rected, lest by erasing they should diminish the beauty and
the value of the transcript; (for instance, when they had
written a word, or part of a word, wronglj', and immediate
ly saw their mistake, they left the mistake uncorrected, and
wrote the word anew after it) : their scrupulous regard to
the evenness and fulness of their lines ; which induced them
to cut off from the ends of lines a letter or letters, for which
there was not sufficient room, (for they never divided a
word so that the parts of it should belong to two lines) ;
and to add to the ends of lines letters wholly insignificant,
by way of expletives, to fill up a vacant space : their custom
of writing part of a word at the end of a hne, where there
was not room for the whole, and then giving the whole word
at the beginning of the ne;xt Une. These and some other
like practices manifestly tended to multiply mistakes : they
were so many traps and snares laid in the way of future
transcribers, and must have given occasion to frequent
errors. These circumstances considered, it would be the most
astonishing of all miracles, if, notwithstanding the acknow
ledged fallibility of transcribers, and their proneness to
error, from the nature 'of the subject itself on which they
were employed, the Hebrew writings of the Old Testament
had come down to us through their hands absolutely pure,
and free from all mistakes whatsoever.
If it be asked, what then is the real condition of the
¦ present Hebrew text ; and of what sort, and in what num
ber, are the mistakes which we must acknowledge to be
found in it '.' it is answered. That the condition of the He
brew text is such as, from the nature of the thing, the an
tiquity of the writings themselves, the want of due care, or
critical skill, (in which latter at least the Jews have been
exceedingly deficient,) might in all reason have been ex
pected ; that the mistakes , are frequent, and of various
kinds ; of letters, words, and sentences ; by variation, omis-

xlviii PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
sion, transposition ; such as often injure the beauty and
elegance, embarrass the construction, 'alter or obscure the
sense, and sometimes render it quite unintelligible. If it
be objected,, that a concession so large as this is, tends to
invalidate the authority of Scripture-; that it gives up in
eflfect the certainly and authenticity of the doctrines con
tained in it, and exposes our religion nakfed and defenceless
to the assaults of its enemies ; this, I think, is a vain and
groundless apprehension. Casual errors may blemish parts,
but do not destroy, or much alter, the whole. If the lUad
or the .^neid had comedown to us with more errors in all
the copies than are to be found in the worst manuscript
now extant of either, without doubt many particular pas
sages would have lost much of their beauty ; in many the
sense would have been greatly injured; in some rendered
whoUy unintelligible ; but the plan of the poem in the whole
and in its parts, the fiible, the mythology, the machinery,
the characters, the great constituent parts, would still have
been visible and apparent, without having suffered any
essential diminution of their greatness. Of all the precious
remains of antiquity, perhaps Aristotle's treatise on Poetry
is come down to us as much injured by time as any : as it
has been greatly mutilated in the whole, so.me considerable
membeis of it being lost ; so the parts remaining have
suflTered in proportion, and many passages are rendered very
obscure, probably by the imperfection and frequent mistakes
of the copies now extant. Yet, notwithstanding these dis
advantages, this treatise, so much injured by time and so
mutilated, still continues tp be the great code of criticism ;
the fundamental principles of which are plainly deducible
from it : we stilt have recourse to it f6r the rules ahd laws
of epic and dramatic poetry, and the imperfection of the
copy does not at aU impeach the authority of the legislator.
Important and fundamental doctrines do not whoUy depend
on single passages ; an universal harmony runs through the
Holy Scriptures ; the parts mutually support each other,
and supply one another's deficiencies and obscurities. Super
ficial damages and partial defects may greatly diminish the
beauty of the edifice, without injuring its strength, and bring
ing on utter ruin and destruction.*
? " liibrariorum discordiam ostendunt varia exemplaria, in quibus idem
locus alitor atque aliter legitur. Sed ea discovdia offendere nos non debet ;
primum, quia autorum non est, sed librariorum, quorum culpam prtestare*

PREL-IMINABV DISSERTATION. xllX
'-' The copies of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament
being then subject, like all other ancient writings, to mistakes
arising from the unskilfulness or inattention of transcribers, — a
plaiitt matter of fiict, which cannot be denied, and needs not
be paUiated ; it is to be considered, what remedy can be
appUed in this case ; how .such mistakes can be corrected
upon certain or highly probable grounds ? Now the case
being the same, the method which has been used with good
effect in correcting the ancient Greek and Latin authors,
ought in all reason to be applied to the Hebrew writings.
At the revival of literature, critics and editors finding the,
Greek arid Latin authors full of mistakes, set about cor
recting them, by procuring different copies, and the best
that they could meet with : these they compared together,
and the mistakes not being the same in aU, one copy
corrected another; and thus they easily got rid of such
errors as had not obtained possession in aU the copies :
and generally the more copies they had to compare, the'
more' errors were corrected; and the more perfect the text
was rendered. This, which common sense dictated in'
the- first place as necessary to be done in order to the
removing of difficulties in reading ancient Greek and Latin .

autores nee possuht nee dcbent. Deinde, quia plerumque ejusmodi discordia
'uniUs aut alterius verbi est, iHqUo nihil laeditur sententia; aut si quid forte
Ifflditur, aliunde corrigi potest; quandoquidem autorum sententiiB non
semper ex singulis verbis superstitiosius observandis, sed plerumque ex
oratibnis tenore, aut similium loconim observatione, aut mentis ratiocinatione
sunt'investigandse. Ac tales librariorum discordice etiam in profanis autoribus
inveniuntur ; ut i n Flatonej in Aristotele', in Homero, in Cicerone, in Virgilio, et
CEeteris. Cluamvis enim summo in pretio semper fuerint apud gentiles hi autores,
sumlfiaque'cumdiligehtia'describi sbliti, tamen caveri non potuit, quin multa
scripture menda et discrepantise annorum longitudine obrepserint; nee tamen
ea res studiosos deterret; nee facit, ut qui libri Ciceronis babentnr, ii aut non
boni attt non Ciceronis esse ducantur ; sicut enim detorti aut etiam decussi
ramiili ' agricolSm noh offendunt, nee airborem vitiant, quippe quae ramorum
infinita multitudiile sic abundet, ut tantulam jacturam alibi 'sine ullo detriniento
resarciatj ita si' in autore pauculis in locis simile quidpiam usu venit, id nee
bonum lectorem oflendlt, nee autorem vitiat. Manet enim ipsa sth'ps, et, ut ita
loquar; corpus autoris, ex cujus petpetuo tenore dictorUmque ' ubertate percipi
pOssunt sine ullo dettimento fructus pleni.
Ad scrupulum eorum, qui metuunt, ne, si hoc coneessum fuerit, labescat
sacrarum literarum autoritas, hoc respondeo ; non esse scriptbrum autoritatem
in paucis qUibusdam verbis, qua vitiari'dfetrahive potuer(inf,'sed in perpetuo
orationis tenore, qui mansit incorruptus, positam. Itaque' queifiadmodUm
Cicero apud sui studiosos nihilo minoris est autoritatis propter paucula qusedam
mutilata aut depravata, quam esset, si id non accidisset ; ita debet et sacrarum
literarum autoritati nihil detrahi, si quid in eis tiile, quale ostendimus, contigit."
Sebast: CasteUio, quoted by "Wetstein, Nov. Test. torn. ii. p. 856.
5

I PRELIMINARY DIS'SERTATION.
authors, we have had recourse to in the last place in regard
to the ancient Hebrew writers. Hebrew manuscripts have'
at length been consulted- and coUated, notwithstanding the
unaccountable opinion which prevailed, that they all exactly
agreed with one another, and formed precisely one uniform
text. An infinite number of variatbns have been collected,
from above six hundred manuscripts, and some ancient
printed editions, collated or consulted, in most parts of
Europe ; and have been in part published, and the pubUcation
of the whole will I hope soon be completed, by the learned
Dr. Kennicott, in his edition of the Hebrew Bible with
various readings ; a .work, the greatest and most indportant
that has been undertaken and accomplished sincQ the revival
of letters.
But the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, compared
with the text of ancient Greek and Latin authors, has in
one respect greatly tbe disadvantage. Tbere are manu
scripts of the latter, which are much nearer in time to the
age of the authors ; and have suffered much less in propor
tion to the shorter space of time intervening. For example,
the Medicean manuscript of Virgil was written probably
within four or five hundred years after the time of the
poet ; whereas the oldest of the Hebrew manuscripts now
known to be extant, do not come within many centuries of
the times of the several authors; not nearer than about
fourteen centuries to the age of Ezra, one of tbe latest of
them, who is supposed to have revised the books of the
Old Testament than extant, and to have reduced them to a
perfect and correct standard : so that we can hardly expect
much more from this vast collection of variations, taken in
themselves as correctors of tbe text, exclusively of other
consequences, than to be able by their means to discharge
and eUminate the errors that have been gathering and
accumulating in tbe copies for about a thousand years past ;
and to give us now as good and correct a text as was com
monly current among the Jews, or might easily have been
obtained, so long ago. Indeed, some of the oldest manu
scripts, from which these variations have been collected, may
possibly be faithful transcripts of select manuscripts at tbat
time very ancient, and so may really carry us nearer ' to
the age of Ezra ; but this is an advantage, which we cannot
be assured of, and upon which we must not presume. But

PREL1MINAR"5? DISSERTATION. li
to get SO far nearer to the source, as we plainly do by the
assistance of manuscripts, though of comparatively late date,
as an advantage by no means inconsiderable, or Ughtly to be
regarded. On the other hand, -we have a great advantage in regard
to the Hebrew text, which the Greek and Latin authors
generaUy want, and which in some degree makes up for the
defect of age in the present Hebrew manuscripts ; that is,
from the several ancient versions of the Old Testament in
diflferent languages, made in much earlier times, and from
manuscripts in all probability much more correct and per
fect than any now extant. These versions, for the most
part, being evideiitly intended for exact literal renderings
of the Hebrew text, may be considered in some respects as
representatives of the manuscripts from which they were
taken: and when the version gives a sense better in itself,
and more agreeable to the context, than the Hebrew text
oflfers, and at the same time answerable to a word or words
similar to those of the Hebrew text, and only diflfering from
it by the change of one or more similar letters, or by the
different position of the same letters, or by some other in
considerable variation; we have good reason to believe,
that the similar Hebrew words answering to the version,
were indeed the very reading that stood in the manuscript
firom which the translation was made. To add strength to
this way of reasoning, it is to be observed, that the manu
scripts now extant fi-equently confirm such supposed read
ing of those manuscripts from which the ancient versions
were taken, in opposition to the authority of the present
printed Hebrew text ; and make the collection of variations,
now preparing for the public, of the highest importance ;
as they give a new evidence of the fidelity of the ancient
versions, and set them upon a footing of authority which
they never could obtain before. They were looked upon
as the tvork of wild and licentious interpreters, who often
departed from the text, which they undertook to render,
without any good reason, and only followed their own fancy
and caprice. The present Hebrew manuscripts so often
justify the versions in such passages; that we cannot but
conclude, that in many others likewise the diflference of the
version from the present original is not to be imputed to
ihs Ucentiousness of the translator, but to the carelessness

hi ,PRELIMrNAR"S" DISSERTATION.
of the Hebrew copyist; and this afords a just .and rep.soiMiMe
ground for, correcting the Hebrew text on, the authority pf
the ancient versions.
But the assistance of manuscripts'' and ancient versions
united wiU he found very insufficient perfectly to correct
&Si Hebrew text. Passages wiU sometimes occur, in which
neither the one nor the other give any satisfactory ,igense j
which has been occasioned probably by very .ancient mistakes
of the icopy, an.tecedent to the date of the oldest of thep.
On these occasions, trandators are put to jgreat difficulties,
through which they force their way as well as they can:,
they invent new meanings fw: words and phrases, and
put us off either with what makes no sense at aU, or with a
sense that apparently does not arise out of ,the words of the
text. The renderings of such desperate places, when they
carry lany sense with them, are manifestly conjectural ; and
fuU as much so, as the conjectures of the critic who hazards
,an alteration of the text itself. The fairest way of proceeding
in these cases seems to- be, to confess the difficulty, and to
lay it before the neader; and to leave it to his judgment
to decide, whether the conjectural rendering, or the conjec-
, tural emendation, be more agreeable to the context, to the
exigence of the place, to paraUel and aimUar .passages, to-
the rules and genius of the Janguage, and to the laws of
sound .and temperate criticism.
The condition of the present texit of Isaiah in particular
is answerable to the representation above given of the He
brew text in general. It is, I presume, considerably injured
and stands in need of frequent emendation. Nothing js
more apt to aflfect, and sometimes utterly to desti"oy, the
meaning of a sentence, than the omission of a word ; than
which no /Sort of mistake is more frequent. I reckon, that
in the book of Isaiah, the words omitted in different places
amount to the number of fifty. I mean whole words, not
including particles, prepositions, and pronouns affixed ; and
I speak of such as I am well persuaded are real omissions j
much the greater part of which, I fiatter myself, the reader
will find supplied in the translation and antes, with a good
degree of probabUity, from manuscripts and ancient ver
sions. Beside these, there are some other places, in which 1
suspect some omissio% though there may be no evidence^.lo

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. UU
|irove it. If there be any truth in this account of words
¦omitted, the reader wUl, easily suppose, that mistakes of
other kinds must be frequent in proportion, and amount all
together to a considerable number.
The manuscripts and ancient versions aflford the proper
means of remedying these and other defects of the present
copy. It is manifest, that the ancient interpreters had be
fore them copies of the Hebrew text different in many places
from that which passes current at present ; and the manu-
-scripts even now extant frequently vary from that, and from
one another. Neither is there any one manuscript or edi
tion whatever, that has the least pretension to a superior
authority, so as to claim to be a standard to which the rest
ought to be reduced. A true text, as far as it is possible to
recover it, is to be gathered from the manuscripts now ex
tant, and from the evidence furnished by the ancient ver
sions of the readings of manuscripts of much earUer times.
This being the case, the first care of the translator should
be, especially in places obscure and difficult, to consider
whether the words which he is to render be indeed the
genuine words of the Prophet, and to ascertain, as far as
may he, the true reading of the text.
The ancient versions above-mentioned as the principal
sources of emendation, and highly useful in rectifying, as
well as in explaining, the Hebrew text, are contained in
the London Polyglott.
The Greek version, commonly caUed the Septuagint, or
nf the seventy interpreters, probably made by different hands,
(the number of them uncertain,) and at diflferent times, as
the exigence of the Jewish church at Alexandria and in
other parts of Egypt required, is of the first authority, and
of the greatest use in correcting the Hebrew text ; as being
the most ancient of aU ; and as the copy, from which it was
translated, appears to have been free from many , errors,
which afterwards by degrees got into the text. But the
version of Isaiah is not so old as that of the Pentateuch by
a hundred years and more ; having been made in all pro
babUity after the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, when the
reading of the Prophets in the Jewish synagogues began to
he practised ; and even after the building of Onias's temple,
to favour which there seems to have been some artifice em-
5*

liv PRELIMINARY BISSERTiSTION.
ployed in a certain passage of Isaiah * in this version. Aud
it unfortunately happens, that Isaiah 'has had the hard fate
to meet with a translator vepy unworthy of him, there being
hardly any book of the Old Testament so ill rendered in
that version as this of Isaiah. Add to this, that the version
of Isaiah, as well as other parts of the Greek version, is
Gome down to us in a bad condition, incorrect, and with
frequent omissions and interpolations. Yet, with all these
disadvantages, with aU its faults and imperfections, this ver
sion is of more use in correcting the Hebrew text than any
other whatsoever.
The Arabic version is sometimes referred to as verifying
the reading of the LXX, being, for the most part at least,
taken from that version.
The learned Mr. Woide, to whom we are indebted for
the publication of a Coptic lexicon and grammar, very use
ful and necessary for the promotion of that part of litera
ture, has very kindly communicated to me his extracts firom
the 'fragments of a manuscript of a Coptic version of Isaiah,
made ^feom - the LXX, with which he has collated them.
They are preserved in the Library of St. Germain de Piezat
Paris. He judges this Coptic version to be of the second
century. The manuscript was written in the beginning of
the fourteenth century. The same gentleman has had the
goodness, at my request, to, coUate "with Bos's edition of the
LXX, tbrough the book of Isaiah,, two manuscripts of the
King's Library, now in the British Museum, the one marlj-
ed I. B. ir. the other i. D. ii. The former manuscript, con
taining the Prophets of the version of the LXX, was writ
ten in the eleventh or twelfth century, according to Grabe ;
(in the tenth or eleventh century, in Mr. Woide's opinion) ;
and by a note on the back of the first leaf appears to have
belonged to Pachomius, patriarch of Constantinople in the
beginning of the sixteenth century. Grabe highly valued
this manuscript ; and intended to write a dissertation on the
supeiriority of this and of the Alexandrian manuscript to that
of the Vatican ; but did not live to execute his design. See
Prolegom. ad tom. 3tium, LXX Interp. edit. Grabe, sect.
iii. and v., and Grabe de Vitiis LXX Interp. p. 118. I
quote this manuscript by the title of MS Pachom. for the
reason above given. * Chap, six. 18. See the note there.

PRKMMINABY DISSERTATION. Lv
The latter ^manuscript r. D. ii, above-mentioned, contains
jtnany of the -historical books, beginning avith Ruth, and
ending with Ezra, according to the order of the books in
.our English Bible; and also the prophet Isaiah, of thei'ver-
sion of the LXX. This manuscript in the book of Isaiah
Bonsists of two different parts : the first from the ibeginniag
to the word t»pa«v, chap. xxxv. 5. written in a more ancient
itnd • better chamcter, and upon better vellum ; which Mr.
Woide judges to be of the -eleventh or twelfth century;: the
remaining part he refers to the ibegianing of the fourteenth
century ; which Grabe supposes to be the age of the whole :
See Grabe ide Vitiis, LXX Interp. p. 104. This manu
script seems to have been taken from a good copy, as it fre
quently agrees with the best land most ancient manuscripts,
and in particular with the manuscript of Pachomius.
The Coptic fragments above-mentioned, and these inanu-
Bcripts, are .useful for the same purpose of authenticating the
reading of the LXX ; and, in consequence, of ascertaining. or
correcting the Hebrew text in some places.
;;My examination of Mr. Woide's coUation of the two
iGreek manuscripts of Isaiah,, has been confined to this single
view in respect of the Hebrew text. Were these manuscripts
to ihe applied more extensively, and to their proper use, that
of correcting the text of the LXX, through all the parts of
it which they contain, I am persuaded they would be found
to be of very great importance, and would contribute largely
to the revision and emendation of that ancient and very
valuable version: a work, which may be now considered as
one of the principal desiderata /of sacred criticism ; and
which ought to follow that arduous undertaking, which has
so happily succeeded, the collation of Hebrew manuscripts ;
to which it stands next in. order of importance and usefulness
towards our attaining a more perfect knowledge of the Holy
Scriptures. The -Chaldee paraphrase of Jonathan Ben 'Uziel, made
about or before the time of our Saviour, though jitjOfteu
wanders from the text in a wordy aUegorical .explanation, yet
^9etf frequently adheres to it closely, and gives a. verbal
rendering of it ; and accordingly is sometimes of great use in
ascertaining the true-reading. of the Hebrew text.
The Syriac version stands next in order of time, but is
superior to the Chaldee in usefulness and authority, as weU
in ascertaining as in explaining the Hebrew text. It is a

lvi PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
close translation of the Hebrew into a language of near
affinity to it. It is supposed to have been made as early as
the first century.
The fragments of the three Greek versions of Aquila,
Symmachus, and Theodbtion, aU made in the second century,
which are -collected in the Hexapla of Montfaucon, are of
Considerable use for the same purpose.
The Vulgate, being for the most part the translation of
Jerome, made in the fourth century, is of service in the same
way, in proportion to its antiquity.
I am greatly obUged to several learned friends for their
observations on particular passages : To one great person more
especiaUy, whom I had the honour to caU my friend, the late
excellent Archbishop Seeker; whose marginal notes on the
Bible, deposited by his order in the library at Lambeth, I had
permission to consult by the favour of his most worthy
successor. There are two Bibles with his notes : one a folio
EngUsh Bible interleaved, containing chiefly corrections of
the English translation; the other a Hebrew Bible of the
edition of Michaelis, Halle, 1720, in 4to. ; the large margins
of which are fiUed with critical remarks on the Hebrew text,
coUations of tbe ancient versions, and other short annotations ;
which stand an illustrious monument of the learning, judgment
and indefatigable industry of that excellent person : I add also,
of his candour and modesty ; for there is hardly a proposed
emendation, however ingenious and probable, to which he has
not added the objections which occurred to him against it.
These valuable remains of that great and good man will be of
infinite service, whenever that necessary work, a new transla'
tion, or a revision of the present translation, of the Holy
Scriptures, for the use of our church, shall be undertaken.
To his observations I have set his name. And to the remarks
of others of my learned friends, I have Ukewise subjoined in
the notes their names respectively. Among these I must here
particularly mention the late learned Dr. Durell, Principal bf
Hertford College in Oxford ; who some years ago communi
cated to me his manuscript remarks on the Prophets. With
his leave I took short memorandums of some of his corrections
of the text ; and had his permission to make what use I pleased
of them.
I am in a more particular manner obliged to my learned
friend Dr. Kennicott, for his singular favour in frequently

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. Ivii
comraumeating to me his collations while they were collecting,
and the printed copy of the book of Isaiah itself, as soon as it
iwas finished at the press, for my private -use, while -the
remainder of the volume is in hand and preparing for the
•public. These"! have examined wish some attention ; and I
hope -the reader, whose expectations do not exceed the bounds
of reason and -moderation, will be satisfied with the assistance
and benefit 'Which he wiU find they have afforded me. But I
must beg to have it weU understood, that I do by no means
pretend to >hav« exhausted these valuable stores: many
things may have escaped me, which may strike the eye of
another observer ; many a variation, which appears at -first
sight very minuteand trifling, and manifestly false and absurd,
may by some side-Ught tend to useful discoveries. To apply
these -materials to all the uses which can possibly be made of
them, will require much labour and consideration, muCh
judgment and sagacity, -and repeated trials by a variety of
examiners, to whose difierent views they may shew themselves
in every possible light. Some critics may be very forward
and hasty in pronouncing their judgments; but it must
be left to time and experience to establish their -real and fuU
value. 
In regard to the character and authority of the several
manuscripts which have been collated and which in the
notes are referred to, we must wait for the information
which Dr. Kennicott wiU give us in his general Dissertation.
The knowledge of Hebrew manuscripts is almost a new
subject in Uterature : Uttle progress has -been made in it hither
to ; and no -wonder, when they were esteemed uniformly
consonant one with anotherj and with the printed text; con
sequently useless, and not worth the trouble of examining.
Dr. Kennicott, and his worthy and very able assistant Mr.
Bruns, who have been more conversant with Hebrew manu
scripts, and have had more experience, ai^d more insight into
the subject, , than any, or than all, of the learned of the
|>resent age, will give us the best information concerning it
that can yet be obtained. It must be left to tbe attentive
observation, and mature experience, of the learned of suc
ceeding times, to perfect a part of knowledge which, Uke others,
must, in its nature, wait the result of diligent inquiry, and be
carried on by gradual improvements.
In referring to Dr. Kennicott's Variations, I have given
the whole number of manuscripts or editions ^hich concur

Ivui PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
in any particular reading: what proportion that number
bears to the whole number of collated copies which contain
the book of Isaiah, may, I hope, soon be seen by comparing
it with the catalogue of copies coUated, which wiU be given
at the end of that book. But that the reader in the mean
time, tUl he can have more fuU information concerning the
value and authority of the several manuscripts, may at least
have some mark to direct his judgment in estimating the
credit due to the manuscripts quoted, I have, from the kind
communication of Dr. Kennicott concerning the dates of the
manuscripts, whether certain or probable, given some gene
ral intimation of their value in this respect : for though an
tiquity is no certain mark of the goodness of a manuscript,
yet it is one circumstance that gives it no smaU weight and
authority, especiaUy in this case; the Hebrew manuscripts
being in general more pure and valuable in proportion to
their antiquity; those of later date having been more stu
diously rendered conformable to the Masoretic standard.*
Among the manuscripts which have been collated, I con
sider those of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, as
ancient, comparatively and in respect of the rest. There
fore in quoting a number of manuscripts, where the varia
tion is of some importance, I have added, l,hat so many of
that number are ancient, that is, are of the centuries above
mentioned. I have ventured to caU this a New Translation, though
much of our vulgar translation is retained in it. As the
style of that translation is not only exceUent in itself, but
has taken possession of our ear, and of our taste, to have
endeavoured to vary from it; with no other design than that
of giving something new instead of it, would have been to
disgust the reader, and to represent the sense of the Pro
phet in a more unfavourable manner ; besides that it is im
possible for a verbal translator to follow an approved verbal
translation, which has gone before him, without frequently
treading in the very footsteps of it. The most obvious, the
properest, and perhaps the only terms which the language
affords, are already occupied ; and without going out of his
way to find worse, he cannot avoid them. Every translator
has taken this liberty with his predecessors : it is no more
• See Kennicott, State of the Printed Heb, Text, Dissert, ii. p. 470.

PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. lix
than the laws of translation admit, nor indeed than the ne
cessity of the case requires. And as to the turn and modi
fication of the sentences, the translator, in this particular
province of translation, is, I think, as much confined to the
author's manner, as to his words : so that too great liberties
taken in varying either the expression or the composition,
in order to give a new air to the whole, will be apt to have
a very bad eflfect. For these reasons, whenever it shaU be
thought proper to set forth the Holy Scriptures foi- the
public use of our church to better advantage, than as they
appear in the present English translation, the expediency of
which grows every day more and more evident, a revision
or correction of that translation may perhaps be more ad
visable, than to attempt an entirely new one : For as to the
style and language, it admits of but little improvement;
but, in respect of tbe sense and the accuracy of interpreta
tion, the improvements of which it is capable are great and
numberless. The translation here oflfered wiU perhaps be found to be
in general as close to the text, and as literal, as our English
version. When it departs at aU from the Hebrew text on
account of some correction, which I suppose to be requisite,
I give notice to the reader of such correction, and oS'er my
reasons for it: if those reasons should sometimes appear
insufficient, and the translation to be merely conjectural, I
desire the reader to consider the exigence of the case, and
to judge, whether it is not better, in a very, obscure and
doubtful passage, to give something probable by way of
supplement to the author's sense, apparently defective, than
either lo leave a blank in the translation, or to give a merely
verbal rendering, which would be altogether unintelUgible.
I believe that every translator whatever of any part of the
Old Testament, has taken sometimes the liberty, or rather
has found himself under the necessity, of offering such ren
derings as, if examined, will be found to be merely conjec
tural. But I desire to be understood as pflfering this apo
logy in behalf only of translations designed for the private
use of the reader ; not as extended, without proper limita
tions, to those that are made for the public service of the
church. The design of the Notes is to give the reasons and autho
rities on which the translation is founded ; to rectify or to
explain the words of the text ; to illustrate the ideas, the

lx FRELIUINAR? DISSERTAIION.
images, and the aUusions of the Prophet, by referring to
objects, notions, and.customsj which pecuUarly belong to his
age and his country; and to point out the beauties of par:--
ticular passages., I sometimes indeed endeavour to open the
design of the prophecy, to shew the connexion between, its-
parts, and to point out the event which it foreteUs. But in
general I must entreat the reader to be satisfied with- my, en
deavours faithfully to express the literal sense, which is all
that I undertake. If he^ would go deeper into the mystical
sense, into theological^ historical, and chronological disquisitions,;
there are: many leEurnedi expositors to whom he may have-
recourse, who have written fuU commentaries on this Prophet ;
to which title the present work has no pretensions.. The
subUme and spiritual uses to: be made of this pecuUarly,
evangelical Prophet,, must,; as I have observed, be all founded
on a faithful representation of the literal sense which his words-
contain. This is what I have endeavoured.closely and exactly,
to express. And within the limits of this humble, but. neces
sary province, my endeavours must be confined. To proceed
fiirther, or even, to execute this in the manner I could wish,
were it withim my abilities, yet would hardly be consistent
with; my present engagements ; ; which oblige me to offer rather
prematurely to the pubUc, what further time,' with more leis
ure, might perhaps enable me to render more worthy of theif.
attention. '

ISAIAH.

CHAP. I.
1 The vision of isaiah the son op amots, which
HE Saw CONCERNING JUDAH AJSjTD JERUSALEM ; IN
THE DAYS OP UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AHAZ, HEZEKIAH,
KINGS OP JUDAH*
2 Hear, 0 ye heavens ; and give ear, O earth !
For it is JEHoyAp; that spea-bfeth.
I have nourished children, and brought them up ;
And even they have revolted from me.
3 The o:?: l?:noweth his possegsqr ;
Anpj tb,e ass the crib qf bis lord ,:
But I^?t€jl k5^)weth not Me ;
Neither doth my people consider.
4 Ah) sinfwl natiqp ! a people! laden with iniquity !
A race of evil doers ! children degenerate !
They haw forsaken Jehovap ;
They have rejected with disdain the Holy One of Israel ;
They are estranged from bim ; they have turned their
back upoPc^H?,-
5 On what part wiU y« smite again, wiU ye add correction?
The whole l^f^dis sick, and the whole heart faint:
6 From the sol^q of th?; .foot , even to the head, there is no
soundness therein ;
It is wound, and bruise, and putrefying sore :
6

2 ISAIAH. CHAP. I.
It hath not been pressed, neither hath it been bound ;
Neither hath it been softened with ointment.
7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire ;
Your land, before your eyes strangers devour it ;
And it is become desolate, as if destroyed by an inun
dation.
8 And the daughter of Sion is left, as a shed in a vineyard ;
As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a city taken by
siege.
9 Had not Jehovah God of Hosts left us a remnant.
We had soon become as Sodom ; we had been like unto
Gomorrah. '
10 Hear ye the word of Jehovah, O ye princes of Sodom !
Give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah !
11 What have I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices ?
saith Jehovah :
I am cloyed with the burnt-ofierings of rams, and the
fat of fed beasts ;
And in the blood of bullocks, and of lambs, and of goats,
I have no delight.
12 When you come to appear before me,
Who hath required this at your hands?
13 Tread my courts no more ; bring no more a vain obla
tion :
Incense ! it is an abomination unto me.
The new moon, and the sabbath, and the assembly pro
claimed,
I cannot endure ; the fast, and the day of restraint.
14 Your months, and yoUr solemnities, my soul hateth :
They are a burthen upon me ; I am weary of bearing
them.
1-5 When ye spread forth your hands, I wiU hide mine eyes
from you ;
Even when ye multiply prayer, I will not hear ;
For your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash ye, make ye clean ; remove ye far away
The evil of your doings from before mine eyes :
17 Cease to do evU ; learn to do weU ;
Seek judgment ; amend that which is corrupted ;
Do justice to the fatheriess ; defend the cause of the
widow.

CHAP. 1. ISAIAH.

18 Come on now, and let us plead together, saith Je
hovah :
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow ;
Though they be red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
19 If ye shall be willing and obedient.
Ye shall feed on the good of the land ;
20 But if ye refuse, and be rebellious.
Ye shaU be food for the sword of the enemy :
For the mouth of Jehovah hath pronounced it.
21 How is the faithful city become a harlot !
She that was fuU of judgment, righteousness dweUed in
her;
But now murtlierers !
22 Thy silver is become dross; thy wine is mixed -with
water.
23 Thy princes are rebellious, associates of robbers ;
Every one of them loveth a gift, and seeketh rewards :
To the fatherless they administer not justice ;
And the cause of the widow cometh not before them.
24 Wherefore saith the Lord Jehovah God of Hosts, the
Mighty One of Israel ;
Aha ! I Avill be eased of mine adversaries ;
I will be, avenged of mine enemies.
25 And I wiU bring again mine hand over thee ;
And I wiU purge in the furnace thy dross ;
And I wiU remove all thine alloy.
26 And I wiU restore thy judges, as at the first ;
And thy counsellors, as at the beginning :
And after this thy name shall be called.
The city of righteousness, the faithful metropolis.
27 Sion shall be redeemed in judgment,
And her captives in righteousness :
28 But destruction shall fiiU at once on the rpvolters and
the sinners ;
And they that forsake Jehovah shall be consumed.
29 For ye shaUbe ashamed of the ilexes, which ye have
desired ;
Aud ye shall blush for the gardens, which ye have
chosen :

4 I&AIAH. CHAP. I.
30 When ye shaU be as an ilex, whose leaves are blasted;
And as ft gardeii, -whei'ein is no water. ;
31 And the strong shaU become to\\', and his work a spark
of fire ;
And they . shaU both burn together, and ti6ne shaU
queaeh fhena, ,

fcHAP. II.
1 The WdilD, "t^iiicii i^&s re;vealE:d t6 iSaiAH, the
SON OP ABlbTS, CdNCERNliJCi JUDAH AWD JEIIUSALEM.
2 It shall come to pass ih the latter days ;
I'he mountain of the house of JeAovah shaU be fetab-
lished on the top of the mountains ;
And it shaU be exalted above the hills :
And all nations shall flow lirito it.
3 And many peoples shall go, and shall say.
Come ye, and let us g6' lip to the hiountaM of Jeho
vah ;
To the hodse of the God of Jacob ;
Ahd he will teach us of his Ways ;
And we will walk in his paths :
For from Sion shdU go forth the law ;
4 And the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. '
And he shall judge amon^ the iiatibns ;
And shall work conviction in many peoples :
And they shall beat their s\Vords into ploughshfires,
And their speaks into pruning-hooks :
Nation shall not Uft tip sword against riation ;
Neither shaU they learii war any ttiorei.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye,
And let us walk in the light of JeAovaIi !
6 Verily thou hast abandoned thy people, the hbiiSe of
Jacob : v
Because they are fiUed with divinei'S^ f\"om the east ;
And with soothsayers like the Philistines ;
And they multiply a spurious brood ol"strange children.
7 And his land is filled with silver and gold ;
And there is no end to his treasures :
And his land is filled with horses ;
Neither is there any end to his chariots.

CHAP. JI. ISAIAH. 5
8 And his land is filled with idols ;
He boweth himself down to the work of his hands ;
To that which his fingers have made^
9 Therefore shall the mean man be bowed down, and the
mighty man shaU be humbled ;
And thou wilt not forgive them.
10 Go into the rock, and hide thyself in the dust ;
From the fear of Jehovah, and from the gloi"y of his
majesty.
When he ariseth to strike the earth with terror.
11 The lofty eyes of men shall be humbled ;
The highth of mortals shall bow down ;
And Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.
12 For the day of Jehovah God of Hosts is against every
thing great and lofty ;
And against every thing that is exalted, and it shall be
humbled.
13 Even against aU the cedais of Lebanon, the high and the
exalted ;
. And against all the oaks of Basan :
14 And against all the mountains, the high ones ;
And against all the hiUs, the exalted ones ;
15 And against every tower, high-raised ;
And against every mound, strongly fortified.
16 And against aU the ships of Tarshish ;
And against every lovely work of art.
17 And the pride of man shall bow down ;
And the highth of mortals shaU be humbled ;
And Jehovah alone shaU be exalted in that day :
18 And the idols shall totaUy disappear;
19 And they shall go into caverns of rocks, and into holes of
the dust ;
From the fear of Jehovah, and from the glory of his
majesty, .
When he ariseth to strike the earth with terror.
20 In that day shall a man cast away his idols of silver,
And his idols of gold, which they have made to worship ;
To the moles and to the bats :
21 To go into caves of the rocks, and into clefts of the craggy
rocks ; 6*

6 ISAIAH. CHAP.
From the fear of Jehovah, and from the glory of his
majesty, ,
When he ariseth to Strike the earth with terror.
22 Trust ye no more ia man, whose breath is in his nos
trils ;
For of what account is he to be made ?
CH.\P. III.
1 For behold the Lord Jehovah God of Hosts
Removeth from Jerusalem, and from Judah,
Every st^y and support ;
The whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water ;
2 The mighty man, and the Warrior ;
The judge, and the prophet, arid the di^^iner, and the
sage:
.3 The ruler of fifty, and the honourable ptersqn ;
And the counsellor, and the skUful artist, and the power
ful in persuasion.
4 And I will make boys their princes ;
And infants shall rule over them.
5 And tbe people shall be oppressed, one man by another :
And every man shaU behave insolently towards his lieigh-'
hour;
The boy towards the old man, and the base towards the
honourable.
6 Therefore shall a man take his brother, df his father's
house, by the garment ;
Saying, Come, and be thou'ruleir over us ;
And let thine hand support our ruiftoUS state.
7 Then shall he openly declare, saying,
I will not be the healer of your breaches ;
For in my house is neither biead, nor raiment :
Appoirit not me ruler of the people.
8 For Jerusalem totfereth, and Judah falleth ;
Because their tongues, and their hands, are agSittSt Je
hovah ;
To provoke by their disobedience the cloud of his glory.
9 The stedfastness of their Countenance witnesseth against
them ;
For their sin, like Sodom; they publish, they hide it
not:
Wo to their souls ! for upon themselves have they brought
down evil.

idHAP. lli. TSAIAH. T
10 Pronounce ye a blessing on the just^: verily 'gb(Jd[shaU
be to him] ;
For the fruit of his deeds shaU he eat.
11 Wo to tbe wicked : -evil [shaUbe his poitibii] ;
For the work of his hands shall be repaid urito him.
12 As for my people, children are their oppl'esSdrs ;
And women bear rule over them,
O my people, thy leaders cause thee to err ;
And pei"vert the way of thy paths.
13 Jeh«3vah ariseth to plead his cause ;
He standeth up to contend with his people.
14 Jehovah will -meet in judgment.
The elders of his people, and their princes : •
As for you, ye have consumed my "viiieyard j
The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
15 What mean ye, that ye crush my people;
And grind the faces of the poor ?
Saith Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts*
16 Moreover Jkhovah hath said i
Because the daughters of Sion ai-e haughty 5
And walk displaying the neck, •
And falsely setting oflf their eyfes with paint ;
Mincing their steps as they go.
And with their feet lightly tripping along :
17 Therefore wiU the Lord bomblethehead of the daughters
of Sion ;
And Jehovah wiU expose their nakedness.
18 In that day will the Lord take froiii them the ornaments
Of the feet-rings, and the net-works, and the crescents ;
19 The pendents, and tbe bracelets, and the thin veils ;
20 The tires, arid the fetters, and the zones, '
And the perfiime-boxes, and the amulets ;
21 The ringsj and the jewels of the nostril ;
22 The embroidered robes, and the tunics ;
And the cloaks, and the little purses ;
23 The transparent garments, and the fine linen -vests ;
And the turbans, a«d the mantles :
84 And there shaU be, instead of perfume, a putrid trkfer ;
And, instead of wall-girt raimentj rags ;
And^ instead of high-dressed hair, baldntes {

8 ISAIAH. CHAP. UU
And, instead of a zone, a girdle of sackcloth :
A sun-burnt skin, instead of beauty.
25 Thy people shall faU by the sword ;
And thy< mighty men in the battle.
26 And her doors shall lament and mourn ;
And desolate shall she sit on the ground.
CHAP. IV.
1 And seven women shall lay hold on one man in that day,
saying :
Our own bread will we eat.
And with our own garments will we be clothed ;
Only let us be called by thy jiame ;
Take away our reproach.
2 In that* day shall the branch of Jehovah
Become glorious and honourable ;
And the produce of the land exceUent and beautiful.
For the escaped of the house of Israel,
3 And it shall come to pass, whosoever is left in Sion,
And remaineth in Jerusalem,
Holy shall he be called ;
Every one that is written among the Uving in Jerusalem.
4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the
daughters of Sion;
And the blood of Jerusalem shall have removed from the
midst of her,
By a spirit of judgment, and by a spirit of burning :
6 Then shall Jehovah create upon the station of Mount
Sion,
And upon all her holy assemblies,
A cloud by day, and smoke ;
And the brightness of a flaming fire by night :
Yea, over aU shall the Glory be a covering.
6 And a tabernacle it shall be, for shade by day from the
heat ;
And for a covert, and a refuge'^ from storm and rain.
CHAP, V,
1, Let me sing now a song to my Beloved ;
A song of loves concerning his vineyard.
My Beloved had a vineyard,
On a high and fruitful hiU :
2 And he fenced it round, and he cleared it from the
stones.

•C"HA-iP, ¥, TSAlATH, 9
And he planted it with the vine of Sorek ;
And he built a tower in the midst of it.
And he hewed out also a lake therein :
And be expected, that it should bring forth grapes.
But it brought forth poisonous berries.
3 And now, O inhabitants bf Jerusaleii), and ye men of Ju
dah,
Jiidge, I pi'iy yiMi, betw«!«ki tae ahd my -vineyard :
4 What could tet'^ebeeft ddfite more to iiiy vineyard,
Than I have dbne urito it?
Why, when I expected that it ^buld bring forth grapes,
Brought it foith poisonous berries ?
& But come now, and I tvill make knotra unto yoti,
What I purpose to do to my vineyard :
To remove its hedge, arid it shaU be devoured ;
To destroy its fence, and it shall be trodden down,
6 And I wiU make it a desblatiori :
And it shall hot be pruned, neither shall it be digged ";
But the briar and the thorn shaU spring up in itj
And I will command the clouJs,
That' they shed no rain upon it.
7 Verily, the vineyard bf Jehovah God bf Hosts is the ¦
house of Israel;
And the men of Judah the plant of his delight :
And he looked for ju4gmerit, but behold tyranny ;
And forrightebuSness, but behold the "cry of the oppressed.
8 Wo unto you, who join house to house ;
Who lay field unto field together ;
Until thei:e be no place, and ye have your d^vefling
Aloae to yourselves, 'ivi the midst of the land.
19 To mine -ear hatk Jehova^ Go!t) of HbSts revealed it :
Surely many houses shall become a desolaiion ;
The great and the fair otifes, without an irthabitant.
10 Yea, ten acres of Vineyard shall yield a single bath, of
wi»e.
And a <3iomcr cS" seed ^all produce an ephah.
11 Wo unto theili, who rise earlyin the mtening, to follow
strong drink ;
Who sit late in the evening, that wine may iniflame them :
i2 And the lyre, and the harp, the tabor, and the pipe^
And wine, are their entertain iHeiits.:

10 ISAIAH. CfiAP, V.
But the works of Jehovah they regard not ;
And the operation of his hands they do not perceive,
13 Therefore my, people goeth into captivity for want of
knowledge ;
And their nobles have died with hunger;
And their plebeians are parched up with thirst,
14 Therefore Hades hath enlarged his appetite ; >
And hath stretched opeti his mouth without measure :
And down go her nobiUty, and her populace ;
And her busy throng, and all that exult in her.
15 And the mean man shaU be bowed down, and the great
man shall be brought low ;
And the eyes of the haughty shall be humbled :
16 And Jehovah Gbd of Hosts shaU be exalted in judgment ;
And God the Holy One shall be sanctified by displaying
his righteousness.
17 Then shall the sheep feed without restraint ;
And the kids shaU depasture the desolate fields of the lux
urious.
18 Wo unto them, who draw out iniquity, as a long ca
ble ;
And sin, as the thick traces of a wain :
19 Who say, let him make speed then, let him hasten
His work, that he may see it ;
And let the counselof the Holy One of Israel
Draw near, and come to pass, that we may know it.
20 Wo unto them who caU evil good, and good evil ;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness ;
Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
21 Wo unto them, who are wise in their own eyes.
And prudent in their own conceit.
22 Wo unto them, who are powerful to drink wine ;
And men of might to mingle strong drink :
23 Who justify the guilty for reward, . -
And take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.
24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire licketh up the stubble.
And as the flame dissolveth the chaflf;
So shall their root become Uke touchwood,
And their blossom shall go up like the dust :
Because they have despised the law of Jehovah God of
Hosts ;
And scornfully rejected the word of the Holy One of
Israel.

CHAP. V, ISAIAH. 11
25 Wherefore the anger of Jehovah is kindled against his
people; ' ¦
And he hath stretched out his hand against them :
And he smote them ; and the mountains trembled ;
And their carcasses became as the dung in the midst of
the streets.
For all this his anger is not turned aWay ;
But StiU is his hand stretched out.
25 And he will erect a standard for the nations afar off ;
And he wiU hist every one of them from the ends of the
earth ;
And behold, with speed swiftly shaU they coine.
27 None among them is faint, and none stumbleth ;
None shall slumber, nor sleep :
Nor shall the girdle of their loins be loosed ;
Nor shall the latchet of their shoes be unbound.
28 Whose arrows are sharpened ;
And all their bows are bent :
The hoofs of their horses shall be coimted as adamant ;
And their wheels as a whirlwind.
29 Their growUng is like the growling of the lioness ;
Like the young lions shaU they' growl :
They shall roar and shall seize the prey ;
And they shall bear it away, and none shall rescue it.
30 In that day, shall they roar against theim, Uke the roar
ing of the sea;
And these shaU look to the heaven upward, and down to
the earth ;
And lo 1 darkness, distress !
And the light is obscured by the gloomy vapour.

CHAP. VI.
1 In the year in which Uzziah the king died, I saw Je
hovah sitting on a throne high and lofty ; and the train
2 of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood seraphim :
each one of them had six wings : with two of thelii he cov-
eretli his face, with two of them he covereth his feet, and
3 two of them he useth in fiying. And they cried alternately,
and said :
Holy, holy, holy, Jehovah God of Hosts !
The whole earth is filled with his glory.

12 IS^IJ^H,. CHAF.n;-.
4 And the pillars of the vpstibule were sha&en with tljf voice
of their ciy ; and the temple was filled with smoke. And
5 I said, Alas for me ! I am struck dumb ; for I am ^ ™an
of poil'iited lips ; awj iri tbe midst of a people of' polluted
Ups do i dyff U : for min« eyps h^ve s^en the King, Je-
6 hovah God of Hosts. And one of the seraphim came
flying unto me ; and m 61^ b^ipd was a burning coal,
which he had taken with the tongs from oflf the altar. And
7 he touche,d my mouth, and said : —
liO ! this hath touched , thy Ups ;
Thine iniquity is removed, and they sin is expiated,
8 And I heard th? voice of Jehova^, saying : Whom shall
I send ; and w^o will go for us? And I said ; Behold,
9 Here am I ; send me. And he said :— r
Go, and say thou to this people :
Hear ye indeed, but understand npt ;
See ye indeed, but perceive not :
Make gross the heart of thif ppople ;
Make their ears dull, aRdcibgq up their eye? ;
Lest they see with tiieir ey^s, and hear with tl>eir ears,
Arid und!ierstfl,nd with their hearts, apd be converted ;
and I sliould lieal them,
11 And I said : How long, 0 JpsovAii ? And be said :—
Until cities be laid waste, so that there be no inhabitant ;
And houses,, sp that there be np man :
And the land be left utterly desolate,
12 UitU Jepovah remove man far away ;
And there be many a deserted woman in the midst of
the land.
13 And though there be a tenth part rpmaining in it,
Everi this shall undeigo a repeated destruction ;
Yet, as the ilex, and the oak, though cut down, hath its
stock remaining,
A holy seed shall be the stock of the nation.

q^AP. VII,
1 la the days of Ahaz, the son of Jptham, the son of
Uzziah king of Judah, Eetgin fcipg of Syria, and Pekah,
the son of Remaliah, king oi Israel, came up against
Jerusalem, to besiege it ; but they could not overcome
2 it. And when it was told to the housq of David, that
Syria was supported by Ephrajm J the heart of the king,

<OHAP. VII. ISAIAH, 13
and the heart of his people, was moved; as the trees of
the forest are moved before the wind.
3, And Jehovah said to Isaiah : Go out now to meet
Ahaz ; thou and Shearjashub thy son ; at the e^id of the
aqueduct of the upper pool, at the causeway of the ful-
4 ler's field. And thou shalt say unto him : —
Tak-ebeed, and be stUl; fear not, neither let thy heart
be faint.
Because of the two tails of these smoking firebrands ;
For the fierce wrath ¦&{ Retsin, and of the son of Re
maliah.
5 Because Syria hath devised -evil against thee ,;
Ephraim, an^ the son of Remaliah, sayir.g :
6 Let us go up against Judah, and harass it ;
And let us rend oflf a part of it foi" ourselves ;
And let us set a king to reign in the midst of it.;
Even the son of Tabeal.
1 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah :
It shallnot stand, neither shall it be.
8 Though the head of Syria be Damascus,
And the head of Damascus, Retsin ; ,
Yet within threescore and five years
Ephraim shaU be broken, tbat he he no more a
people :
9 Though the head of Ephraim be Samaria ;
And the head of Samaria, Remaliah's son.
If ye believe not in me, ye shall not be established.
10 Aud Jehovah spake yet again to Ahaz, saying :
11 Ask thee a sign from Jehovah thy God :
Go deep to the grave, or high to the heaven above.
12 And Ahaz said: IwiUnotask; neither wiU I tempt
13 Jehovah. And he said :
Hear ye now, O house of David :
Is it a smaU thing for you to weary men.
That you should weary my God also ?
14 Therefore Jehovah himself shaU give you a sign ;
Behold, the Virgin conceiveth, ahd beareth a son;
And she shall call his name, Immanuel.
15 Butter and honey shaU he eat,
When he shaU know lo refuse what is evil, and to choose
what is good :
16 For before this child shall know
7

14 " ISAIAH. CHAP. Vir.
To refuse the evil, and to choose the good ;
The land shaU become desolate.
By whose two kings thou ait distressed.
17 But Jehovah shall bring upon thee.
And upon thy people, and upon thy father's house,
Days, such as have not come.
From the day that Ephraim departed from Judah,
18 And it shall come to pass in that day ;
Jehovah shaU hist the fly,
That is in the utmost part of the rivers of Egypt ;
And the bee, that is in the land of Assyria :
19 And they shall come, and they shaU light all of them
On the desolate vallies, and on the craggy rocks,
And on all the thickets, and on all the caverns.
20 In that day, Jehovah shall shave by the hired razor,
By the people beyond the river, by the king of
Assyria,
The head and the hair of the feet j
And even the beard itself shall be destroyed, ¦
21 Ahd it shall come to pass in that day.
That if a man shall feed a j'oung cow, and two sheep ;
22 From the plenty of milk, which they shaU produce, he
shall eat butter :
Even butter and honey shaU he eat.
Whosoever is left in the midst of the land.
23 And every vineyard, that hath a thousand vines.
Valued at a thousand pieces of silver,
ShaU become in that day briers and thorns.
24 With arrows and with the bows shall they come thither j.
For the whole land shaU become briers and thorns.
25 And all the hiUs, which were dressed with the mattock,
Where the fear of briers and thorns never came,
ShaU be for the range of the ox, and for the treading of
sheep.

CHAP. VIlI.
1 And Jehovah said unto me : Take unto thee a large
mirror, and write on it with a workman's graving tool,
2 To hasten the spoil, to take quickly the prey. And
I called untQ me for a testimony faithful witnesses;
Uriah the priest, and' Zachariah the son of Jeberechiah.

CHAP. VIII. ISAIAH. 15
3 And I approached unto the prophetess ; and she con
ceived, and bare a son. And Jehovah said unto rne :
Call his name Maher-shalal hash-baz ;
4 For before the child shaU know
To pronounce. My father and My mother,
The riches of Damascus shall be borne away,
And the spoil of Samaria, before the king of Assyria.
5 Yet again Jehovah spake unto me, saying :
6 Because this people hath rejected
The waters of Siloah, which flow gently ;
And rejoiceth in Retsin, and the son of Remaliah :
7 Therefore behold the Lord bringeth up upon them
The waters of the river, the strong and the mighty ;
s Even the king of Assyria, and all his force.
, And he shall rise above all their channels.
And shall go over all their banks,
8 And he shal pass through Judah, overflowing and
spreading.
Even to the neck shall he reach :
And the extension of his wings Shall be
Over the fuU breadth of thy land, O Immanuel !
9 Know ye this, O ye peoples, and be sta"uck with con
sternation ;
And give ear to it, all ye of distant lands:
Gird yourselves, and be dismayed ; gird yourselves, and
be dismayed.
10 Take counsel tc^ether, and it shall come to nought ;
Speak the word, and it shall not stand :
For God is with us.
11, For thus said Jehovah unto me ;
As taking me by the hand he in^ructed me.
That I should not walk in the way of this people,
saying :
, 12 Say ye not, It is holy.
Of every thing of which this people shall say, It is holy :
And fear ye not the object of their fear, neither be ye ter
rified.
13 Jehovah God of Hosts, sanctify y« him ;
And let him be your fear, and let him be your dread:
14 And he shall be unto you a sanctuary ;
But a stone of stumbUng, and a rock of offence,
To the two houses of Israel j

16 rSAIAH. CHAP. vrif.
A trap and^a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many among them shaU stumble.
And shall fall, and be brokens ; and shaH be ensnared and
caught.
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the command, among my
disciples'.
17 I wiU therefore wait for Jehovah, who hideth hi§i
face
From the house of Jacob ; yet wiU I look for him..
18 Behold, I, and the children.
Whom Jehovah hath given unto me ;,
For- signs and' for wonders it* Israel,
From Jehovah God of Hosts,
Who dwelleth in the mountain of Sion.
19 And when they shall say unto you :
Seek unto the necromancers and the wizards;
To them that speak inwardly, and that mutter r
Should not a people seek unto their God ?
Should they seek, instead of the Mving, unto the dead ?
20 Unto the command, and' unto the testimony, ht theau
seek :
If they will not speak according to this word.
In which there is no obscurity ;
21 Every one of them shall pass through the land distressed
and famished :
And when he shall be famished, and angry with himself,'
He shall curse his kir^ and his God.
22 And he shall cast his eyes upwards, and look down to tbe
earth :
And lo ! distress and darkness !
Gloom, tribulation, and accursulated darkness f
23 But there shaU not hereafter be- darkness- in the land
which was distressed :
In the former time he debased
The land of Zebulon, and the land' of Naphthali;
But in the latter time he hath made- it glorious :
Even the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the-
nations.,
chap. IX.
1 The people, that walked in darkness-.
Have seen a great light ;
They that dwelled in the. land of the shadow of deatE,,
Unto them hath the light shined.

CHAP. IX, ISAIAH. 17
•2 Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased their
joy;
They rejoice before thee, as with the joy of harvest ;
As they rejoice, who divide the spoil.
3 For the yoke of his burthen, the staff laid on his shoul
der, -
The rod of his oppressor, ha^ thou bi*ken, as in the day
of Midian.
4 For the greaves of the armed wai"rior in the eonfiict.
And the garment rolled in much blood,
Shall be for a burning, even fuel for the fire.
5 For unto us a Child is born ; unto us a Son is given ;
And the government shall be upon his shoulder :
And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
The mighty God, the Father of the everlasting age, the
Prince of peace.
6 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be
no end;
Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom ;
To fix it, and to 'establish it
With judgment and with justice, henceforth and for
ever :
The zeal of Jehovah God of Hosts wiU do this.

7 Jehovah hath sent a word against Jacob ;
And it, hath lighted upon Israel.
8 Because the people aU of them carry themselves haugh
tily^
Ephraim,- and the inhabitant of Samaria ;
In pride and arrogance of heart, saying :
9 The bricks are fallen, but we wiU build with hewn stone ;
The sycamores are cutdowo, but we wiU replace them with
cedars :
10 Therefore will JehovaS excite the princes of Retsin against
him;
And raise up his enemies together :
11 The Syrians from the ea^, and the Philistines from the
west ;
And they shall devour Israel on every side.
For all this his anger is not turned away ;
But his hand is still stretched out.
7*

18 IS-AIAH. CHAF. IX'.-
12 Yet this people have not turned unto him that smote
them ;
And Jehovah God of Hosts they have not sought.
13 Therefore shall Jehovah cut off from Israel the head and
the tail ;
The branch and' the rush, in one day :
1-4 The aged, and the honpurable person, he is the head;
And the prophet tbat teacheth falsehood, he is the tail.
1 5 For the leaders of this people lead them astray ;
And they that are led by tben^ shall be devoured,
16 Wherefore Jehovah shaU not rejoice aver their young"
men ;
And on their orphans, and their widows, he shaU have no'
compassion.
For every one of them is a hypocr'rte and evU-doer ;
And every mouth speaketh folly.
For all this his anger is not turned away ;,
But his hand is stiU stretched out.
17 For wickedness burneth like a fire j
The brier and the bramble it shall consume :"
And it shall kindle the thicket of the wood ;
And they shall mount up in volumes of rising smoke.
18 Through the wrath of Jehovah God of Hosts is the Ian J
' darkened ;
And the people shaU be as fuel for the fire :
A man shall not spare his brother.
19 But he shall snatch on the right, and yet be hungry ;'
And he shall devour on the left, and not be satisfied :
Every man shall devour the fiesh of his neighbour.
20 Manasseh shall devour Epihraim, and Ephraim ManaS'
seh;
And both of them shall be united against Judah.
For all this his anger is not turned away ;
Bat his liand is still stretched out.

chap. X.
1 Wo unto them, that decree unrighteous decrees ;;
Unto the scribes, that prescribe oppression :
2 To turn aside the needy from judgment ;
To rob of their right the poor of ray people i

CHAP. X. ISAIAH. 19
That the widows may become their prey ;
And that they may plunder the orphans.
3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation 1
And in the desolation, which shall come from afar ?
To whom wiU ye flee for succour ?
And where will ye deposit your wealth ?
4 Without me, they shall bow down under the bounden,
And under the slain shall they fall.
For aU this his anger is not turned away ;
But his hand is still stretched out.
5 Ho ! to the Assyrian, the rod of mine anger.
The staff in whose hand is the instrument of mine indig
nation !
6 Against a dissembling nation will I send him ;
And against a people the object of my wrath will I give
him a charge :
To gather the spoil, and to bear away the prey ;
And to trample tbem under foot like the mire of the
streets.
7 But he doth not so purpose ;
And his heart doth not so intend :
But to destroy is in his heart ;
And to cut off nations not a few,
8 For he saith. Are not my princes altogether kings ?
9 Is not Calno as Carchemish ?
Is not Hamath as Arphad ?
Is not Samaria as Damascus 1
10 As my hand hath seized the kingdoms of the idols.
Whose graven images were superior to those of Samaria and
Jerusalem ;
11 As I have done unto Samaria and her idols.
Shall I not likewise do unto Jerusalem, and her images ?
12 But it shall be, when Jehovah hath accomplished his
whole work
Upon Mount Sion, and upon Jerusalem ;
I will punish the effect of the proud heart of the king of
Assyria ;
And the triumphant look of his haughty eyes. '
13 For he hath said. By the strength of my hand have I done
it;
And by my wisdom ; for I am endowed with prudence.

20 ISAIAH. CHAP, X..
I have removed the bounds of the peoples ;
And I have plundered their hoarded treasures ;
And I have brought down those, that were strongly
14 And my hand hath found, as a nest, the riches of the
peoples ;
And as one gathereth eggs deserted.
So have I made a general gathering of the earth :
And there was no one, that moved the wing ;
That opened thie beak, or that chirped.
15 Shall the axe boast itself against him, that heweth
therewith ?
ShaU the saw magnify itself against him, that moveth it ? ~
As if the rod should wield him, that lifteth it ;
As if the staff should lift up its master.
16 Wherefore Jehovah the Lord of Hosts shaU send
Upon his fat ones leanness ;
And under his glory shaU he kindle
A burning as of a conflagration.
17 And the light of Israel shaU become a fire.
And his Holy One a flame ;
And he shaU burn, and consume his thorn
And his brier in one day.
18 Even the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field,
From the soul even to the flesh, shall he consume ;
And it shall be, as when one fleeth out of the fire,
19 And the remainder of the trees of his forest shaU be a small
number.
So that a child may write them down.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day,
No more shall the remnant of Israel,
And the escaped cf the houpe of Jacob,
Lean upon bim, that smote them :
But shall lean upon Jehovah,
The Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 A remnant shall return, a remnant of Jacob)
Unto God the Mighty.
22 For though thy people, 0 Israel, shaU be as the sahd of the
sea,
A remnant of them only shaU return.
The consummation decided, overfloweth with strict jus
tice;

chap, X. ISAIAH. 21
23 For a full and decisive decree
Shall Jehovah the Lord of Hosts accomplish in the midst
of the land.
24 Wherefore thus saith Jehovah the Lord of Hosts :
Fear not, O my people, that dweUest in Sion, because of
the Assyrian :
With his staff indeeil shaU he smite thee.
And his rod shall he lift up against thee, in the way of
Egypt.
25 But yet a very little time, ahd mine indignation shaU
cease ;
And mine anger in their destruction :
26 And Jehovah God of Hosts shaU raise up against him a
scourge.
Like the stroke upon Midian at the rock of Oreb,
And like tbe rod which he lifted up over the sea ;
Yea he will lift it up, after the manner of Egypt.
27 And it shall come to pass in that day,
His burthen shall be removed from off thy shoulder,
And his yoke from off thy neck :
Yea the yoke shaU perish from ,off your shoulders.
28 He is come to Aiath ; he hath passed to Migron ;
At Michmas he will deposit his baggage.
29 They have passed the strait ; Geba is their lodging for
the night :
Ramah is frightened ; Gibeah of Saul fleeth.
30 Cry aloud with thy voice, O daughter of Gallim ;
Hearken unto her, O Laish ; answer her, O Anathoth.
31 Madmena is gone away ; the inhabitants of Gebim flee
amain.
32 Yet this day shall he abide in Nob :
He shall shake his hand against the mount of the daugh
ter of Sion ;
Against the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts,
Shall lop the flourishing branch with a dreadful crash ;
And the high of stature shall be cut down,
And the lofty shaUbe brought low :
34 And he shall hew the thickets of the forest with iron,
And Lebanon shaU fall by a mighty hand.

22 ISAIAH. CHAP. XI,

chap. XI.
1 But there shaU spring forth a rod from the trunk of
Jesse ;
And a scion from his roots shall become fruitful,
2 And the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him ;
The spirit of wisdom, and understanding ;
The spirit of counsel, and strength ;
The spirit of the knov;ledge, and the fear of Jehovah.
3 And he shall be of quick' discernment in the fear of Jeho
vah :
So that not according to the sight of his eyes shaU he
jhdge ; ,
Nor according to the hearing of his ears shaU he re
prove,
4 But with righteousness shaU he judge the poor.
And with equity shaU he work conviction in the meek of
the earth.
And he shall smite the earth with a blast of his mouth,
And with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked
one.
5, And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins ;
And faithfulness the cincture of his reins.
6 Then shall the wolf take up his abode with the lamb ;
And the leopard shall lie down with the kid :
And the calf, and the young lion, and the fatUng shaU
come together ;
, And a little child shaU lead them.
7 And the heifer and the she-bear shaU feed together ;
Together.shaU their young ones lie down ;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And the suckling shall play upon the hole of the aspic ;
And upon the den of the basilisk shaU the new-weaned
child lay his hand.
9 They shall not hurt, nor destroy, in aU my holy moun
tain ;
For the earth shaU be full of the knowledge of Jehovah,
As the waters that cover the depths of the sea.
10 And it shall come to pass in that day,
The root of Jesse, which standeth for an ensign to the
peoples.
Unto him shaU the nations repair,
And his resting-place shall be glorious.

chap. XI, ISAIAH, 23
11 And it shall come to pass in that day,
Jehovah shall again the second time put forth his hand,
To recover the remnant of his people
That remaineth, from Assyria, and from Egypt ;
And from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam ;
And from Shine'ar, and from Hamath, and from the
western regions.
12 And he shall lift up a signal to the nations-;
Aud he shall gather the outcasts of Israel,
And the dispersed of Judah shall he collect,
From the four extremities of the earth.
13 And the jealousy of Ephraim shall cease ;
And the enmity of Judah shall be no more :
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah ;
And Judah shall not be at enmity with Ephraim.
14 But they shaU invade the borders of the Philistines west
ward ;
Together shall they spoil the children of the east :
On Edom and Moab they shaU lay their hand ;
And the sons of Ammon shaU obey them.
15 And Jehovah shall smite with a drought the tongue of
the Egyptian sea ;
And he shall shake his hand over the river with his vehe
ment wind ;
And he shall strike it into seven streams,
And make them pass over it dry-shod.
16 And there shall be a high-way for the . remnant of his
people.
Which shall remain from Assyria :
As it was unto Israel,
In the day when he came up from the land of Egypt.
chap. XII.
1 And in that day thou shalt say :
I wiU give thanks unto thee, 0 Jehovah ; for though
thou hast been angry with me, -
Thine anger is turned away, and thou hast comforted me,
2 Behold, God is my salvation ;
I wiU trust, and will not be afraid ;
For my strength, and my song, is Jehovah ;
And he is become unto me salvation.
3 And when ye shall draw waters with joy from the foun-
4 tains of salvation ; in that day ye shall say :
Give ye thanks to Jehovah ; call upon his name ;

24 ISAIAH, chap, XII,
Make knoAvn among the peoples his mighty deeds :
Record ye, how highly his name is exalted,
5 Sing ye Jehovah ; for he hath wrought' a stupendous
work :
This is made manifest' in all the earth.
6 Cry aloud, and shout for joy, O inhabitress of Sion ;
For great in the , midst of thee is the Holy One of
Israel,

chap. xiii.
1 The oracle concerning baeylon, which was
revealed to isaiah, the son of amots.
2 Upon a lofty mountain erect the standard ;
Exalt the voice ; beckon with the hand ;
That they may enter the gates of princes.
3 I have given a charge to mine enrolled wairiors ;
I have even cajled my strong ones to execute my wrath ;
Those that exult in my greatness.
4 A sound of a multitude in the m,oun tains, as of a great
people ;
A sound of the tumult of kingdoms, of nations g£!.thered
together I
Jehovah, God of Hosts, mustereth the host for the
battle.
5 They come from a distant land, from the end of the
' heavens ;
Jehovah, and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the
whole land..
6 Howl ye, for the day of Jehovah is at hand:
As pi destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
7 Therefore shall all hands be slackened ;
And every heart of mortal shaU melt ; and they shaU be
terrifled :
8 Torments and pangs shall seize them ;
As a Woman in travaU, they shaU be pained :
They shall look one upon another with astonishment ;
Their countenances shaU be like flames of fire.
9 Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, inexorable ;
Even indignation, and burning wrath :
To make the land a desolation ;
And her sinners heshaU destroy from out of .her.

chap. xiii. isaiah. 25
10 Yea the Stars of heaven, and the consteUations thereof,
ShaU not send forth their light :
The sun is darkened at his going ferth,
And the moon shall not cause her light to shine,
11 And I will visit the world for its evil.
And the wicked for their iniquity :
And I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud ;
And I wiU bring down the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I wiU make a mortal more precious than fine gold ;
Yea a man, than the rich ore of Ophir.
13 Wherefore I wiU make the heavens tremble ;
Arid the earth shall be shaken out of her place : ,
In the indignation of Jehovah God of Hosts ;
And in the day of his burning anger.
14 And the remnant shall be as a roe chased ;
And as sheep, when there is none to gather them to
gether ;
They shall look, every one towards his own people ;
And they shall flee every one to his own land.
15 Every one, that is overtaken, shall be thrust through ;
And all that are collected in a bod)'- shall fall by the
swoird.
16 And their infants shaU be dashed before their eyes ;
Their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, I raise up against them the Medes ;
Who shall hold silver of no account ;
And as for gold, they shall not deUght in it,
18 Their bows shall dash the young men ;
And on the fruit of the womb they shall have no mercy ;
Their eye shall have no pity even on the children.
19 And Babylon shall become, she that was the beauty of
kingdoms.
The glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,
As the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah by the hand of
God. .
20 It shall not be inhabited for ever ;
Nor sliaU it be dwelt in from generation to generation :
Neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there ;
Neither shall the shepherds make their folds there.
21 But there shall the wild beasts of the deserts lodge ;
And howling monsters shall fiU their houses :
And there shall the daughters of the ostrich dweU ;
And there shall the satyrs hold their revels,
8

26 ISAIAH. chap, xiii,
22 And wolves shall howl to one another in their palaces ;
And dragons in their voluptuous pavilions.
And her time is near come ;
And her days shaU not be prolonged,
CHAP, xiv.
1 Fob Jehovah wiU have compassion on' Jacob,
And will yet choose Israel.
And he shaU give them rest upon their own land :
And the stranger shaU be joined unto them.
And shall cleave unto the house of Jacob.
2 And the nations shaU take them, and bring them into their
own place ;
And the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of
Jehovah,
As servants and as handmaids :
And they shall take them captive, whose captives they
, were ;
And they shall rule over their oppressors.
3 And it shall cornS to pass in that day, that Jehovah
shall give thee rest from thine affliction, and from thy
disquiet, and from the hard servitude which was laid
4 upon thee; and thou shalt pronounce this parable upon
the king of Babylon ; and shalt sky :
How hath the oppressor ceased ! the exactress of gold
ceased !
5 Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre
of the rulers.
6 He that smote the peoples in wrath, with a stroke unre
mitted ;
He that ruled 'the nations iri anger, is persecuted, and none
hindereth.
7 The whole earth is at rest, is quiet ; they burst forth into
a joyful shout : <
8 Even the fir-trees rejoice over thee, the cedars of Li-
banus :
Since thou art fallen, no feller hath come up against us.
9 Hades from beneath is moved because of thee, to meet
thee at thy coming :
He rouseth for thee the mighty dead, aU the great chiefs of
the earth ;
He maketh to rise up from their thrones, all the kings of
the nations.

CHAP. XIV. ISAIAH. 27
10 All of them shall accost thee, and shaU say unto thee :
Art thou, even thou too, become weak as we .' art thou
made Uke unto us?
11 Is then thy pride brought down to the grave ; (he soun-J of
thy sprightly instruments ?
Is the vermin become thy couch, and the earth-worm thy
covering 1
12 How art thou faUen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning !
Art cut down to the earth, thou that didst subdue the na
tions !
13 Yet thou didst say hi thy heart : I wiU ascend the hea
vens ;
Above the Stars of God I will exalt my throne ;
And I will sit upon the mount of the divine presence on
the sides of the north :
14 I will ascend above the highthsof the clouds; I wiUbelike
the Most High.
15 But thou shalt be brought down to the grave, to the- sides
of the pit.
16 Those that see thee shall look attentively at thee ; they
shall well consider thee : ¦
Is, this the man, that made the earth to tremble; that
shook the kingdoms ?
17 That made the world like a desert ; that destroyed the
cities ?
That never dismissed his captives to their own home ?
18 All the kings of the nations, all of them.
Lie down in glory, each in his own sepulchre :
19 But thou art cast out of the grave, as the tree abomi
nated ;
Clothed with the slain, with the pierced by the sword.
With them that go down to the stones of the pit ; as a
trodden carcass.
20 Thou shalt not be joined unto them in burial ;
Because thou hast destroyed thy country, thou hast slain
thy people :
The seed of evil doers shall never be renowned.
21 Prepare ye slaughter for his children, for the iniquity of
their fathers ;
Lest they rise, and possess the earth : and fiU the face of
the world with cities.

28 ISAIAH. 6HAP. XIV.
22 For I will arise against them, saith Jehovah God of
' Hosts :
Andi wiU cutoff from Babylon the name, and the rem
nant ;
And the son, and the son's son, saith Jehovah.
23 And I will make it an inheritance for the porcupine,^ and
pools of water ;
And I wUl plunge it in the miry gulf of destruction, saith
Jehovah God of Hosts.
24 Jehovah God of Hosts- hath sworn, saying :
Surely as I have devised, so shall it be ;
And as I have purposed, that thing shall stand :
25 To crush the Assyrian in my land, and to trample him on
my mountains.
Then shall his yoke depart from off them •,
And his burthen shaH be removed from off their shouHer,
26 This is the decree, whieh is determined on the whole
earth ;
And this the hand, which is stretched out over aU the na
tions :
27 For Jb hovah God of Hosts hath decreed ; and who shaU
disannul it ?
And it is his hand that is stretched out ; and who shall
turn it back?

28 In the tear in which ahaz the king died, this;
oracle was delivered.
29 Rejoice not, O Philistia, with one consent,
Because the rod that smote thee is broken :
For from the root of the serpent shaU come forth a basi
lisk ;
And his fruit shall be a fiying fiery serpent,
30 For the poor shall feed on my choice first-fruits ;
And the needy shaU Ue down in security :
But he will kUl thy root with drought :
And thy remnant he wUl slay.
31 Howl, 0 gate ; cry out, 0 city !
0 Philistia, thou art altogether sunk in consternation I
For from the north cometh a smoke ;
And there shall not be a straggler among his levies.

CHAP, XIV, ISAIAH, 29
23 And what answer shall be given f o the ambassadors of the
nations }
That Jehovah hath laid the foundatioh of Sion ;
And the poor of his people shall take refuge in her.

CHAP. XV.
1 The oracle concerning moab.
Because in the night Ar is destroyed, Moab is un
done !
Because in the night Kiris destroyed; Moab is undone !
2 He goeth up to Beth-Dibbn, to the high places to weep :
Over Nebo, and over Medeba, shall Moab howl :
On every head there is baldness ; every beard is shorn.
3 In her streets they gird themselves with sackcloth :
On her house-tops, and to her open places.
Every one howletb, descendeth with Weeping.
4 And Heshbon aud Eleale cry out aloud ;
Unto Jahats is their voice heard :
Yea the very loins of Moab cry out ;
Her life is grievous urito her.
5 The heart of Moab crieth within her ;
To Tsoar [she crieth out] like the lowing of a young
heifer !
Yea theascentof Luhith with weeping shall they ascend ; ,
Yea in the way of Horonaim they raise a cry of destruc
tion.
9 For the waters bf Nimrim shall become desolate :
For the pasture is withered, the tender plant faileth, the
green herb is no more.
7 WheMore the riches', ' which they have gained, shall
perish ;
And what . they have deposited, to the valley bf willows
shaU be carried away.
8 For the cry encompasseth the border of M:oab :
To Eglaim reacheth her moan ; and to Beer-Elim her
. howUng.
9 Yea the waters of Dimon are full of blood :
Yet.wiU I. bring -more evils upon Dimon,;
Upon the escaped of Moab and Ariel, and the remnant of
Admah. 8*

30 ISAIAH, CHiP, tVt.
CHAP. XVI.
1 I will send forth the son of the ruler of the land,
From Selah of the desert to the mount of the daughter of
Sion.
2 And as wandering birds, driven from the nest.
So shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of Ar
non.
3 Impai"f counsel ; interpose with equity ;
Make thy shadows as the night in tbe midst of noon-day.
Hide the outcasts ; discover not the fugitivft
4 Let the outcasts of Moab sojourn with thee, [0 Swn] ;
Be thou to them a covert from the destroyer.
For the oppressor is no more, the destroyer ceaseth ;
He that trampled you under foot is perished from the
land.
5 And the throne shall be estabUshed in mercy.
And in truth shall One sit thereon j
In the tabernacle of David a judge ;
CarefuUy searching out the right, and dispatching justice,
6 We have heard the pride of Moab ; he is very proud ;
His haughtiness, and his pride, and his anger : vain are
his lies.
7 Therefore shaU Moab lament aloud ;
For the whole people of Moab shall he lament ',
For the men of Kirhares shall ye make a moan,
8 For the fields of Heshbon are put to shame ;
The vine of Sibmah languisheth,
Whose generous shoots overpowered the mighty lords of
the nations ;
They reached unto Jazer ; they strayed to the desert j
Her branches extended themselves, they passed over the
sea.
9 Wherefore I will weep, as with the weeping, of Jazer, for
the vine of Sibmah ;
I wiU water thee vrith my tears, O HeshboQ and Elea
leh!
For upon thy summer fruits, and upon thy "vintage, the
destroyer hath faUen.
10 And joy and gladness is taken away from the fruitful
field ;
And in the vineyards they shaU not sing, they shaU nolt
shout :
In the vats the treader shall not tread out the wine ^
Au end is put to the shouting.

CHAP. XVI. ISAIAH. 31
11 Wherefore my bowels for Moab Uke a harp shaU sound ;
And my entrails for Kirhares.
12 And it shall be, when Moab shall see.
That he hath wearied himself out on the high place.
That he shaU enter his sanctuary.
To intercede : but he shaU not prevail.
13 This is the word, which Jehovah spake concerning
14 Moab long ago ; but now Jehovah hath spoken, say
ing:After three years, as the years of an hireling,
The glory of Moab shall be debased, in all his "great
multitude ;
And the remnant shall be few, smaU, and without
strength.

chap. xvii.
1 The oracle concerning Damascus,
Behold Damascus is removed, so as to be no more a
city:
It shall even become a ruinous heap.
2 The cities are deserted for ever ;
They shall be given up to the flocks,
And they shall lie down, and none shaU scare them
away.
3 And the fortress shaU cease from Ephraim,
And the kingdom from Damascus :
And the pride of Syria shaU be as the glory of the sons of
Israel ;
Saith Jehovah. the God of Hosts.
4 And it shaU come to pass in that day,
The glory of Jacob shall be diminished.
And the fatness of his flesh shall become lean.
5 And it shaU be, as when one gathereth the standing
harvest, ,
And his arm reapeth the ears of corn :
Or as when one gleaneth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
6 A gleaning shaU be left in it, as in the shaking of the
olive tree ;
Two or three berries on the top of the uppermost bough ;
Four or five on the straggUng fruitful branches :
Saith Jehovah the God of Israel.

32 ISAIAH. CHAP, XVI1<
7 In that day shaUa man regard his Maker,
And toward the Holy One of Israel shall his eyes look :
8 And he shall not regard the altars dedicated to the work
of his hands ;
And what his fingers have made, he shall not respect ;
Nor the groves, nor the solar statues.
9 In that day shall his strongly fenced cities become
Like the desertion of the Hivites and the Amorites,
When they deserted the land before the face of the
sons of Israel ;
And the land shall become a desolation,
10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation,
And hast not remembered the rock of thy strength ;
Therefore, when thou shalt have planted pleasant plants,
And shalt have set shoots from a foreign soil ;
11 In the day when thou shalt have made thy plants to
grow.
And in the morning, when thou shalt have made thy shoots
to spring forth ;
Even in the day of possession shall the harvest be taken
away,
And there shall be sorrow without hope.
12 Wo to the multitude of the numerous peoples.
Who make a sound like the sound of the seas :
And to the roaring of the nations,
Who make a roaring like the roaring of mighty waters.
13 Like the roaring of mighty waters do the nations roar ;
But he shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far away ;
And they shall be driven like the ' chaff of the hills before
the wind.
And like the gossamer before the whirlwind,
14 At the season of evening, behold terror !
Before the morning, and he is no more !
This is the portion of those tbat spoil ua ;-
And the lot of those that plunder us.

CHAP. XVIII.
1 Ho ! to the land of the winged cymbal,
Which borders oh the rivers of Cush ;
2 Which sendeth ambassadors on the sea,
And in vessels of papyrus on the face of the waters.

chap, xviii. isaiah. 33
Go, ye swift messengers,
To a nation stretched out in length, and smoothed ;
To a people terrible from the first, and hitherto ;
A nation meted out by line, and trodden down ;
Whose land the rivers have nourished.
3 Yea,«all ye that inhabit the world, and that dwell on the
earth.
When the standard is lifted up on the mountains, be
hold !
And when the trumpet is sounded, hear 1
4 For thus bath Jehovah said unto me :
I wiU sit still, and regard my fixed habitation ;
Like the clear heat after rain,
Like the dewy cloud in the day of harvest.
5 Surely before the vintage, when the bud is perfect,
And the blossom is become a swelling grape ;
He shall cut off the shoots with pruning-hooks,
And the branches he shall take away, he shall cut down.
6 They shall be left together to the rapacious bird of the
mountains ;
And to the wild beasts of the earth :
And the rapacious bird shall summer upon it ;
And every wild beast of the earth shall winter upon it.
7 At that time shaU a gift be brought to Jehovah the God
of Hosts,
From a people stretched out in length, and smoothed ;
A nation meted out by line, and trodden down ;
And from a people terrible from the first, and hitherto ;
Whose land the rivers have nourished ;
To the place of the name of Jehovah God of Hosts, to
Mount Sion.

chap, xix.
1 The oracle concerning egypt.
Behold, Jehovah rideth
On a swift cloud, and cometh to Egypt !
And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence ;
And the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of her,
2 And I wiU, excite Egyptians against Egyptians,
And they shall fight, every man against his brother, and
every man against his neighbour :

34 isaiah, chap. xix.
City against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shaU fail in the midst of her ;
And I will swallow up her counsel :
And they shaU seek to the idols, and to the sorcerers.
And to the necromancers, and to the wizards.
4 And I wUl give up Egypt bound into the hands bf cruel
lords.
And a fierce king shaU rule over them ;
Saith the Lord Jehovah God of Hosts,
5 Then shall the waters fail from the sea.
And the river shall be wasted and dried up,
6 And the streams shall become putrid ;
The canals of Egypt shall be emptied and dried up. ,
The reed and the lotus shall wither :
7 The meadow by the canal, even at the mouth of the
canal.
And all that is sown by the canal,
ShaU wither, be blasted, and be no more.
8 And the fishers shalltaiourn, and lament ;
All those that, cast the hook in the river,
And those that spread nets on the face of the waters,
shall languish,
9 And they that work the fine flax shaU be confounded.
And they that weave net-work.
10 And her stores shall be broken up ,
Even of all that make a gain bf pools for fish,
11 Surely, the princes of Zoan are fobls ;
The wise counseUors of Pharaoh have counselled a bru
tish counsel.
How will ye boast unto Pharaoh :
I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
12 Where are they ; where, thy wise men ? let them come ;
And let them teU thee now, and let them declare.
What Jehovah God of Hosts hath determined against
Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of
Noph are deceived ;
- They have caused Egypt to err, even the chief piUars of
her tribes;
14 Jehovah hath mingled in the midst of them a spirit of
giddiness; "
And they have caused Egypt to err in aU her works,
As a drunkard staggereth in his vomit :

chap, xix, isaiah. 35
15 Nor shall there be any work in Egypt,
Which the head or tail, the branch or rush, may per
form.
16 In that day the Egyptians shall be as women :
And they shall tremble and fear.
At the shaking of the hand of Jehovah "God of Hosts,
Which he shall shake over them.
17 And the land of Judah shall become a terror .to the
Egyptians ;
If ariy one mention it unto them, they shall fear ;
Because of the counsel of Jehovah .God of Hosts,
Which he hath counseUed against them.
18 In that day, there shall be five cities in the land of
Egypt,
Speaking the language of Canaan,
And swearing unto Jehovah God of Hosts :
One of them shall be called the City of the Sun.
19 In that day, there shall be an aUar to Jehovah
In the midst of the land of Egypt ;
And a pillar by the border thereof to Jehovah :
20 And it shaU be for a sign, and for a witness,
To Jehovah God of Hosts in the land of Egypt :
That, when they cried unto Jehovah because of oppres
sors,
He sent unto them a saviour, and a vindicator, and he
deUvered them.
21 And Jehovah shall be known to Egypt,
And the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day ;
And they shall serve him with sacrifice and oblation.
And they shall vow a vow unto Jjehovah, and shall per
form it.
22 And Jehovah shaU smite Egypt, smiting and heaUng
her ;
And they shall turn unto Jehovah, and he will be en
treated by them, and will heal them.
23 In that day, there shaU be a high-way from Egypt to
Assyria ;
And the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the
Egyptian into Assyria : ^,
And the Egyptian shaU worship with the Assyrian,
24 In that day, Israel shall be reckoned a third.
Together with Egypt and Assyria ;
A blessing in the midst of the earth :

36 ISAIAH, CHAP. Xix.
25 Whom Jehovah God of Hosts hath blessed, saying :
Blessed be my people, Egypt ;
And Assyria, the work of my hands ;
And Israel, mine inheritance.

CHAP, XX.
1 In the year that Tharthan marched to Ashdod;
whither he was sent by Sargon king of Assyria ; (and he
fought against Ashdod, and took it) ; at that time Je-
2 HOVAH spake by Isaiah, the son of Amots, saying :
Go, loose the sackcloth from off thy loins ;
And put off thy shoes from thy feet.
3 And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And Je
hovah said :
As my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and bare
foot ;
A sign and a prodigy of three years,
Upon Egypt and upon Cush :
4 So shall the king of Assyria lead
The captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Cush,
The young and the old, naked and barefoot ;
With their hind-parts discovered, to the shame of the
Egyptians.
5 And they [of Ashdod] shall be terrified, and ashamed
of Cush in whom they trusted,
And of Egypt, in whorii they gloried.
6 And the inhabitant of this country shall say, in that
day:
Bfehold, such is the object of our trust,
To whom we fled for succour.
That we might be delivered from the king of Ass3'ria !
How then shaU we escape ?

CHAP. XXI.
1 The oracle concerning the desert of the sea.
<r
Like the southern tempests violently rushing along,
From the desert he cometh, from the terrible country.
2 A dreadful vision ! it is revealed unto me :
The plunderer is plundered^ and the destroyei is de
stroyed !

chap. xxi. isaiah. 37
Go up, 0 Elam ; from the siege, O Media !
I have put an end to all her vexations.
3 Therefore are my loins fitted with pain :
Anguish hath seized me, as the anguish of a woman in
travail.
I am convulsed, so that I cannot hear ; I am astonished,
so that I cannot see.
4 My heart is bewildered ; terrors have.scared me :
The evening, for which I longed, hath he turned into
horror.
5 The table is prepared, the watch is set ; they eat, they
drink :
Rise, 0 ye princes ; anoint the shield.
6 For thus, hath the Lord said unto me :
Go, set a watchman on his station ;
Whatever he shall see, let him report unto tliee.
7 And he saw a chariot with two riders ;
A rider on an ass, a rider on a camel.
And he observed diligently with extreme diligence.
8 And he that looked out on the watch cried aloud :
O my Lord, I keep my station all the day long ;
And on my ward have I continued every night.
9 And behold, here cometh a man, one of the two riders :
And he answereth, and sayeth, Babylon is faUen, is
fallen ;
And aU the graven idols of her gods are broken to the
ground.
10 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor !
What 1 have heard from Jehovah God of Hosts, the
God of Israel,
That I have declared unto you.

11 The oracle concerning dumaii.
A voice crieth unto me from Seir :
Watchman, what from the night?
Watchman, what from the night ?
12 The watchman replieth :
The morning cometh, and also the night.
If ye will inquire, inquire ye ; come again,
9

28 ISAIAH. CHAP. XXI.

13 The oracle concerning Arabia.
In the forest, at even, shall ye lodge,
O ye caravans of Dedan !
14 To meet the thirsty bring ye forth water,
O inhabitants of the southern country ;
With bread prevent the fugitive.
15 For from the face of the sword they shall flee :
From the face of the drawn s-word ;
And from the face of the bended bow ;
And from the face of the grievous war.
16 For thus hath the Lord said unto me :
Within yet a year, as the years of an hireling,
ShaU aU the glory of Kedar be consumed ;
,17 And the remainder of the number of the mighty bow--
men.
Of the sons of Kedar, shaU be diminished :
For Jehovah the God of Israel hath spoken it.

CHAP. XXIL
1 The ORACLE CONCERNING THE VALLEY OF VISION.
What aileth thee now, that all thine inhabitants are
gone up to the house-tops?
2 O thou, that wast full of noise,
A tumultuous city, a joyous city !
Thy slain were not slain by tbe sword.
Neither did they die in battle.
3 AU thy leaders are gone off together ; they are fled from
the bow ; ^
All that were found in thee are fled together, they are
gone far away.
4 Wherefore I said : Turn away from me ; I wUl weep
bitterly :
Strive not to comfort me for the desolation of the daugh
ter of my people.
5 For it is a day-of trouble, and of treading down, and of
perplexity ;
The day of the Lord Jehovah God of Hosts in tha
vaUey of vision :

CHAP. XXII. ISAIAH. 39
Breaking down the wall, and crying to the mountain.
6 And Elam beareth the quiver ;
With chariots cometh the Syrian, and with horsemen ;
And Kir uncovereth the shield.
7 And thy choicest valleys shall be filled with chariots ;
And the horsemen shall set themselves in array against
the gate ;
8 And the barrier of Judah shall be laid open :
Then thou shalt look towards the arsenal of the house
of the forest,
9 And the breaches of the city of David, ye shall see that
they are many ;
And ye shall collect the waters of the lower pool ;
10 And the houses of Jerusalem ye shall number ;
And ye shall break down tbe houses to fortify the ram
part :
11 And ye shall make a lake between the two waUs,
To receive the waters of the old pool.
But ye look not to him, that hath disposed this :
And him that formed it of old, ye regard hot.
12 And the Lord Jehovah God of Hosts called in that day.
To weeping, and to lamentation ;
And to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth :
13 But, behold, joy and gladness.
Slaying of oxen, and kilUng of sheep ;
Eating of flesh, and drinking of wine :'
Let us eat, and drink ; for to-morrow we die.
14 And the voice of Jehovah God of Hosts was revealed
to mine ears :
Surely this your iniquity shaU not be expiated, till ye
die,
Saith the Lord Jehovah God of Hosts.

15 Thus saith the the Lord Jehovah God of Hosts : Go,
get thee to this treasurer, unto Shebna, who is over the
household ; and say unto him :
16 What hast tliou here ? and whom hast thou here ?
That thou hast hewn out here a sepulchre for thy
self?
O thou that hewest out thy sepulchre on high,
That gravest in the rock an habitation for thyself !

40 isaiah. chap. XXII.
17 Behold Jehovah will cast thee out,
Casting thee violently out, and will surely cover thee :
18 He wUl whirl thee round and round, and cast thee away.
Like a ball [from a sling] into a wide country :
There shalt thou die; and there shaU thy glorious
chariots
Become the shame of the house of thy lord.
19 And I wiU drive thee from thy station.
And from thy state will I overthrow thee.
20 And in that day I wiU caU my servant,
Even Eliakim the son of Hilkiah :
21 And I wiU clothe him with thy robe.
And with thy baldric wiU I strengthen him :
And thy go-VBrnment will I commit to his hand ;
And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusa
lem,
And to the house of Judah :
22 And I will lay the key qf the house of David upon his
shoulder ;
And he shaU open, and none shall shut ;
And he shall shut, and none shaU open.
23 And I will fasten bim as a nail in a sure place ;
And he shall become a glorious seat for his father's
house.
24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his
father's house,
The offspring of high and of low degree ;
E\'ery small vessel ; from every sort of goblets,
To every sort of meaner vessels.
25 In that day, sailh Jehovah God of Hosts,
The nail once fastened in a sure place shall be moved ;
And it shall be hewn down, and it shall fall ; '
And the burthen which was upon it, shaU be cut off:
For Jehovah hath spoken it.

chap. x<xiii.
1 The oracle concerning tyre.
Howl, O ye ships of Tarshish !
For she is utterly destroyed both within and without :
From the land of Chittim the tidings are brought unto
them.

cfiAP. xxiir. isaiah, 41
2 Be silent, 0 ye inhabitants of the sea-coast :
The merchants of Sidon, they that pass over the sea,
crowded thee.
3 And the seed of the Nile, growing from abundant wa
ters ;
The harvest of the river, was her revenue :
And she became the mart of the nations.
4 Be thou ashamed, O Sidon ; for the sea hath spoken.
Even the mighty fortress of the sea, saying :
I am as if I had not travailed, nor brought forth chil
dren ;
As if I had not nourished youths, nor educated virgins.
5 When the tidings shall reach Egypt, ,
They shaU be seized with anguish at the tidings of Tyre.
6 Pass ye over to. Tarshish ; howl, O ye inhabitants of the
sea-coast !
7 Is this your triumphant city ; whose antiquity is of the,
earliest date ?
Her own feet bear her far awaj"" to sojourn.
, 8 Who hath purposed this against Tyre, who dispensed
crowns ;
Whose merchants were princes ; whose traders were no
bles of the land ?
9 Jehovah God of Hosts had counseUed^it ;
To stain the pride of all beauty ;
To make contemptible all the nobles of the earth.
10 Overflow thy land, like a river,
O daughter of Tarshish ; the mound [that kept in thy wa
ters] is no more.
11 He hath stretched his hand over the sea ; he hath shaken
the kingdoms :
Jehovah hath issued a command concerning Canaan,
that they should destroy her strong places.
12 And he hath said : Thou shalt triumph no more,
O thou defloured virgin, the daughter of Sidon !
To Chittim arise, pass over ; even there thou shalt have no
rest.
13 , Behold the land of the Chaldeans ;
This people was of no account ;
(The Assyrian founded it for the inhabitants of the
¦ desert ; 9*

42 ISAIAH. CHAP. XXIIi.
They raised the watch-towers, they set up the palaces
thereof) :
This people hath reduced her to a ruin.
14 Howl, 6 ye ships of Tarshish ; for your stronghold is de
stroyed.
15 And it shall come to pass in that day ;
That Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years.
According to the days of one king :
At the end of seventy years.
Tyre shall sing, as the harlot singeth.
16 Take thy lyre, go about the city, 0 harlot long forgotten ;
Strike the lyre artfully ; multiply the song ; that thou
mayest again be remembered.
17 And at the end of seventy years,
Jehovah wUl take account of Tyre :
And she shall return to her gainful practice ;
And she shall play the harlot with all the kingdom of the
world.
That are upon the face of the earth.
18 But her traffic, and her gain, shall be holy to Jehovah :
It shall not be treasured, nor shall it be kept in store ;
For her traffic shall be for them', that dwell before Jeho
vah,
For food sufiicient, and for durable clothing.

CHAP. XXIV.
1 Behold, Jehovah emptieth the land, and maketh it
waste ;
He even turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the
inhabitants.
2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest ;
As with the servant, so with his master ;
As with the handmaid, so with her mistress ;
As with the buyer, so with the seller ; ,
As with the borrower, so with the lender ;
As with the usurer, so with the giver of usury.
3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled ;
For Jehovah hath spoken this word.
4 The land mourneth, it withereth ;
The world languisheth, it withereth ;
The lofty people of the land do languish.

chap. xxiv. isaiah. 43
5 The land is even poUuted under her inhabitants ;
For they have transgressed the law, they have changed
the decree ;
6 They have broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore hath a curse devoured the land ;
Because they are guilty, that dwell in her.
Therefore are the inhabitants of the land destroyed;
And few are the mortals' that are left in her.
7 "Phe new wine mourneth ; the vine languisheth ;
All, that were glad of heart, sigh.
8 The joyful sound of the labour ceaseth ;
The noise of exultation is no more ;
The joyful sound of the harp ceaseth :
9 With songs they shall no more drink wine ;
The palm-wine shall be bitter to them that drink it.
10 The city is broken down ; it is desolate :
Every house is obstructed, so that no one can enter.
11 There is a cry in the streets for wine ;
All gladness is passed away ;
The joy of the whole laud is banished,
12 Desolation is left in the city ;
And with a great tumult the gate is battered down.
13 Yea thus shall it be in the very centre of the land, in
the midst of the people ;
As the shaking of the oUve ; as the gleaning, when the
vintage is finished.
]4 But these shall lift up their voice, they shall sing ;
The waters shall resound with the exaltation of Jeho
vah.
15 Wherefore in the distant coasts, glorify ye Jehovah ;
In the distant coasts of the sea, the name of Jehovah,
the God of Israel.
- 16 From the uttermost part of the land, we have heard
songs. Glory to the righteous !
But I said, Alas, my wretchedness, my wretchedness !
Wo is me ! the plunderers plunder ;
Yea the plunderers stiU continue their cruel depreda
tions.
17 The terror, the pit, and the snare.
Are upon thee, O inhabitant of tbe land :
18 And it shaU be, that whoso fleeth from the terror,
He shall faU into the pit ;
And whoso escapeth from the pit.

44 isaiah. chap, xxiv.
He shall be taken in the snare :
For the flood-gates from on high are opened ;
And the foundations of the earth tremble.
19 The land is grievously shaken ;
The land is utterly shattered to pieces ;
The land is violently shaken out of its place ;
20 The land reeleth to and fro Uke a drunkard ;
And moveth this way and that, Uke a lodge for a night :
For her iniquity Ueth heavy upon her ;
And she shall faU, and rise no more.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day,
Jehovah shall summon on high the host that is on high ;
And on earth the kings of the earth :
And they shall be gathered together, as in a bundle for
the pit ;
22 And shall be closely imprisoned in the prison :
And after many days, account shall be taken of them.
23 And the moon shall be confounded, and the sun shall
be ashamed ;
For Jehovah God of Hosts shall reign
On Mount Sion, and in Jerusalem ;
And before his ancients shall he, be glorified.
chap xxv.
1 O Jehovah, thou art my God :
I ,wUl exalt thee ; I will praise thy name :
For thou hast effected wonderful things ;
Counsels of old time, promises immutably true.
2 For thou hast made the city an heap ;
The strongly fortified citadel a ruin :
The palace of the proud ones, that it should be no more
a city ;
That it never should be built up again.
3 Therefore shall the fierce people glorify thee ;
The city of the formidable nations shall fear thee ;
4 For thou hast been a defence to the poor ;
A defence to the needy in his distress :
A refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat ;
When the blast of the formidable rages Uke a winter
storm.
5 As the heat in a parched land, the tumult of the proud
shalt thou bring low ;

CHAP. XXV, ISAIAH. 45
As the heat by a thick cloud, the triumph of the formi
dable shall be humbled.
6 And Jehovah God of Hosts shall make.
For all the peoples, in this mountain,
A feast of delicacies, a feast of old wines :
Of delicacies exquisitely rich, of old wines perfectly re
fined.
7 And on this rriountain shall he destroy
The covering, that covered the face of all the peoples;
And the vail, that was spread over all the nations.
8 He shall utterly destroy death forever ;
And the Lord Jehovah shall wipe away the tear from off
all faces ;
And the reproach of his people shall he remove from
off the whole earth :
For Jehovah hath spoken it.
9 In that day shall they say :
Behold, this is our God ;
We have trusted in him, and he hath saved us :
This is Jehovah ; we have trusted in him ;
We will rejoice, and triumph, iu his salvation.
10 For the hand of Jehovah shall give rest upon this
mountain ;
And Moab shall be threshed in his place.
As the straw is threshed under the wheels of the car.
11 And he shall stretch out his hands in the midst thereof.
As he, that sinketh, stretcheth out his hands to swim :
But God shall bring down his pride with the sudden gripe
of his hands.
12 And the bulwark of thy high walls shaU he lay low :
He shaU bring them down to the ground ; he shall lay
them in the dust,

chap. xxvi.
1 In that day shall this song be sung:
In the land of Judah we have a strong city ;'
Salvation shall he establish for walls and bulwarks.
2 Open ye the gates, and let the righteous nation enter ;
3 Constant in the truth, stayed in mind :. .
Thou shalt preserve them in perpetual peace.
Because they have trusted in thee.

46 ISAIAH. CHAP. XXVI.
4 Trust ye in Jehovah forever;
For in Jehovah is never-failing protection.
6 For he hath humbled those, that dwell on high ;
The lofty city, he hath brought her down ;
He hath brought her down to the ground :
He hath leveUed her with the dust.
6 The foot shall trample upon her ;
The feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.
7 The way of the righteous is perfectly straight ;
Thou most exactly levellest the path of the righteous.
8 Even in the way of thy laws, O Jehovah,
We have placed our confidence in thy name ;
And in the remembrance of thee is the desire of our soul,,
9 With my soul have 1 desired thee in the night ;
Yea with my inmost spirit in the morn have I sought
thee.
For when thy judgments are in the earth,
The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 Though mercy be shewn to the wicked, yet wiU he not
learn righteousness-:
In the very land of rectitude he wiU deal perversely ;
And will not regard the majesty of Jehovah.
11 Jehovah, thy hand is lifted up, yet wiU they not see :
But they shall see, with confusion, thy zeal for thy
people ;
Yea the fire shaU burn up thine adversaries.
12 Jehovah, thou wilt ordain for us peace :
For even all our mighty deeds thou hast performed for
us.
13 O Jehovah, our God !
Other lords, exclusive of thee, have had dominion over
us :
Thee only, and thy name, henceforth will we celebrate,
14 They are dead, they shall not live ;
They are deceased tyrants, they shall not rise.
Therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them ;
And all memorial of them thou hast abolished.
15 Thou hast added to the nation, O Jehovah ;
Thou hast added to the nation ; thou art glorified :,
Thou hast extended far all the borders of the land,
16 O Jehovah, in affliction have we sought thee;
We have poured out humble supplication, when thy
chastisement was upon us.

chap, xxvi, isaiah, 47
17 As a woman, that hath conceived, when her deUvery
approacheth.
Is in anguish, crieth out aloud, in her travail ;
Thus have we been before thee, O Jehovah.
18 We have coriceived ; we have been in anguish ; we have,
as it were, brought forth wind :
Salvation is not wrought in the land ;
Neither are the inhabitants, of the world fallen. ,
19 Thy dead shall live ; my deceased, they shaU rise :
Awake, and sing, ye that dwell in the dust 1
For thy dew is as the dew of the dawn ;
But the earth shaU cast forth, as an abortion, the de
ceased tyrants.
20 Come, O my people ; retire into thy secret apart
ments ;
And shut thy door after thee :
Hide thyself for a little while, for a moment ;
Until the indignation shall have passed away.
21 For behold, Jehovah issueth forth from his place ;
To punish for his iniquity the inhabitant of the earth :
And the earth shall disclose the blood that is upon her ;
And shall no longer cover her slain.

chap, xxvii.
1 In that day shall Jehovah punish with his sword ;
His well-tempered, and great, and strong sword ;
'Leviathan the rigid serpent.
And Leviathan the winding serpent :
And shall slay the monster, that is in the sea.

2 In that day.
To the beloved Vineyard, sing ye a responsive song.
3 J. It is I, Jehovah, that preserve her :
I wiU water her every moment ;
I will take care of her by night ;
And by day I will keep guard over her,
4 V. I have no wall for my defence :
0 that I had a fence of the thorn and brier f
J, Against them should I march in battle,
I should burn them up together.

48 ISAIAH, CHAP. XXVII,
5 Ah 1 let her rather take hold of my protection,
V, Let him make peace with me !
Peace let him make with me !
6 J, They tha^t come from the root of Jacob shaU flourish,
Israel shall bud forth ;
And they shaU fill the face of the world with fruit,
7 Hath he smitten him, as he smiteth those that smote
him? ,
And Uke the slaughter of those, that slew him, is he
slain ?
•8 In just measure, when thou inflictest the stroke, wUt
thou debate with her ;
With due deUberation, even in the roUgh tempest, in
the day of the east wind.
9 Wherefore on this condition shall the iniquity of Jacob
be expiated ;
And so shall he reap the whole benefit of the removal
of his sin ;
If he shall render all the stones of the altar.
Like the Umestones scattered abroad ;
And if the groves and the images rise no more.
10 But the strongly fortified city shaU be desolate ;
An habitation forsaken, and deserted as a wilderness.
There shaU the bullock feed, and there shaU he Ue down ;
And he shall browse on the tender shoots thereof
11 When her boughs are withered, they shaUbe broken:
Women shall come, and set them on a blaze.
Surely it is a people void of understanding ;
Wherefore he, that made him, shaU not have pity on
him ;
And he, that formed him, shall shew him no favour.
12 And it shaU come to pass in that day,
Jehovah shaU make a gathering of his fruit, from the-
flood of the river.
To the stream of Egypt ;
And ye shall be gleaned up.
One by one,. O ye sons oif Israel.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day,
The great trumpet shaU be sounded ;
And those shall come, who were perishing in the land',
of Assyria ;
And who were dispersed in the land of Egypt :

CHAP. XXVII. ISAIAH. 49
And they shall bow themselves down before Jehovah,
In the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.
CHAP. XXVIII.
1 Wo to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
And to the fading flower of their glorious beauty !
To those, that are at the head of the rich valley, that are
stupified with wine !
2 Behold the mighty one, the exceedingly strong one !
Like a storm of hail, like a destructive tempest ;
Like a rapid flood of mighty waters pouring down ;
He shall dash them to the ground with his hand.
3 They shall be trodden under foot,
The proud crowns of the drunkards of Ephraim :
4 And the fading flower of their glorious beauty.
Which is at the head of the rich valley.
Shall be as the early fruit before the summer ;
Which whoso seeth, he plucketh it immediately ;
And it is no sooner in his hand, than he swalloweth it.
5 In that day shall Jehot»h God of Hosts become a
beauteous crown.
And a glorious diadem, to th remnant of his people :
6 And a spirit of judgment, tc ihem that sit in judgment :
And stjrength to them, that repell the war to the gate
[of the enemy].
7 But even these have erred through wine, and through
strong drink they have reeled ;
The priest and the prophet have erred through strong
drink ;
They are overwhelmed with wine ; they have reeled
through strong drink :
They have erred in vision, they have stumbled in judg
ment.
8 For all their tables are full of vomit ;
Of filthiness, so that no place is free.
9 " Whom [say they] would he teach knowledge ; and to
" whom would he impart instruction ?
" To such as are weaned from the mUk, as are kept back
" from the breast ?
10 " For it is command upon command ; command upon
" command ; 10

50 ISAIAH. CHAP. xxvm.
" Line upon Une ; line upon line :
" A little here, and a little there."
11 Yea verily, with a stammering Up, and a strange tongue.
He shaU speak unto this people.
12 For when he said unto them :
This is the true rest ; give ye 'rest unto the weary;
And this is the refreshment ; they would not hear.
13 Therefore shall the word of Jehovah be indeed unto
them,
Command upon command, command upon command ;
Line upon line, line upon line ;
A little here, and a little there :
That they may go on, and fall backward ;
And be broken, and snared, and caught.
14 Wherefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, ye scoffers ;
Ye of this people in Jerusalem, who utter sententious
speeches :
15 Who say, we have entered into a covenant with death ;
And with the grave we have made a treaty :
The overflowing plague, when it passeth through, shall
not reach us :
For we have made falsehood our refuge ;
And under deceit we have hidden ourselves.
16 Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah :
Behold, I lay in Sion for a foundation a stone, an ap
proved stone ;
A corner-stone, precious, immoveably fixed :
He, that trusteth in him, shall not be confounded.
17 And I will mete out judgment by the rule ;
And strict justice, by the plummet :
And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of falsehood ;
And the hiding-place the waters shaU overwhelm.
18 And your covenant with death shaU be broken ;
And your treaty with the grave shall not stand :
When the overflowing plague passeth through.
By it shaU ye be beaten down.
19 As soon as it passeth through, shall it seize you ;
Yea morning after morning shall it pass through, by
day and by night ;
And even the report alone shaU cause terror.
20 For the bed is too short, for one to stretch himself out
at length ;

CHAP, XXVIII. ISAIAH, 61
And the covering is too narrow, for one to gather him
self up under it.
21 For as in Mount Peratsim, Jehovah wiU arise ;
As in the valley of Gibeon, shall he be moved with an
ger;
That he may execute his work, his strange work ;
And effect his operation, his unusual operation.
22 And now, give yourselves up to scoffing no more.
Lest your chastisements become more severe :
For a fuU and decisive decree have I heard.
From the Lord Jehovah God of Hosts, on the whole
land.
23 Listen ye, and hear my voice ;
Attend, and hearken unto my words.
24 Doth the husbandman plough every day that he may
sow.
Opening, and breaking the clods of his field ?
25 When he hath made even the face thereof.
Doth not he then scatter the dill, and cast abroad the
cummin ;
And sow the wheat in due measure ;
And the barley, and the rye, hath its appointed Umit ?
26 For his God rightly instructeth him ; he furnisheth him
with knowliedge.
27 The dill is not beaten out with the corn-drag ;
Nor is the wheel of the wain made to turn upon the
cummin :
But the diU is beaten out with the staff;
28 And the cummin with the flail : but the bread-corn with
the threshing-wain.
But not for ever will he continue thus to thresh it ;
Nor to vex it with the wheel of his wain ;
Nor to bruise it with the hoofs of his cattle.
29 This also proceedeth from Jehovah God of Hosts :
He sheweth himself wonderful in counsel, great in ope
ration.

52 ISAIAH, CHAP, XXIS,

CHAP, XXIX.
1 Wo to Ariel, to Ariel, the city which David be
sieged !
Add year to year ; let the feasts go round in their course,
2 Yet wiU I bring distress upon Ariel ;
And there shall be continual mourning and sorrow :
And it shall be unto me as the hearth of the great altar.
3 And I wiU encamp against thee, like David ;
And I will lay siege against thee with a mound ;
' And I will erect towers against thee.
4 And thou shalt be brought low ; thou shalt speak as from
beneath the earth :
And from out of the dust thou shalt utter a feeble
speech ;
And thy voice shall come out of the ground, like that
of a necromancer :
And thy words from out of the dust shall give a small
shrill sound.
5 But the multitude of the proud shall be like the small
dust ;
And like the flitting chaff the multitude df the terrible :
Yea, the effect shall be momentary, in an instant.
6 From Jehovah God of Hosts there shaU be a sudden
visitation,
With thunder, and earthquake, and a mighty voice ;
With storm, and tempest, and flame of devouring fire.
7 And Uke as a dream, a vision of the night,
Sb shall it be with the multitude of all the nations, that
fight against Ariel ;
And aU their armies, and their towers, and those that
distress her.
8 As when a hungry man dreameth ; and lo ! he seemeth
to eat ;
But he awakelh, and his appetite is still unsatisfied :
And as a thirsty man dreameth ; and lo ! he seemeth to
drink ;
But he awaketh, and he is stUl faint, and his appetite
still craying :
So shaU it be with the multitude of aUthe nations.
Which have set themselves in array against Mount
Sion.

CHAP. XXIX.

ISAIAH. 53

9 They are struck with amazement, they stand aston-
isbed ;
They stare with a look of stupid surprise :
They are drunken, but not with wine ;
They stagger, but not with strong drink.
10 For Jehovah hath poured upon you a spirit of pro
found sleep ;
And hath closed up your eyes ;
Tbe prophets, and the rulers ; the seers hath he blind
folded.
11 So that all the vision is to you, as the words of a book
sealed up ;
Which if one delivers to a man, that knoweth letters.
Saying, Read this, 1 pray thee ;
He ans-werelh, I cannot read it ; for it is sealed up :
12 Or should the book be given to one, that knoweth not
letters,
Saying, Read this, I pray thee ;
He answereth, 1 know not letters.
13 Wherefore Jehovah hath said :
Forasmuch as this people draweth near with their mouth.
And honoureth me with their Ups,
While their heart is far from me ;
And vain is their fear of me.
Teaching the commandments of men :
14 Therefore behold, I will again deal with this people.
In a manner so wonderful and astonishing ;
That the wisdom of the wise shaU perish,
Ahd the prudence of the prudent shall disappear.
15 Wo unto them, that are too deep for Jehovah in
forming secret designs ;
Whose deeds are in the dark ; and who say.
Who is there, that seeth us ; and who shall know us ?
16 Perverse as ye are ! shall the potter be esteemed as the
clay ?
Shall the work say of the workman. He hath not made
me ?-
And shall the thing formed say of the former of it, He
hath no understanding ?
17 ShaU it not be but a very short space.
Ere Lebanon become Uke Carmel,
And Carmel appear like a desert ?
10*

54 ISAIAH. CHAP. XXIX.
18 Then shall the deaf hear the words of the book ;
And the eyes of the blind, covered before with clouds
and darkness, sbaU see.
¦ 19 The meek sliall increase their joy in Jehovah ;
And the needy shaU exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the terrible one faileth, the scoffer is no more ;
And all that were vigUant in iniquity are utterly cut off:
21 Who bewildered the poor man in speaking ;
And laid snares for him, that pleaded in the gate ;
And with falsehood subverted the righteous.
22 Therefore thus saith Jehovah the God of the house
of Jacob,
He who redeemed Abraham :
Jacob shall no more be ashamed ; ' ,
His face shall no more be covered with confusion :
23 For when his children shall see the work of my hands,
Among themselves shall they sanctify my name :
They shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,
And tremble before the God of Israel.
24 Those, that were led away with the spirit of error, shaU'
gain knowledge ;
And the malignant shall attend to instruction.
JHAP. xxx.
1 Wo unto the rebeUious children, saith Jehovah ;
Who form counsels, but not from me ;
Who ratify covenants, but not by my spirit :
That they may add sin to sin.
2 Who set forward to go down to Egypt ;
But have not inquired at my mouth :
To strengthen themselves with the strength of Pharaoh ;
And to trust in the shadow of Egypt.
3 But the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame ;
And your trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
4 Their princes were at Tsoan ;
And their ambassadors arrived at Hanes :
5 They were all ashamed of a people, that profited them
not ;
Who were of no help, and of no profit ;
But proved even a shame, and a reproach unto themf
6 The burthen of the beasts travelling southward,
Through a land of distress and difficulty :
Whence come forth the Uoness, and the fierce lion ;
The viper, and the flying fiery serpent :

CHAP. XXX. ISAIAH. 55
They carry on the shoulder of the young cattle their
wealth ; '
And on the bunch of the camel their treasures :
To a people, that wiU not profit them.
7 For Egypt is a mere vapour ; in vain shaU they help :
Wherefore have I called her, Rahab the inactive.
8 Go now, write it before them on a tablet ;
And record it in letters upon a book :
That it may be for future times ;
For a testimony for ever.
9 For this is a rebeUious people, lying children ;
Children who choose not to bear the law of Jehovah :
10 Who say to the seers, See not ;
And to the prophets, IProphesy not right things :
Speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
11 Turn aside from the way ; decline from the straight path ;
Remove frohi our sight the Holy One of Israel.
12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel :
Because ye have rejected this word ;
And have trusted in. obliquity, and perversion ;
And have leaned entirely upon it :
13 Therefore shall this offence be unto you.
Like a breach threatening ruin; a swelling in a high
wall ;
Whose destruction cometh suddenly, in an instant.
14 It shall be broken, as when one breaketh a pott
vessel :
He dasheth it to pieces, and spareth it not ;
So that there shall not be found a sherd among its frag
ments,
To take up fire from the hearth.
Or to dip up water from the cistern.
15 Verily thus saith the Lord Jehovah, the Holy one of
Israel :
By turning from your ways, and by abiding quiet, ye
shall be saved ;
In silence, and in pious confidence, shall be your strength :
But ye would not hearken.
16 And ye said : Nay, but on horses will we fiee ;
Therefore shall ye be put to fiight :
And on swift coursers will we ride ;
Therefore shaU they be swift, tbat pursue you.

56 ISAIAH, CHAP, XXX.
17 One thousand, at the rebuke of one ;
At the rebuke of five, ten thousand of you shaU flee :
Till ye be left, as a standard on the summit of a moun
tain;
And as a beacon on a high hiU.
18 Yet for this shall Jehovah wait to shew favour unto you ;
Even for this shaU he expect in sUence, . that he may
have mercy upon you :
(For Jehovah is a God of judgment ;
Blessed are all they that trust in him) :
19 When a holy people shall dweU in Sion ;
When in Jerusalem thou shalt implore him with weep
ing :
At the voice of thy cry he shall be abundantly gracious
unto thee ;
No sooner shall he hear, than he shall answer thee.
20 Though Jehovah hath given you bread of distress, and
water of affliction ;
Yet the timely rain shall no more be restrained ;
But thine eyes shall behold the timely rain.
21 And thine ears shaU hear the word prompting thee be
hind:
Saying, This is the way ; walk ye in it ;
Turn not aside, to the right, or to the left.
22 And ye shaU treat as defiled the covering of your idols
of silver ;
And the clothing of your molten images of gold :
Thou shalt cast them away like a polluted garment ;
Thou shalt say unto them. Be gone from me.
23 And he shall give rain for thy seed.
With which thou shalt sow the ground ;
And bread of the produce of the ground :
And it shall be abundant and plenteous.
Then shall thy cattle feed in large pasture ;
24 And the oxen, and the young asses, that tiU the ground,
Shall eat well-fermented niaslin,
Winnowed with the van and the sieve.
25 And on every lofty mountain,
And on every high biU,
Shall be disparting riUs, and streams of water,
In the day of the great slaughter, when the mighty faU.

CHAP, XXX. ISAIAH. 57
26 And the'Ught of the moon shaU be as the light of the me
ridian sun ;
And the light of the meridian sun shall be seven-fold :
In tbe day when Jehovah shall bind up the breach of
his people ;
And shall heal the wound, which his stroke hath in
flicted.
27 Lo ! the name of Jehovah cometh from afar ;
His wrath burneth, and the flame ragetli violently :
His Ups are filled with indignation ;
And his tongue is as a consuming fire.
28 His spirit is like a torrent overflowing ;
It shall reach to the middle of the neck :
He cometh to toss the nations with the van of perdition ;
And there shall be a bridle, to lead them astray, in the
jaws of the people.
29 Ye shall utter a song, as in the night when the feast is
solemnly proclaimed ;
With joy of heart, as when one marcheth to the sound
of the pipe ;
To go to the mountain of Jehovah, to the rock of Israel.
30 And Jehovah shall cause his glorious voice to be
heard,
And the lighting down of his arm to be seen ;
With wrath indignant, and a flame of consuming fire ;
With a violent storm, and rushing showers, and hail
stones. '
31 By the voice of Jehovah the Assyrian shall be beaten
down ;
He, that was ready to smite with his staff.
32 And it shall be, that wherever shall pass the rod of cor
rection.
Which, Jehovah shall lay heavil}'- upon him ;
It shall be accompanied with tabrets and harps ;
And with fierce battles shall he fight against them.
33 For Tophet is ordained of old ;
Even the same for the king is prepared :
He hath made it deep ; he hath made it large ;
A fiery pyre, and abundance of fuel ;
And the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of sulphur,
shall kindle it.

58 isaiah. CHAP, XXXI,

CHAP. XXXI.
1 Wo unto them, that go down to Egypt for help ;
Who trust in horses for their support :
Who confide in chariots, because they are many ;
And in horsemen, because they are very strong :
But look not unto the Holy One of Israel ;
And of Jehovah they ask not counsel.
2 But he in his wisdom wiU bring evil upon them ;
And he will not set aside his word :
But will rise against tbe house of the wicked ;
And against the helpers of those that work iniquity.
3 For the Egy[)tians are man, and not God ;
And their horses are fiesh, and not spirit :
And Jehovah shall stretch forth his hand ;
And the helper shall fall, and the holpen shaU be over
thrown ;
And together shall all of them be destroyed.
4 For thus hath Jehovah said unto me :
Like as the lion growleth.
Even the young lion, over his prey ;
> Though the whole conipanyof shepherds be called to
gether against him :
At theil"* voice he wiU not be terrified.
Nor at their tumult will he be humbled :
So shall Jehovah God of Hosts descend to fight
For Mount Sion, and for his own hill.
5 As the mother birds, hovering over their young,
So shall Jehovah God of Hosts protect Jerusalem ;
Protecting, and delivering; leaping forward, and rescu
ing her.
6 Return unto him, from whom ye have so deeply en
gaged in revolt,
0 ye sons of Israel !
7 Verily in that day shaU they cast away with contempt.
Every man his idols of silver, and his idols of gold ;
The sin, which their own hands have made.
8 And the A ssyrian shaU fall by a sword not of man ;
Yea a sword not of mortal shall devour him.
And he shall betake himself to flight from the face of
the sword ;
And the courage of his chosen men shall fail.

chap, XXXI. isaiah, 59
9 And through terror he shall pass beyond his strong
hold ;
And his princes shall be struck with consternation at his
flight.
Thus saith Jehovah, who hath his fire in Sion,
And his furnace in Jerusalem.
CHAP. XXXII,
1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness ;
And princes shall rule with equity :
2 And the man shall be as a covert from the storm, as a
refuge from the fiood ;
As canals of waters in a dry place ;
As the shadow of a great rock in a land fainting with
heat:
3 And him the eyes of those, that see, shall regard ;
And the ears of those, that hear, shall hearken.
4 Even the heart of the rash shall consider, and acquire
knowledge ;
And the stammering tongue shall speak readily and
plainly.
5 The fool shall no longer be called honourable ;
Arid the niggard shall no more be called liberal :
6 For the fool will stiU utter folly ;
And his heart will devise iniquity :
Practising hypocrisy, and speaking wrongfuUy against
Jehovah ;
To exhaust the soul of the hungry.
And to deprive the thirsty of drink.
7 As for the niggard, his instruments are evil :
He plotteth mischievous devices ;
To entangle the humble with Ij'ing words ;
And to defeat the assertions of the poor in judgment.
8 But the generous will devise generous things ;
And he by his generous purposes shall be estabUshed.
9 O YE women, that sit at ease, arise, hear my voice !
0 ye daughters, that dweU in security, give ear unto my
speech !
10 Years upon years shaU ye be disquieted, O ye careless
women :
For the vintage hath failed, the gathering of the fruits
shaU not come.

60 ISAIAH, CHAP, XXXM.
11 Tremble, 0 ye that are at ease ; be ye disquieted, 0 ye
careless ones !
Strip ye, make ye bare ; and gird ye sackcloth
12 Upon your loins, upon your breasts ;
Mourn ye for the pleasant field, for the fruitful vine,
13 Over the land of my people the thorn and tbe brier
shall come up ; _. ¦
Yea, over all the joyous houses, over the exulting city.
14 For the palace is deserted, the populous city is left deso
late ;
Ophel and the watch-tower shaU fbr a long time be a
den,
A joy of "n'ild asses, a pasture for the flocks ;
15 TiU the spirit from on high be poured out upon us ;
And the wilderness become a fruitful field ; ,
And the fruitful field be esteemed a forest :
16 And judgment shall dweU in the wilderness ;
And in the fruitful field shall reside righteousness.
17 And the work of righteousness shaU be peace ;
And the effect of righteousness perpetual quiet and secu
rity.
18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceful mansion.
And in habitations secure,
And in resting places undisturbed.
19 But the hail shaU fall, and the forest be brought down ,
And the city shall be laid level with the plain.
20 Blessed are ye, who sow your seed in every well-watered
place ;
Who send forth the foot' of the ox and the ass.

CHAP. XXXIII.
1 Wo unto thee, thou spoUer, who hast not been spoiled
thyself;
And thou plunderer, who hast not been plundered :
W^hen thou hast ceased to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled ;
When thou art weary of plundering, they shaU plunder
thee.
2 O Jehovah, have "mercy on us ; we have trusted in
thee ;
Be thou our strength every morning ;
Even our salvation in the time of distress.

CHAP. XXXIII. ISAIAH. 61

3 From thy terrible voice the peoples fled ;
When thou didst raise thyself up, the nations were dis
persed.
4 But your spoil shall be gathered, as the locust gathereth ;
As the caterpillar runneth to and fro, so shall they run,
and seize it.
5 Jehovah is exalted ; yea, he dweUeth on high :
He hath fiUed Sion with judgment and justice.
6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy
times, .
The possession of continued salvation ; -
The fear of Jehovah, this shall be thy treasure.
7 Behold the mighty men raise a grievous cry ;
The messengers of peace weep bitterly.
8 Tbe highways are desolate ; the traveller ceaseth :
He hath broken the covenant; he bath rejected the of
fered cities ;
Of men he maketh no account.
9 The land mourneth, it languisheth ;
Libanus is put to shame, it withereth :
Sharon is become like a desert ;
And Bashan and Carmel are stripped of their beauty.
10 Now wiU I arise, saith Jehovah ;
Now will I lift myself up on high ; now will I be exalted.
11 Ye shaU conceive chaff; ye shall bring forth stubble;
And my spirit like fire shall consume you.
12 And peoples shall be burned, as the lime is burned ;
As the thorns are cut up, and consumed in the fire.
13 Hear,- O ye that are afar off, my doings ;
And acknowledge, O ye that are near, my power.
14 The sinners in Sion are struck with dread ;
Terror hath seized the hypocrites :
Who among us can abide this consuming fire ?
Who among us can abide these- continued burnings ?
15 He who walketh in perfect righteousness, and speaketh
right things :
Who detesteth the lucre of oppression ;
Who shaketh his hands from bribery ;
Who stoppeth his ears to the proposal of bloodshed ;
11

62 ISAIAH. CHAP. XXXUS.
Who shutteth his eyes against the- appearance of evil :
16 His dweUingshaU be in the high places;
The strongkJds of the rocks shall be his lofty fortress :
His bread shall be duly furnished ; his waters shaU not
feU.
17 Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty ;
They shall see thine own land far extended.
18 'Thine heart shaU reflect on the past terror :
Where is now the accomptant? where the weigher of
tribute ?
Where is he, that numbered the towers ?
19 Thou shalt see no more that barbarous people ;
The people of a deep speech, which thou couldst not
hear;
And of a stammering tongue, which thou couldst not
understand.
20 Thou shalt see Sion, the city of our solemn feasts ;
Thine eyes shall behold Jerusalem,
The quiet habitation, the tabernacle unshaken:
Whose stakes shall not be plucked up for ever.
And of whose cords none shaU be broken.
21 But the glorious name of Jehovah shall be unto ue,
A place of confluent streams, of broad rivers ;
Which no oared ship shall pass.
Neither shall any mighty vessel go through.
22 For Jehovah is our judge ; Jehovah is our lawgiver ;
Jehovah is our king : he shall save us.
23 Thy sails are loose ; they cannot make them fast :
Thy mast is not firm ; they cannot spread the ensign.
Then shall a copious spoil be divided ;
Even the lame shall seize the prey.
24 Neither shall the inhabitant say, I am disabled with
sickness :
The people, that dweUeth therein, is freed from the
punishment of their iniquity.

CHAP, xxxiv.
1 Draw near, 0 ye nations, and hearken ;
And attend unto me, O ye peoples !
Let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof;
The world, and all that spring from it.

CHAP. XXXTV. ISAIAH. 63
2 For the wrath qf Jehovah is kindled against all the
nations ;
And his anger against all the orders thereof :
He hath devoted them ; he hath given them up to
slaughter.
3 And their slain shall be cast out ;
And from their carcasses their stink shaU ascend ;
And the mountains shaU melt down with their blood.
4 And all the host of heaven shaU waste away ;
And the heavens shaU be rolled up Uke a scroU :
And all their host shall wither ;
As the withered leaf falleth from the vine.
And as the blighted fruit from the fig-tree.
5 For my sword is made bare in the heavens :
Behold, on Edom it shaU descend ;
And on the people justly by me devoted to destruction.
6 The sword of Jehovah is glutted with blood ;
It is pampered with fat :
With the blood of lambs, and of goats ;
With the fat of the reins t)f rams :
For Jehovah celebrateth a sacrifice in Botsrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 And the wild goats shall fall down with them ;
And the bullocks, together with the bulls :
And their own land shall be drunken with their blood.
And their dust shall be enriched with fat.
8 For it is the day of vengeance to Jehovah ;
The year of recompense to the defender of the cause of
Sion.
9 And her torrents shall be turned into pitch.
And her dust into sulphur ;
And her whole land shall become burning pitch :
10 By night or by day it shall not be extinguished ,
For ever shaU her smoke ascend :
From generation to generation she shall lie desert;
To everlasting ages no one shall pass through her ;
11 But the pelican and the porcupine shall inherit her ;
And the owl an,d the raven shaU inhabit there :
And he shall stretch over her the line of devastation.
And the plummet of emptiness over her scorched plains.
12 No mpre shaU they boast the renown of the kingdom ;
And a^ her princes shaU utterly faU,

64 isaiah. chap, xxxiv-
13 And in her palaces shaU spring up thorns ;
The nettle and the bramble, in her fortresses :
And she shall become an habitation for dragons,
A court for the daughters of the ostrich.
14 And the jackals and the mountain-cats shall meet one
another ;
And the satyr shaU call to his fellow :
There also the screech-owl shall pitch ;
And shall find for herself a place of rest.
15 There shaU the night-raven make her nest, and lay her
eggs ;
And she shaU hatch them, and gather her young under
her shadow :
There also shall the vultures be gathered together ;
Every one of them shall join her mate.
16 Consult ye the book of Jehovah, and read :
Not one of these shall be missed ;
Not a female shall lack her mate :
For the mouth of Jehovah hath given the command ;
And his spirit-itself hath gathered them.
17 And he hath cast the lot for them ;
, And his hand hath meted out their portion by the line :
They shall possess the land for a perpetual inheritance;
From generation togeneration shall they dwell therein.
chap. xxxv.
1 The desert, and the waste, shall be glad ;
Arid the wilderness shall rejoice, and flourish :
2 Like the rose shaU it beautifully flourish ;
And the well-watered plain of Jordan shall also rejoice :
The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it.
The beauty of Carmel and of Sharon :
These shall behold the glory of Jehovah,
The majesty of our God.
3 Strengthen ye the feeble hands,
And confirm ye the tottering knees.
4 Say ye to the faint-hearted : Be ye strong ;
Fear ye not ; behold your God !
Vengeance will come ; the retribution of God :
He himself wiU come, and wUl deliver you.
5 Then shall be unclosed the eyes of the blind ;
And the ears of the deaf shaU be opened :
6 Then shall the lame bound like the hart,
And the tongue of the dumb shaU sing :

CHAP, XXXV, iSAIAH, 65
For in the wilderness shaU burst forth waters.
And torrents in the desert :
7 And the glowing sand shall become a pool,
And the thirsty soil bubbling springs :
And in the haunt of dragons shaU spring forth
The grass, with the reed, and the bulrush.
8 And a highway shaU be there ;
And it shall be caUed the way of holiness :
No unclean person shall pass through it :
But He himself shall be with them, walking in the way,
And the foolish shall not err therein.
9 No Uon shall be there ;
Nor shall the tyrant of the beasts come up thither :
Neither shall he be found there ;
But the redeemed shall walk in it.
10 Yea the ransomed of Jehovah shall return :
They shall come to Sion with triumph ;
And perpetual gladness shall crown their heads.
Joy and gladness shall they obtain ;
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

CHAP. XXXVI.
1 In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Senacherib
king of Assyria came up against all the fenced cities of
2 .Tudah, and took them. And the king of Assyria sent
Rabshakeh, from Lachish to Jerusalem, to the king
Hezekiah, with a great body of forces : and he presented
himself at the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway
3 that leads to the fuller's field. Then came out unto him
Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house
hold, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph,
4 the recorder. And Rabshakeh said unto them : Say
ye to Hezekiah ; Thus saith the great king, the king of
Assyria : What is this ground of confidence, in which
5 thou confidest? Thou hast said, (but they are vain
words), I have counsel and strength sufficient for the
war. Now in whom dost thou confide, that thou re-
6 bellest against me? Thou certainly eonfidest in the
support of this broken reed, in Egypt ; on which if a
man lean, it will pierce his hand, and go through it :
such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that confide in
7 him. But if ye say to me. We confide in Jehovah our
11*

66 ISAIAH. CHAP. XXXVI.
God ; is it not He, whose high places and whose altars
Hezekiah hath removed ; and hath commanded Judah
8 and Jerusalem to worship only before this altar ? Enter
now, I pray thee, into an engagement with my lord the
king of Assyria ; and I will give thee t-wo thousand
horses; on condition, that thou canst on thy part provide
9 riders for them. How then wilt thou turn back any one
commander, among the least of my lord's servants, ad
vancing against thee? And trustest thou, that Egypt
10 will supply thee with chariots and with horsemen ? And
am I. now come up without Jehovah against this land
to destroy it ? Jehovah hath said unto me. Go thou up
against this land, and destroy it.
11 Then said EUakim, and Sliebna, and Joah, unto
Rabshakeh : Speak, we beseech thee, to thy servants in
the Syrian language, for we understand "it ; and speak
not to us in the Jewish language, in the hearing of the
12 people, who are upon the wall. And Rabshakeh said,
Hath my lord sent me to thy lord and to thee, to speak
these words ? and not to the men, that sit on the waU,
destined to eat their own dung, and drink their own
13 urine, together with you ? Then Rabshakeh stood, and
cried with a loud voice in the Jewish language, and
said : Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of
14 Assyria. Thus saith the king : Let not Hezekiah de-
15 ceive you ; for he will not be able to deliver you. , And
let not Hezekiah persuade you to trust in Jehovah ;
saying, Jehovah will certainly deliver us; this city
shall not be given up into the hand of the king of
16 Assyria. Hearken not unto Hezekiah ; for thus saith
the king of Assyria ; Make peace with me, and come
out unto me. And eat ye every one of his own vine,
and every one of his own fig-tree ; and drink ye every
17 one the waters of his own cistern : until I come and
take you to a land Uke your own land ; a land of corn
18 and of wine, a land of bread and of vineyards. Nor let
Hezekiah seduce you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us.
Have the gods of the nations deUvered each his own
19 land from the "hand of the king of Assyria ? Where are
the gods of Hamath, and of Arphad ? where are the
gods of Sepharvaim ? have they delivered Samaria out
20 of my hand ? Who are there among aU the gods of

CHAP. XXXVI. ISAIAH. 67
these lands, that have .delivered their own lands out. of
my hand ; that Jehovah should deUver out of my hand
21 Jerusalem ? But the people held their peace, and an
swered him not a word : for the king's command was.
Answer him not.
22 Then came Eliakim, the son of HUkiah, who was
over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah,
the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah, with their
clothes rent ; and reported unto him the words of Rab
shakeh.
CHAP. XXXVII.
1 And when king Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes,
and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the
2 house of Jehovah. And he sent Eliakim, who was
over the " household, and Shebna the scribe, and the
elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah,
3 the son of Amots, the prophet. And they said unto
him : Thus saith Hezekiah; This day is a day of dis
tress, and of rebuke, and of contumely : for the children
are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring
4 forth. O that Jehovah thy God would hear the words
of Rabshakeh, whom his lord the king of Assyria hath
sent to reproach the living God ! and that he would
refute the words, -which Jehovah thy God hath heard!
And do thou offer up thy prayer for the poor remains
5 of the people. And the servants of king Hezekiah came
6 to Isaiah. And Isaiah said unto them ; Thus shall ye
say to your lord : Thus saith Jehovah, Be not afraid,
because of the words which thou hast heard, with which
the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me,
7 Behold, I will infuse a spirit into him ; and he shall
hear a rumour, and return to his own land ; and I will
cause him to faU by the sword in his own land.
8 But Rabshakeh returned ; and found the king of
Assyria besieging Libnah : for he had heard, that he
9 had decamped from Lachish. And when Senacherib
had received advice concerning Tirhakah king of Cush,
that he was advancing to give him battle ; he sent mes-
10 sengers again to Hezekiah, saying ; Thus shall ye say
to Hezekiah king of Judah : Let not thy God, in whom
thou confidest, deceive thee ; by assuring thee, that Je
rusalem shaU not be given up into the hand of the king

68 ISAIAH. CHAP. XXXTH.:
11 of Assyria, Thou hast certainly heard, what tbe kings
of Assyria have done to aU lands, which they have ut-
12 terly destroyed : and shalt thou be delivered ? Have the
gods of the nations delivered those, which my fathers
have destroyed ? Gozan, and Haran, and Retseph ; and
13 the sons of Eden, which were in Thelassar 7 Where is
the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the
king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Henah, and of Ivah ?
14 And Hezekiah received the letters from the hand of
the messengers, and read them ; and he went up to the
house of Jehovah : and Hezekiah spread them before
15 the presence of Jehovah. And Hezekiah prayed be-
16 fore Jehovah, saying : O Jehovah, God of Hosts, thou
God of Israel, who art seated on the cherubim ! Thou
art the God, thou alone, to all the kingdoms of the
earth ! Thou hast made the heavens, and the eai"th 1
17 Incline, O Jehovah, thine ear, and hear ; open, O Je
hovah, thine eyes, and see : yea, hear all the words of
Senacherib, which he hath sent to reproach the living
18 God. In truth, O Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have
destroyed all the nations, and their lands ; and have
19 cast their gods into the fire : for they were not gods,
but the work of the hands of man, wood and stone ;
20 therefore they have destroyed them. And now, 0 Je
hovah, our God, save us, we beseech thee, from his
hand; that all the kingdoms of the earth may know,
that thou Jehovah art the only God.
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amots sent unto Hezekiah,
saying : Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel : Thy
prayer unto me, concerning Senacherib king of Assyria,
22 I have heard. This is the word, which Jehovah hath
spoken concerning him ;
The virgin daughter of Sion hath despised thee,
she hath laughed thee to scorn ;
The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head be
hind thee.
23 Whom hast thou reproached, and revUed ; and against
whom hast thou exalted tby voice ?
And hast lifted up thine eyes on high ? Even against
the Holy One of Israel.

CHAP. XXXVIL ISAIAH. 69
24 By thy messengers hast thou reproached Jehovah,
and said :
By the multitude of my chariots have I ascended
The highth of the mountains, the sides of Lebanon ;
And I will cut down his tallest cedars, his choicest fir-
trees ;
And 1 will penetrate into his extreme retreats, his
richest forests.
25 I have digged, and I have drunk strange waters ;
And I have dried up with the sole of my feet all the
canals of fenced places.
26 Hast thou not heard, of old, that I have disposed it?
And, of ancient times, that I have formed it ?
Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldst be
to lay w^^aste
Warlike nations, strong-fenced cities.
27 Therefore were their inhabitants of, small strength ;
they were dismayed and confounded :
They were as the grass of the field, and as the green
herb ;
The grass of the house-top ; and as the corn blasted
before it groweth up.
28 But thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy
coming in.
Arid thy rage against me, I have known.
29 Because' thy rage against me, and thy insolence, is
come up into mine ears ;
Therefore wiU I put my hook in thy nose, and my
bridle in thy jaws ;
And I will turn thee back by the way in which thou
camest.
30 And tliis shaU be a sign unto thee :
Eat this year that which groweth of itself;
And the second year, that which springeth up of the
same ;
And in the third year sow ye, and reap ;
And plant vineyards, and eat the fruit tbereof.
31 And again shall the escaped, the remnant of the housje
of Judah,
Strike root downward, and bear fruit upward.
For from! Jerusalem shall go forth the remnant ;
And the part escaped from Mount Sion :
The zeal of Jehovah" God of Hosts shaU effect this.

70 ISAIAH. CHAP, SXXVDL
32 Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of
Assyria :
He shall not enter into this city ;
Nor shaU he shoot an arrow there ;
Nor shaU he present a shield before it ;
Nor shaU he cast up a mound against it.
33 By the way, in which he came, by the same shaU he
return ;
And into this city shall he not come ; saith Jehovah.
34 And I wUl protect this city to deliver it ;
For mine own sake, and for the sake of David my
servant.
35 And the angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in
the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and
five thousand men : and when the people arose early in
36 the morning, behold, they were all dead cgrpses. Then
Senacherib king of Assyria decamped, and departed, and
37 returned ; and dwelt at Nineveh. And as he was wor
shipping in the temple of Nisroc his god, Adramelec and
Sharetser, his sons, smote him with the sword : and they
escaped into the land of Armenia ; and Esarhaddon his
sou reigned in his stead.
CHAP. XXXVIII.
1 At that time Hezekiah was seized with a mortal sick- ¦
ness : and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amots, came
unto him ; and said unto him : Thus saith Jehovah :
Give orders concerning the affairs of thy famUy ; for
2 thou must die ; thou shalt no longer live. Then Heze
kiah turned his face to the wall ; and made his suppU-
3 cation to Jehovah. And he said : I beseech thee, 0
Jehovah, remember now, how I have endeavoured to
walk before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart ; and
have done that which is good in thine eyes. And He-
4 zekiah wept, and lamented grievously. Now [before
Isaiah was gone out into the middle. court,] the word of
Jehovah came unto him, saying: Go [back], and say
6 unto Hezekiah : Thus saith Jehovah, the God of David
thy father : I have heard thy suppUcation ; I have seen
thy tears. Behold [I wiU heal thee ; and on the third
day thou shalt go up into the house of Jehovah. And]
6 I will add imto thy days fifteen years. And I will de-

CHAP. XXXVIII.^ ISAIAH. 71
liver thee, and this city, from the hand of the king of
22 Assyria ; And I wUl protect this city. And [Hezekiah
said : By what sign shall I know, that I shall go up into
7 the house of Jehovah ? And Isaiah said : ] This shall
be the sign unto thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will
8 bring to effect this word which he hath spoken. Behold,
I will bring back the shadow' of the degrees, by which
the sun is gone down on the degrees of Ahaz, ten de
grees backward. And the sun returned backward ten de-'
grees, on the degrees by which it had gone down.
21 And Isaiah said : Let them take a lump of figs, : and they
bruised them, and applied them to the boil ; and he re
covered.
9 The writing of hezekiah king op judah, when
he had been SICK, AND WAS RECOVERED FROM HIS
SICKNESS.
10 I said, when my days were just going to be cut off,
I shaU pass through the gates of the grave ;
I am deprived of the residue of my years !
11 I said, I shall no more see Jehovah in the land of
the living !
I shall no longer behold man, with the inhabitants of
the world !
12 My habitation is taken away, and is removed from me,
like a shepherd's tent :
My Ufe is cut off, as by the weaver ; he wiU sever me
from the loom ;
In the course of the day thou wilt finish my web.
13 I roared untU the morning, like the lion ;
So did he break to pieces all my bones.
14 Like the swallow, like the crane did I twitter ;
I made a moaning like the dove.
Mine eyes fail with looking upward :
O Lord, contend thou for me ; be thou my surety.
15 What shall I say? he hath given me a promise, and
he hath performed it.
Through the rest of my years wiU I reflect on this
bitterness of my soul.
16 For this cause shall it be declared, O Jehovah, con-
concerning thee,
-That thou hast revived my spirit;

72 ISAIAH. CHAP. XXXVIII.
That thou hast restored mv health, and prolonged my
life.
17 Behold my anguish is changed into ease !
Thou hast rescued my soul from perdition ;
Yea thou hast cast behind thy back all my sins.
18 Verily the grave shall not give thanks unto thee;
death shall not praise thee ;
They that go down into the pit shaU not await thy
truth :
19 The living, the Uving, he shall praise thee, as I do
this day ;
The father to the children shall make known thy faith
fulness.
20 Jehovah was present to save me : therefore will we
sing our songs to the harp.
All the days of our Ufe, in the house of Jehovah.
CHAP. XXXIX.
1 At that time Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan
king of Babylon, sent letters, and ambassadors, and a
present to Hezekiah ; for he had heard that he had been
2 sick, and was recovered. And Hezekiah was rejoiced
at their arrival : and he shewed them his magazines, the
silver, and the gold,' and the spices, and the precious
ointment, and his whole arsenal, and all that was con
tained in his treasures : there was not any thing in his
house, and in all^ his dominion, that Hezekiah did not
shew them.
3 And Isaiah the prophet came unto king Hezekiah,
and said unto him : What say these men? and 'from
whence came they unto thee ? And Hezekiah said : They
are come to me from a distant country ; from Babylon.
4 And he said : What have they seen in, thy house ? And
Hezekiah said: They have seen every thing in my
house : there is nothing in my treasures, which I have
5 not shewn them. And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah :
Hear thou the word of Jehovah God of Hosts.
6 Behold, the day shall come, when aU that is in thy
house, and that thy fathers have treasured up unto this
day, shall be carried away to Babylon : there shall not
7 any thing be left, saith Jehovah. And of thy sons,
which shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall
they take : and they shaU be eunuchs in the palace of

Chap, xxxix. isaiah. 73
8 the king of Babylon. And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah :
Gracious is the word of Jehovah, which thou hast de
Uvered ! For, addecl he, there shall be peace, according to
his faithful promise, in my days.

CHAP. XL.
1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God :
2 Speak ye animating words to Jerusalem, and declare unto
her.
That her warfare is fulfiUed ; that the expiation of her
iniquity is accepted ;
That she shall receive at the hand of Jehovah
[Blessings] double to the punishment of all her sins.
3 A voice crieth : In tbe wilderness prepare ye the way
of Jehovah !
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God !
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and
hill be brought low ;
And the crooked shall become straight, and the rough
places a smooth plain :
5 And the glory of Jehovah shaU be revealed ;
And all flesh shaU see together the salvation of our God :
For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.
6 A voice sayeth: Proclaim! And I said. What shall
1 proclaim ?
All flesh is grass, and all its glory like the flower of the
field :
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth ;
When the wind of Jehovah bloweth upon it.
Verily this people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth ;
But the word of our God shall stand for ever.
9 Get thee up upon a high mountain, O daughter that
bringest glad tidings to Sion :
Exalt thy voice with strength, O daughter that bringest
glad tidings to Jerusalem.
Exalt it ; be not afraid :
Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God !
10 Behold, the Lord Jehovah shall come against the
strong one.
And his arm shall prevail over him.
12

74 ISAIAH. CHAP. XI.
Behold, his reward is with him, and the recompense of
his work before him. '
11 Like a shepherd shall he feed his flock ;
In his arm shall he gather up the lambs,
And shaU bear them in his bosom ; the nursing ewes
shall he gently lead.
12 Who hath measured the waters in the hoUow of his
hand ;
And hath meted out the heavens by his span ;
And hath comprehended the dust of the earth in a tierce ;
And hath weighed in scales the mountains, and the bUls
in a balance ?
13 Who hath directed the spirit of Jehovah ;
And, as one of his council, hath informed him?
14 Whom hath he consulted, that he should instruct him.
And teach him the path of judgment ;
That he should impart to him science,
And inform him in the way of understanding ?
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop from the bucket;
As the small dust of the balance shall they be accounted :
Behold, the islands he taketh up as an atom.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient for the fire ;
Nor his beasts sufficient for the burnt-offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him ;
They are esteemed by him as less than nought, and
vanity. •
18 To whom therefore wUl ye liken God ?
And what is the model of resemblance, that ye wiU pre
pare for him ?
19 The workman casteth an image ;
And the smith overlayeth it with plates of gold ;
And forgeth for it chains of silver.
20 He that cannot afford a costly oblation, chooseth a piece
of wood that wUl not rot ;
He procureth a skilful artist.
To erect an image, which shall riot be moved.
21 Will ye not know ? will ye not hear ?
Hath it not been declared to you from the beginning !
Have ye not understood it from the foundations of lh«
earth ?
22 It is He, that sitteth on the circle of the earth ;

CHAP. XL. ISAIAH. 75
And the inhabitants are to him as grasshoppers :
That extendeth the heavens, as a thin veil ;
And spreadeth them out, as a tent to dwell in :
23 That reduceth princes to nothing ;
That maketh the judges of the earth a mere inanity.
24 Yea they shaU not leave a plant behind them, they shaU
not be sown,
Their trunk shall not spread its root in the ground :
If he but blow upon them, they instantly wither ;
And the whirlwind shall bear them away Uke the stubble.
25 To whom then wiU ye liken me?
And to whom shall I be equalled ? saith the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high ;
And see, who hath created these.
He draweth forth their 'armies by number ;
He calleth them all by name :
Through the greatness of his strength, arid the mightiness
of his power.
Not one of them faileth to appear.
27 Wherefore sayest thou then, O Jacob,
And why speakest thou thus, O Israel,
My way is hidden from Jehovah,
And my cause passeth unregarded by my God.
28 Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard,
That Jehovah is the everlasting God,
The Creator of the bounds of the earth ?
¦ That he neither fainteth, nor is wearied ;
And that his understanding is unsearchable !
29 He giveth strength to the faint.
And to the infirm he multiplieth force.
30 The young men shall faint and be wearied ;
Aud the chosen youths shall stumble and faU :
31 But they that trust in Jehovah shall gather new
strength ;
They shall put forth fresh feathers like the moulting
eagle : .
They shall run, and not be wearied ;
They shall march onward, aud shall not faint.
CHAP. XLI.
1 Let the distant nations repair to me with new force of
mind ;
And let the peoples recover their strength.

76 ISAIAH. CHAP. XL^.
Let them draw near ; then let them speak ;
Let us enter into solemn debate together.
2 Who hath raised up the righteous man from the
east ;
Hath called him to attend his steps ?
Hath subdued nations at his presence ;
And given him dominion over kings ?
Hath made them like the dust before his sword ;
And like the driven stubble before his bow ?
3 He pursueth them ; he. passeth in safety ;
By a way never trodden before with his feet.
4 Who hath performed, and made these things,
Calling the several generations from the beginning ?
I Jehovah, the first ;
And with the last, I am the same.
5 The distant nations saw, and they were afraid ;
The remotest parts of the earth, and they were terrified.
They drew near, they came together ;
6 Every one assisted his neighbour.
And said to his brother, Be of good courage.
7 The carver encourageth the smith ;
He that smootheth with the hammer, him that smiteth
on the anvil ;
Saying of the solder. It is good ;
And he fixeth the idol with nails,' that it shall not move.
8 But thou, Israel,- niy servant ;
Thou, Jacob, whom I have chosen ;
The seed of Abraham my friend :
9 Thou, whom I have led by the hand from the ends of
the earth ;
And caUed from the extremities thereof;
And I said unto thee. Thou art my servant ;
I have chosen thee, and will not reject thee :
10 Fear not, for I am with, thee ;
Be not dismayed, for I am thy God.
I have strengthened thee, I have assisted thee ; v
I have even supported thee with my faithful right hand.
11 Behold, they, that were enraged against thee, shall be
' ashamed and confounded ;

chap. xli. isaiah. 77
They, that contended with thee, shall become as nothing,
and shall utterly perish.
12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even the
men that strove with thee :
They shall become as nothing, and as mere nought,
even the men that opposed thee in battle.
13 For I am Jehovah thy God, that hold thee fast by thy
right hand ;
That say unto thee. Fear not ; I arn thy helper.
14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob ; ye mortals of Israel :
I am thy helper, saith Jehovah ;
And thine avenger is the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I have made thee a thrashing wain ;
A new corn-drag armed with pointed teeth:
Thou shalt thrash the mountains, and beat them smal ;
And reduce the hills to chaff:
16 Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall bear them
away ;
And the tempest shall scatter them abroad :
But thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah ;
In the Holy One of Israel shalt thou triumph.
17 The poor and the needy seek for water, and there is
none ;
Their tongue is parched with thirst :
I Jehovah will answer them ;
The God of Israel, I will not forsake them.
18 I will open in the high places rivers ;
And in the midst of the vaUies, fountains:
I will make the desert a standing pool;
And ihe dry ground streams of waters.
19 In the wilderness I will give the cedar ;
The acacia, the myrtle, and the tree producing oil:
I will plant the fir-tree in the desert ;
The pine, and the box together :
20 That they may see, and that they may know;
And may consider, and understand at once,
That the hand of Jehovah hath done this.
And that the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
21 Draw near, produce your cause, saith Jehovah :
Produce these your mighty powers, saith the king of
Jacob. 12*

78 isaiah, chap, xli,
22 Let them approach, and tell us the things that shall
happen ;
The things that shaU first happen, what they are, let
them tell us :
And we wiU consider them ; and weshaU know the event.
Or declare to us things to come hereafter :
23 TeU us the things, that will come lo pass in later times;
Then shall we know th.at ye are Gods.
Yea, do good, or do evil ;
Then shall we be struck at orice with admiration and
terror.
24 But, behold, ye are less than nothing ;
And your operation is less than nought ;
Abhorred be the man that chooseth j'ou !
25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shaU
come ;
From the rising of the sun he shaU invoke my name :
And he shaU trample on princes, Uke the mortar ;
Even as the potter treadeth down the clay.
26 Who hath declared this from the beginning, that we
should know it?
And beforehand, that we might say. The prediction is
true ?
There was not one, that foretold it ; not one, that de-
<"lcired it ;
There was not one, that heard your words :
26 I first to Sion [give theword], Behold they are here ;
And to Jerusalem I give the messenger of glad tidings.
28 But I looked, and there was no man ;¦
And among the idols, and there was no one that gave
warning ;
29 And I inquired of them, and [there was no one] that
could return an answer.
Behold, they are aU of them vanity; their works are
nought :
Mere wind and emptiness are their moUen images.
chap. XLII.
1 Behold my servant, whom I wiU uphold ;
My chosen, in whom my soul delighteth :
I will make my spirit rest upon him ;
And he shaU publish judgment to tbe nations.

chap. XLII. ISAIAH. 79
2 He shall not cry aloud, nor raise a clamour,
Nor cause his voice to be heard in the public places :
3 The bruised reed he shaft not break ;
And the dimly burning flax he shall not quench :
He shall publish judgment, so as to establish it per
fectly.
4 His force shaU not be abated, nor broken ;
Until he hath firmly seated judgment in the earth :
And the distant nations shall earnestly wait for his law.
5 Thus saith the God, even Jehovah,
Who created the heavens, and stretched them out ;
W^ho spread abroad the earth, and the produce thereof;
Who giveth breath to the people upon it,
And spirit to them that tread thereon :
6 I Jehovah have called thee for a righteous purpose ;
And I wiU take bold of thy hand, and will preserve
thee ;
And I will give thee for a covenant to the people, for a
light to the nations :
7 To open the eyes of the blind;
To bring the captive out of confinement ;
And from the dungeon, those that dweU in darkness.
8 I am Jehovah, that is my name;
And my glory will I not give to another.
Nor my praise to the graven images.
9 The former predictions, lo ! they are come to pass ;
And new events I now declare :
Before they spring forth, I make them known unto you.
10 Sing unto Jehovah a new song ;
His praise," from the ends of the earth :
Ye that go down upon the sea, and all that fill it ;
Ye distant sea-coasts, and ye that dweU therein :
11 Let the desert cry aloud, and the cities thereof;
The villages, and they that dweU in Kedar:
Let the inhabitants of the rocky country utter a joyful
sound ;
Let them shout aloud from the top of the mountains :
12 Let them ascribe glory to Jehovah ;
And among the distant nations make known his praise.
13 Jehovah shaU march forth like a hero ;
Like a mighty warrior shaU he rouse his vengeance:

80 ISAIAH. CHAP. XLII.
He shaU cry aloud ; he shall shout amain ;
He shall exert his strength against his enemies.
14 I have long holden my peace ; shall I keep silence for
ever ?
Shall I still contain myself? I will cry out like a woman
in travail; . .
Breathing short, and drawing in my breath with vio
lence.
15 I wUI make barren the mountains and hills;
, And burn up all the grass, that is upon them :
I will make the rivers dry deserts;
And scorch up the pools of water.
16 I will lead the blind in a way, which they have not
known ;
And through paths, which they have not known, wiU I
make them go :
I will turn darkness into light before them ;
And the rugged ways into a smooth plain.
These things wiU 1 do for them, and wiU not forsake
them.
17 They are turned backward, they are utterly confound
ed, who trust in the graven image ;
Who say unto the molten image. Ye are our gods !
18 Hear, O ye deaf;
And, ye blind, look attentively, that ye may see !
19 Who is blind, but my servant ;
And deaf, as he to whom I have sent my messengers?
Who is blind, as he who is perfectly instructed ;
And deaf, as tbe servant of Jehovah ?
20 Thou hast seen indeed, yet thou dost not regard ;
Thine ears are open, yet thou wilt not hear.
21 Yet Jehovah was gracious unto him, for his truth's
sake :
He hath exalted his own praise, and made it glorious.
22 But this is a people spoiled and plundered :
AH'lheir chosen youths are taken in the toils.
And are plunged in the dark dungeons :
They aie become a spoil, and there was none to rescue
them ;
A phihder, and no one said, Restore.

chap. XLII, ISAIAH. 81
23 Who is thiere among you, that wiU listen to this ;
That wUI hearken, and attend to it, for the future?
24 Who hath given Jacob for a spoil ;
And Israel to the plunderers 1
Was it not Jehovah ; He, against whom they have
sinned;
In whose ways they would not walk ;
And whose law I hey would not obey ?
25 Tberefore poured he out upon them the heat of his
wrath, and the violence of war :
And it kindled a flame round about him, yet he did not
regard it ;
And it set him on fire, yet he did not consider it. "
chap. XLIII.
1 Yet now^, thus sailh Jehovah ;
Who created thee, O Jacob ; and who formed thee, O
Israel :
Fear thou not, for I have redeemed thee ;
I have called thee by thy name ; thou art mine.
2 When thoi» passest ihro"ugh waters, I am with thee;
And through rivers, they shall not overwhelm thee:
When thou walkest in the fire, thou shalt hot be
scorched ;
And ihe flauie shall not take hold of thee.
3 For I am Jehov.^h, ihy God ;
The Holy One of Israel, ihy redeemer :
I have given Egypt for thy ransom ;
Cu.sh, and Saba, in tby stead.
4 Because thou has^t been precious in my sight.
Thou hast been honoured, and I have loved thee:
Therefore will I give men instead of thee ;
Aud peoples instead of thy soul.
5 Fear thou not, for I am with thee :
Frorri the east I will bring thy children,
And from the west I will gather thee together :
6 I will say to the north. Give up ;
And to the south, Wiihhold not :
Bring my sons from ai'ar ;
And my daughters from the ends of the earth :
7 Every one that is called by my name.
Whom for my glory I have created ;
Whom I have formed, yea whom I have made.

82 ISAIAH. CHAP. XLIII.
8 Bring forth the people, blind, although they have
eyes;
And deaf, although they have ears.
9 Let all the nations be gathered together.
And let the peoples be collected.
Who among them will declare this ;.
And will tell us, what first shall come to pass ?
Let them produce their witnesses, that they may be jus
tified :
Or let them hear in their turn, and say. This is true,
10 Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah ;
Even my servant, whom I have chosen :
That ye may know, and believe me ;
And understand, that I am He.
Before me no god was formed ;
And after me none shaft exist.
11 I, even 1, am Jehovah ;
And beside me there is no saviour.
12 I declared my purpose, and I have saved :
I made it known ; nor was it any strange god among
you :
And ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, that I am
God.
13 Even before time was, I am He ;
And there is none that can rescue out of my hand :
I work ; and who shaU undo what 1 have done ?

14 Thus saith Jehovah,
Your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel :
For your sake have I sent unto Babylon ;
And I will bring down all her strong bars;
And the Cha,ldeans, exulting in their ships :
15 I am Jehovah, your Holy One;
The creator of Israel, your king.
16 Thus saith Jehovah ;
Who made a way in the sea.
And a path in the mighty waters ;
17 Who brought forth the rider and the horse, the army and
the warrior ;
Together they lay down, they rose no more ;
They were extinguished, they were quenched like tow:

CHAP. XLIII. ISAIAH. 83
18 Remember not the former things ;
And the things of ancient limes regard not ;
19 Behold, I make a new thing ;
Even now shall it spring forth : will ye not regard it ?
Yea I will make in the wilderness a way ;
In the desert, streams of water.
20 The wild beast of the field shall glorify me ;
The dragons, and the daughters of the ostrich :
Because I have given waters in ihe wilderness ;
And flowing streams in the desert ;
To give drink lo my people,, my chosen :
21 This people, whom I have formed for myself;
Who shall recount my praise.
22 But thou hast not invoked me, 0 Jacob ;
Neither on my account hast thou laboured, O Israel.
23 Thou hast not brought lo me the lamb of thy burnt-
offering ;
Neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices :
I have not burlhened thee with exacting oblations ;
Nor wearied thee with demands of frankihcense :
24 Thou hast not purchased for me with sUver the aromatic
reed ;
Neither hast thou satiated me with the fat of thy sacri
fices.
On the contrary, thou hast burthened me with thy sins;
Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
25 I, even I, am He ;
I blot out thy transgressions for mine own sake ;
And ihy sins I will not remember.
26 Remind me of thy plea: let us be judged on equal
terms :
Set forth thine own cause, that thou mayest clear thy
self.
27 Thy chief leader hath sinned ;
And thy public teachers have revolted from me;
28 And thy princes have profaned my sanctuary :
Therefore will I give up Jacob for a devoted thing.
And Israel to reproach.
CHAP. XLIV.
1 But hear now, 0 Jacob, my servant ;
And Israel, whom I have chosen :
2 Thus sailh Jehovah, thy maker ;

84 ISAIAH. CHiP. XLIV.
And he that formed thee from the womb, and wiU help
thee:
Fear thou not, O my servant Jacob ;
And, O Jeshurun, whom I have chosen :
3 For I will pour out waters on the thirsty ;
And fiowing streams on the dry ground :
I wUl pour out my spirit on thy seed ;
And my blessing on thine offspring.
4 And they shaU spring up as the grass among the waters ;
As the willows beside the aqueducts.
5 One shaU say ; I belong to Jehovah ;
And another shall be called by the name of Jacob :
And this shaU inscribe his hand to Jehovah ;
And shall be surnamed by the name of Israel.
6 Thus saith Jehovah, the king of Israel ;
And his redeemer, Jehovah God of Hosts :
I am the first, and I am the last ;
And beside me there is no God.
7 And who is like me, that he should call forth this event,
And make it known beforehand, and dispose it for me.
From the time that I appointed the people of the destined
age ?
The things that are now coming, and are to come hereaf
ter, let them declare unto us.
8 Fear ye not, neither be ye afraid :
Have I not declared it unto you from the first ?
Yea, I have foreshewn it ; and ye are my witnesses.
Is there a God beside me ?
Yea, there is no other sure protector ; I know not any.
9 They that form the graven image are aU of them vanity ;
And their riiost curious works shall not profit.
Yea, their works themselves bear witness to them;
That they see not, and that they understand not :
10 That every one may be ashamed, that he hath formed a
god.
And cast a graven image, that profiteth not.
11 Behold, all his associates shaU be ashamed ;
Even the workmen themselves shall blush :
They shall assemble aU of them ; they shaU present
themselves ;
They shall fear, and be ashamed together.

chap. xliv. ISAIAH. 85

12 The smith cutteth off a portion of iron :
He worketh it in the coals, and with hammers he form-
elh it ;
And he exerleth upon it the force of his arm.
Yea, he is hungry, tnd his strength faUelh him ;
He drinketh no water, and he is faint.
13 The carpenter stretcheth his line ;
He marketh out the form of it "with red ochre :
He worketh it with the sharp tool ;
He figureth it with the compass :
He maketh it according to the fashion of a man ;
According to the beauty of the human form, that it may
abide in the house.
14 He heweth down cedars for his use :
And he taketh the pine, and the oak ;
And layeth in good store of the trees of the forest.
He planteth the ash, and the rain nourisheth it ;
15 That it may be for the use of man, for fuel :
And he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself;
Yea he beateth the oven with it, and baketh bread :
He also formeth a god, and worshippeth it :
He maketh of it a graven image, and boweth down unto
it.
16 Part of it he burneth in the fire ;
And with part of it he dresseth flesh, and eateth :
He roasteth meat, and his hunger is satisfied ;
He also warmeth himself, and sayeth,
Aha ! I am warmed, I have enjoyed the fire :
17 And the remainder thereof he maketh a god, even his
graven image ;
He boweth down to it, and worshippeth it :
And he prayeth unto it, and sayeth ;
Deliver me, for thou art my God !
18 They know not, neither do they understand :
Verily their eyes are closed up, that they cannot '
And their heart, that they cannot rightly discr* '
19 Neither doth he consider in his heart ;
Neither hath he knowledge, nor understa-' ^' ° ^^^ •'
Part of it I have bUrned in the fire ; ^^.^^^ .
I have also baked bread on the coals. " '
I have roasted flesh, and I have c^'omin ation "2
And shall I make the remnant p '
13

86 ISAIAH. CHAP. XLIV,
ShaU I how myself down to the stock of a tree ?
20 He feedeth on ashes ; a deluded heart leadeth him aside.;
So that he cannot deliver his own soul, nor say.
Is there not a lie in my right hand?
21 Remember these things, O Jacol>;
And, Israel ; for thou art my servant :
I have formed thee ; thou art a servant unto me ;
O Israel, by" me thou shalt not be forgotten,
22 I have made thy transgressions vanish away like a cloud ;
And thy sins Uke a vapour :
Return unto me ; for I have redeemed thee,
23 Sing, 0 ye heavens, for Jehovah hath effected it ;
Utter a joyfiil sound, 0 ye depths of the earth :
Burst forth into song, O ye mountains ;
Thou, forest, and every tree therein !
For Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob ;
And wiU be glorified in Israel.
24 Thus saith Jehovah, thy.redeemer ;
Even he, that formed thee from the womb :
I am Jehovah, who make aU things ;
Who stretch out the heavens alone :
Who spread the firm earth by mj'self :
25 I am he, who frustrateth the prognostics of the impos
tors ;
And maketh the diviners mad :
Who reverseth the devices of the sages,
And infatuateth their knowledge :
*?6 Who establisheth the word of his servant ;
And accomplisheth the counsel of his messengers :
^ho sayeth to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited ;
"T*' to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built ;
"Wii '' "Ifisolated places I will restore :
A d°T w*''^ ^^ ^^^ Aee^, Be thou .wasted ;
9ft Who save'K^^® '^'¦y ^^^ "^^''^ =
^' Tnd heSl ?m Thou art my shepherd!
Wh aveth to^^ ^^' ^^ pleasure :
• And" to Ihe templ^«'«"l' ^hou shalt be built ;
¦^ ^hy foundations shall be laid.

chap. xlv. isaiah. 87

CHAP. XLV.
1 Thus saith Jehovah to bis anointed ;
To Cyrus, whom I hold fast by the right hand :
That I may subdue nations before him ;
And ungird the loins of kings :
That I may open before him the valves ;
And the gales shall not be shut.
2 I wUl go before thee ;
And make the mountains level :
The valves of brass I will break in .sunder ;
And the bars of iron will I hew down.
3 And I will give unto thee the treasures of darkness.
And the stores deep hidden in secret places :
That thou mayest know, that I am Jehovah ;
He that calleth thee by thy name, the God of Israel.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob ;
And of Israel, my chosen ;
1 have even called thee by thy name ;
I have surnamed thee, though thou knowest me not.
5 I am Jehovah, and none else ;
Beside me there is no God :
I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me.
6 That they may know, from the rising of the sun.
And from the west, that there is none beside me :
I am Jehovah, ahd none else ;
7 Forming light, and creating darkness ;
Making peace, and creating evU ;
I Jehovah am the author of all these things.

8 Drop down, 0 ye heavens, the dew from above ;
And let the clouds shower down righteousness :
Let the earth open her bosorn, and let salvation produce
her fruit ;
And let justice push forth her bud together :
I Jehovah have created it,
9 Wo unto him, that contendeth with the power that
forined him ;
The potsherd with the moulder of the clay 1
_Shall the clay say to the poller. What makest thou
And to the workman, Thou bast no bands ?
10 Wo imlo him tbat sayeth to his father, What begettest thou ?
And to his mother. What dost thou bring forth ?

88 isaiah. chap, xlt.

11 Thus sailh Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel ;
And he that formeth the things, which are to come :
Do ye question me concerning my children ?
And do ye give me directions concerning the works of
my hands ?
12 I have made the earth ;
And man upon it I have created :
My hands have stretched out the heavens ;
And to aU the host of them I have given command :
13 I have raised' him up in righteousness ;
And I v/ill make level all his ways.
He shaU build my city, and release my captives ;
Not for price, nor for reward :
Saith Jehovah God of Hosts.
14 Thus saith Jehovah :
The wealth of Egypt, and the merchandise of Cush,
And the' Sabeans tall of stature.
Shall come over to thee, and shall be thine :
They shaft follow^ thee ; in chains shall they pass along ;
They shall bow down to thee, and in suppUant guise ad
dress thee :
In thee alone is God ;
And there is no God besides whatever.
15 Verily, thou art a God that hidest thy counsels,
0 God of Israel, the saviour !
16 Thejr are ashamed, lltey are even confounded, his ad
versaries, all of Ihem ;
Togeiher they retire in confusion, the fabricators of im
ages.
,i7 But Israel shall be saved in Jehovah with eternal sal
vation : .
Ye shall not be ashamed, neither shaU ye be confounded,
to the ages of eternity.
18 For thus saith 'Jehovah,
Who created the heavens ; he is God :
Who formed the earth and made it ; he hath estabUshed
it:
He created it not in vain ; for he forined it to be inha
bited :

CHAP. XLV, isaiah.

8d

I am Jehovah, and none besides :
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth ;
I have not said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain :
I am Jehovah, who speak truth ; who give direct
answers.
20 Assemble yourselves togeiher, and come ;
Gather yourselves together, ye that are escaped from
among the nations.
They know nothing, that carry about the wood, which
they have carved ;
That address themselves in prayer to a god, which can
not save.
21 Publish it abroad, and bring them near ; and let them
consult together :
Who hath made this known long before, hath declared it
from the first ?
Is it not I Jehovah, than whom there is no other God ?
A God, that uttereth truth, and granteth salvation ; there
is none beside me ?
22 Look unto me, and be saved, O all ye remote people of
the earth ;
For 1 am God, and there is none else.
23 By myself have I sworn ; truth is gone forth from my
mouth ;
The word, and it shall not be revoked :
Surely to me shall every knee bow, shall every tongue swear:
24 Saying, Only to Jehovah belongeth salvation and power :
To him they shall come ; they shall be ashamed, aU that
are incensed against him :
25 In Jehovah shall be justified, and make their boast, all
the seed of Israel.
CHAP. XLVI.
1 Bel boweth down, Nebo croucheth ;
Their idols are laid on the beasts and the cattle ;
Their burthens are heavy, a grievous weight to the weary
beast.
2 They crouched, they bowed down together :
They could not deliver their own charge ;
Even they themselves are gone into captivity.
3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob ;
And aU ye the remnant of the house of Israel :
13*

90 isaiah, chap, xlvi.
Ye that have been borne by me from the birth ;
That have been carried from the womb,
4 And even to your old age, I am the same ;
And even to your grey hairs, I will carry you,
I have made, and I wftl bear ;
I will carry, and will deUver you.
5 To whom wiU ye Uken me, and equal me ?
And to whom wftl ye compare me, that we may be Uke 1
6 Ye that lavish gold out of the bag ;
And that weigh silver in the balance ?
They hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god :
They worship him ; yea they prostrate themselves before
him.
7 They bear him on the shoulder ; they carry him about ;
They set him down in his place, and he standeth :
From his place he shall not remove ;
To him that crieth unto him, he wiU not answer ;
Neither will he deliver him from his distress.
8 Remember this, and shew yourselves men ;
Reflect on it deeply, O ye apostates.
9 Remember the former things, of old tinie :
Verily I am God, and none else ;
I am God, nor is there any thing like me.
10 From the beginning making known the end ;
And from early times, the things that are not yet done ;
Saying, My counsel shall stand ;
And whatever I have willed. I will effect.
11 CaUing from the east the eagle ;
And from a land far distant, the man of my counsel :
As I have spoken, so wftl I bring it to pass ;
I have formed the design, and I will execute it.
12 Hearken unto me, O ye stubborn of heart ;
Ye that are far distant from deliverance :
13 1 bring my promised deUverance near, it sh'aU not be far
distant ;
And my salvation shall not be delayed.
And I wftl give in Sion salvation ;
To Israel I wftl give my glory.

chap, xlvii. isaiah, 91

CHAP. XLVII.
1 Descend, and sit on the dust, 0 virgin daughter of
Babylon ;
Sit on the bare ground without a throne, O daughter of
the Chaldeans :
For thou shalt no longer be called the tender, and the
delicate.
2 Take the mill, and grind the corn :
Uncover thy locks, disclose thy flowing hair ;
Make bare thy leg ; wade through the rivers.
3 Thy nakedness shaft be uncovered ; even thy shame shall
be seen :
I vn[l take full vengeance ; neither will I suffer man to in
tercede with me.
4 Our avenger, Jehovah God of Hosts,
The Holy One of Israel, is his name !
5 Sh thou in sftence, go into darkness, O daughter of the
Chaldeans ;
For thou shalt no longer be called the lady of the king
doms.
6 I was angry with my people ; I profaned my heritage ;
And I gave them up into thy hand :
Thou didst not shew mercy unto them ;
Even upon the aged didst thou greatly aggravate the
weight of thy yoke.
7 And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever :
Because thou didst not attentively consider these things ;
Thou didst not think on what was in the end to befaft
thee.
8 But hear now this, O thou voluptuous, that sittest in se
curity ;
Thou that sayest in thy heart, I am, and there is none
else ;
I shall not sit a widow ; I shall not know the loss of chil
dren.
9 Yet shaft these two things come upon thee in a moment ;
In one day, loss of chUdren and widowhood :
On a sudden shaft they come upon thee ;
Notwithstanding the multitude of thy sorceries, and the
great strength of thine enchantments.

92 ISAIAH. CHAP, XLVII.
10 But thou didst trust in thy wickedness, and saidst. None
seeth me :
Thy wisdom and thy knowledge have perverted thy
mind ;
So that thou hast said in thy heart, I am, and there is
none besides.
11 Therefore evil shaft come upon thee, which thou shalt not
know how to deprecate ;
And mischief shall faft upon thee, which thou shalt not
be able to expiate ;
And destruction shall come upon thee suddenly, of which.
thou shalt have no apprehension.
12 Persist now in thine enchantments ;
And in the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou
hast laboured from thy youth :
If peradventure thou mayest be profited, if thou mayest be
strengthened by them.
13 Thou art wearied in the multiplicity of thy counsels :
Let them stand up now, and save thee ;
The observers of the heavens, the gazers on the Stars ;
They that prognosticate at every new moon,
What are the events, that shall happen unto thee.
14 Behold they shall be like stubble ; the fire shaU burn
them up :
They shall not deliver their own souls from the power
of the flame ;
Not a coal to warm one, not a fire to sit by, shall be left
of them.
15 Such shall these be unto thee, with whom thou hast la
boured ;
Thy negociators, with whom thou hast dealt from thy
youth :
Every one shall turn aside to his own business ; none
shall deliver thee,
CHAP. XLVIII.
1 Hear this, O house of Jacob ;
Ye that are called by the name of Israel :
Ye that flow from the fountain of Judah ;
Ye that swear by the name of Jehovah,
And publicly acknowledge the God of Israel ;
But not in sincerity, nor in truth :
.2 Who take their name from the Holy City,

chap. XLVIII, ISAIAH. 93
And make the God of Israel their support;
Jehovah God of Hosts is his name :
3 The former things I shewed unto you from the first ;
And from my mouth they proceeded, and I declared
them :
On a sudden I effected them, and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew, that thou wast obstinate.
And that thy neck was a sinevi' of iron.
And that thy front was brass :
5 Therefore I shewed them unto thee from the first ;
Before they should come to pass, I made thee hear them :
Lesif thou shouldst say, Mine idol hath caused them ;
And my graven and my molten image hath directed them,
6 Thou didst hear it beforehand ; behold, the whole is ac
complished :
And wift ye not openly acknowledge this ?
From this lime I make thee hear new things.
Kepi secret hitherto, and of which thou hast no know
ledge :
7 They are produced now, and not of old ;
And before this day thou hast not heard them :
Lest thou shouldst sayj Lo ! I knew them.
8 Yea, thou hast not heard, thou hast not known.
Yea, from the first thine ear was not opened to receive
them :
For 1 knew, that thou wouldst certainly deal falsely,
And that Apostate was thy name from thy birth.
9 For the sake of my name I will defer mine anger ;
And for the sake of my praise I will restrain it from thee,
That I may not utterly cut thee off.
10 Behold, I have purified thee in the fire, but not as silver ;
I have tried thee in the furnace of affliction.
11 For mine own sake wift I do it ; for how would my name
be blasphemed ?
And my glory I will not give to another.
12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob my servant ;
And Israel, whom I have caUed.
I am He ; I am the first, and I am the last :
13 Yea my hand hath founded the earth ;
And my right hand hath spanned the heavens :
I summon them ; they present themselves together.

94 ISAIAH. CHAP. XLVlIl,
14 Gather yourselves together all of you, and hear :
Who among you hath predicted these things ?
He, whom Jehovah hath loved, wiU execute
His will on Babylon, and his power on the Chaldeans,
15 I, even I, have spoken ; yea I have cafted him :
I have brought him, and his way shaft prosper.
16 Draw near unto me, and hear ye this :
From the beginning I have not spoken in secret ;
Before the time when it began to exist, I had decreed it.
And now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his
Spirit.
17 Thus saith Jehovah,
Thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel :
I am Jehovah, thy God ;
Who teacheth thee what wift tend to thy profit ;
Who directeth thee in the way wherein thou shouldst go.
18 O that thou hadst attended to my commands !
Then had thy prosperity been like the river ;
And thy blessedness, as the floods of the sea :
19 And thy seed had been as the sand ;
And tbe issue of thy bowels, Uke that of the bowels
thereof:
Thy name should not be cut off, nor destroyed from be
fore me.
20 Come ye forth from Babylon ; flee ye from the land of
the Chaldeans v/ith the voice of joy :
Publish ye this, and make it heard ; utter it forth even to
the end of the earth :
Say ye, Jehovah hath redeemed his servant Jacob ;
21 They thirsted not in the deserts, through which he made
them go ;
Waters ftom the rock he caused to flow for them ;
Yea he clave the rock, and forth gushed the waters.
22 There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the wicked.

chap. xlix.
1 Hearken unto me, 0 ye distant lands ;
And ye peoples, attend from afar.
Jehovah fi'om the womb hath caUed me ;

CHAP. XLIX. ISAIAH. 95
From the bowels of my mother hath he mentioned my
name.
2 And he hath made my mouth a sharp sword ;
In the shadow of his hand he hath concealed me :
Yea he hath made me a poftshed shaft ;
He hath laid me up in .store in his quiver :
3 And he hath said unto me. Thou art my servant ;
Israel, in whom I wift be glorified.
4 And I said : I have laboured in vain ;
For nought, and for vanity, I have spent my strength :
Nevertheless my cause is wfth Jehovah ;
And the reward of my work with my God.
6 And now thus saith Jehovah,
(Who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
To bring back again Jacob unto him,
And that Israel unto him may be gathered :
Therefore am I glorious in the eyes of Jehovah,
And my God is my strength ) :
6 It is a small thing for thee, that thou shouldst be my ser
vant.
To raise up the scions of Jacob,
And to restore the branches of Israel :
I will even give thee for a light to the nations.
To be my salvation to the end of the earth.
7 Thus saith Jehovah,
The redeemer of Israel, his Holy One ;
To him, whose person is despised, whom the nation holds
in abhorrence ;
To the subject of rulers :
Kings shall see him, and rise up ;
Princes, and they shall worship him :
For the sake of Jehovah, who is faithful;
Of the Holy One of Israel, for he hath chosen thee,
8 Thus saith Jehovah :
In the season of acceptance have I heard thee.
And in the day of salvation have 1 helped thee ;
And I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of
the people ;
To restore the land, to give possession of the desolate her
itages.
9 Saying to the bounden, Go forth ;
And to those that are in darkness, Appear :

96 ISAIAH. CHAP. XLIX,
They shaft feed beside the ways.
And on all the eminences shall be their pasture.
10 They shaU not hunger, nekher shall they thirst ;
Neither shaU the glowing heat, or the sun, smite them :
For he, that hath compassion on them, shaU lead them ;
And shall guide them to the bursting springs of water.
11 And I will, make all my mountains an even way ;
And my causeways shall be raised on high.
12 Lo ! these shall come from afar ;
And lo ! these from the north and the west ;
And these from the land of Sinim.
13 Sing aloud, O ye heavens ; and rejoice, O earth ;
Ye mountains, burst forth into song :
For Jehovah hath comforted his people,
And will have compassion on his afflicted.
14 But Sion sayeth : Jehovah hath forsaken me ;
And my Lord hath foi"gotten me.
15 Can a woman forget her sucking infant ;
That she should have no tenderness for the son of her
womb?
Even these may forget ;
But I wftl not forget thee.
16 Behold, on the palms of my hands have I delineated
thee :
Thy walls are for ever in my sight.
17 They, that destroyed thee, shall soon become thy buftd-
ers;
And they, that laid thee waste, shaft become thine off
spring.
18 Lift up thine eyes around, and see ;
All these are gathered together, they come to thee.
As I Uve, saUh Jehovah,
Surely thou shalt clothe thyself with them aU, as with a
rich dress ;
And bind them about thee, as a bride her jewels.
19 For thy waste, and thy desolate places.
And thy land laid in ruins ;
Even now it shaU be straitened with inhabitants ;
And they, that devoured thee, shaU be removed far away,
20 The sons, of whom thou wast bereaved, shaU yet say in
thine ears :

chap, xlix. ISAIAH. 97
This place is too strait for me ; make room for me, that
I may dwell.
21 And thou shalt say in thine heart : Who hath begotten
me these?
I was bereaved of my children, and solitary ;
An exile, and an outcast ; who then hath nursed these up ?
Lo ! I was abandoned, aud alone ; these then, where
were they ?
22 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah :
Behold, I will ftft up my hand to the nations ;
And to the peoples will 1 exalt my signal ;
And they shall bring thy sons in their bosom.
And thy daughters shall be borne on their shoulder :
'i23 And kings shnll be thy foster-fathers.
And their queens thy nursing mothers:
With their faces to the earth they shall bow down unto
thee.
And shall lick the dust of thy feet.
And thou shalt know, that 1 am Jehovah ;
And that they, who trust in him, shall not be ashamed.
24 Shall the spoil be. taken away from the mighty ?
Or shaft the prey seized by the terrible be rescued?
25 Yea, thus sailh Jehovah :
Even the prey of the mighty shall be retaken ;
And the spoil seized by the terrible shall be rescued :
For with those., that contend with thee, I wftl contend ;
And thy children I wift deliver.
26 And I wftl gorge thine oppressors with their own flesh ;
And with their own blood, as with new wine, -wift I
drench them :
And all flesh shall know,
That I Jehovah am thy saviour ;
And that thy redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.
CHAP. L.
1 Thus saith Jehovah :
Where is this bill of your mother's divorcement^
By which I dismissed her ?
Or who is he among my creditors,
To whom I have sold you ?
Behold, for your iniquities are ye sold ;
And for your transgressions is your mother dismissed.
14

98 ISAIAH. CHAP. 1,
2 Wherefore came I, and there was no man ?
Called I, and none answered ?
Is then my hand so greatly shortened, that I cannot re
deem ?
And have I no power lb deliver ?
Behold, at my rebuke I make dry the sea ;
I make the rivers a desert :
Their fish is dried up, because there is no water ;
And dielh away for thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness ;
And sackcloth I make their covering.

4 The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of the
learned ;
That I might know how to speak a seasonable word to
the weary.
He wakeneth, morning by morning.
He wakeneth mine ear, to hearken with the attention of
a learner.
5 The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear ;
And I was not rebellious ;
Nefther did I withdraw myself backward.
6 1 gave my back to the smiters.
And my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair :
My face I hid not from shame and spitting.
7 For the Lord Jehovah is my helper ;
Therefore I am not ashamed. .
Therefore have I set my face as a flint ;
And I know, that I shall not be confounded.
8 He that justifieth me is near at hand :
Who is he that will contend with me ? let us stand forth
together :
Who is mine adversary ? let him come on to the contest,
9 Behold, the Lord Jehovah is my advocate :
Who is he that shaft condemn me ?
Lo ! all of them shall wax old as a garment ;
The moth shall consume them.
10 Who is there among you, that feareth Jehovah ?
Let him hearken unto the voice of his servant :
That walketh in darkness, and hath no Ught ?
Let him trust in the name of J.ehova"h ;

OHAP. L, ISAIAH. 99
And rest himself on the support of his God.
11 Behold, aft ye who kindle a fire ;
Who heap the fuel round about :
Walk ye in the Ught of your fire.
And of the fuel, which ye have kindled,
This ye shall have at my hand ;
Ye shall lie down in sorrow.
CHAP. LI.
1 Hearken unto me, ye that pursue righteousness.
Ye that seek Jehovah.
Look unto the rock, from whence ye were hewn ;
And to the hollow of the cave, whence ye were digged.
2 Look unto Abraham your father ;
And unto Sarah, who bore you :
For I called him, being a single person.
And I blessed him, and I multiplied him.
3 Thus therefore shall Jehovah console Sion ;
He shall console all her desolations :
And he shall make her wilderness like Eden ;
And her desert like the garden of Jehovah :
.Toy and gladness shall be found in her ;
Thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
4 Attend unto me, O ye peoples ;
And give ear unto me, O ye nations:
For the law from me shaft proceed ;
And my judgment will I cause to break forth for a light
to the peoples.
6 My righteousness is' at hand ; n)y salvation goeth forth ;
And mine arm shaft dispense judgment to the peoples :
Me the distant lands shaft expect ;
And to mine arm shall they look with confidence.
6 Lift up unto the heavens your eyes ;
And look down unto the earth beneath :
Verily the heavens shaft dissolve, like smoke ;
And the earth shall wax old, like a garment ;
And its inhabitants shall perish, like the vilest insect :
But my salvation shall endure for ever ;
And my righteousness shall not decay.
7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness ;
The people, in whose heart is my law :
Fear not the reproach of wretched man ;

100 ISAIAH, CHAP, LI.
Neither be ye borne down by their reviUngs,
8 For the moth shall consume them, like a garment ;
And the worm shall eat them, Uke wool :
But ray righteousness shall endure for ever ;
And my salvation to the age of ages.
9 Awake, awake, clothe thyself with strength, O arm
of Jehovah !
Awake, as in the days of old, the ancient generations.
Art thou not the same that smote Rahab, that wounded
the dragon ?
10 Art thou not the same, that dried up the sea, the waters
of the great deep ?
That made the depths of the sea a path for the redeemed
to pass through ?
11 Thus shaft the ransomed of Jehovah return.
And come to Sion witii loud acclamation :
And everiasting gladness shall crown their heads ;
Joy and gladness shaft they obtain.
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you :
Who art thou, that thou shouldst fear wretched man, that
dieth ;
And the son of man, that shaft become as the grass ?
13 And shouldst forget Jehovah thy maker,
Who stretched out the heavens, and founded the earth ;
And shouldst every day be in continued fear.
Because of the fury of the oppressor.
As if he were just ready to destroy ?
And where now is the fury of the oppressor ?
14 He marcheth on wfth speed, who cometh to set free the
captive ;
That he may not die in the dungeoh.
And that his bread may not faft.
15 For I am Jehovah thy God ;
He, who stilleth at once the sea, though the waves there
of roar ;
Jehovah God of Hosts is his name.
16 I have put my words in thy mouth ;
And with the shadow of my hand have I covered thee :
To stretch out the heavens, and to lay the foundations of
the earth ;
And to say unto Sion, Thou art my people.

CHAP. LI. ISAIAH. 101
17 Rouse thyself, rouse thyself up ; arise, O Jerusalem !
Who hast drunken from the hand of Jehovah the cup of
his fury :
The dregs of the cup of trembling thou hast drunken,
. thou hast wrung them out.
18 There is not one to lead her, of aU the sons which she
hath brought forth ;
Neither is there one to support her by the hand, of aft the
sons which she hath educated.
19 These two things have befallen thee ; who sliaU bemoan
thee?
Desolation, and destruction ; the famine, and the sword ;
who shall comfort thee?
20 Thy sons lie astounded ; they are cast down ;
At the head of aft the streets, like the oryx taken in the
toils ;
Drenched to the full with the fury of Jehovah, with the
rebuke of thy God.
21 Wherefore hear now this, O thou afflicted daughter ; ]
And thou drunken, but not with wine.
22 Thus sEuih thy Lord Jehovah ;
And thy God, who avengeth his people :
Behold, I take from thy hand the cup of trembling ;
The dregs of the cup of my fury ;
Thou shalt drink of it again no more.
33 But I will put it into the hand of them who oppress
thee ;
Who say to thee. Bow down thy body, that we may go
over :
And thou layedst down thy back, as the ground ;
And as the street, to them that pass along.

CHAP. LII.
1 Awake, awake ; be clothed with thy strength, O Sion :
Clothe thyself with thy glorious garments, O Jerusalem,
thou holy city !
For no more shaU enter into thee the uncircumcised and
the polluted.
2 Shake thyself from the dust, ascend thy lofty seat, O Je
rusalem :
Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive
daughter of Sion !
14* .

102 ISAIAH. CHAP. LII.
3 For thUs saith Jehovah :
For nought were ye sold ;
And not with money shall ye be ransomed.
4 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah :
My people went down to Egypt,
At the first, to sojourn there;
And the Assyrian, at the last, hath oppressed them.
5- Aud now, what have I more to do, saith Jehovah :
Seeing that my people is taken away for nought ;
And they, that are lords over them, make their boast of
it, saith Jehovah ;
And continually every day is my name exposed to con
tempt ?
6 Therefore shaft my people know my name in that day :
For I am he, Jehovah, that promised ; and lo ! here I
am !
7 How beautiful appear on the mountains
The feet of the joyful messenger ; of him, that announc
eth peace !
Of the joyful messenger of good tidings ; of him, that an
nounceth salvation !
Of him, that sayeth unto Sion, Thy God reigneth 1
8 All thy watchmen lift up their voice ; they shout, toge
ther:.
For face to face shall they see, when Jehovah returnetb
to Sion.
9 Burst forth into joy, shout together, ye ruins of Jerusa
lem !
For Jehovah hath comforted his people ; he hath re
deemed Israel.
10 Jehovah hath made bare his holy arm, in the sight of all
the nations ;
And all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of
our God.
1 1 Depart, depart ye, go ye out from thence ; touch no
polluted thing :
Go ye out from the midst of her ; be ye clean, ye that;
bear the vessels of Jehovah !
12 Verily not in haste shall ye go forth ;
And not by flight shaU ye march along :
For Jehovah shall march in your front ;
And the God of Israel shaU bring up your rear.

Chap. lii. isaiAh. 103

13 Behold, my servant shall prosper ;
He shall be raised aloft, and magnified, and very highly
exalted.
14 As many were astonished at him ;
(To such a degree was his countenance disfigured, more
than that of man ;
And his form, more than the sons of men ) ;
15 So shall he sprinkle many nations:
Before him shall kings shut their mouths ;
For what was not before declared to tbem, they shall
see,
And what they had not heard, they shall attentively con
sider.
chap. liii.
1 Who hath believed our report ;
And to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been manifested?
2 For he groweth up in their sight Uke a tender sucker ;
And like a root from a thirsty soil:
He hath no form, nor any beauty, that we should regard
him ;
Nor is his countenance such, that we should desire him.
3 Despised, nor accounted in the number of men ;
A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
As one that hideth his face from us r
He was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely our infirmities he hath borne ;
And our sorrows, he hath carried them :
Yet we thought him judicially stricken ;
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions ;
Was smitten for our iniquities :
The chastisement, by which our peace is effected, was
laid upon him ;
And by his bruises we are healed.
6 We all of us like sheep have strayed ;
We have turned aside, every one to his own way ;
And Jehovah hath made to light upon him the iniquity
of us aU.
7 It was exacted, and he was made answerable ; and he
opened not bis mouth :
As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

104 isaiah. chap. LIU.
And as a sheep before her shearers
Is dumb ; so he opened not his mouth.
8 By an oppressive judgment he was tak^n off;
And his manner of life who would declare ?
For he was cut off from the land of the living ;
For the transgression of my people he was smitten to death.
9 And his grave was appointed with the wicked ;
But with the rich man was his tomb.
Although he had done no wrong,
Neither was there any guile in his mouth ;
10 Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush him with affliction.
If his soul shaft make a propitiatory sacrifice,
He shall see a seed, which shall prolong their days.
And the gracious purpose of Jehovah shaft prosper in
his hands.
1 1 Of the travaft of his soul he shall see [the fruit], and be
satisfied :
By the knowledge of him shall my servant justify many;
For the punishment of their iniquities he shall bear.
12 Therefore wiU I distribute to him the many for his por
tion ;
And the mighty people shall he share for his spoil :
Because he poured out his soul unto death ;
And was numbered with the transgressors :
And he bare the sin of many ;
And made intercession for the transgressors.
CHAP. LIV.
1 Shout for joy, O thou barren, that didst not bear ;
Break forth into joyful shouting, and exult, thou that
didst not travail :
For more are the children of the desolate,
Than of the married woman, saith Jehovah.
2 Enlarge the place of thy tent ;
And let the canopy of thy habitation be extended :
Spare not ; lengthen thy cords.
And firmly fix thy stakes :
3 For on the right hand, and on the left, thou shalt burst
forth with increase ;
And thy seed shall inherit the nations ;
And they shall inhabit the desolate cities.
4 Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded ;
And blush not, for thou shaft not be brought to reproach :

CHAP. LIV. ISAIAH. 105
For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth ;
And the reproach of thy widowhood thou shalt remember
no more.
5 For thy husband is thy maker ;
Jehovah God of Hosts is his name :
And thy redeemer is the Holy One of Israel ;
The God of the whole earth shall he be cafted.
6 For as a woman forsaken, and deeply afflicted, hath Je
hovah recalled thee ;
And as a wife, wedded in youth, but afterwards rejected,
saith thy God.
7 In a little anger have I forsaken thee ;
But with great mercies will I receive thee again :
8 In a short wrath I hid my face for a moment from thee ;
But with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee;
Saith thy redeemer Jehovah.
9 The same will I do now, as in the days of Noah, when I
sware.
That the waters of Noah should no more pass over the
earth :
So have I sworn, that I wift not be wroth with thee, nor
rebuke thee.
10 For the mountains shall be removed ;
And the hftis shall be overthrown :
But my kindness from thee shall not be removed ;
And the covenant of my peace shall not be overthrown;
Saith Jehovah, who beareth towards thee the most ten
der affection.
11 O thou afflicted, beaten with the storm, destitute of con
solation !
Behold I lay thy stones in cement of vermftion.
And thy foundations with sapphires :
12 And I will make of rubies thy battlements ;
And thy gates of carbuncles ;
And the whole circuit of thy walls shall be of precious
stones.
13 And all thy children shall be taught by Jehovah ;
And great shall be the prosperity of thy children.
14 In righteousness shalt thou be established :
Be thou far from oppression ; yea thou shalt not fear it ;
And from terror ; for it shaft not approach thee.
15 Behold, they shall be leagued together, but not by my
command ;

106 ISAIAH. CHAP. LIT.
Whosoever is leagued against thee, shall come over to thy
side.
16 Behold, I have created the smith.
Who bloweth up the coals into a fire.
And produceth instruments according to his work ;
And 1 have created the destroyer to lay waste.
17 Whatever weapon is formed against thee, it shall not pros
per ;
And against every tongue, that contendeth with thee,
thou shalt obtain thy cause.
This is the heritage of Jehovah's servants.
And their justification from me, saith Jehovah.

CHAP. lV.
1 Ho ! every, one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters !
And that hath no silver, come ye, buy, and eat !
Yea, come, buy ye without sftver ;
And wfthout price, wine and milk.
2 Wherefore do ye weigh out your sftver for that which is
ho bread ?
And your riches, for that which wift not satisfy ?
Attend, and hearken unto me ; and eat that which is truly
good ;
And your soul shall feast itself with the richest delicacies.
4 Incline your ear, and come unto me ;
Attend, and your soul shall live :
And 1 will make with you an everlasting covenant ;
I will give you the gracious promises made to David,
which shall never faft.
4 Behold, for a witness to the peoples I have given him ;
A leader, and a lawgiver to the nations.
5 Behold, the nation, whom thou knewest not, thou shalt
call ;
And the nation, who knew not thee, shaft run unto thee.
For the sake of Jehovah thy God ;
And for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified
thee,
6 Seek ye Jehovah, while he may be found ;
Call ye upon him, whfte he is near at hand :
7 Let the wicked forsake his way.
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;

CHAP. LV. ISAIAH. 107
And let him return unto Jehovah, for he wiU receive him
with compassion ;
And unto our God, for he aboundeth in forgiveness.
8 For ray thoughts are not your thoughts ;
Neither are your ways my ways, safth Jehovah.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth ;
So are my ways higher than your ways,
And my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 Verily, like as the rain descendeth.
And the snow, from the heavens ;
And thither it doth not return ;
But moisteneth the earth.
And maketh it generate, and put forth its increase ;
That it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the
eater :
11 So shaft be the word, which goeth forth from my mouth ;
It shaft not return unto me fruitless ;
But it shaft effect what I have willed ;
And make the purpose succeed, for which I have sent it.
12 Surely vs'ith joy shall ye go forth.
And with peace shall ye be led onward :
The mountains and the hills shall burst forth before you
into song ;
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorny bushes shall grow up the fir-tree ;
And instead of the bramble shall grow up the myrtle :
And it shall be unto Jehovah for a memorial ;
For a perpetual sign, which, shall not be aboUsbed.

chap. LVI.
1 Thus saith .Tehovah :
Keep ye judgment, and practise righteousness ;
For my salvation is near, just ready to come ;
And my righteousness, to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the mortal that doeth this ;
And the son of man that holdeth it fast ;
That keepeth the sabbath, and profaneth it not ;
And restraineth his hand from doing evil.
3 And let not the son of the stranger speak.
That cleaveth unto Jehovah, saying :
Jehovah hath utterly separated me from his people.

108 isaiah. chap. lvi.
Neither let the eunuch say :
Behold, I am a dry tree.
4 For thus saith Jehovah to the eunuchs :
Whoever of them shall have kept my sabbaths.
And shall have chosen that in which I dehght.
And shall have steadfastly maintained my covenant ;
5 To tbem I wift give in my house,
And within my walls, a memorial and a name.
Better than that of sons and daughters :
An everlasting name will I give them.
Which shall never be cut off.
6 And the sons of the stranger, who cleave unto Jehovah ;
To minister unto him, and to love the name of Jehovah,
And to become his servants :
Every one that keepeth the sabbath, and profaneth it not ;
And that steadfastly maintaineth my covenant ;
7 Them will I bring unto my holy mountain ;
And I will make them rejoice in my house of prayer:
Their burnl-offeiings and their sacrifices shall be accepted
on mine altar ;
For my house shall be called. The house of prayer for all
the peoples.
8 Thus saith (he Lord JehovaH,
Who gathereth together the outcasts of Israel :
Yet will I gal her others unto him, beside those that are
already galheied.

¦9 0 ALL ye beasts of the field, come away ;
Come to devour, O all ye beasts of the forest !
10 His watchmen are bftnd, all of them ; they are igno
rant ;
They are aft of them dumb dogs, they cannot bark :
Dr.eamers, sluggards, loving to slumber.
11 Yea these dogs are of uutamed appetite ;
They know not to be satisfied.
And the shepherds themselves cannot understand:
They all of them turn aside to their own way ;
Each to his own lucre, from the highest lo the lowest-
12 Come on, let us provide wine ;
And let us swill strong drink :
And as to day, so shall be the cheer of to-morrqw ;
Great, even far more abundant.

CHAP. LVII. ISAIAH. 109

chap. LVII.
1 The righteous man perisheth, and no one considereth ;
And pious men are taken away, and no one understand-
eth.
That the righteous man is taken away, because of the evft.
2 He shall go in peace : he shall rest in his bed ;
Even the perfect man ; he that walketh in the strait path.
3 But ye, draw ye near hither, 0 ye sons of the sorcer
ess ;
Ye seed of the adulterer, and of the harlot !
4 Of whom do ye make your sport ?
At whom do ye widen the mouth, and, loll the tongue ?
Are ye not apostate children, a false seed?
5 Burning with the lust of idols under every green tree;
Slaying the chftdren in the vallies, under the clefts of the
rocks ?
6 Among the smooth stones of the valley is thy portion ;
These, these are thy lot :
Even to these hast thou poured out thy libation.
Hast thou presented thine offering.
Can I see these things with acquiescence ?
7 Upon a high and lofty mountain hast thou set thy bed :
Even thither hast thou gone up to offer sacrifice.
8 Behind the door and the door-posts hast thou set thy me
morial :
Thou hast departed from ine, and art gone up ; thou hast
enlarged thy bed ;
And thou hast made a covenant with them :
Thou hast loved their bed ; thou hast provided a place
for it.
9 And ihou hast visited the king with a present of oil;
And hast multiplied thy precious ointments :
And thou hast sent tbitie ambassadors afar ;
And hast debased thyself even to Hades.
10 In (he length of thy journeys thou hast wearied thyself;
Thou hast said, There is no hope :
TIjou hast found the support of thy Ufe by thy labour :
Therefore thou hast not utterly fainted.
11 And of whom hast thou been so anxiously afraid, that
tliou shouldst thus deal falsely?
And hast not remembered me, nor revolved it in thy
mind ? 15

110 ISAIAH. CHAP, LVJI,
Is it not because I was silent, and winked ; and thou
fearest me not ?
12 But I wftl declare my righteousness ;
And. thy deeds shall not avail thee,
13 When thou crjest, let thine associates deUver thee :
But the wind shaft bear them away ; a breath shaU take
them off.
But he that trusteth in me shaU inherit the land.
And shall possess my holy mountain.
14 Then wift I say: Cast up, cast up the causeway ;
make clear the way ;
Remove every obstruction from the road of my people.
15 For thus saith Jehovah, the high, and the lofty ;
Inhabiting eternity ; and whose name is the Holy One :
The high and the boly place wift I inhabit ;
And with the contrite, and humble of spirit :
To revive the spirit of the humble ;
And to give life to the heart of the contrfte.
16 For I will not alway contend ;
Neither for ever will I be wroth :
For the spirit from before me would be overwhelmed ;
And the Uving souls, which I have made.
17 Because of his iniquity for a short time I was wroth :
And I smote him ; hiding my face in mine anger.
And he departed, turning back in the way of his own heart,
18 I have seen his ways ; and I wift heal him, and will be
his guide ;
And I will restore comforts, to him, and to his mourners.
19 1 create the fruit of the lips :
Peace, peace, to him that is near.
And to him that is afar off, saith Jehovah ; and I wiU
heal him.
20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea ;
For it never can be at rest ;
But its waters work up filth and mire.
21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
CHAP. LVIII.
1 Cry aloud ; spare not :
Like a trumpet lift up thy voice :
And declare unto my people their transgression ;
And to the house of Jacob their sin.

CHAP. LVIII. ISAIAH. Ill
2 Yet me day after day they seek ;
And to know my ways they take delight :
As a nation that doeth righteousness,
And hath not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They continually inquire of me concerning the ordinances
of righteousness ;
They take delight to draw nigh unto God.
3 Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not ?
Have we afflicted our souls, and thou dost not regard ?
Behold, in the day of your fasting, ye enjoy your pleas
ure ;
And all your demands of labour ye rigorously exact.
4 Behold, ye fast for strife and contention ;
And to smite with the fist the poor.
Wherefore fast ye unto me in this manner ;
To make your voice to be heard on high ?
5 Is such then the fast which I choose ;
That a man should afflict his soul for a day?
Is it, that he should bow down his head like a bulrush ;
And spread sackcloth and ashes for his couch ?
Shall this be called a fast.
And a day acceptable to Jehovah ?
6 Is not this the fast which I choose ?
To dissolve the bands of wickedness ;
To loosen the oppressive burthens ;
To deUver those that are crushed by violence ;
And that ye should break asunder every yoke ?
7 Is it not to distribute thy bread to the hungry ;
And to bring the wandering poor into thy house ?
When thou seest the naked, that thou clothe him ;
And that thou hide not thyself ftom thine own flesh ?
8 Then shaft thy light break forth Uke the morning ;
And thy wounds shaft speedily be healefl over :
And thy righteousness shall go before thee ',
And the glory of Jehovah shaft bring up thy rear.
9 Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah shall answer ;
Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Lo I am here !
If thou remove from the midst of thee the yoke ;
The pointing of the finger, and the injurious speech :
10 If thou bring forth thy bread to the hungry.
And satisfy the afflicted soul ;
Then shall thy light rise in obscurity,
And thy darkness shall be as the noon-day.

112 isaiah, chap, lvhl
11 And Jehovah shall lead thee conrinually,
And satisfy thy soul in the severest drought ;
And he shaft renew thy strength :
And thou shaft be like a well-watered garden, and like a
flowing spring, -
Whose waters shall never faft.
12 And they that spring from thee shaU build the ancient
-ruins ;
The foundations of old times shaft they raise up :
And thou shalt be called the repairer of the broken
mound ;
The restorer of paths tobe frequented by inhabitants.
13 If thou restrain thy foot from the sabbath ;
From doing thy pleasure on my holy day :
And shalt caft the sabbath, a delight;
And the holy feast of Jehovah, honourable :
And shalt honour it, by refraining from thy purpose ;
From pursuing thy pleasure, and from speaking vain
words :
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah ;
And I will make thee ride on the high places of the
earth ;
And I wift feed thee on the inheritance of Jacob thy
father :
For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

CHAP. lix.
1 Behold, the hand of Jehovah is not contracted, so
that he cannot save ;
Neither is his ear grown duft, so that he cannot hear,
2 But your iniquities have made a separation
Between you and your God ;
And your sins have hidden
His face from you, that he doth not hear.
3 For your hands are polluted with blood.
And your fingers with iniquity ;
Your lips speak falsehood.
And your tongue muttereth wickedness.
4 No one preferrelh his suit in justice.
And no one pleadeth in truth :
Trusting in vanity, and speaking lies ;
Conceiving mischief, and bringing forth iniquity.

chap. lix. ISAIAH. 113
5 They hatch the eggs of the basilisk.
And weave the web of the spider :
He that eateth of their eggs dieth ;
And when it is crushed, a viper breaketh forth.
6 Of their webs no garment shall be made ;
Neither shaft they cover themselves with their works
Their works are works of iniquity,
And the deed of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run swiftly to evft,
And they hasten to shed innocent blood :
Their devices are devices of iniquity ;
Destruction and calamity is in their paths.
8 The way of peace they know not ;
Neither is there any judgment in their tracks :
They have made to themselves crooked paths ;
Whoever goeth in them, knoweth not peace.
9 Therefore is judgment far distant from us ;
Neither doth justice overtake us :
We look for light, but behold darkness ;
For brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
10 We grope for the wall, like the blind ;
And we wander, as those that are deprived of ^ight :
We stumble at mid-day, as in the twftight ;
In the midst of deUcacies, as among the dead.
11 We groan all of us, like the bears ;
And like the doves, we make a continued moan.
We look for judgment, and there is none ;
For salvation, and it is far distant from us.
12 For our transgressions are multipUed before thee ;
And our sins bring an accusation against us :
For our transgressions cleave fast unto us ;
And our iniquities we acknowledge.
13 By rebeUing, and lying, against Jehovah ;
And by turning backward from following our God :
By speaking injury, and conceiving revolt;
And by meditating from the heart lying words.
14 And judgment is turned away backwards ;
And justice standeth aloof:
For truth hath stumbled in the open street ;
And rectitude hath not been able to enter.
15 And truth is utterly lost ;
And he that shunneth evft, exposeth himself to be
plundered : 15*

114 ISAIAH. CHAP. LIX.
And Jehovah saw it.
And it displeased him, that there was no judgment.
16' And he saw, that there was no man ;
And he wondered, that there was no one to interpose :
Then his own arm wrought salvation for him ;
And his righteousness, it supported hira.
17 And he put on righteousness, as a breast-plate ;
And the helmet of salvation was on his head :
And he put on the garments of vengeance for his cloth
ing ;
And he clad himself with zeal, as with a mantle.
18 He is mighty to recompense ;
He that is mighty to recompense will requite :
Wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies ;
To the distant coasts a recompense will he requite.
19 And they from the west shall revere the name of Jeho
vah ;
And they from the rising of the sun, his glory ;
When he shall come, like a river straitened in his course,
Which a strong wind driveth along.
20 And the Redeemer shaft coine to Sion ;
And shaft turn away iniquity from Jacob ; saith Jeho
vah.
21 And this is the covenant, which I make with them,
saith Jehovah :
My spirit, w,hich is upon thee.
And my words, which I have put in thy mouth ;
They shaft not depart from thy mouth.
Nor from the mouth of thy seed.
Nor from the mouth of thjr seed's seed, saith Jehovah ;
From this time forth for ever.

1

CHAP. LX.
1 Arise, be thou enlightened ; for thy Ught is come :
And the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee.
2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth ;
And a thick vapour the nations :
And upon thee shall Jehovah arise ;
And his glory upon thee shall be conspicuous.
3 And the nations shall walk in thy light ;
And kings in the brightness of thy sun-rising.
4 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see ;
All bf them are gathered together, they come unto thee :

CHAP. LX. ISAIAH. 115
Thy sons shall come from afar;
And thy daughters shaft be carried at the side.
5 Then shalt thou fear, and overflow with joy ;
And thy heart shaft be ruffled, and dilated ;
When the riches of the sea shall be poured in upon thee ;
When the wealth of the nations shall come unto thee.
6 An inundation of camels shall cover thee;
The dromedaries of Midian and Epha ;
' All of them from Saba shaft come :
Gold and frankincense shall they bear ;
And the praise of Jehovah shall they joyfully proclaim,
7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered unto thee ;
Unto thee shaft the rams of Nebaioth minister :
They shall ascend with acceptance on mine altar ;
And my beauteous house I will yet beautify.
8 Who are these, that fly like a cloud ?
And like doves upon the wing ?
9 Verily the distant coasts shall await me ;
And the ships of Tarshish among the first :
To bring thy sons from afar ;
Their silver and their gold with them :
Because of the name of Jehovah tby God ;
And of the Holy One of Israel ; for he hath glorified
thee.
10 And the sons of the stranger shall build up thy walls;
And their kings shall minister unto thee :
For in my wrath I smote ihee ;
But in my favour I will embrace thee with the most
tender affection.
11 And thy gates shall be open continually ;
By day, or by night, they shaft not be shut :
To bring unto thee the wealth of the nations ;
And that their kings may come pompously attended.
12 For that nation, and that kingdom.
Which will not serve thee, shall perish ;
Yea, those nations shall be utterly desolated.
13 The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee ;
The fir-tree, the pine, and the box together :
To adorn the place of my sanctuary ;
And that I may glorify the place, whereon I rest my
feet.
14 And the sons of thine oppressors shall come bending be
fore thee ;

116 ISAIAH. CHAP. LX.
And all, that scornfully rejected thee, shaft do obeisance to
the soles of thy feet :
And they shall caft thee. The City of Jehovah ;
The Sion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 Instead of thy being forsaken.
And hated, so that no one passed through thee ;
I wftl make thee an everlasting boast ;
A subject of joy for perpetual generations.
16 And thou shalt suck the mftk of nations ;
Even at the breast of kings shalt thou be fostered :
And thou shaft know, that I Jehovah am thy saviour j
And that thy redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead qf brass, I wift bring gold ;
And instead of iron, I wift bring silver :
And instead of wood, brass ;
And instead of stones, iron.
And I wift make thine inspectors peace ;
And thine exactors, righteousness.
18 Violence shaft no more be heard in thy land ;
Destruction and calamity, in thy borders :
But thou shalt caft thy walls. Salvation ;
And thy gates. Praise.
19 No longer shalt thou have the suh for a Ught by day ;
Nor by night shall the brightness of the moon enlighten
thee:
For Jehovah shall be to thee an everlasting Ught,
And thy God shaft be thy glory.
20 Thy sun shaft no more go down ;
Neither shaft thy moon wane :
For Jehovah shall be thine everlasting light ;
And the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
21 And thy people shaU be all righteous ;
For ever shall they possess the land :
The cion of my planting, the work of my hands, that I
may be glorified.
22 The little one shall become a thousand ;
And the small one a strong nation :
I Jehovah iri due time will hasten it.

CHAP. LXL ISAIAH. 117

chap. LXI.
1 The spirit of Jehovah is upon me,
, Because Jehovah hath anointed me.
To publish glad tidings to the meek hath he sent me ;
To bind up the broken hearted :
Toproclaim to the captives freedom ;
And to the bounden, perfect hberty:
2 To proclaim the year of acceptance with Jehovah ;
And the day of vengeance of our God.
To comfort all those that mourn ;
3 To impart [gladness] to the mourners of Sion :
To give them a beautiful crown, instead of ashes ;
The oil of gladness instead of sorrow ;
The clothing of praise, instead of the spirit of heaviness.
That they may be called trees approved ;
The plantation of Jehovah for his glorj'.
4 And they that spring from thee shall buftd up the ruins
of old times;
They shall restore the ancient desolations :
They shaft repair the cities laid waste ;
The desolations of continued ages.
5 And strangers shall stand up and feed your flocks;
And the sons of the alien shall be your husbandmen and
vine-dressers.
6 But ye shall be cafted the priests of Jehovah ;
The ministers of our God, shaft be your title.
The riches of the nations shall ye eat ;
And in their glory shaft ye make your boast.
7 Instead of your shame, ye shaft receive a double inheri
tance ;
And of your ignominy, ye shall rejoice in their portion:
For in their land a double share shall ye inherit;
And everlasting gladness shall ye possess.
8 For I am Jehovah, who love judgment ;
Who hate rapine and iniquity :
And I will give them the reward of their work with
faithfulness ;
And an everlasting covenant I will make with them :
9 And their seed shall be illustrious among the nations ;
And their offspring, in the midst of the peoples.
And they that see them shall acknowledge them,
That they- are a seed which Jehovah hath blessed.

118 ISAIAH. CHAP. LIX,

10 I wift greatly rejoice in Jehovah ;
My soul shall exult in my God.
For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation ;
He hath covered me with the mantle of righteousness :
As the bridegroom decketh himself with a priestly crown ;
And as the bride adorneth herself with her costly jewels,
11 Surely, as the earth pusheth forth her tender shoots ;
And as a garden maketh her seed to germinate :
So shall the Lord Jehovah cause righteousness to spring
forth ;
And praise, in the presence of all the nations.

chap. lxii.
1 For Sion's sake I will not keep silence ;
And for the sake of Jerusalem I wftl not rest :
Until her righteousness break forth as a strong light ;
And her salvation, like a blazing torch.
2 And the nations shall see thy righteousness ;
• And all the kings, thy glory :
And thou shalt be called by a new name.
Which the mouth of Jehovah shall fix upon thee.
3 And thou shaft be a beautiful crown in the hand of Je
hovah ;
And a royal diadem in the grasp of thy God.
4 No more shaft it be said unto thee. Thou forsaken !
Neither to thy land shall it be said any more. Thou de
solate !
But thou shaft be called. The object of my delight ;
And thy land, The wedded matron :
For Jehovah shall delight in thee ;
And thy land shall be joined in marriage.
5 For as a young man weddeth a virgin.
So shall thy restorer wed thee :
And as the bridegroom rejoiceth in his bride.
So shall thy God rejoice in thee.
6 Upon thy wafts, O Jerusalem,
Have I set watchmen aft the day;
And all the night long they shall not keep silence,
O ye, that proclaim the name of Jehovah !
7 Keep not sftence yourselves, nor let him rest in silence ;

CHAP. LXII, ISAIAH, 119
Until he establish, and untU he render,
Jerusalem a praise in the earth,
8 Jehovah hath sworn by his right hand, and by his
powerful arm :
I wiU no more give thy corn for food to thine enemies ;
Nor shall the sons of the stranger drink thy must, for
which thou hast labored :
9 But they, that reap the harvest, shaU eat it, and praise
Jehovah ;
And they, that gather the vintage, shall drink it in my
sacred courts.
10 Pass ye, pass through the gates ; prepare the way for
the people !
Cast ye up, cast up the causeway ; clear it from the
stones !
Lift up on high a standard to the nations !
11 Behold, Jehovah hath thus proclaimed to the end of
the earth :
Say ye to the daughter of Sion, Lo thy saviour cometh !
Lo ! his reward is with him, and the recompense of his
work before him.
And they shall be called. The holy people, the redeemed
of Jehovah ;
12 And thou shaft be called. The much desired. The city
unforsaken.

chap. LXIII.
1 CHo. Who is this, that cometh from Edom ?
Wit h g arments deeply dyed from Botsra ?
This, that is magnificent in his apparel ;
Marching on in the greatness of bis strength ?
MES. I, who publish righteousness, and am mighty to
save.
2 CHO. Wherefore is thine apparel red ?
And thy garments, as of one that treadeth the
wine-vat ?
3 MES. I have trodden the vat alone ;
And of the peoples there was not a man with me.
And I trod them in mine anger;
And I trampled them in mine indignation :
And their life-blood, was sprinkled upon my gar
ments ;

120 ISAIAH. CHAP. LXIII.
And I have stained all mine apparel.
4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart ;
And the year of my redeemed was come.
5 And I looked, and there was no one to help ;
And I was astonished, that there was no one to
uphold :
Therefore mine own arm wrought salvation for me.
And mine indignation itself sustained me.
6 And I trod down the peoples in mine anger ;
And I crushed them in mine indignation ;
And I spilled their Ufe-blood on the ground.
7 The mercies of Jehovah wiU I record, the praise of
Jehovah ;
According to all that Jehovah hath bestowed upon us :
And the greatness of his goodne.ss to the house of Israel;
Which he hath bestowed upon them, through his ten
derness and great kindness.
8 For he said : Surely they are my people, children that
wift not prove false ;
And he became their saviour in all their distress.
9 It was not an envoy, nor an angel of his presence, that
saved them :
Through his love, and his indulgence, he himself re
deemed them ;
And he took them up, and he bare them, all the days
of old.
10 But they rebefted, and grieved his holy spirit ;
So, that he became their enemy ; and he fought against
them.
11 And he remembered the days of old, Moses his servant;
How he brought them up from the sea, with the shep
herd of his flock ;
How he placed in his breast his holy spirit :
12 Making his glorious arm to attend Moses on his right
hand in his march ;
Cleaving the waters before them, to make himself a name
everlasting ;
13 Leading them through the abyss, Uke a courser in the
plain,, without obstacle.
14 As the herd descendeth to the valley, the spirit of Je
hovah conducted them :

CHAP. LXIII. ISAIAH. 121
So didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a name il
lustrious.
15 Look down from heaven, and see, from thy holy and
glorious dwelftng :
Where is thy zeal, and thy mighty power ;
The yearning of thy bowels, and thy tender affections ?
are they restrained from us ?
16 Verily, Thou art our father ; for Abraham knoweth us not.
And Israel doth not ao4inowledge us.
Thou, O Jehovah, art our father :
O deliver us, for the sake of thy name I
17 Wherefore, O Jehovah, dost thou suffer us to err from
thy ways ?
To harden our hearts ftom the fear of thee ?
Return for the sake of thy servants ;
Por the sake of the tribes of thine inheritance.
18 It is little, that they have taken possession of thy holy
mountain ;
That our enemies have trodden down thy sanctuary :
19 We have long been as those, whom thou hast not riiled ;
Who have not been cafted by thy name.
chap. LXIV.
1 O ! that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou
wouldst descend ;
That the mountains might flow down at thy presence !
2 As the fire kindleth the dry ftiel ;
As ihs fire causeth the waters to boft :
To make known thy name to thine enemies ;
That the nations might tremble at thy presence.
3 When thou didst wonderful things, which we expected
not ;
Thou didst descend ; at thy presence the mountains fiowed
down.
4 For never have men heard, nor perceived by the ear.
Nor hath eye seen, a God beside thee.
Who doeth such things for those that trust in him.
5 Thou meetest with joy those who work righteousness ;
Who in thy ways remember thee.
Lo ! Thou art angry ; for we have sinned :
Because of our deeds ; for we have been rebellious.
C And we are all of us as a polluted thing ;
And like a rejected garment are aft our righteous deeds ;
16

122 ISAIAH. CHAP. LXIV,
And we are withered away, Uke a leaf, aft of us ;
And our sins, like the wind, have borne us away.
7 There is no one that invoketh thy name ;
That rouseth himself up to lay hold on tbee :
Therefore thou hast hidden thy face from us ;
And hast delivered us up into the hand of our iniquities.
8 But thou, O Jehovah, thou art our father ;
We are the clay, and thou hast formed us :
We are aft of us the work of thy hands.
9 Be not wroth, O Jehovah, to the uttermost ;
Nor forever remember iniquity.
Behold, look upon us, we beseech thee ; we are all thy
people.
10 Thy holy cities are become a wftderness ;
Sion is become a wftderness ; Jerusalem is desolate.
11 Our holy and glorious temple,
Wherein our fathers praised thee.
Is utterly burnt up with fire ;
And aft the objects of our desire are become a devasta-
.. tion.
12 Wilt thou contain thyself at these things, O Jehovah?
Wift thou keep silence, and still grievously afflict us ?

CHAP. LXV.
1 I AM made known to those, that asked not for me ;
I am found of those, that sought me not :
I have said : Behold me, here I am.
To the nation, which never invoked ray name :
2 I have stretched out my hands all the day to a rebellious
people,
who walk in an evil way, after their own devices.
3 A people, who provoke me to my face continually ;
Sacrificing in the gardens, and burning incense on the
tiles :
4 Who dwell in the sepulchres, and lodge in the caverns ;
Who eat the flesh of the swine ;
And the broth of abominable meals is in their vessels :
5 Who say : Keep to thyself ; come not near me ; for I am
holier than thou.
These kindle a smoke in my nostrils, a fire burning all
the day long.
¦ 6 Behold, this is recorded in writing before me:
1 will not keep silence, but wift certainly requite ;

CHAP. LXV. ISAIAH. 123
7 I will requite into their bosom their iniquities ;
And the iniquities of their fathers together, saith Jeho
vah :
Who burnt incense on the mountains, and dishonoured
me upon the hifts :
Yea, I wftl pour into their bosom the fuft measure of their
former deeds.
8 Thus saith Jehovah :
As when one findeth a good grape in the cluster ;
And sayeth. Destroy it not ; for a blessing is in it :
So wftl I do for the sake of my servants ; I wift not de
stroy the whole.
9 So will 1 bring forth from Jacob a seed ;
And from Judah an inheritor of my mountain :
And my chosen shall inherit the land ;
And my servants shall dweU there.
10 And fc-haron shall be a fold for the flock.
And the valley of Achor a resting for the herd ;
For my people, who have sought after me.
11 But ye, who have deserted Jehovah ;
And have forgotten my holy mountain :
Who set in order a table for Gad ;
And fill out a ftbation to Meni :
12 You will I number out to the sword ;
And all of you shall bow down to the slaughter.
Because I called, and ye answered riot ;
I spake, and ye would not bear :
But ye did that, which is evft in my sight ;
And that, in which I delighted not, ye chose.
13 Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah :
Behold, my servants shaft eat, but ye shaft be famished ;
Behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty ;
Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be con^
founded :
14 Behold, my servants shall sing aloud, for gladness of
heart ;
But ye shall cry aloud, for grief of heart ;
And in the anguish of a broken spirit shall ye howl.
15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen :
And the Lord Jehovah shaft slay you ;
And his servants shall he caft by another name.

124 isaiah. chap. lxv.
16 Whoso blesseth himself upon the earth,
Shall bless himself in the God of truth ;
And whoso sweareth upon the earth.
Shaft swear by the God of truth.
Because the former provocations are forgotten ;
And because they are hidden from mine eyes.
17 For behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth :
And the former ones shall not be remembered.
Neither shall they be brought to mind any more.
18 But ye shall rejoice and exult in the age to come, which
I create :
For lo ! I create Jerusalem a subject of joy, and her
people of gladness ;
19 And I wift exult in Jerusalem, and rejoice in my people.
And there shall not be heard any more therein.
The voice of weeping, and the voice of a distressful cry :
20 No more shall be there an infant short-lived ;
Nor an old man who hath not fulfilled his days ;
For he, that dieth at an hundred years, shall die a boy ;
And the sinner that dielh at an hundred years, shaft be
deemed accursed.
21 And they shall build houses, and shall inhabit them ;
And they shall plant vineyards, and shaft eat the fruit
thereof
22 They shall not buftd, and another inhabit ;
They shaft not plant, and another eat :
For as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people ;
And they shall wear out the works of their own hands.
23 My chosen shall not labour in vain ;
Neither shall they generate a short-lived race :
For they shall be a seed blessed of Jehovah ;
They, and their offspring with them.
24 And it shall be, that before they call, I will answer ;
They shall be yet speaking, aud I shall have heard.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together ;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox :
But as for the serpent, dust shaft be his food.
They shall not hurt, neither shaft they destroy.
In all my holy mountain, sailh Jehovah.

CHAP. LXVI. ISAIAH. 125

CHAP. LXVI.
1 Thus saith Jehovah :
The heavens are my throne ; and the earth is my foot
stool :
Where is this house, which 3-e build for me ?
And where is this place of my rest ?
2 For all these things my hand hath made ;
And aft these things are mine, saith Jehovah.
But such a one wift I regard, even him that is humble.
And of a contrite spirit, and that revereth ray word.
3 He that slayeth an ox, kftleth a raan ;
That sacrificeth a lamb, beheadeth a dog ;
That maketh an oblation, [offereth] swine's blood ;
That burneth incense, blesseth an idol :
Yea, they themselves have chosen their own ways ;
And in their abominations their soul deUghteth.
4 I will also choose their calamities ;
And what they dread, I wift bring upon thera ;
Because I called, and no one answered ;
I spake, and they would not hear :
And they have done what is evil in my sight ;
And that, in which I delighted not, they have chosen.
5 Hear ye the word of Jehovah, ye that revere his
word :
Say ye to your brethren, that hate you ;
And that thrust you out, for my name's sake :.
Jehovah will be glorified, and he will appear ;
To your joy [wift he appear], and they shaft be con
founded.
6 A voice of tumult from the city ! a voice from the
temple !
The voice of Jehovah ! rendering recompense to his
enemies.
7 Before she was in travail, she brought foith ;
Before her pangs came, she was deUvered of a male.
8 Who hath heard such a thing ? and who hath seen th
like of these things ?
Is a country brought forth in one day ?
Is a nation born in an instant ?
16*

126 isaiah. chap, lxvl
For no sooner was Sion in travail, than she brought
forth her children.
9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth ?
saith Jehovah :
Shall I, who beget, restrain the birth? saith thy God.
10 Rejoice with Jerusalem, and exult on her account, aft ye
that love her ;
Be exceedingly joyful with her, all ye that mourn over
her ;
12 That ye may suck, and be satisfied, from the breast of
her consolations ;
^Phat ye may draw forth the delicious nourishment from
her abundant'stores.
12 For thus saith Jehovah :
Behold, I spread over her prosperity, like the great
river ;
And like the overflowing stream the Wealth of the na
tions :
And ye shall suck at the breast ;
Ye shall be carried by the side ;
And on the knees shaft ye be dandled.
13 As one, whom his mother comforteth.
So will I comfort you :
And in Jerusalem shaft ye receive consolation.
14 And ye shall see it, and your heart shaft rejoice ;
And your bones shall flourish, like the green herb :
And the hand of Jehovah shall be manifested to his
servants ;
And he will be moved with indignation against his ene
mies.
15 For, behold ! Jehovah shall come, as a fire;
And his chariot, as a whirlwind :
To breathe forth his anger in a burning heat.
And his rebuke in flames of fire.
16 For by fire shall Jehovah execute judgment ;
And by his sword, upon all flesh :
And many shall be the slain of Jehovah.
17 They who sanctify themselves, and purify themselves,
In the gardens, after the rites of Achad ;
In the midst of those Who eat swine's flesh.
And the abomination, and the field-mouse ;

chap. lxvi. isai. ah. 127
Togeiher shall they perish, sailh Jkhovah.
V8 For I know their deeds, and their devices :
And I come to gather all the nations and tongues to
gether ;
And they shall come, and shall ^ice my glory.
19 And I will impart to them a sign ;
And of (hose that escape I wftl send to the nations :
To Tarshish, Pliul, and Lud, who draw the bow ;
Tubal, au I Javan, ilm fai' distant c Ui-t.-; :
To those, who never heard my name ;
And who never saw my glory :
And they shall declare my glory among the riations.
20 And they shall bring all your brethren,
From all the nations, for an oblation to Jehovah ;
On horses, and in litters, and in counes ;
On mules, and on dromedaries ;
To my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith Jehovah :
Like as the sons of isi.is , ,,,.,,, Iu ihe oblaauii.
In pure vessels, to the house of Jehovah.
21 And of them will I also take,
For priests, and for Levites, saith Jehovah.
22 For like as the new heavens.
And the new earth, which I make.
Stand continually before me, sailh Jehovah ;
So shall continue your seed, and your name.
23 And it shall be, from new moon to new moon,
And from sabbath to sabbath ;
- All flesh shall come to worship before me, saith Jeho
vah.
24 And they shall go forth, and shall see
The carcasses of the men who rebefted against me.
For their worm shaft not die.
And llicir fire shall not be queiic!,ip,d ;
And they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.

NOTES

ISAIAH

IsaiaH exorcised the prophetical office during a long period
of lime, if he lived to the reign of Manasseh; for the lowest
computation, beginning from the year in wMiich Uzziah died,
when some suppose bim to have received his first appoint
ment to that office, brings it lo 61 years. But the tradition
of the Jews, that he was put to dealh by Manasseh, is very
uncerlain ; and one of iheir principal rabbins (Aben Ezra,
Com. in Isa. i. 1.) seems raiher to think, ihat he died before
Hezekiah ; which is indeed more pioliable. It is however
certain, that he lived at least lo the 15lh or I6th year of
Hezekiah : this makes the least possible term of the duration
of his prophetical office about 48 years. The time of the
delivery of some of his prophecies is either expressly marked,
or sufficiently clear from the liis(ory to which they relate:
that of a few others may with some probability be deduced
from iniernal marks ; from expressions, descriptions, and
circumstances interwoven. It may therefore be of some use
in this respect, and for the better uiulerslandiiig of his pro
phecies in general, to give here a summary view of the his
tory of his time.
The kingdom of Judah seems to have been in a more
fiourishing condition during ihe reigns of Uzziah and Jo
tham, than at any other linie alter ihe revolt of the ten
tribes. The former recovered (he port of Elath on the Red
Sea, which the Edomites had taken in the reign of Joram :
he was successful in his wars wiih the Philistines, and took
from them several cities, Gath. Jabneh, Ashdod ; as likewise
against some people o( Arabia Deserta ; and against the
Ammonites, whom he compelled to pay him tribute. He
repaired and improved the forlifications of Jerusalem; and

130 notes on isaiah. chap. I.
had a great army weft appointed and disciplined. He was
no less attentive to the arts of peace ; and very much en
couraged agriculture, and the breeding of cattle. Jotham
maintained the establishments aud improvements made by
his father ; added to what Uzziah had done in strengthen
ing the frontier places ; conquered the Ammonites, who had
revolted, and exacted from them a more stated and pro
bably a larger tribute. However, at the latter end of his ,
time, the league between Pekah king of Israel and Retsin
king of Syria was formed against Judah ; and they began
to carry their designs into execution.
But in the reign of Ahaz his son, not only all these ad
vantages were lost, but the kingdom of Judah was brought
to the brink of destruction. Pekah king of Israel overthrew
the army of Ahaz, who lost in battle 120,000 men ; and
the Israelites carried away captives 200,000 women and
chftdren ; which however were released, and sent home
again, upon the remonstrance of the prophet Oded. After
this, as it should seem, (see Vitringa on chap. vii. 2.), the two
kings of Israel and Syria, joining their forces, laid siege to
Jerusalem ; but in this attempt they failed of success. In
this distress Ahaz called in the assistance of Tiglath-Pileser
king of Assyria ; who invaded the kingdoms of Israel and
Syria, and slew Retsin : but he was more in danger than ever
from his too powerful ally ; to purchase whose forbearance,
as he had before bought his assistance, he was forced to strip
himself and his people of all the wealth he could possibly
raise, from his own treasury, from the temple, and from the
country. About the time of the seige of Jtrusalem, the
Syrians took Elath, which was pever after recovered. The
Edomites likewise, taking advantage of the distress of Ahaz,
ravaged Judea, and carried away many captives. The Phi
listines recovered what they bad before lost ; and took many
places in Judea, and raaintained themselves there. Idolatry
was estabUshed by the command of the king in Jerusalem,
and throughout Judea; and the service of the temple was
either intermitted, or converted into an idolatrous worship.
Hezekiah, his son, at his accession to the throne, imme
diately set about the restoration of the legal worship of God,
both in Jerusalem and through Judea. He cleansed and
repaired the temple, and held a solemn passover. He im
proved the city, repaired the fortifications, erected magazines
of all sorts, and built a new aqueduct. In the fourth year of

CHAP. I. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 131
his reign, Shalmaneser king of Assyria invaded the kingdom
of Israel, took Samaria, and carried away the Israelites into
captivity ; and replaced them by different people sent from
his own country ; and this was the final destruction of that
kingdom, in the sixth year of the reign of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah was not deterred by this alarming example
from refusing to pay the tribute to the king of Assyria,
which had been imposed on Ahaz. This brought on the in
vasion of Senacherib in the fourteenth year of his reign ; an
account of which is inserted among the prophecies of Isaiah.
After a great and miraculous deliverance from so po-werful
an enemy, Hezekiah continued his reign in peace : he pros
pered in all his works, and left his kingdom in a flourishing
state to his son Manasseh ; a ^son in every respect unworthy
of such a father.

CHAPTER I.
1. The vision of Isaiah — ] It seems doubtful, whether
this title belong to the whole book, or only to the prophecy
contained in this chapter. The former part of the title
seems properly to belong to this particular prophecy : the
latter part, which enumerates the kings of Judah, under
whom Isaiah exercised his prophetical office, seems to ex
tend it to tlie whole collection of prophecies deUvered in
the course of his ministry. Vitringa (to whom the world
is greatly indebted for his learned labours on this Prophet ;
and to whom we should have owed much more, if he had
not so totally devoted himself to Masoretic authority) has,
I think, very judiciously resolved this douU. He supposes,
that the former part of the title was originafty prefixed to
this single prophecy ; and that, when the coftection of all
Isaiah's prophecies was made, the enumeration of the kings
of Judah was added, to make it at the same time a proper
litle to the whole book. As such it is plainly taken in 2
Chron. xxxii. 32. where the book of Isaiah is cited by this
title : " The vision of Isaiah the Prophet, the son of
Amots." The prophecy contained in this first chapter stands single
and unconnected, making an entire piece of itself. It con
tains a severe remonstrance against the corruptions pre-
vaiftrig among the Jews of that time ; powerful exhortations

132 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. I.
to repentance ; grievous threatenings to the impenitent ;
and gracious promises of better times, when the nation shall
have been reformed by the just judgments of God. The
expression upon the whole is clear; the connexion of the
several parts easy ; and, in regard to the images, sentiments,
and style, it gives a beautiful example of the . Prophet's
elegant manner of wruing ; though perhaps it may not be
equal in these respects to many of the following prophecies.
2. Hear, O ye heavens — ] God is introduced as enter
ing upon a solemn and pubhc action, or pleading, before
the whole world, against his disobedient people. The pro
phet, as herald, or officer to proclaim the summons to the
court, calls upon all cieated beings, celestial and terrestrial,
to attend, and bear witness to the truth of his plea, and the
justice of his cause. The same scene is more fufty displayed
in the noble exordium of Psalm 1. where God summons
all mankind, from east to west, to be present to hear his
appeal; and the solemnity is held on Sion, where he is at
tended with the same terrible pomp that accompanied him
on mount Sinai: —
"A consuming fire goes before him,
And round him rages a violent tempest:
He calleth the heavens from above,
And the earth, that he may contend in judgment with his
people." Psal. 1. 3, 4.
By the same bold figure, Micah calls upon the mountains,
that is, the whole country of Judea, to attend to hira : Chap.
vi. 1, 2.
"Arise, plead thou before the mountains,
And let the hftls hear thy voice.
Hear, O ye mountains, the controversy of Jehovah;
And ye,_0 ye strong foundations of the earth:
For Jehovah hath a controversy with his people.
And he wftl plead his cause against Israel."
With the like invocation Moses introduces his sublime
song ; the design of which was the same as that of this pro
phecy, " to testify, as a witness, against the IsraeUtes," for
their disobedience, Deut. xxxi.'21.
" Give ear, O ye heavens, and I wift speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth." Deut. xxxii. 1.
This in the simple yet strong oratorical style of Moses is,
*' I caft heaven and earth to v.'ftness against thee this day ;

CHAP. L NOTES ON ISAIAH. 133
Ufe and death have I set before thee ; the blessing and the
curse : choose now life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy
seed." Deut. xxx. 19. The poetical style, by an apostrophe,
sets the personification in a much stronger light.
Ibid. — that speaketh] I render it in the present time,
pointing it "131. There seems to be an impropriety in de
manding attention to a speech already delivered.
Ibid. / have nourished — ] The LXX have erm^tra., I
have begotten. Instead of ^rhM, they read tiiV ; a word
Uttle differing from the other, and perhaps more proper:
which the Chaldee likewise seems to favour ; " vocavi eos
fiftos." See Exod. iv. 22. Jer. xxxi. 9.
3. The ox knoweth — ] An amplification of the gross in-
sensibftily of the disobedient Jews, by comparing them with
the most heavy and stupid of all animals, yet not so insensible
as they: Bochart has well iftustrated the comparison, and
shewn the pecuUar force of it. " He sets them lower thaii
the beasts, and even than the stupidest of all beasts ; for
there is scarce any more so than the ox and the ass. Yet
these acknowledge their master ; they know the manger of
their lord : by whom they are fed, not for their own, but for
his good ; nefther are they looked upon as children, hut as
beasts of burthen; neither are they advanced to honours,
but oppressed with great and daUy labours : While the Is
raelites, chosen by the mere favour of God, adopted as sons,
promoted to the highest dignity, yet acknowledged not their
Lord and their God ; but despised his commandments,
though in the highest degree equitable and just." Hieroz. i.
col. 409.
Jeremiah's comparison to the same purpose is equafty
elegant; but has not so much spirit and severity as this of
Isaiah : —
" Even the stork in the heavens knoweth her season ;
And the turtle, and the swallow, and the crane, observe the
time of their coming :
But my people doth not know the judgment of Jehovah." Jer. viii. 7.
Hosea has given a very elegant .turn to the same image, in
the way of metaphor or aftegory :
" I drew them with human cords, with the bands of love:
And 1 was to them, as he that lifteth up the yoke upon their
cheek;
And I laid down their fodder before them." Hosea, xi. 4.
17

134 NOTES ON ISAIAH, CHAP, T.
Salomo ben Melech thus explains the middle part bf the
Verse, which is somewhat Obscure : " I was to them at their
desire, as they tbat have compassion on a heifer, lest she
"be over-worked in ploughing ; and that lift up the yoke
from off her neck, and rest it upon her cheek, that she may
not StiU draw, but rest from her labour an hour or two in
the day,"
Ibid. But Israel — 1 The LXX, Syriac, Aquila, Theo
dotion, and Vulgate, read '7i<'its'''i, adding the conjunction ;
which, being rendered as an adversative, sets the opposition
in a stronger light.
Ibid, Me.] The same ancient versions agree in adding
this word ; which very properly answers, and indeed is
almost necessarily required to answer, the wprds possessor
and lord preceding. i«-f«))A h me ux. eyva, LXX. " Israel
autem me non cognovit," Vulg. ItrfariX ^s mot hk sym, Aq.
Theod. The testimony of so scrupulous an interpreter
as Aquila is of great weight in this case. And both his
and Theodotion's rendering is such, as shews plainly, that
they did not add the word mot to belp out the sense ; for
it only embarrasses it. It also clearly determines what was
the original reading in the old copies, from wbich they trans
lated. It could not be ^iyy, which most obviously answers
to the version of LXX and Vulg. for it does not accord
With that of Aquila and Theodotion. The version of these
latter interpreters, however injudicious, clearly ascertains
both the phrase, and the order of the words, of the original
Hebrew : it was yv ^ 'ni« hixity'i. The word 'nix has
been lost out of the text. The very same phrase is used by
Jeremiah, chap. iv. 22. ,i;)t nS 'nis 'n,j? : and the order of
the words must have been as above represented ; for they
have joined Vsits" with ^nix, as in regimine : they could
not have taken it in this sense, Israel meus non cognovit,
had either this phrase, or the order of the words, been dif
ferent. I have endeavoured to set this matter in a clear
Ught, as it is the first example of a whole word lost Out of
the text ; of which the reader wift find many other plain
examples in the course of these notes.
The LXX, Syr. Vulg. read 'a;n, "and my people;"
and so likewise sixteen MSS.
4. degenerate] Five MSS (one of them ancient) read
CDTin^a without the first ' ; in Hophal, corrupted, not

CHAP. I. NOTES ON ISAIAH, 135
corrupters. See the same word, in the same form, in the
same sense, Prov. xxv. 26.
Ibid. — are estranged] Thirty-tw^o MSS (five ancient)
and two editions, read nitj : which reading determines tbe
word to be from the root iit, to alienate, not from i», to
separate : so Kimchi understands it. See also Annotat. in
Noldium, 68.
Ibid, they have turned their backs upon him] So Kimchi
explains it: "they have turned unto him the back, and
not the face : " see Jer. ii. 27. vii. 24. I have heen forced
to render this Une paraphrasticaUy ; as the verbal transla
tion " they are estranged backward," would have been unin-
teUigible. 5. On what part — ] The Vulgate renders no b;?, super
quo, (see Job xxxvfti. 6. 2 Chron. xxxft. 10.), upon what
part : and so Abendana, on Sal. b. Melech : " There are
some who explain it thus : Upon what limb shall you be
smitten, if you add defection ? for already for your sins have
you been smitten upon all of them ; so that there is not to
be found in you a whole Umb, on wbich you can be smitten."
Which agrees with what foftows : " From the sole of the
foot even to the head, there is no soundness therein : " and
the sentiment and image is exactly the same with that of
Ovid, Pont. ft. 7. 42.
" Vix habet in nobis jam nova plaga locum."
Or that stftl more expressive line of Euripides ; the great
force and effect of which Longinus ascribes to its close and
compressed structure, analogous to the sense which it ex
presses : — ^ '
I'm full of miseries: there's no room for more.
Here. Fur. 1245. Long. sect. 40.
" On what part will ye strike again ; will ye add correc
tion ? " This is addressed to the instruments of God's ven
geance ; those that inflicted the punishment, who or whatso
ever they were. " Ad verbum certae personse inteftigendae
sunt, quibus ista actio [quae per verbum exprimitur] corn-
petit : " as Glassius says in a simftar case, Phft. Sacr. i. 3. 22.
See chap. viu. 4.
As from ;?Tj n,j?n, knowledge ; from y}}'', r])sy, counsel ;
from J!S", wv/,, sleep, &c. ; so from ID'' is regularly derived niD,
correction.

136 . notes on isaiah. chap. i.
6. /;; hath not heen pressed — ] The art of medicine in
the East consists chiefly in external appUcations : accord
ingly the Prophet's images in this place are all taken from
surgery. Sir John Chardin, in his note on Prov. ui. 8. " It
shaft he health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones,"
observes, that " the comparison is taken from the plasters,
ointments, oils, frictions, which are made use of in the East
upon the belly and stomach in most maladies. Being
ignortint in the viftages of the art of making decoctions and
potions, and of the proper doses of such things, they gene-
rafty make use of external medicines." Harmer's Observa
tions on Scripture, vol. ii. p. 488. And in surgery their
materia medica is extremely simple; oil making the prin
cipal part of it. " In India," says Tavernier, " they have
a certain preparation of oil and melted , grease, which they
commonly use for the healing of wounds." Voyage Ind. So
the good Samarftan poured oil and wine on the wounds of
the distressed Jew : wine, cleansing and somewhat astrin
gent, proper for a fresh wound ; oft, inoftifying and heaUng,
Luke X. 34.
Of the three verbs in this sentence, one is in the singular
number in the text, another is singular in two MSS (one
of them ancient) n^n; and Syr. and Vulg. render all of
them in the singular number.
7 — 9. Your country is desolate — ] The description of
the ruined and desolate state of the country in these verses,
does not suit with any part of the prosperous times of Uzziah
and Jotham. It very well agrees with the time of Ahaz,
when Judea was ravaged by the joint invasion of the Israel
ites and Syrians, and by the incursions of the Philistines and
Edomites. The date of this prophecy is therefore generally
fixed to the time of Ahaz. But on the other hand it may
be considered, whether those instances of idolatry, which
are urged in the 29th verse, (the worshipping in groves and
gardens), having been at all times too commonly practised,
can be supposed to be the only ones which the Prophet
would insist upon in the time of Ahaz ; v;ho spread the
grossest idolatry through the whole country, and introduced
it even into the temple ; and, to complete his abominations,
made his son pass through the fire to Moloch. It is said,
2 Kings XV. 37. that in Jothain's time " the Lord began to
send against Judah Retsin and Pekah :" If we may suppose
any invasion from that quarter to have been actually made

chap. I. NOTES ON ISAIAH, 137
at the latter end of Jotham's reign, I should choose to refer
this prophecy to that time,
7, D'ir, (at the end of the verse). This reading, though
confirmed by all the ancient versions, gives us no good sense ;
for, your land is devoured by " strangers ; and is desolate, as
if overthrown by strangers.^ is a mere tautology, or, what is
as bad, an identical comparison. Aben Ezra thought, that
the word, in its present form, might be taken for the same
with DII, an inundation : Schultens is of the same opinion,
(see Taylor's Concord.) ; and Schindler in his Lexicon ex
plains it in the same manner : and so, says Kimchi, some
explain it: Abendana endeavours to reconcile it to gram
matical analogy in the following manner: — "D''it is the
same with xr\'\ ; that is, as overthrown by an inundation of
waters : and these two words have the same analogy as Dip
and Wip. Or it may be a concrete, of the same form with
TDty ; and the meaning will be, as overthrown by rain
pouring down violently, and causing a flood." On Sal. b.
Melech, in loc. But 1 rather suppose the true reading to
be mr, and have translated it accordingly : the word D'it,
in the line above, seems to have caught the transcriber's eye
and to have led him into this mistake.
8. as a shed in a vineyard — ] A little temporary hut
covered wfth boughs, straw, turf, or the like raaterials, for a
shelter frora the heat by d.ay, and the cold and dews by night,
for the watchman that kept the garden, or vineyard, during
the short season while the fruit was ripening ; (see Job xxvii.
18.) : and presently removed, when it had served that pur
pose. See Harmer, Obser. i. 454. They were probably
obliged to have sucb a constant watch, to defend' the fruit
from the jackals." " The jackal," (chical of the Turks,)
says Hasselquist, (Travels, p. 277.), " is a species of mustela
which is very common in Palestine, especially during the
vintage, and often destroys whole vineyards, and gardens of
cucumbers." " There is also plenty of the canis vulpes, the
fox, near the corivent of St. John in the desert, about vin
tage time ; for they destroy aft the vines, unless they are
strictly watched." Ibid. p. 184. See Cant. ii. 15.
Fruits of the gourd kind, melons, water-melons, cucura-
. bers, &z;c. are much used, and in great request, in the Le
vant, on account of their cooling quality. Tbe Israelites in
the wilderness regretted the loss of the cucumbers and the
melons, among the other good things of Egypt ; Numb. xi. 5.
n*

138 notes on isaiah. chap, i.
In Egypt, the season of water-melons, which are most in re
quest, and which the common people then chiefly live upon,
lasts but three weeks. See Hasselquist, p. 256. Tavernier
makes it of longer continuance : — " L'on y void de grands
carreaux de melons et de concombres ; mais beaucoup plus
des derniers, dont les Levantins font leur deUces. Le plus
souvent iis les mangent sans les peler, apres qiioy fts vorit
boire une verie d'eau. Dans toute I'Asie c'est la nourriture
ordinaire du petit peuple pendant trois ou quatre mois; toute
la famifte en vit, et quand un enfant demande a mariger, au
lieu qu'en France ou ailleurs nous luy donnerions du pain,
dans le Levant on luy presente un concombre, qu'ft mange
cru comme on le vient de cueiftir. — Les concombres dans le
Levant out une bonte parlicuhere, et quoyqu' on les mange
crus, fts ne font jamais de mal." Tavernier, Relat. du Ser-
rail, c. xix.
Ibid, a city taken hy seige.] So LXX and Vulg.
9. Jehovah God of Hosts] As this title of God nit«2s
nin\ " Jehovah of Hosts," occurs here for the first time,
I think it proper to note, that I translate it always, as in this
place, " Jehovah God of Hosts ; " taking it as an elliptical
expression for' nis3S "nbx nin*. This title imports, that
Jehovah is the God, or Lord, of hosts or armies ; as he is
the Creator, and supreme Governor of all beings in heaven
and earth ; and disposeth and ruleth them all in their several
orders and stations ; the Almighty, Universal Lbrd.
10. Ye princes of Sodom — ] The incidental mention of
Sodom and Gomorrah in the preceding verse, suggested to
the Prophet this spirited address to the rulers and inhabi
tants of Jerusalem, under the character of princes of Sodom
and people of Gomorrah. - Two examples of a sort of ele
gant turn of the like kind may be observed in St. Paul's
Epistle to the Romans, xv. 4, 5. and 12, 13. See Locke
on the place ; and see 29, 30. of this chapter ; which gives
another example of the same.
11. — the fat of fed beasts ; And in the blood — ] The fat
and the blood are particularly mentioned, because these
were in all sacrifices set apart to God. The fat was always
burnt upon tbe altar ; and the blood was partly sprinkled,
differently on different occasions, and partly poured out at
the bottom of the altar. See Lev. iv.
11 — 16. What have I to do — ] The prophet Amos has
expressed the same sentiments wfth great elegance :

chap. I. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 139
" I hate, I despise your feasts;
And 1 wift not deKght in the odour of your solemnities;
Though ye offer unto me burnt-offerings :
And your meat-offerings I wift not accept;
Neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your failings.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
And the melody of your viols I wftl not hear.
But let judgment roll down like waters;
And righteousness like a mighty stream." Amos, v. 21 — 24.
12. Tread, my courts no more — ] So the LXX divide
the sentence ; joining the end of this verse to the beginning-
bf the next.
13. The fast and the day of restraint] nisj?i ps. These
words are rendered in many different manners by different
interpreters ; to a good and probable sense by all ; but, I
think, by none in such a sense as can arise from the phrase
itself, agreeably to the idiom of the Hebrew language. In
stead of ]1N, the LXX manifestly read Dis, n^um, " the
fast." This Houbigant has adopted. The Prophet could
not well have omftted the fast in the enumeration of their
solemnities ; nor the abuse of it, among the instances of their
hypocrisy, which he has treated at large with such force and
- elegance in his 58th chapter. Observe also, that the pro
phet Joel twice joins together the fast, and the day of re
straint : nis;? iNip D1X iiynp
" Sanctify a fast; proclaim a day of restraint." Joel i. 14. ii. 16.
Which shews how properly they are here joined together.
TTOsy, the restraint, ^ is rendered, both here and in other
places in our English translation, the solemn assembly,' Cer
tain holy days, ordained by the law, were distinguished by
a particular charge, that " no servile work should be done
therein." Lev. xxift. 36. Numb. xxix. 35. Deut. xvi. 8.
This circumstance clearly explains the i"eason of the name,
the restraint, ox the day of restraint, given to those days.
If I could approve of any translation of these two ^<'0l"ds,
which I have met with, it should be that of the Spanish ver
sion of the Old Testament, made for the use of the Spanish
Jews : " tortura y detenimiento," " it is a pain and a con
straint unto me." But I still think, that the reading of the
LXX is more probably the truth.
15. When ye spread—] The Syr. LXX, and MS, read
taw^3^z, without the conjunction i.

140 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. I.,
Ibid. For your hdnds—^] Ai yesg x"?^(- LXX. Manus
enim vestrae. Vulg. They seem to have read ddt "'D.
16. Wash ye — ] Referring to the preceding verse, " your
hands are fuft of blood ; " and alluding to the legal washings
commanded on several occasions. See Lev. xiv. 8, 9, 47.
17. amend that lohich is corrupted] j'inn nts-N. In
rendering this obscure phrase I follow Bochart, (Hieroz.
Part. I. lib. ii. cap. 7.), though I am not perfectly satisfied
with his explication of it.
18. Though your sins were as scarlet — ] 'Jty, " scarlet,
or crimson," dibaphum, tivice dipped, or double-dyed; from
WW, iterare, to double, or to do a thing tioice. This deriva
tion seems much more probable than that which Salraasius
prefers, frora \w, acuere, frora the sharpness and strength
of the colour ; o|i.^o(v<mii. ))'^n, the same ; properly the
worm, verm,iculus, (from whence vermeil) ; for this colour
was produced from a worm, or insect, which grew in a coc
cus, or excrescence, of a shrub of the ilex kind, (see Plin.
Nat. Hist. xvi. 8.) ; like the cochineal worm in the opuntia
of America, (see Ulloa's Voyage, b. v. ch. 2. note to p. 342.).
There is a shrub of this kind, that grows in Provence and
Languedoc, aud produces the like insect, called the kermes
oak, (see Miller, Diet. Quercus); from kermez, the Arabic
word for this colour ; whence our word crimson is derived.
" Neque amissos colores
Lana refert medicata fuco."
says the poet ; applying the same image to a different pur
pose. To discharge these strong colours is impossible to hu
man art or power ; but to the grace and power of God, all
things, even much more difficult, are possible and easy.
19. Ye shall feed on the good of the land] Referring
to ver. 7.'; it shaft not be " devoured'by strangers."
20. Ye shall be food for the sword] The LXX apd
Vulg. read dd'^DKH, " the sword shall devour you ; " which
is of much more easy construction than the present reading
of the text.
" The Chaldee seems to read I'^Dxn 3"in 3in3 ; ' ye shaft be
consumed by the sword of the enemy.' Syr. also reads 3in3,
and renders the verb passively. And the rhythmus seems to
require this addition." Dr. Jubb.
21. — become a harlot] See Lowth, Comment, on the
place ; and De S. Poes. Hebr. Prsel. xxxi.

CHAP. I. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 141
22. wine mixed with water] An image used for, the
adulteration of wine, with more propriety than may at first
appear, if what Thevenot says of the people of the Levant
of late times was true of them formerly : He sa3'-s, " they
never mingle water with their wine to drink ; but drink by
itself what water they think proper for abating the strength
of the wine." " Lorsque les Persans boivent du vin, fts le
prennent tout pur, a la faQon des Levantins, qui ne le me-
lent jamais avec de I'eau ; mais en beuvant du vin, de temps
en temps iis prennent un pot d'eau, et en boivent de grand
traits." Voyage, Part. II. Uv. ft. chap. 10. " lis (les Tures)
n'y melent jamais d'eau, et se moquent des Chrestiens, qui
en mettent, ce qui leur semble lout-a-fait ridicule." Ibid.
Part. I. chap. 24.
It is remarkable, that whereas the Greeks and Latins by
mixed wine always understood wine dftuted and lowered with
water, the Hebrews on the contrary generally mean by it
wine made stronger and more inebriating, by the addition
of higher and more powerful ingredients ; such as honey,
spices, defrutum, (or wine inspissated by boiUng it down to
two-thirds, or one-half, of the quantity), myrrh, mandra-
gora, opiates, and other strong drugs. Such were the ex
hilarating, or rather stupifying, ingredients, which Helen
mixed in the bowl together with the wine for her guests op
pressed with grief, to raise their spirits ; the corriposition of
which she had learned in Egypt :
AvriK ap m eivoy /SteAe ^x^/amkoii, ivSit ittivov,
N-,)3-evfl£5 t' a^oMt te, x.axm emXrihi amtilm. Hom. Odys. iv. 220.
" Mean while, wfth genial joy to warm the soul,
Bright Helen mix'd a mirth-inspiring bowl ;
Temper'd with drugs of sovereign use, t' assuage
The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage :
Charm'd wfth that virtuous draught, th' exafted mind
All sense of woe-delivers to the wind." Pope.
Such was "the spiced wine and the juice of pome
granates," mentioned Cant. viii. 2. And how much the east
ern people to this day deal in artificial liquors of prodigious
strength, the use of wine being forbidden, may be seen in a
curious chapter of Kempfer upon that subject. Amoen. Exot.
Fasc. iii. Obs. 15.
Thus the drunkard is properly described, (Prov. xxift.
30.), as one " that seeketh rnixt wine ; " and is " mighty to
mingle strong drink : " Isaiah, v. 22. And hence the Psal-

142 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. I.
mist took that highly poetical and sublime image of the
cup of God's wrath, called by Isaiah, (U. 17.) " the cup of
trembling," (causing intoxication and stupefaction ; see
Chappelow's note on Hariri, p. 33.) ; containing, as St. John
expresses in Greek this Hebrew idea, with the utmost pre
cision, though with a seeming contradiction in terras, xexepivr-
ysym «Kf«7o», merum mixtum, pure wine made yet stronger by
a mixture of powerful ingredients : Rev. xiv. 10. " Iri the
hand of Jehovah," safth the Psalmist, (Psal. Ixxv. 9.), " there,
is a cup, and the wine is turbid : it is full of a mixed liquor,
and he poureth out of ft : (or rather, " he poureth ft out of
one vessel into another," to mix it perfectly ; according to
the reading expressed by the ancient versions, ni 'in niu
IJ'l) : verily the dregs thereof, (the thickest sediment of the
strong ingredients mingled with it), aft the ungodly of the
earth shall wring them out, and drink them."
23. associates—] The LXX, Vulg. and four MSS,
read nan, without the conjunction i.
24. Aha ! I will be eased — ] Anger, arising from a sense
of injury and affront, especially from those who, from every
consideration of duty and gratitude, ought to have behaved
far otherwise, is an uneasy and painful sensation ; and re
venge, executed to the full on the offenders, removes that
uneasiness, and consequently is pleasing and quieting, at
least for the present. Ezekiel introduces God expressing
himself in the same manner :
" And mine anger shall be fufty accomplished:
And I will make my fury rest upon them ;
And I will give myself ease." Chap. v. 13.
This is a strong instance of the metaphor called Anthropo-
pathia ; by which, throughout the Scriptures, as well the
historical as the poetical parts, the sentiments, sensations,
and affections, the bodily faculties, qualities, and raembers
of men, and even of brute animals, are atti-ibuted to God ;
and that with the utmost liberty and latitude of application.
The foundation of this is obvious ; it arises from necessity :
we have no idea of the natural attributes of God, of his pure
essence, of his raanner of existence, of his manner of acting :
when therefore we would treat on these subjects, we find
ourselves forced to express them by sensible images. But
necessity leads to beauty : this is true of metaphor in gene
ral, and in particular of this kind of metaphor ; which is

chap. 1. notes on isaiah. 143
used with great elegance and sublimity in the sacred poetry :
and what is very remarkable, in the grossest instances of tbe
application of it, it is generally the most striking and the
most sublime. The reason seems to be this : When the
images are taken from the superior faculties of the human
nature, from the purer and more generous affections, and
applied to God, we are apt to acquiesce in the notion ; we
overlook the metaphor, and lake it as a proper attribute:
but when the idea is gross and offensive, as in this passage
of Isaiah, where the impatience of anger, and the pleasure
of revenge, is attributed to God ; we are immediately shock
ed at the application ; the impropriety strikes os at once ;
and the mind, casting about for something in the divine
nature analogous to the image, lays bold on some great,
obscure, vague idea, which she endeavours in vain to com
prehend, and is lost in immensity and astonishment. See
De S. Poesi Hebr. Prajl. xvi. sub fin. where this matter
is treated and illustrated by examples.
25. in the furnace] The text has 13D ; which some ren
der, " as loith soap ; " as if it were the same with n'lUD ; so
Kimchi : but soap can have nothing to do with the purifying
of metals : others, " according to purity, or purely" as our
version. Le Clerc conjectured, that the true reading is
nOD, " as in the furnace :" see Ezek. xxii. 18. 2U. Dr. Du
rell proposes only a transposition of letters i33 ; to the same
sense : and so likewise Archbishop Seeker. That this is the
true reading is highly probable.
26. And after this—] The LXX, Syr. Chald. and
eighteen MSS, add the conjunction i.
27. — dn judgment ;] by the exercise of God's strict jus
tice in destroying the obdurate, (see ver. 28.), and delivering
the penitent: in righteousness; by the truth and faithful
ness of God in performing his promises.
29, 30. For ye shall be ashamed of the ilexes — ] Sacred
groves were a very ancient and favourite appendage of idol
atry. They were furnished with the teniple of the god to
whom they were dedicated ; with altars, images, andi every
thing necessary for performing the various rites of worship
offered there ; and were the scenes of many impure cere
monies, and of much aboriiinable superstition. They inade
a principal part of the religion of the old inhabitants of Ca
naan ; and the IsraeUtes were commanded to destroy their
groves, among other monuraents of their false worship.

144 notes on isaiah. chap. j.
The Israelites themselves became afterward very much ad-
dicted'to this species of idolatry. ,
" When 1 had brought them into the land.
Which I sware that I would give unto them ;
Then they saw every high hill, and every thick tree:
And there they slew their victims ;
And there they presented the provocation of their offerings;
' And there they placed their sweet savour;
And there they poured out their libations." Ezek. xx. 28.
" On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice;
And on the hftls they burn incense:
Under the oak, and the poplar;
And the ilex, because her shade is pleasant." Hosea, iv. 13.
¦Of what particular, kinds the trees here mentioned are, it
cannot be determined with certainty. In regard to n'7N, in
this place of Isaiah, as well as in Hosea, Celsius (Hierobot.)
understands it of the terebinth ; because the most ancient
interpreters render it so ; in the first place the LXX. He
quotes eight places ; but in three of these eight places the
copies vary, some having ^^v? instead of Tt^tQivUi. And he
should have told us, that these same LXX render it in six
teen other places by ^^v^ : so that their authority is really
against him ; and the LXX slant pro (/were?./, contrary to
what he says at first setting out. Add to this, that Sym
machus, Theodotion, and Aquila, generally render it by
^fu«; the latter only once rendering it by T^eQi^tm. His
other arguments seem to me not very conclusive : he says,
that all tha qualities of n^s agree to the terebinth; that it
grows in mountainous countries ; that it is a strong tree ;
long-lived ; large and high ; and deciduous. Aft these
qualities agree just as weft to the oak, against which he
contends ; and he actually attribules thera to the oak
in the very next section. But, I think, neither ' the oak
nor the terebinth will do in this place of Isaiah, from the
last circumstance which he hientions, their being deci
duous; where the Prophet's design seems to me to require
an eyer-green : otherwise the casting of its leaves would
be nothing out of the common established course of nature,
and no proper image of extreme distress, and total desola
tion ; parallel to that of a garden without water, that is,
wholly burnt up and destroyed. An ancient, who was an
inhabitant and a native of this country, understands it, in
Uke manner, of a tree blasted wfth uncommon and immode-

chap. I. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 145
rate heat: — "velut arbores, cum frondes eeslu torrente de-
cusserunt." Ephraem Syr. in loc. edit. Assemani. Cora-
pare Psal. i. 4. Jer. xvii. 8. Upon, the whole, I have chosen
to make it the ilex ; which word Vossius (Etyraolog.) de
rives from the Hebrew vha ; that, whether the word itself
be rightly rendered or not, I might at least preserve the pro
priety of the poetical image.
29. For ye shall be ashamed] iE'i3n, in the second per
son, Vulg. Chald. two MSS, and one edition ; and in agree
ment wfth the rest of the sentence.
30. — ichose leaves] Twenty-six MSS and three editions
read rrb;;, in its fuft and regular form. This is worth re
marking, as it accounts for a great number of anomalies of
the like kind, which want only the same authority to rectify
them. 30. — a garden wherein is no water.] In the hotter
¦parts of the eastern countries, a constant supply of water
is so absolutely necessary for the cultivation, and even for
the preservation and existence of a garden, that should it
want water but for a few days, every thing in it would be
burnt up with the heat, and totally destroyed. There is
therefore no garden whatever in those countries, but what
has such a certain supply ; either from some neighbouring
river, or from a reservoir of water collected from springs,
or filled with rain-water in the proper season, in sufficient
quantity to afford ample provision for the rest of the year.
Moses, having descrilied the habitation of mari newly
created, as a garden, planted with every tree pleasant to the
sight and good for food, adds, as a circumstance necessary
to complete the idea of a garden, that it was well supplied
with water : (Gen. ii. 10. and see xiii. 10.) " And a river
went out of Eden to water the garden."
That the reader may have a clear notion of this matter,
it wift be necessary to give some accourit of the management
of their gardens in this respect.
" Damascus, (says Maundrell, p. 122.), is encompassed
with gardens, extending no less, according to common
estimation, than thirty railes round ; which makes it look
like a city in a vast wood. The gardens are thick set with
fruit-trees of all kinds, kept fresh and verdant by'the waters
of Barrady, (the Chrysorrhoas of the ancients), whicli
supply both the gardens and city in great abundance. This
-river, as soon as it issues out from between the cleft of the
18

146 NOTES ON ISAIAH, CHAP, I.
mountain before mentioned into the plain, is immediately
divided into three streams ; of which the middlemost and
higgest runs directly to Damascus, and is distributed to aU.
the cisterns and fountains of the city. The other two
{which I take to be the work of art) are drawn round, one
to the right hand, and the other to the left, on the borders
of the gardens, into which they are let as they pass, by Uttle
currents, and so dispersed all over the vast wood ; inso
much, tbat there is not a garden but has a fine quick stream
running through it. Barrady is almost wholly drunk up by
the city and gardens. What small part of ft escapes is
united, as I was informed, in one channel again, on the
south-east side of the city ; and, after about three or four
hours' course, finally loses itself in a bog there, without ever
arriving at the sea." This was likewise the case in former
times, as Strabo, lib. xvi. Pliny, v. 18. testify; who say,
" that this river was expended in canals, and drunk up by
watering the place."
" The best sight (says the same Maundrell, p. 39.) that
the palace [of the Emir of Beroot, anciently Berytus]
affords, and the worthiest to be remembered, is the orange
garden. It contains a large quadrangular plat of ground,
divided into sixteen lesser squares, four in a row, with walks
between them. The walks are shaded with orange-trees, of
a large spreading size. Every one of these sixteen lesser
squares in the garden was bordered with stone ; and in the
stone-work were troughs, very artificially contrived, for con
veying the water all over the garden : there being little
outlets cut at every tree, for the stream, as it passed by, to
flow out, and water it." The royal gardens at Ispahan are
watered juBt in the same manner, accoi'ding to Kempler's de
scription, Amoen. Exot. p. 193.
This gives us a clear idea of the D'd ''j'7ii, mentioned in
the flrst Psalm, and other places of Scripiure, 'Uhe divisions
of waters," the waters distributed in artilicial canals; for so
the phfase properly signifies. IPhe prophet Jeremiah bas im
itated, and elegantly amplified, the passage of the Psalmist
above referred to : —
" He shall be like a tree planted by the water-side,
And which sendeth forth her roots to the aqueduct:
She shall not fear, when the heat cometh;
But her leaf shall be green;
And in the year of drought she shall not be anxious,
Neither shall she cease from bearing fruft." Jer. xvii. 8.

CHAP. I. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 147
From this image the son of Sirach has most beautifully
iUustrated the influence and the increase of reUgious wisdom
in a well-prepared heart : —
" 1 also come forth as a canal from a river,
And as a conduit flowing into a paradise.
I said : I will water my garden.
And I will abundantly moisten my border:
And lo ! my canal became a river,
And my river became a sea." Eccl'us, xxiv. 30, 31.
This gives us the true meaning of the following elegant
proverb : —
" The heart of the king is like the canals of waters in the hand
of Jehovah ;
.Whithersoever it pleaseth him, he inclineth it." Prov. xxi. 1.
The direction of it is ii. the hand of Jehovah, as the distri
bution of the water of the reservoir, through tbe garden, by
different canals, is at the will of the gardener : —
" Et, quum exustus ager morientibus sestuat herbis,
Ecce supercilio clivosi tramitis undam
Elicit: ilia cadens raucura per levia murmur
Saxa ciet, scatebrisque arentia temperat arva."
Virg. Georg. i. 107.
Solomon mentions his own works of this kind :
" I made me gardens, and paradises;
And I planted in them all kinds of fruit-trees.
1 made me pools of water,
To water with them the grove flourishing with trees."
Eccles. ii. 5. 6.
Maundrell (p. 88.) has given a description of the remains, as
they are said to be, of these very pools made by Solomon,
for the reception and preservation of the waters of a spring,
rising at a Uttle distance from them ; which will give us a
perfect notion of the contrivance and design of such reser
voirs. " As for the pools, they are three in number, lying
in a row above each other ; being so disposed, that the waters
of the uppermost may descend into the second, and those of
the second into the third. Their figure is quadrangular';
the breadth is the same in aft, amounting to about ninety
paces : in their length there is some difference between them ;
the first being one hundred and sixty paces long ; the se
cond two hundred ; the third two hundred and twenty.
They are all lined with wall,' and plastered : and contain a
great depth of water."

148 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. I.'
The immense works which were made by the ancient
kings of Egypt, for receiving the waters of the Nile when
it overflowed, for such uses, are well known. But there
never was a more stupendous work of this kind, than tbe
reservoir of Saba, or Merab, in Arabia Felix. According
to . the tradition of the country, it was the work of Balkis,
that queen of Sheba who visited Solomon, It was a vast
lake formed by the collection of the waters of a torrent in
a valley, where, at a narrow pass between two mountains, a
very high mole, or dam, was built. The water of the lake
so formed had near twenty fathom depth ; and there were
three sluices at different heights, by which, at whatever
height the lake stood, the plain below might be watered.
By conduits and canals from these sluices the water was
constantly distributed in due proportion to the several lands;
so that the whole country for many miles became a perfect
paradise. The city of Saba, or Merab, was situated imme
diately below the great dam : a great flood came, and raised
the lake above its usual height : the dam gfjve way in the
middle of the night ; the waters burst forth at once, and
overwhelmed the whole city, with the neighbouring towns,
and people. The remains of eight tribes were forced to
abandon their dwelftng, and the beautiful vaUey became a
morass and a' desert. This fatal catastrophe happened long
before the time of Mohammed, who mentions it in the
Koran, chap, xxxiv. See also Sale, Prelim, sect. i. ; and
Michaelis, Questions aux Voyageurs Danois, No. 94. ; Nie
buhr, Descrip. de 1' Arable, p. 240.

CHAPTER II.
The prophecy contained in the second, third, and fourth
chapters, makes one continued discourse. Tbe flrst five
verses of chapter second foretell the kingdom of Messiah,
the conversion of the Gentiles, 'and their admission into it, ¦
From the sixth verse to the end of the second chapter is fore
told the punishment of the unbelieving Jews, for their idola
trous practices, their confidence in their own strength, and
distrust of God's protection ; and moreover the destruction
of idolatry, in consequence of the establishment of Messiah's
kingdom, Tbe whole third chapter, with the first verse of
the fourth, is a prophecy of the calamities of the Babylonian

CHAP. II. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 149
invasion and captivity ; with a particular amplification of
the distress of the proud and luxurious daughters of Sion.
Chap. iv. 2' — 6. promises to the remnant, which shall have
escaped this severe purgation, a future restoration to the favour
and protection of God.
This prophecy was probably delivered in the time of
Jotham, or perhaps in that of Uzziah ; as Isaiah is said to
have prophesied in his reign ; to wliich time not any of his
prophecies is so applicable as that of these chapters. The
seventh verse of the second, and the latter part of the third
chapter, plainly point out times in which riches abounded,
and luxury and delicacy prevafted. Plenty of silver and
gold could only arise from their commerce ; particularly
from that part of it which was carried on by the Red Sea.
This circumstance seems to confine the prophecy within the
limits above mentioned, whfte the port of Elath was in their
hands : it was lost under Ahaz, and never recovered.
2. — j?i the latter days — ] " Wherever the latter times
are mentioned in Scripture, the days of the Messiah are
always meant ;" says Kimchi on this place : and, in regard
to this place, nothing can be more clear and certain. The
Prophet Micah (chap. iv. 1 — 4.) has* repeated this prophecy
of the establishment of the kingdom of Christ, and of its
progress to universality and perfection, in the same words,,
with little and hardly any material variation : for as he did
not begin to prophesy till Jotham's time, and this seems to
be one of the first of Isaiah's prophecies, I suppose Micah to
¦ have taken it from hence. The variations, as I said, are of
no great importance. Verse 2. Nin after xtyji, a word of some
eraphasis, may be supphed from Micah, if dropt iu Isaiah ;,
an ancient MS has it here in the" margin : It has in like
. manner been lost in chap. lift. 4. (see note on the place) ; and
in Psal. xxii. 29. vt^here it is supplied by Syr. and LXX. In
stead of D-un ^3, all the nations, Micah has only d''d,jt, peo
ples ; where Syr. has d'd;? '73, all peoples, as probably it
ought lo be. Verse 3. for tbe 2d %• read '7NI, seventeen MSS,
two I'ditions, LXX, Vulg. Syr. Chald. and so Micah iv. 2.
Verse 4. Micah adds, pm i;;, afar off, which the Syriac also
reads iu this parallel place of Isaiah. It is also to be ob-
serveiL that Micah has improved the passage by adding a
verse, or sentence, for imagery and expression worthy even of
the elegance of Isaiah : —
18*

150 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. it.
" And they shall sit, every man under his vine,
And under his fig-tree, and none shall affright them:
For the mouth of Jehovah God of Hosts hath spoken it."
The description of well-established peace, by the image of
" beating their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into
pruning-hooks," is very poetical. The Roman poets have
employed the same image : Martial, xiv. 34. " Falx ex ense."
" Pax me certa ducis placidos curvavit in usus:
Agricolse nuiic sum; mftitis ante fui."
The Prophet Joel hath reversed it, and applied it to war pre-
vafting over peace : —
" Beat your ploughshares into swords;
And your pruning-hooks into spears." " Joel, iu. 10.
And so likewise the Roman poet : —
" Non uUus aratro
Dignus honos: squalent abductis arva colonis,
Et curvBB rigidum falces conflantur in ensem." Virg. Georg. i. SOS.
" Befta diu tenuere viros: erat aptior ensis
Vomere: cedebat taurus arator equo.
Sarcula cessabant; versique in pila ligones;
Factaque de rastri ponders cassis erat." Ovid. Fast. i. 6&7.
The Prophet Ezekiel has presignified the sarae great event
with equal clearness, though in a more abstruse form, in an
allegory ; from an iraage, suggested by the former part of the
prophecy, happily introduced, and well pursued : —
" Thus saith the Lord Jehovah:
I myself will take from the shoot of the lofty cedar;
Even a tender cion frora the top of his cions wftl I pluck off:
And 1 myself will plant it on a mountain high and eminent.
On the lofty mountain of Israel will 1 plant ft;
And it shall exalt its branch and bring forth fruit;
And it shall become a majestic cedar:
And under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing;
In the shadow of its branches shall they dwell:
And all the trees of the field shall know,
That I Jehovah have brought low the high tree;
Have exalted the low tree;
Have dried up the green tree;
And have made the dry tree to flourish:
I Jehovah have spoken ft, and wift do ft." Ezek. xvu. 22-24.
The word inrJi in this passage, verse 22. as the sentence
now stands, seems incapable of being reduced to any proper

CTHAP. II. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 151
construction or sense ; none of the ancient versions acknow
ledge it, except Theodotion and Vulg. ; and aft but the latter
vary very much from the present redding of this clause.
Houbigant's correction of the passage, by reading, instead of
¦•nnji, npJVi, (ayid a tender cion), which is not very unUke it,
(perhaps better pjvi, with which the adjective y\ wftl agree
without alteration), is ingenious and probable ; and I have
adopted it in the above translation.
6. they are filled with diviners — ] Heb. They are filled
from the east ; or, more than the east. The sentence is ma
nifestly imperfect. The LXX, Vulg. and Chaldee, seem
to have read mpD3 ; and the latter, with another word be
fore it signifying idols : They are filled with idols as from,
of old. Houbigant for Dnpn, reads DDpD, as Brentius had
proposed long ago. I rather think, that both words together
give us the true reading : DipD, DDpD, vnth divination from
the east ; and that the first word has been by mistake omit
ted, from its similitude to the second.
Ibid. And they multiply — ] Seven MSS and one edftion
read ip'3D\ " Read iri'SD"' ; and have joined themselves to
the children of strangers ; that is, in marriage, or worship."
Dr. JuBn. So Vulg. adhceserunt. Compare chap. xiv. 1.
But the very learned professor Chevalier MichaeUs has
explained the word inSD', Job, xxx. 7. (German transla
tion, note on the place) in another manner ; which perfectly
well agrees with that place, and perhaps will be found to
give as good a sense here. n''3D, the noun, means corn
springing up, not from the seed regularly sown on cuftivated
land, but in the untilled field, from the scattered grains of
the former harvest. This, by an' easy metaphor, is applied
to a spurious brood of chftdren irregularly and casually begot
ten. The LXX seem to have understood the verb here
in this sense, reading it as Vulg. seems to have done : this
justifies their version, which it is hard- to account for in any
other raanner : km Tixm araAA« oM^<Pv7m lyiwh avToif. Compare
Hos. V. 7. and LXX there.
7. And his land is filled with horses] This was in direct
contradiction to God's command in the law : "But he [the
king] shall not multiply horses to himself; nor cause the
people to retiun to Egypt, to the end that he should mul
tiply horses : — neither shaft he greatiy multiply to himself
silver and gold : " Deut. xvii. 16, 17. Uzziah seems to
have followed the example of Solomon, (see 1 Kings x. 26,

152 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. II,
— 29.), who first transgressed in these particulars: he re
covered the port of Elath on the Red Sea, and with it that
commerce, which, in Solomon's days, had " made silver and
gold as plenteous at Jerusalem as stones:" 2 Chron. i. 15.,
He had, an army of 307,500 men ; in which, as we may
infer from this testimony of Isaiah, the chariots and horse
made a considerable part. "The law above-mentioned
was to be a standing trial of prince and people, whether they
had trust and confidence in God their deUverer." See Bp..
Sherlock's Discourses on Prophecy, Dissert, iv. where he ha&
exceUently explained the reason and effect of the law and the
influence which the observance or neglect of it had on
the affairs of the IsraeUtes.
8. And his land is filled with idols] Uzziah and Jotham
are both said (2 Kings xv. 3, 4. and 34, 35.) " to have
done that which was right in the sight of the Lord ; " (that
is, to have adhered to, and maintained the legal worship of
God, in opposftion to idolatry, and all irregular worship;
for to this sense the meaning of that phrase is commonly to
be restrained) ; " save that the high places were not removed,
where the people stiU sacrificed and burned incense." There
was hardly any time when they were quite free from this
irregular and, unlawful practice; which they seem to have
looked upon as very consistent with the true worship of
God ; and which seems in some measure to have been tole
rated, whfte the tabernacle was removed from place to place,
and before the temple was built. Even after the conversion
of Manasseh, when he had removed the strange gods, and
commanded Judah to serve Jehovah the God of Israel ;
it is added, " Nevertheless the peqple did sacrifice stftl on
the high places, yet unto Jehovah their God only : " 2
Chron. xxxiii. 17. The worshipping on the high places
therefore does not necessarily imply idolatry: and from
what is said of these two kings, Uzziah and Jothara, we may
presurae, that the pubhc exercise of idolatrous worship was
not permitted in their time. The idols therefore here spoken
of, must have been such as were designed for a private and
secret use. Such probably were the Teraphim so often
mentioned in Scripture ; a kind of household gods, of human
form, as it should seem, (see 1 Sam. xix. 13. and compare
Gen. xxxi.' 34.), of different magnftude, used for idolatrous
and superstitious purposes ; particularly for divination, and
as oracles, which they consulted for direction in their affairs.

CHAP. II. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 153'
9. — shall be boused down] This has reference to the
preceding verse : they bowed themselves down to their idols ;
therefore shall they be bowed down and brought low under
tbe avenging hand of God.
10. When he ariseth to strike the earth with terror.] On
the authority of LXX, confirmed by the Arabic and an an
cient MS, I have here added to the text a Une, which in the
19th and •21st verses is repeated together with the preceding
line, and has, I think, evidently been omitted by mistake
in tbis place. The MS here varies only in one letter from
the reading of the other two verses : it has ¦[•is3 instead of
11. — be humbled] "For niffi '73iy, read no 'hSim." Dr.
Durell. Which rectifies the grammatical construction.
13 — 16. Even against all the cedars — ] These verses
affoul us a striking example of that pecuhar way of writing,
which makes a principal characteristic of the parabolical or
poetical style of the Hebrews, and in which their prophets
deal so largely : namely, their manner of exhibiting things
divine, spftitual, moral, and political, by a set of images taken
from tilings natural, artificial, religious, historical; in tbe way
of metaphor or allegory. Of these, nature furnishes much
the largest and the most pleasing share ; and aft poetry has
chiefly recourse to natural images, as the richest aud most
powerful source of ftlustration. But it may be observed of the
Hebrew poetry in particular, than in the use of such images,
and in the application of them in the -way of ftlustration and
ornament, it is more regular and constant than any other poe
try whatever ; that it has, for the most part, a set of images
appropriated in a manner to the explication of certain sub
jects. Thus you will find, in many other places beside this
before us, that cedars of Libanus and oaks of Basan are used,
in the way of metaphor and aftegory, for kings, princes, po-
tentales, of the highest rank ; high mountains and lofty hills,
for kingdoms, repubhcs, states, cities ; towers and fortresses,
for defenders and protectors, whether by counsel or strength,
in peace or war ; ships of Tarshish, and works of art and in
vention employed in adorning them, for merchants, men en
riched by coinraerce, and abounding in all the luxuries and
elegancies of life ; such as those of Tyre and Sidon: for it
appears from the course of the whole passage, and frora the
train of ideas, that the fortresses and the ships are to be taken
metaphorically, as well as the high trees and the lofty moun
tains.

154 NOTES ON ISATAH, CHAP. II,
Ships'of Tarshish are in Scripture frequently used, by a
metonymy for ships in general, especially such as are em
ployed in carrying on traffic between distant countries ;. as
Tarshish was the most celebrated mart of those times, fre
quented of old by the Phenicians, and the principal source of
wealth to Judea and the neighbouring countries. The
learned seem now to be perfectly well agreed, that Tarshish
is Tartessus, a city of Spain, at the mouth of the river Baetis ;
whence the Phenicians, who first opened this trade, brought
sftver and gold, (Jer. x. 9. Ezek. xxvft. 12.), in which that
country then abounded ; and pursuing their voyage still fur
ther to the Cassiterides, [Bochart. Canaan, I. cap. 39. Huet,
Hist, de Commerce, p. 194.), the islands of Scilly and Corn
wall, they brought from thence Jead and tin.
Tarshish is celebrated in Scripture (2 Chron. vift. 17,
18. ix. 21.) for the trade which Solomon carried on thither,
in conjunction with the Tyrians. Jehosaphat (1 Kings
xxii. 48, 2 Chron. xx. 36.) attempted afterward to renew
that trade ; and frora the account given of his attempt it
appears, that his fleet was to saft frora Eziongeber on the
Red Sea : they must therefore have designed to sail round
Africa, as Solomon's fleet probably bad done before, (see
Huet, Histoire de Commerce, p. 32.) ; for it was a three
years' voyage, (2 Chron. ix. 21.); and they brought gold
from Ophir, probably on the coast of Arabia, silver from
Tartessus, and ivory, apes, and peacocks frora Africa.
" T31N, Afri, Africa, the Roman termination, Africa terra.
lyti'in, some city, or country, iu Africa. So Chald. on 1
Kings xxii. 49. where he renders B''t»in, by np'lSN; and
compare 2 Chron. xx. 36. from whence it appears," that to
go to Ophir and to Tarshish is one and the same thing."
Dr. Jubb. It is certain, that under Pharaoh Necho, about
two hundred years afterward, this voyage was made by the
Egyptians. (Herodot. iv. 42.) They sailed fi"om the Red
Sea, and returned by the Mediterranean, and they perform
ed it in three years ; just the sarae time that the voyage
under Solomon had taken up. It appears likev/ise from
Pliny, (Nat. Hist. ii. 67.), that the passage round the Capfe
of Good Hope was known and frequently practised before
his time ; by Hanno the Carthaginian, when Carthage was
in its glory; by one Eudoxus, in the time of Ptolemy La-
thyrus king of Egypt ; and Ceelius Anlipater, an historian
of good credit, someVs'hat earlier than Pliny, testifies, that

CHAP. II. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 155
he bad seen a merchant, who had made the voyage from
Gades to iEthiopia. The Portuguese under Vasco de
Gama, near three hundred years ago, recovered this navi
gation, after it had been intermitted and lost for many
centuries. 18. — shall disappear] The ancient versions, and an an
cient MS, read labri", plural.
19 — 21. into caverns of rocks^—] The country of Judea,
being mountainous and rocky, is fuft of caverns ; as it ap
pears from the history of David's persecution under SauL
At Engedi, in particular, there was a cave so large, that
David with six hundred men hid themselves in. tbe sides of
it ; and Saul entered the mouth of the cave without per^^
ceiving that any one was there : 1 Sam. xxiv. Josephus'
(Antiq. Ub. xiv. cap. 15. ; and Bell. Jud. lib. i. cap. 16.)
tells us of a numerous gang of banditti, who, having in-^
fested the country, and being pursued by Herod with his
army, retired into certain caverns, almost inaccessible, near
Arhela in Galilee, where they were with great difficulty sub
dued. Some of these were natural, others artificial. " Be
yond Damascus," says Strabo, ftb. xvi. " are two mountains
called Trachones; [from which the country has the name
of Trachonitis] : and from hence, towards Arabia and Itu-
rea, are certain rugged mountains, in which there are deep
caverns ; one of which will hold four thousand raen." Taver
nier (Voyage de Perse, Part II. chap. 4.) speaks of a grot,
between Aleppo and Bir, that would hold near three thou
sand horse. Three hours distant from Sidon, about a
mile from the sea, there runs along a high rocky mountain ;
in the sides of which are hewn a multitude of grots, aft very
Uttle differing from each other. They have entrances about
two feet square : on the inside, you find in most or all of
them a room of about four yards square. There are of
these subterraneous caverns two hundred in number. It
may, wnth probability at least, be concluded that these places
were contrived for the use of the living, and not of the dead.
Strabo describes the habitations of the Troglodytae to have
been somewhat of this kind:" Maundrell, p. 118. The
Horites, who dwelt in Mount Seir, were Troglodytes, as
their name D"in imports. But those mentioned by Strabo
were on each side of the Arabian Gulf. Mohammed (Ko
ran, chap. XV. and xxvi.) speaks of a tribe of Arabians, the
tribe of Thamud, " who hewed houses out of the mountains.

, 156 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. II.
to secure themselves." Thus, " because of the Midianites,
the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the
mountains, and caves, and strongholds." Judges, vi. 2. To
these they betook themselves for refuge in times of distress
and, hostile invasion: "When the men of Israel saw that
they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed), then
the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets,
and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits ; " 1 Sam.
xui. 6. and see Jer. xU. 9. Therefore, " to enter into the
rock ; to go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of
the earth," was to them a very proper and famftiar image to
express terror and consternation. The Prophet Hosea hath
carried the same image fui-ther, and added great strength and
spirit to it : Chap, x, 8.
" They shaft say to the mountains, Cover us;
And to the hills. Fall on us."
Which image, together with these of Isaiah, is adopted by
the sublime author of the Revelation, (chap. vi. 15, 16.), who
frequentiy borrows his imagery from our Prophet.
' 20. — which they have made to worship — ] The word
1^, for. himself is omitted by an ancient MS, and is un
necessary. It does not appear that any copy of LXX has it,
except MS Pachom. and MS i. D. ii. and they have iavton,
on'?, .plural.
Ibid. — to the moles — ] They shall carry their idols with
them into the dark caverns, old ruins, or desolate places, to
which they shall flee for refuge ; and so shall give them up,
and relinquish them to the filthy animals that frequent such
places, and have taken possession of them as their proper
habitation. Bellonius, Greaves, P. Lucas, and many other
travellers, speak of bats of an enormous size as inhabiting the
great Pyramid. See Harmer, Obser. vol. ii. 455. Three
MSS express nnaian, the moles, as one word.

CHAPTER III.
1. Eiiery stay and support — ] Heb. " the support mas
culine, and the support feminine ; " that is, every kind of
support, whether fgreat or small, strong or weak : " Al
kanitz, wal-kanttzah ; the wild beast, male and female: Prc-
verbially appUed both to fishing and hunting ; i, e. I seized
the prey, great or Uttle, good or bad. Frora hence, as

CHAP. III. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 157
Schultens observes, is explained Isa. iii. 1. literally the' male
and female stay: i. e. the strong and weak, the great and
small.'? Chappelow, note on Hariri, Assembly I. Compare
Eccles. ii. 8. "
The two following verses, 2, 3. are very clearly explained
by the sacred historian's account of the event, the captivity of
Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon : "And he
carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and aft the
mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and aft the
craftsmen and smfths: none remained, save the poorest sort of
the people of the land : " 2 Kings xxiv. 14.
4. I will make boys their priiices — ] This also was fully
accomplished in the succession of weak and wicked princes.
frora the death of Josiah to the destruction of the city and
temple, and the taking of Zedekiah, the last of thera, by
Nebuchadnezzar. 6. — of his father's house.] For n'3, the ancient inter
preters seem to have read n'3D : th oiK-em th ¦sroi.Tgaii a,mn -,
LXX : doraesticum patris sui ; Vulg. which gives no good
sense. (But LXX, MS i. D. ii. for »(«£«, has owa.) And,
Ms brother, of his father s house, is little better than a tau
tology. The case seems to require, that the man should ap
ply to a person of some sort of rank and eminence ; one that
was the head of \m father's house, (see Josh. xxii. 14.);
whether of the house of him who applies to him, or of any
other ; V3X n'3 tysi. I cannot help suspecting, therefore, that
the word e-ni has been lost out of the text.
Ibid. — saying — ] Before rhmi, garment, two MSS (one
ancient), and the Babylonish Talmud, have the word ids'? :
and so LXX, Vulg. Syr. Chald. I place it wfth Houbigant,
after n'^Dty.
Ibid. — take by the garment.] That is, shall entreat him
in an humble and supplicating manner. " Ten men shall
take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew ; saying. Let
us go with you ; for we have heard that God is wfth j'ou : "
Zech. vift. 23. And so in Isaiah, chap. iv. 1. the same
gesture is used to express earnest and humble entreaty.
The behaviour of Saul towards Samuel was of the same
kind, when he laid hold on the skirt of his raiment: 1 Sam.
x'v. 27. The preceding and following verses shew, that his
whole deportriaent, in regard to the prophet,, was full of sub
mission and humiftty.
Ibid. And let thy hand support — ] Before -jt nnn ?
19

158 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. Ill,
MS adds h'nn ; another MS adds in the same place npn l^a,
which latter seems to be a various reading of the two preced
ing words, making a very good sense ; " take into thy hand
our ruinous state." Twenty-one MSS, and three editions,
and tbe Babylonish Talmud, have vv, plural.
7. Then shall he openly declare — ] The LXX, Syr. and
Jerom. read xa"), adding the conjunction ; which seems
necessary in this place.
Ibid. For in my house is neither bread nor raiment."}
" It is customary through all the East," says Sir J. Chardin,
" to gather together an immense quantity of furniture and
clothes ; for their fashions never alter." Princes and great
men are obliged to have a great stock of such things in
readiness for presents upon all occasions, " The kings of
Persia," says tbe same author, " have great wardrobes, where
there are always many hundreds of habits ready, designed for
presents, and sorted." Harmer, Observ. ft. 11. and 88. A
great quantity of provision for the table was equally neces
sary. The daily provision for Solomon's household, whose
attendants were exceedingly numerous, was proportionably
great : 1 Kings, iv. 22, 23. Even Nehemiah, in his strait
circumstances, had a large supply daily for his table ; at
which were received an hundred and fifty of the Jews and
rulers, beside those that came frora among tbe neighbouring
heathens : Neh. v. 17, 18.
This explains the meaning of the excuse made by hiin
that is desired to undertake the government : he alleges, that
he has not wherewithal to support the dignity of the station
by such acts of liberality and hospitaUty as the law of custom
required of persons of superior rank. See Harmer's Observa
tions, i. 340. ft. 88.
8. — ihe cloud] This word ap[jears to be of very doubt
ful form, frora the printed editions, the MSS, and the an
cient versions. The first jod in 'j'_ij, which ' is necessary,
according to the common interpretation, is in raany of them
omitted : the two last letters are upon a rasure in two MSS.
I think it should be |jy, as the Syriac reads; and that the
aUusion is to the cloud, in which the glory of the Lord ap
peared above the tabernacle. See Exod. xvi. 9, 10. xl. 34 —
38. Numb. xvi. 41, 42.
10. Pronou7ice ye — \ The reading of this verse is very
dubious. The LXX for noN read losj ; or both, 1DX3
ITDK: and ub 31t3 vh '3. Aiiirufiiv toi ^(Kaiov, ot( tvT^erffoi '>)/«•"

OHAP. III. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 159
en. Perhaps, for nax, the true reading may be iibx, bless
ye : or nts'N na5<, say ye, blessed is — . Vulg. and an ancient
MS read, in the singular number, b3N', comedet.
12. Pervert] i;j^3, swallow. Among many unsatisfac
tory methods of accounting for the unusual meaning of this
word in this place, I chose Jarchi's explication, as making
the best sense. " Read i'7'73, confound. Syr." Dr. Jubb.
" Read i'7n3, disturb or trouble." Seckee. So LXX.
13. — his 'people] ^¦a^, LXX.
14. — my vineyard] tai3, LXX, Chald. Jerom.
15. And grind the faces] The expression and the image
is strong, to denote grievous oppression ; but is exceeded by
the propbet Micah :
" Hear, 1 pray you, ye chiefs of Jacob;
And ye princes of the house of Israel:
Is it not yours to know what is right ?
Ye that hate good, and love evil:
Who tear their skin from off them;
And their flesh from off their bones:
Who devour the flesh of my people;
And flay from off them their skin:
And their bones they dash in pieces;
And chop them asunder, as morsels for the pot;
And as flesh thrown into the midst ofthe cauldron."
Micah, iii. 1—3.
In the last line but one, for •wio, read, by the transposition
of a letter, I.XM with the LXX, and Chald.
16. And falsely setting off their eyes with paint] Heb.
falsifying their eyes. 1 take this to be the true meaning
and literal rendering of the word ; from ^'rm. The Maso
retes have pointed it, as if it were frora iptff', a different
word. This arose, as I imagine, from their supposing that
the word W'as the same with ipD, Chald. intueri, innuere
ocidis ; or that it had an affinity with the noun Nip»D,
which the Chaldeans, or the RablDins at least, use for sti
bium, the mineral which -was commonly used in colouring
the eyes. See Jarchi's comment on the place. Though
the colouring of the eyes with stibium be not jiarticularly
here expressed, yet I suppose it to be impfted : and so the
Chaldee paraphrase explains it ; " stibio linitis oculis."
This fashion seras to have prevailed very generally among
the eastern people in ancient times ; and they retain the
very same to -this day.

160 JSfOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP, III,
Pietro della Valle, giving a description of his wife, an
Assyrian lady, born in Mesopotamia, and educated at
Baghdad, whom he married in that country, (Viaggi, tom.
i, lettera 17.), says, " Her eyelashes, which are long, and,
according to the custom ofthe East, dressed with stibium,
(as we often read in tbe Holy Scriptures of the Hebrew
women . of old, Jer. iv. 30. Ezek. xxfti. 40. ; and in Xeno
phon of Astyages the grandfather of Cyrus, and of the
Medes of that time, Cyropeed. Ub. i.), give a dark, and at
the same time a majestic shade to the eyes." " Great eyes
(says Sandys, Travels, p. 67., speaking of tbe Turkish
women) they have in' principar repute ; and of those, the
blacker they be, the more amiable : insomuch that they pqt
between the eye-lids and the eye a certain black powder,
with a fine long pencft, made of a mineral brought from the
kingdom of Fez, and called alcohole ; which, hy the not dis
agreeable staining of the lids, doth better set forth the white
ness of the eye ; and though 4t be troublesome for a time,
yet it comforteth the sight, and repelleth ift humours."
" Vis ejus [stibii] astringere ac refrigerare, principalis autem
circa oculos ; namque ideo etiam plerique Platyophthalmon
id appellavere, quoniam in qaftiblepharis mulierum dftatat
oculos ; et fluxiones inhibet oculorura exulcerationesque."
Plin. Nat. Hist, xxxiu. 6.
" Ille supercftium madida fuligine tinctum
Obftqua producit acu, pingitque trementes
AttoUens oculos." Juv. Sat. ii. 92.
"But none of those [Moorish] ladies," says Dr. Shaw,
(Travels, p. 294. fol), " take themselves to be completely
dressed, tift they have tinged the hair and edges of their
eye-lids with al-kahol, the powder of lead ore. This opera
tion is performed by dipping first into the powder a sinaft
wooden bodkin of the thickness of a quill, and then draw
ing it afterwards through the eye-lids, over the baft of the
eye." Ezekiel (xxfti. 40.) uses the same word in the form
of a verb, i'j',j? n'7n3, "thou didst dress thine eyes with
al-cahol;" which the LXX render inSi^H th? txpSa^^ai ra,
•'thou didst dress thine eyes with stibium ;" just as tiiey do
when the word ii3 is employed : (compare 2"Kings ix. 30.
ler. iv. 30.) : they supposed therefore, that "jia and bm, or,
n the Arabic form, al-cahol, meant the same thing ; and
irobably the mineral used of old, for this purpose, was the
¦ne that is used now ; which Dr. Shaw (Ibid, note^ savs.

CHAP. III. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 161
is " a rich lead ore, pounded into an impalpable powder."
Alcoholados ; the word nnp&D, in this place, is thus ren
dered in an old Spanish translation. Sanctius. See also
Russell's Nat. Hist, of Aleppo, p. 102.
The foUowing inventory, as one may call it, of the ward
robe of a Hebrew lady, must, from its antiquity, and from
the nature" of the subject, have been very obscure, even to
the most ancient interpreters which we have of it ; and,
from its obscurity, must have been also peculiarly liable to
the mistakes of transcribers: however, it is rather matter of
curiosity than of importance; and indeed it is, upon the
vvhole, more intelligible, and less corrupted, than one might
have reasonably expected. Clemens Alexandrinus (Peedag.
lib. ft. cap. 12.) and Julius Pollux (lib. vft. cap. 22.) have
each of them preserved, from a comedy of Aristophanes,
now lost, a similar catalogue of the several parts of the. dress
and ornaments of a Grecian lady ; which though much more
capable of illustration from other writers, though of later
date, and quoted and transmitted down to us by two dif
ferent authors ; yet seems to be much less intelligible, and
considerably more corrupted, than this passage of Isaiah.
Salmasius has \endeavoured, by comparing the two quota
tions, and by much critical conjecture and learned disquisi
tion, to restore the true reading, and to explain the particu
lars ; with what success. I leave to the determination of the
learned reader, whose curiosity shall lead him to compare
the passage of the comedian with this of the Prophet, and
to examine the critic's learned labours upon it. Exercit.
Plinian. p. 1148.; or see Clem. Alex, as cited above, edit.
Potter, where the passage as corrected by Salmasius is given.
Nich. Guil. Schroederus, professor of Oriental languages
in the university of Marpurg, has published a very learned
and judicious treatise upon this passage of Isaiah. The
titie of it is, " Commentarius Philologico-Criticus De Vestitu
Mulierum Hebrsearum ad lesai, iii. ver. 16 — 24. Lugd. Bat.
1745." 4to. As I think no one has handled this subject wfth
so much judgraent and ability as this author, I have for the
most part followed hira, in giving the explanation of the sev
eral terms denoting the different parts of dress, of which this
passage consists ; signifying the reasons of my dissent, where
he does not give me full satisfaction.
17. — will the .Lord humble — ] TaTrsimirii, LXX ; and so
Syr. and Chald. For nuet they read '73ty. -
19*

162 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. IIJ.
Ibid. — expose their nakedness] It was tbe barbarous
custom of the conquerors of those times to strip their cap
tives naked, and to make tiiem travel in that condition,
exposed to the inclemency of the weather ; and tbe worst
of all, to the intolerable beat of the sun. But this to the
women was the height of cruelty and indignity ; and espe
cially to such as those here described, who had indulged
themselves in all manner of delicacies of living, and all the
superfluities of ornamental dress ; aud even whose faces had
hardly ever been exposed to the sight of raan. This is al
ways mentioned as the hardest part of the lot of captives.
Nahum, denouncing the fate of Nineveh, paints ft in very
stroug colours :
" Behold, 1 am against thee, saith Jehovah God of Hosts:
And I wift discover thy skirts upon thy face ;
And I will expose thy nakedness to the nations;
And to the kingdoms thy shame.
And I wift throw ordures upon thee;
And I wift make thee vile, and set thee as a gazing-stock."
Nahum, iii. 6, 6;
18. — the ornam,ents of the feet rings — ] The late learn
ed Dr. Hunt, professor of Hebrew and Arabic in the uni
versity of Oxford, bas very well explained the word D3,y,
both verb and noun, in his very ingenious Dissertation on
Prov. vii. 22, 23. The verb means to skip, to bound, to
dance along ; and the noun, those ornaments of the feet
which the eastern ladies wore ; chains, or rings, which
made a tinkling sound as they moved nimbly in walking.
Eugene Roger, Description de la Terre Sainte, liv. ii, .
chap. 2. speaking of the Arabian women of the first rank
in Palestine, says, "Au lieu de brasselets elles ont de me-
nottes d'argent, qu'elles portent aux poignets et aux pieds ;
oil sont attachez quantite de petits annelets d'argent, qui font
un cliquetis comrae d'une cyrabale, lorsqu'elles cheininent ou
se mouvent quelque pen." See Dr. Hunt's Dissertation ;
where he produces other testimonies to the same purpose from
authors of travels.
Ibid. — the net-ivorks] I am obliged to differ from the
learned Schroederus, almost at first setting out ; he renders
the word d'D'3B' by soliculi, little ornaments, bullse, or
studs in shape representing tbe su7i, and' so answering to
tbe following word D'Jintff, lunula, crescents. He supposes
the word to be the same with D»is"Diy, the ' in the second

CHAP. ill. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 163
syllable making the word diminutive, aud the letter d being
changed for 3, a letter of the same organ. How just and
well-founded his authorities for the transmutation of these let
ters in the Arabic language are, I cannot pretend to judge;
but, as 1 know of no such instance in Hebrew, it seems to
me a very forced etymology. Being dissatisfied with this ac
count of the matter, 1 applied to, my good friend above-men
tioned, the lale Dr. Hunt, who very kindly returned the fol
lowing answer to my inquiries : —
" 1 have consulted the Arabic lexicons, as weft MS as
printed, but cannot find,B'D'3ty in any of them, nor any thing
belonging to ft. So that no help is to be had from that lan
guage towards clearing up the meaning of this difficult word.
But what the Arabic denies, the Syriac perhaps may afford ;
in which I find the verb W2& to entangle, or interweave, an
etymology which is equally favourable to our marginal
translation, net-works, with pty, to make chequer-work, or
embroider, (the word by which Kimchi andj olhere have
explained o'niy), and ha? moreover this advantage over it,
that the letters ty, and D are very frequentiy put for each
other, but y and d scarce ever. Aben Ezra joins D'D'3iy.
and d'D3,j? (which immediately precedes it) together ; and
says, that d'3B' was the orna'ment of the legs, as D3;? was
of the feet. His words are, D3,;; Vt? D'bji D'3ty B'svDn 'iw D'piiy
1D3." -
21. The jewels of the nostril — ] t]Nn 'DU- Schroederus
explains this, as many others do, of jewels, or strings of pearl,
hanging from the forehead, and reaching to the upper part
of the nose. But it appears from many passages of Holy
Scripture, that the phrase is to be literally and properly un
derstood of nose jewels, rings set with jewels hanging from
the nostrils, as ear-rings from the ears, by holes bored to re
ceive thein.
Ezekiel, enumerating the common ornaments of women
of the first rank, has riot omitted this particular, and is to be '
understood in the same manner; chap. xvi. 11, 12. (See
also Gen. xxiv. 47.)
" And I decked thee wfth ornaments;
And I put bracelets upon thine hands,
And a chain on thy neck:
And I put a jewel on thy nose.
And ear-rings on thine ears,
And a splendid crown upon thine head,"

1 64 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. UI,
And in an elegant proverb of Solomon there is a manifest
aUusion to this kind of ornament, which shews it to have been
used in his time :
" As a jewel set in gold in the snout of a swine;
So is a woman beautiful, but wanting discretion." Prov. xi. 22.
Tbis fashiori, however strange it may appear to us, was
formerly, and is stftl, common in many parts of the East,
among women of aft ranks. Paul Lucas," speaking of a
vftlage, or clan, of wandering people, a little on this side of
the Euphrates ; " The women,"' says he, (2d Voyage du
Levant, tom. i. art. 24.), "almost all of them, travel on foot:
I saw none handsome among thera! They have almost all
of them the nose bored, and wear in it a great ring, which
makes them stift more deformed." But in regard to this
custom, better authority cannot be produced than that of
Pietro defta Vafte, in the account which he gives of the
lady before-mentioned, Signora Maani Gioerida, his own
wife. The description of her dress, as to the ornamental
parts of it, with which he introduces the mention of this
particular, will give us some notion of the taste of the eastern
ladies for finery. " The ornaments of gold, and of jewels,
for the head, for the neck, for the arms, for the legs, and .
for the feet, (for they wear rings even on their toes), are in
deed, unlike those of the Turks, carried to great excess, but
not of great value ; for in Baghdad jewels of high price
either are not to be had, or are not used ; and they wear
such only as are of Uttle value; as turquoises, smaft rubies,
emeralds, carbuncles, garnets, pearls, and , the like. My
spouse dresses herself with all of them according to their
fashion ; with exception, however, of certain ugly rings of
very large size, set with jewels, whjch in truth, very absurd
ly, it is the custom to -wear fastened to one of their nostrils,
like buffaloes : an ancient custom however in the East, which,
as we find in the Holy Scriptures, prevafted among the
Hebrew ladies even in the time of Solomon : Prov. xi. 22.
These nose-rings in complaisance to me she has left off;
but I have not yet been able to prevaft with her cousin and
her sisters to do the same : so fond are they of an old cus
tom, be it ever so absurd, who have been long habituated to
it." Viaggi, tom. i. lett. 17.
23. The transparent garments — ] D'ji'bjn, r« ha^im
httmnxa, LXX. A kind of silken dress, transparent, Uke

CHAP. III. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 165
gauze ; worn only by the most deUcate women, and such as
dressed themselves "elegantius, quam necesge esset probis."
This sort of garments was afterwards in use among the Greeks.
Prodicus, in his celebrated fable (Xenoph. Memorab. Socr.
Ub. ii.) exhibits the personage of Sloth in this dress :
iriiiTcc «£, £| '»ii m fc»Xir» apx hit>^»ft.7roi.
" Her robe betray'd
Through the clear texture every tender limb,
Height'ning the charms it only seemed to shade;
And as it flow'd adown so loose and thin.
Her stature shew'd more tall, more snowy whit^ her skin."
They were called Mullilia and Coa (sc. vestimenta) by the
Romans, from their being invented, or rather introduced into
Greece, by one Pamphila of the island of Cos. This, like
other Grecian fashions, was received at Rome when luxury
began to prevail under the Emperors ; it was sometimes worn
even by the men, but looked upon as a mark of extreme ef
feminacy : (see Juvenal, Sat. ii. 65, «fcc.) Publius Syrus, who
lived wlien the fashion was first introduced, has given a hu
morous satirical description of it in two lines, which by chance
have been preserved ;
~ " .3ilquum est, induere nuptam ventum textftem ?
Palam prostare nudam in nebula linea 'i "
24. Instead of perfum,e — ] A principal part of the delicacy
ofthe A.siatic ladies consists in the use of baths, and of the
richest oils and perfumes : an attention to which is, in some
degree, necessary in those hot countries. Frequent mention
is made of the rich ointments of the spouse in the Song of
Solomon : —
" How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse !
How much more excellent than wine;
And the odour of thine ointments than all perfumes !
Thy lips drop as the honey-comb, my spouse !
Honey and milk are under thy tongue:
And the odour of thy garments is as the odour of Lebanon."
Cant. iv. 10, 11.
The preparation for Esther's being introduced to King
Ahasuerus was a course df bathing and perfuming for a
whole year ; " Six months with oft of myrrh, and six
months with sweet odours : " Esth. ii. 12. A diseased and
loathsome habit of body, instead of a beautiful skin, softened
and made agreeable with aft that art ' could , devise, and all
that nature, so prodigal in those countries of the richest per-

166 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. III.
fumes, could supply, must have been a punishment the most
severe, and the most mortifying to the delicacy pf these
haughty daughters of Sion.
Ibid. A sun-burnt skin — ] Caspar Sanctius thinks the
words nnn '3 an interpolation, because the Vulgate has omit
ted them. The clause '3» nnn '3 seems to rae 'rather tobe
imperfect at the end. Not to mention that '3, taken as a noun,
for adustio, burning, is without example, and very improb
able : the passage ends abruptiy, and seems to want a fuUer
conclusion. In agreement with which opinion of the defect of the He
brew text in this place, the LXX, according to MSS Pachom.
and I. D. ii. aud Marchal. which are of tbe best authority,
express it with the sarae evident marks of imperfection at
the end of the sentence ; thus, tuvtoi. m ouiti K«AA«!r<ff-fi» —
The two latter«add o-h. This chasm in the text, frora the loss
probably of three or four words, seems therefore to be of long'
standing. Taking o in its usual sense, as a particle, and supplying
"]'? from m of the LXX, it might possibly have been original
ly somevvhat in this form : —
: nsiD n;?i "p n^nn "3' nnn ''3
" Yea, instead of beauty, thou shalt have an ill-favoured coun
tenance."
'fl' nnn '3 [q. nn'] "for beauty sAaZZ be destroyed." Syr.
from nnn, or nn:. Dr. Durell.
May it not be 'n3, " wrinkles instead of beauty ? " as from
n3' is formed '3' ; from ma, "in, &c. so from nn3, to be wrink
led, 'n3." Dr. Jubb.
25. thy mighty men — ] For ^nioj, an ancient MS" has
1113J. The true reading from LXX, Vulg. Syr. Chald. seems
to be i"iuj;
26 — sit on the ground^ Sitting on the ground was a"
posture that denoted mourning and deep distress. The
Prophet Jeremiah has given it the first place, among, many
indications of sorrow, in the following elegant description of
the same state of distress of his country : —
" The elders of the daughter of Sion sft on the ground, they
are silent:
They have cast up dust on their heads; they have girded
themselves with sackcloth:
The virgins of Jerusalem have bowed down their heads to
the ground." Lam. ii. 10.

CHAP, III, NOTES ON ISAIAH, 167
*' We find Judea," says Mr. Addison, (on Medals, Dial, ii.)
" on several coins of Vespasian and 'Titus, in a posture that
denotes sorrow and captivity. — I need not mention her sit
ting on the ground, because we have already spoken of. the
aptness of such a posture to represent an extreme affliction.
I fancy the Romans mighi; have an eye on the customs of
the Jewish nation, as well as those of their country, in the
several marks of sorrow they have -set on this figure. The
Psalmist describes the Jews lamenting their captivity in the
same pensive posture. " By the waters of Babylon we sat
down and wept, when we remembered thee, 0 Sion." But
what is more remarkable, we find Judea represented as a
woman in sorrow sitting on the ground, in a passage of the
Prophet that foretells the very captivity recorded on this
medal." Mr. Addison, I presume, refers to this place of
Isaiah ; and therefore must have understood it as foretelling
the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation hy the
Romans : whereas it seems plainly to relate, in its first and
more immediate view at least, to the destruction of the city by
Nebuchadnezzar, and the dissolution of the Jewish state under
the captivity at Babylon. CHAPTER IV.
1. And seven women — ] The division of the chapters
has interrupted the Prophet's discourse, and broken it off
almost in the midst of the sentence. " The numbers slain
in battle shaft be so great, that seven women shall be left to
one man." The Prophet has described the greatness of this
distress by images and adjuncts the most expressive and for
cible. The young women, contrary to their natural modesty,
shall become suitors to the men : they will take hold of
them, and use the most pressing importunity to be married :
in spite of the natural suggestions of jealousy, they wift be
content with a share only of the rights of marriage in com
mon with several others; and that on hard conditions, re
nouncing the legal demands ofthe wife on the husband, (see
Exod. xxi. 10,), and begging only the name and credit of
wedlock, and to be freed from the reproach of celibacy, (see
chap. liv. 4, 5.) Like Marcia, on a different-occasion, and in
other circumstances, —
" Datantum nomen inane
Connubii : liceat tumulo scripsisse, Catonis
Marcia." Lucan. ii 342.

168 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. IV,
Ibid; — in that day^ These words are omitted in LXX
and MS,
Ibid, The branch of Jeho vah^] The Messiah of Je
hovah, says the Chaldee. The branch is an appropriated
titie of the Messiah ; and the fruit of the land means the
great Person to spring from tbe house of Judah, and is only
a parallel expression signifying the sarae ; or perhaps the
blessings consequent upon the redemption procured by him.
Compare chap. xlv. 8. where the same great event is set forth
in similar images ; and see the note there.
Ibid, —the house of Israel] A MS has bsia" n'3.
3- — written among the living.] That is, whose name
stands in the enrolment or register of the people ; or every
man Uving, who is a citizen of Jerusalem. See Ezek. xiii. 9.
where " they shall not be written in the writings of the house
of Israel," is the same with what immediately goes before,
" they shall not be in the assembly of ray people." Corapare
Psal. Ixxxvii. 6. Ixix. 28 ; Exod. xxxft. 32. To nupiber and
register the people was agreeable to the law of Moses, and
probably 'was always practised ; being, in sound policy, useful
and even necessary. David's design of numbering the people
was of another kind ; it was to enrol them for his army. Mi
chaelis, Mosaisches Recht, Part III. p. 227. See also his
Dissert, de Ceusibus Hebreeorum.
4. " The spirit of burning,"] means tbe fire of God's
wrath, by which he will prove and purify his people ; gather
ing thera into his furnace, in order to separate the dross frora
the silver, the bad, from the good. The severity of God's
judgments, the fiery trial of his servants, Ezekiel (chap. xxii.
18 — 22.) has set forth at large, after his manner, with great
boldness of imagery and force of expression. God threatens
to gather them into the midst of Jerusalem, as into ihe ftir-
nace ; to blow ihe fire upon them, and to melt them. Malachi
(chap. iii. 2, 3.) treats the same subject, and represents the
same event under the like images : —
" But who may abide the day of his coming?
And who shall stand when he appeareth?
For he is like the fire of the refiner.
And like the soap ofthe fullers.
And he shall sit refining and purifying the silver ;
And heshall purify the sons of Levi,
And cleanse them like gold, and like silver;
That they may be Jehovah's ministers.
Presenting uuto him an'offering in righteousness."

CHAP. IV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 169
5. — the station — ] The Hebrew text has, every station;
but four MSS (one ancient) omit "73; very rightiy, as it
should seem ; for the station was Mount Sion itself, and no
other. See Exod. xv. 17. And the LXX and MS add the
same word "73 before n'Nlp'^, probably right : the word has
only changed its place by mistake. ri»NipD, "the place where
they were gathered together in their holy assemblies," says
Sal. b. Melee.
Ibid. A cloud by day — ] This is a manifest allusion to
the pillar of a cloud and of fire, which attended the Israelites
in their passage out of Egypt, and to the glory that rested
on the tabernacle, Exod. xift. 21. xl. 38. ' 'The prophet Ze
chariah applies the same image to the same purpose : — ¦
" And I will be unto her a wall of fire round about;
And a glory will I be in the midst of her." Zech. ii. 5.
That is, the visible presence of God shall protect her.
Which explains the conclusion of this verse of Isaiah ;
where the makkaph between '73 and •\^22, connecting the
two words in construction, which ought not to be connected,
has thrown an obscurity upon the sentence, and misled most
of the translators.
6. And a tabernacle — ] In countries subject to violent
tempests, as well as to intolerable heat, a portable tent is a ne
cessary part of a traveller's baggage, for defence and shelter.
CHAPTER V.
This chapter likewise stands single and alone, unconnect
ed wfth the preceding or following. The subject of it is near
ly the same with that of the first chapter. It is a general
reproof of the Jews for their wickedness : but it exceeds that
chapter in force, in severity, in variety, and elegance ; and it
adds a more express declaration of vengeance, by the Babylo
nian invasion.
1. Let me sing now a song] A MS, respectable for its
antiquity, adds the word yw (a song) after nj ; wbich gives
so elegant a tiirn to the sentence by the repetition of it in the
next member, and by distinguishing the members so exactly
in the style and manner of the Hebrew poetical composition,
that I am much inclined to think it genuine.
Ibid. A song of loves] 'in, for D'ln ; status constructus
pro absoluto, as the grammarians say, as Micah, vi. 16.;
Lament, in. 14. and 66.; so Archbishop Seeker. Or rather,
20

170 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP- V,
in aU these and the Uke cases, a mistake of the transcribers,
by not observing a small stroke, wbich in many MSS ia
made to supply the d of the plural, thus 'nn- Dnn nT»
is'the same with m'TTty, Psal. xlv. 1. In this way of un
derstanding it, we avoid the great impropriety of making the .
author of the song, and the person to -whom it is addressed, to
be the same.
Ibid. On a high and fruitful hill] Heb. " on a horn the
son of oft." The expression is highly descriptive and poet
ical. " He calls the land of Israel a horn, because it is
higher than all lands; as the horn is higher than the
whole body : and the son of oft, because it is said to be a
land flowing with milk and honey." Kimchi on the place.
The parts of animals are, by an easy raetaphor, appUed to
parts of the earth, both in coramon and poetical language. A
promontory is called a cape, or head ; the Turks call it a
nose. " Dorsum immane mari summo ; " Virg. a back, or
ridge of rocks.
" Hanc latus angustum jam se cogentis in arctum
Hesperias tenuem producit in sequora linguam,
Adriacas flexis claudit quse cornibus undas."
Lucan. ii. 612. of Brundusiura, i. e. Efe»Te<7-;ov, which, in the
ancient language of that countryj signifies stag's-head, says
Strabo. A horn is a proper and obvious image for a moun
tain, or mountainous country. Solinus, cap. viii. saysj
" Italiam, ubi longius processerit, in cornua duo scindi : "
that is, the high ridge of the Alps, which runs through the
whole length of it, divides at last into two ridges, one going
through Calabria, the other through the country of the
Brutii. " Cornwall is called by the inhabitants in the British
tongue Kernaw^ as lessening by degrees like a horn, running
out into promontories like so many horns. For the Britains
call a horn corn, in , the plural kern : " Camden. " And
Sammes is of opinion, that the country had this name origi
nally from the Phenicians, who traded hither for tin ; keren,
in their language, being a horn : " Gibson.
Here the precise idea seems to be that of a high mountain
standing by itself : " vertex montis, aut pars montis ab aliis
divisa ; " which signification, says I. H. Michaelis, (Bibl,
Hallens. Not. in loc.) the word has in Arabic.
Judea was in general a mountainous country ; whence
Moses sometimes calls it the Mountain : — " Thou shalt
plant them in the Mountain of thine inheritance ; " Exod.
XV. 17. " I pray thee let me go over, and see the good land

CHAP. V. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 171
that is beyond Jordan ; that goodly Mountain, and Leba
non ; " Deut. iii. 25. And in a poUtical and reUgious view
it was detached and separated from all the nations round it.
Whoever has considered the descriptions given of Mount
Tabor, (see Reland, Palfestin. ; Eugene Roger, Terre Sainte,
p. 64.), and the views of it which are to be seen in books of
travels, (Maundrell, p. 114. Eginont and Heyman, vol. ft. p.
25. Thevenot, vol. i. p. 429.) ; its regular conic form,
rising singly in a plain to a great height from a base small
in proportion ; its beauty and fertiUty to the very top ; will
have a good idea of " a horn the son of oft ; " and wift perhaps
be induced to think, that the Prophet took his image from
that mountain.
2. and he cleared it from the stones.] This was agreea
ble to the ancient husbandry : " Saxa, summa parte terrse, et
vites ef arbores laedunt; ima parte, refrigerant;" Columeft.
De Arb. 4. " Saxosum facile est expedire lectione lapidum ; "
Id. ii. 2. " Lapides, qui supersunt, [al. insuper sunt] hieme
rigent, sestate fervescunt ; idcirco satis, arbustis, et vitibus no-
cent; " Pallad. i. 6. A piece of ground thus cleared of the
stones, Persius, in his hard way of metaphor, calls " Exossa-
tus ager ; " Sat. vi. 52.
Ibid. Sorek.] Many of the ancient interpreters, LXX, Aq.
Theod. have retained this word as a proper name ; 1 think
very rightiy. Sorek \vas a valley lying between Ascalon and
Gaza, and running far up eastward in the tribe of Judah.
Both Ascalon and Gaza were anciently famous for wine:
the former is mentioned as sqch by Alexander Traftianus ;
the latter by several authors : (quoted by Reland, Palasst. p.
689. and 986.) And it seems, that the upper part of the
valley of Sorek, and that of Esbcol, where the spies gathered
the single cluster of grapes which they were obliged to bear
between two upon a stafl^, being both near to Hebron, were
in the same neighbourhood ; and that aft this part of the
country abounded with rich vineyards. Compare Numb. xiii.
22, 23. Judg, xvi. 3, 4. P. Nau supposes Eshcol and Sorek
to be only different names for the same valley : Voyage Nou-
veau de la Terre Sainte, liv. iv. chap. 18. So likewise De
Lisle's posthumous map of the Holy Land ; Paris, 1763. See
Bochart, Hieroz. ft. col. 725. Thevenot, i. p. 406. Michaelis
(note on Judg. xvi. 4. German translation) thinks it proba
ble, frora some circumstances of the history there given, that
Sorek was in the tribe of Judah, not in the country of the
PhiUstines.

172 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. V,
'The vine of Sorek was known to the IsraeUtes, being
mentioned by Moses (Gen, xlix. 11.) before their coming
out of Egypt., Egypt was not a wine country. " Through
out this country there are no wines ; " Sandys, p. 101. At
least in very ancient times they had none. Herodotus, ii.
77. says, it had no vines ; and therefore used an artificial
wine made of barley. That is not strictly true ; for the vines
of Egypt are spoken of in Scripture, (Psal. Ixxvfti. 47. cv.
33., and see Gen. xl. 1,1. by which it should seem, that they
drank only the fresh juice pressed frora the grape, which
was called o(v«5 aftTfA/vej, Herodot. ft. 37.) ; but they had no
large vineyards ; nor was the country proper for thera, be
ing littie more than one large plain, annually overfiowed by
the Nile. The Mareotic in later times is, I think, the only ,
celebrated Egyptian wine which we meet with in history.
The vine was formerly, as Hasselquist lefts us it is now,
" cuftivated in Egypt for tbe sake of eating the grapes, not
for wine ; which is brought from Candia," &c. " They were
supplied with winefrqm Greece, and likewise frora Phenicia; "
Herod, ift. 6. The vine and the wine of Sorek, therefore,
which lay near at hand for importation into Egypt, must, in
all probability, have been well known to the Israelites when
they sojourned there. There is something remarkable in the
raanner in which Moses makes mention of it, which, for
want of considering this matter, has not been attended to:
It is in Jacob's prophecy of the future prosperity of tbe tribe of
Judah : —
" Binding his foal to the vine,
And his ass's colt to his own Sorek;
He washeth his raiment in wine.
And his cloak in the blood of gi-apes." Gen. xlix. II.
I take the hberty of rendering np"i», for ipity, his Sorek,
as the Masoretes do of pointing fwa, for iTiTj his foal, r;?
might naturally enough appear in the, feminine form, but it
is not at all probable that pity ever should. , By naming
particularly the vine of Sorek, and as the vine belonging to
Judah, the prophecy intimates the very part of the country
which was to fall to the lot of that tribe. Sir John Chardin
says, " That at Casbin, a city in Persia, they turn their
cattle into the vineyards, after the vintage, to browse on the
vines." He speaks also of vines in that country, so large
that he could hardly compass the trunks of them with his
arms. Voyages,, tora. ift. p. 12. 12mo. This shews, that

CHAP. V. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 173
the ass might be securely bound to the vine ; and without
danger of damaging the tree by browsing on it.
Ibid. And he built a tower in the midst of it.] Our Sa
viour, who has taken the general idea of one of his parables
(Matt. xxi. 33. Mark xii. 1.) from this of Isaiah, has like
wise inserted this circumstance of building a tower ; which
is generally explained by commentators, as designed for the
keeper of the vineyard to watch and defend the fruits. But
for this purpose it was usual to make a little temporary hut,
(Isa. i. 8.), which might serve "for the short season while the
fruit was ripening, and which was removed afterwards. The
tower, therefore, should rather mean a buftding of a raore
permanent nature and use ; the farm, as we may call it, of
the vineyard, containing all the offices and implements, and
the whole apparatus necessary for the culture of the vine
yard, and the making of the wine. To which image in the
aftegory, the situation, the raanner of building, the use, and
the whole service of the temple, exactly answered. And so
the Chaldee paraphrast very rightly expounds it : — " Et
statu i eos (IsraeUtas) ut plantam vineaj selectae, et aedifi-
cavi sanctuarium meum in medio illorum." So also Hieron.
in loc. " JSdificavit quoque turrira in medio ejus : tem-
plum videlicet in media civitate." That they have stift such
towers or buildings, for use or pleasure, in their gardens in
the East, see Harmer's Observations, ii. p. 241.
Ibid. Atid hewed out a lake therein.] This image also
our Saviour has preserved in his parable, ap', LXX ren
der it here is-^oMimm ¦ and in four other places um^imev -, Isa.
xvi. 10. Joel, ift. 13. Hagg. ft. 17. Zech. xiv. 10. ; I think,
more properly : and this latter word St. Mark uses. It
means, not the wine-press itseif, or calcatorium, -which is
called nj, or mi3, but what the Romans called lacus, the
lake; the large open place, or vessel, which, by a' conduit
or spout, received the must frora the ^vine-press. In very
hot countries it was perhaps necessary, or at least very con
venient, to have the lake under ground, or in a cave hewed
out ofthe side of the rock, for coolness ; that the heat might
not cause too great a fermentation, and sour the must.
"Vini confectio instftuitur in cella, vel intimae domus ca
mera quadam, a ventorum ingressu remota : " Kempfer, of
Schiras wine ; Amcen. Exot. p. 376 : For the hot wind, to
which that country is subject, would injure the wine. " I'he
wine-presses in Persia," says Sir John Chardin, " are formed
20*

174 NOTES ON ISAIAH, CHAP. V.
by making hollow places in the ground, lined w"ith mason's
work." Harmer's Observations, i. p. 392. See a print of
one in Kempfer, p. 377. .Nonnus describes, at large, Bac
chus hollowing tbe inside of the rock, and hewing out a place
for the wine-press, or rather the lake : —
Aeiriicti S'l fiilaTTci ^a.ivioit.eiav .xatuim
Atp^ai [f. mx^ti.] iSr»(pv>\tii> tvttov ¦zroiiiirxTs ?nivov.
He pierc'd the rock; and with the sharpen'd tool
Of steel well temper'd, scoop'd its inmost depth:
Then smooth'd the front, and form'd the dark recess
In just dimension for the foaming lake." Dionysiac. lib. xii.
Ibid. And he expected — ] Jeremiah uses the same image,
and applies it to the same purpose, in an elegant paraphrase
of this part of Isaiah's parable, in his flowing and plaintive
manner :
" But 1 planted thee a Sorek, a cion perfectly genuine:
How then art thou changed, and become to me the degene-,
rate shoots ofthe strange vine! " Chap. ii. 21.
Ibid, poisonous berries] uw\i^:i, not merely useless un- >
profitable grapes, such as wild grapes ; but grapes offensive
to the smeft, noxious, poisonous. By the , force and intent'
of the aftegory, to good grapes ought to he opposed fruft
of a dangerous and pernicious quality ; as, in the expli
cation of it, to judgment is opposed tyranny^ and to right
eousness oppression. iDj, the vine, is a common name,
or genus, including several species under it ; and Moses, to
distinguish the true vine, or that from which wine is made,
from the rest, calls it, Numb. vi. 4. pn |DJ, the wine-vine.
Some of the other sorts were of a poisonous quality ; as ap
pears from the story related among the miraculous acts of
Elisha, 2 Kings iv. 39 — 41. " And one went out into the
field to gather pot-herbs ; and he found a field-vine : and
he. gathered from it wild fruit, his lapful ; and he went, and
shred thera into the pot of pottage : for tbey knew them
not. And they poured it out for the men to eat : and it
came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they
cried out, and said. There is dealh in the pot, O man of
God ! and they could not eat of it. And he said. Bring
meal ; (leg. inp, nine MSS, one edition)-; and he threw ft
into the pot. And he said, Pour out for the people, that
they may eat. And there was nothing hurtful in the pot."

CHAP. V. NOTES OX ISAIAH. 175
From some such sorts of poisonous fruits, of the grape
kind, Moses has taken those strong and highly poetical
images,, with which he has set- forth the future corruption
and extreme degeneracy of the Israelites, in on allegory which
has a near relation, both in its subject and imagery, to this of
Isaiah : —
" Their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
And from the fields of Gomorrah :
Their grapes are grapes of gall;
Their clusters are bftter:
Their wine is the poison of dragons.
And the cruel venom of aspics." Deut. xxxii. 32, 33,
" I am incUned to believe, (says Hasselquist), that the
Prophet here (Isa, v. 2. and 4.) means the hoary night
shade, solanum incanum ; because it is common in Egypt,
Palestine, and the East ; and the Arabian name agrees well
with it. The Arabs call it aneb el dib, i. e. wolf-grapes.
The Prophet could not have found a plant more opposite
to the vine than this ; for it grows much in the vineyards,
and is very pernicious to them ; wherefore they root it out :
it Ukewise resembles a vine by its shrubby stalk : " Travels,
p. 289. See also Michaelis, Cluestions aux Voyageurs Da
nois, No. 64.
3. — inhabitants] »3ty', in the plural number; three MSS,
(two ancient) ; and so likewise LXX and Vulg.
6. the horns shall spr'ing uj) in it.] A MS has TDiya ;
the true reading seems to be TniV 13: which is confirmed by
LXX, Syr. Vulg.
7. And he looked for judgment — ] The paronomasia, or
play on the words, in this place, is very remarkable : mispat,
m,ispach ; zedakah, zeakah. There are many examples of
it in the other Prophets ; but Isaiah seems peculiarly fond of
it : see chap. xift. 6. xxiv.. 17. xxvii. 7. xxxift. 1. Ivft, 6. Ixi. 3.
lxv. 11, 12. The Rabbins esteem it a great beauty: their
term for it is ptybn nin^f, " elegance of language."
Ibid. — tyranny] n3ii'D, from n355', servum fecit, Arab.
Houbigant: nnsty, is serva, a handmaid, or female slave.
nSDO, eighteen MSS.
8. You who lay field — ] Read I3'ipn, in the second per
son ; to answer to the verb foftowing ; so Vulg.
9. To mine ear — ] The .sentence in the Hebrew text
seems to be imperfect in this place ; as likewise in chap.
xxft. 14. where the very same sense seems to be required

176 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. V,
as here. See the note there : and compare 1 Sam, ix. 15.
In this place LXX supply the word ukss-^^, and Syr. ,j?Dnt!'N,
auditus est Jehovah in auribus meis : i. e. ry'iii, as in chap.
xxft. 14.
9, 10. — many -houses — ] This has reference to what
was said in the preceding verse : " In vain are ye so intent
iipon joining house to house, and field to field : your houses
shaU be left uninhabited, and your fields shall become de
solate and barren ; so that a vineyard of ten acres shall pro
duce but one bath (not eight gallons^ of wine, and the hiis-
bandman shaft reap but a tenth part of the seed which he has
sown." 11. — to follow strong drink] Theodoret and Chrysos
tom on this place, both Syrians, and unexceptionable wit
nesses in what belongs to their own country, inform us,
that "i3ts', (r/x£f» in the Greek of both Testaments, rendered
by us by the general term strong drink), meant properly
palm-wine, or date-wine, which was and is still much in
use in the eastern countries. Judea was famous for the
abundance and exceftence of its palm-trees ; and conse
quently had plenty of this wine. " Fiunt (vina) et e pomis :
— primumque e palmis, quo Parthi et Indi utuntur, et Oriens
totus : maturarum medio in aquae congiis tribus macerate
expressoque : " Plin. xiv. 19. " Ab his cariota [palmte]
raaxime celebrantur ; et cibo quidem, sed et succo, uberrimse.
Ex quibus preecipua vina Orient! ; iniqua capiti, unde pomo
nomen : " Id. xfti. 9. Kajo? signifies stupefaction: and in
Hebrew likewise, the wine has its name from its remarkable
inebriating quality.
11, 12. Wo unto them who rise early — ] There is a
likeness between this and the following passage of the Prophet
Amos, who probably wrote before Isaiah : if the latter is th
copyer, he seems hardly to have equalled the elegance of the
original : —
" Ye that put far away the evil day,
And affect the seat of violence ;
Who lie upon beds of ivory,
And stretch yourselves upon your couches ;
And eat the lambs from the flock.
And calves from the midst ofthe staft ;
Who chant to the sound ofthe viol,
And like David invent for yourselves instruments of music;
Who quaff wine in large bowls,
And are anointed with the choicest ointments :
But are not grieved for the afiliction of Joseph." Amos vL 3-6.

CHAP. V. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 177
13, 14. And their nobles — ] These verses have Ukewise
a reference to the two preceding. They, that indulged in
feasting and drinking, shall perish with hunger and thirst ;
and Hades shaft indulge his appetite as much as they had
done, and devour them aft. The image is strong, and ex
pressive in the highest degree. Habakkuk uses the same
image wfth great force: the ambitious and avaricious con
queror "Enlargeth his appetite Uke Hades;
And he is like death, and will never be satisfied." Hab. ii. 5.
But, in Isaiah, Hades is introduced, to much greater advan
tage, in person ; and placed before our eyes in the forra of a
ravenous monster, opening Avide his unmeasurable jaws, and
swaftowing them all together.
17. —without restraint — ] D1313, secundum ductum
eorum : i. e. suo ipsorura ductu ; as their own wift shaft lead
them. Ibid. Atid the kids — ] Heb. c»i:; strangers. The LXX
read, more agreeably to the design of the, Prophet, Q'i3, «fvf?,
the lambs : DnJ, the kids, Dr. Durell ; nearer to the present
reading : and so Archbishop Seeker. The meaning is, their
luxurious habitations shall be so entirely destroyed, as to be
come a pasture for flocks.
18. — as a long cable] The LXX, Aqufta, Sym. and
Theod. for »'73n3 read ''73n3, a? c-x'iiiv, or (rx,omt,ti ; and the"
LXX, instead of Nlty, read some other word signifying long ;
aii (r)(fim(fi iA,axf<fi : and SO likewise the Syriac, ra'-iN. Houbi
gant conjectures, that the word which the LXX had in their
copies was yvw, which is used, Lev. xxi. 18. xxii. 23. for
something in an animal body superfluous, lengthened beyond
its natural measure. And he explains it of sin added to sin,
and one sin drawing on another, till the whole comes to an
enormous length and magnitude ; compared to the work of
a rope-maker, stift increasing and lengthening his rope, with
the continued addition of new materials. " Eos propheta
similes facit homini restiai"io, qui funem torquet, cannabe
addita et contorta, eadem iterans, donee funem in longura
duxerit, neque eura liceat protrahi longius." " An evft in
cUnation (says Kimchi on the place, frora the ancient Rab
bins) is at the beginning like a fine hair-string, but at the
finishing Uke a thick cart-rope." > By a long progression n
iniquity, and a continued accumulation of sin, men arrive
at length to the highest degree of wickedness ; bidding open

178 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. V.
defiance to God, and scoffing at his threatened judgments, as
it is finely expressed in the next verse. The Chaldee para
phrast explains it in the sarae manner, of wickedness increas
ing from smaU beginnings, tift.it arrives to a great raagnitude.
23. — the righteous] pns, singular, LXX, Vulg. and two
editions. 24. — the tongue of fire] " The flame, because it is in the
shape of a tongue ; and so ft is called metaphorically :" Sal.
fo. Melee. The metaphor is so exceedingly obvious, as well as
beautiful, that one may wonder that ft has not been more fre
quently used. Virgil very elegantly intimates, rather than
expresses, the image : Mr\. ii. 682.
" Ecce levis summo de vertice visus luli
Fundere lumen apex; tracfuque innoxia moIH
Lambere flamma comas, et circum tempora pascj."
And more boldly of iBtna darting out flames from its top :
^n, iii. 574.
"" Attollitque globos flammarum,'et sidera lamhit.'"
The disparted totigues, as it were, of fire, (Acts ft. 3.), which
appeared at the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles,
give the same idea ; that is, of flames shooting diversely into
pyramidal forms, or points, like tongues.. It may be further
observed, that the Prophet in this place has given the meta
phor its full force, in applying it to the action of fire in eat
ing up and devouring whatever comes in its way, like a
ravenous animal, whose tongue is principally employed in
taking in his food or prey ; which image Moses has strongly
exhibited in a most expressive coraparison : — " And Moab
said to the elders of Midian, Now shall this collection of
people lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh
up the grass of the field ;" Numb. xxii. 4. See also 1 Kings
xvfti. 38.
25. — and the mountains trembled — ¦] Probably referring
to the great earthquakes in the days of Uzziah king of Ju-'
dab, in, or not long before, the tirae of the Prophet himself:
recorded as a remarkable era in the title of the Prophecies of
Amos, chap. i. 1. and by Zechariah, chap. xiv. 5.
26. — he will hist — ] " The raetaphor is taken from the
practice of those that keep bees ; who draw them out of their
hives Into the fields, and lead them back again, tru^irfuuri, by
a hiss, or a whistie :" Cyril, on the place ; and to the same
purpose, Theodoret, ibid. In chap. vft. l8. the metaphor is

«HAP. V, NOTES ON ISAIAH, 179
more apparent, by being carried further ; where the hostile
•armies are expressed by the fly and the bee : —
" Jehovah shall hist the fly,
That is in the utmost parts of Egypt;
And the bee, that is in the land of Assyria."
On which place see Deut. i. 44. Psal. cxvfti. 12.; and God
calls the locusts his great army, Joel, ft. 25. Exod. xxiii. 28.
See Huet. dueest. Alnet. ii. 12.
Ibid. — with speed — ] This refers to the 19th verse. As
the scoffers had challenged God to make speed and to hasten
his work of vengeance ; so now God assures them, that with
speed and swiftly it shall come.
27. Nor shall the girdle — ] The eastern people, wear
ing long and loose garments, were unfit for action or busi
ness of any kind, without girding their clothes about them :
when their business was finished, they took off their girdles.
A girdle therefore denotes strength and activity ; and to un
loose the girdle, is to deprive of strength, to reader unfit for
action. God promises to unloose the loins of kings before
Cyrus, chap. xlv. 1. The girdle is so essential a part of a
soldier's accoutrement, being the last that he puts on to
make himself ready for action, that to be girded., ^mrji-lai,
with the Greeks, means to be completely armed, and ready
for battle : —
AT^eio'in S" £boi((r£», (Js ^mivtrlou aiaya
A^ysiHf. II. xi. l&.
T« ^6 et^uMi T« 03-A« £x«tASi' it zrctXeum ^urnvT^M. Pausan. BcBOt,
It is used in the same manner by the Hebrews : — ¦" Let not
him, that girdeth himself, boast, as he that unlooseth his
girdle," 1 Kings, xx. 11.; that is, "triumph not, before the
war is finished."
28. The hoofs of their horses shall be counted as ada
mant.] , The shoeing of horses with iron plates nailed to the
hoof is quite a modern practice, and unknown to the ancients ;
as appears from the silence of the Greek aud Roman writers,
especiaUy those that treat of horse-medicine ; who could not
have passed over a matter so obvious, and of such impor
tance, that now the whole science takes its name from it,
being called by us Farriery. The horse-shqes of leather and
of iron, which are mentioned ; the silver and the gold shoes
with which Nero and Poppea shod their mules, used occa
sionally to preserve the hoofs of delicate cattle, or for vanity,

180 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP, V.
were of a very different kind ; they inclosed the whole hoof
as in a case,. or as a shoe does a man's foot, and were bound
or tied on. For this reason, the strength, firmness, and so-
Udity of a horse's hoof was of much greater importance with
them than with us ; and was esteemed one of the first praises
of a fine horse. Xenophon says, that a good horse's hoof is
hard, hoUow, and sounds upon the ground like a cymbal.
Hence the ;i;«'""f«'^£5 '^'^'" of Homer; and Virgil's "soUdo
graviter sonat ungula cornu." And Xenophon gives direc
tions for hardening the horse's hoofs, hy making the pave
ment, on which he Stands in the stable, with round-headed
stones. For want of this artificial defence to the foot, which
•our horses haye, Amos (vi. l2.) speaks of it as a thing as
much impracticable to make horses run upon a hard rock, as
to plough up the sarae rock with oxen : —
" Shaft horses run upon a rock ?
Shaft one plough ft up with oxen ? "
These circumstances must be taken into consideration, in or- .
der to give us a fuft notion of the propriety and force of the
image, by wbich the Prophet sets forth the strength and ex
cellence of the Babylonish cavalry ; which made a great part
of the strength of the Assyrian army. Xenoph. Cyrop.
Ub. ii.
27, 28. None among them-7-] Kimchi has well ftlustrated
this continued exaggeration, or hyperbole, as he rightly caUs
it, to the following effect : — " Through tbe greatness of their
courage, tbey shall not be fatigued with their march ; nor
¦ shall they stumble, though they march with the utmost speed :
they shall not slumber by day, nor sleep by night ; neitiier
shaft they ungird their armour, or put off their sandals, to
take their rest : their arms shall be always in readiness, their
arrows sharpened, and their bows bent : the hoofs of their
horses are hard as a rock ; they shall not fail, or need to be
shod with iron : the wheels of their carriages shaft move as
rapidly as a whirlwind."
30. And these shall look to the heaven upward, and down
to the earth.] pN'7 D33i. K«i iiA-Qxe-^o^lM m t»» yw. So the
LXX, according to Vat. ahd Alex, copies; but theCompl.
and Aid. editions have it more fully thus, K»( £ftfAEiJ'ov7«i £(«
Tti a^ani eeia, x»t xeila: and the Arabic, frora the LXX, as
if it had stood thus, K«i epJai^ii'ipe/lM m toi ^nxm, xm m T>it yvt »
x«7« : both of which are plainly defective ; the words e's t0
ym being wanted in the former, and the word ma in the

CHAP. V. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 181
latter. But an ancient Coptic version frora the LXX, sup-
posed to be of the 2d century, some fragments of which are
preserved in the library of St. Germain des Prez at Paris,
completes the sentence; for, according to this version, jt
stood thus m LXX, Km ipc^Xs-ij/ovlM £<; TOV H^mov ma, km cif njii
yrpi KtCia; aud SO it stauds in LXX, MSS Pachom. and i.
D. II. according to which they must have read in their He
brew text in this manner : nun'? pN'71 rh]lt:ii D'db'j D3J1.
This is probably the true reading ; with which I have made
the translation agree. Compare chap. viii. 22. where the'
same sense is expressed in regard to both particulars, which
are here equally and highly proper, the looking upwards, as
well as down to the earth ; but the forra of expression is
varied. I believe the Hebrew text in that place to be right,
though not so full as I suppose it was originally here ; and
that of the LXX there to be redundant, being as full as the
Coptic version, and MSS Pachom. and i. D. 11. represent it
in this place, from which I suppose it has been interpolated.
Ibid, the gloomy vapour] Syr. and Vulg. seems to have
read n'73lj;3. But Jarchi explains the present reading as
signifying darkness ; and so possibly Syr . and Vulg. may
have understood it in the same manner.

CHAPTER VI.
As . this vision seems to contain a solemn designation of
Isaiah to the prophetical office, it is by most interpreters
thought to be the first in order of his prophecies. But this
perhaps may not be so : for Isaiah is said, in the general title
of his Prophecies, to have prophesied in the time of Uzziah ;
whose acts first and last he wrote, 2 Chron. xxvi. 22. which
was usually done by a contemporary Prophet : and the phrase,
" in the year when Uzziah died," probably means after the
death of Uzziah ; as the same phrase, chap. xiv. 28. means
after the death' of Ahaz. Not that Isaiah's prophecies are
placed in exact order of time : chapters ii. iii. iv. v. seem by
internal marks to be antecedent to chap. i. ; they suit the tirae
of Uzziah, or the former part of Jotham's reign ; whereas
chap. i. can hardly be earlier than the last years of Jotham.
See note on chap. i. 7. and U. 1. This might he a mew de
signation, to introduce more solemnly a general declaration
of the whole course of God's dispensations in regard to his
21

182 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP, VI,
people, and the fates of the nation ; which are even now still
depending, ahd will not be fully accomplished till the final
restoration of Israel.
In this vision the ideas are taken in general ftom royal
majesty, as displayed by the Monarchs of the East ; for the
Prophet could not represent tbe ineffable presence of God
by any other than sensible and earthly images. The partic
ular scenery of it is taken from the temple. God is repre
sented as seated on his throne above the ark in the most
holy place, where the glory appeared above the cherubim,
surrounded by his attendant ministers. This is cafted by
God himself, "The place of his throne, and the place of the
soles of his feet ; " Ezek. xliii. 7. " A glorious throne, ex
afted of old, is the place of our sanctuary," saith tbe Prophet
Jeremiah, chap. xvii. 12. The very posture of silling is a
mark of state and solemnity: "Sed et ipsum verbum sedere
regni significat potestatem," saith Jerome, Comment, in
Ephes. i. 20. See note on chap. lii. 2. St. John, who has
taken many subUme images from the Prophets of the Old
Testament, and in particular from Isaifih, hiith exhibited the
same scenery, drawn out into a greater number of particular's,
Rev. chap. iv.
The veil, separating the most holy place from the holy, or
outermost part of the temple, is here supposed to be taken
away ; for the Prophet, to whom the whole is exhibited, is
manifestiy placed by the allar of burnt-olfering, at the en
trance ofthe temple, (compare Ezek. xliii. 5, 6.), which was
filled wiih the train of the robe, the spreading and overflow
ing of the divine glory. The Lord upon the throne, accord
ing to St. John, xii. 41. was Christ ; and the vision related
to his future kingdom ; when the veil of separation was to
be removed, and the whole earth was to be filled with the
glory of God, revealed to all mankind : which is likewise im
plied in the hymn of the seraphim ; the desisra of which is,
saith Jerom on the place, ' ut mysterium Trinilatis in una
Divinitate demonstrent ; el nequucpiam templum Judaicuin,
sicut prius, sed omnem terram illius gloria plenam esse tes-
tentur." It relates indeed primarily to the Prophet's own
time, and the obduration of the Jews of ihat age, and their
punishment by the Babylonish captivity ; but extends in its
full latitude to the age of Messiah,, and the blindness of the
Jews to the gospel ; (see Ma-tt. xiii. 14. John xii. 40. Acts
xxviii. 26. Rom. xi. 8.) ; the desolation of their country by
the Romans, and their being rejected by God : that never-

CHAP. VI. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 183
tbeless a holy seed, a remnant, should be preserved, and that
the nation should sprout out and fiourish again frora the old
stock. In the first verse, fifty-one MSS, and one edition ; in the
8th verse, forty-four MSS, and one edition ; and in the 11th
verse, thirty-three MSS, and one edition, for »jin, "' the
Lord," read nin*, " Jehovah ; " which is probably the true
reading, (compare verse 6th) ; as in many other places, in
which the superstition of the Jews has substituted -"jis for
mn'. 2. he covereth his 'feet I] By the /eef the Hebrews mean
aft the lower parts of the body. But the people of the East
generally wearing long robes reaching to the ground, and
covering the lower parts of tbe body down to the feet, it may
hence bave been thought want of respect and decency to
appear in public, and on solemn occasions, witii even the
feet themselves uncovered, Kempfer, speaking of the king
of Persia giving audience, says ; " Rex in medio supiemi
atrii cruribus more patrio inflexis sedebat : co pus tunica in-
vestiebat flava, ad suras cum slaret protensa ; discumbentis
vero pedes discalceatos pro urhanitate patria operiens: "
Amoen. Exot. p. 227. Sir John Chardin's MS note on this
place of Isaiah is as foftows : " Grande marque de respect en
Orient dd se each i les pieds, quand on est assis, et de b.iisser
le visage. Quand le soverain se monslre en Chine et a Jap-
on, chacun se jette le visage centre terre, e ft n'est pas permis
de regarder le roi."
3. Holy, holy, holy — ] This hymn, performed by the
seraphim, divided into two choirs, the one singing respon
sively to the other, which Gregory Nazian. Carm. 18. very
elegantly calls 2»it«?»»ev, cuTupavov, afysfiuy i-sts-n, is formed upon
the piiactice of alternate singing, which prevailed in the
Jewish church frora ihe time of Moses, whose ode at the
Red Sea was thus performed, (see Exod. xv. 20, 21.), to
that of Ezra, under whom the priests and Levites sung al
ternately, " O praise Jehovah, for he is gracious;
For his mercy endureth for ever."
Ezra iii. 11. See De S. Poes. Hebr. Prael. xix. at the be
ginning. 5. lam struck dumb.] '."ion:, twenty-eight MSS (five
an( em) an I three editions. I understand il as from Dn, or
DDi, i e.'"e ; and so it is rendered by Syr. Vulg. Sym. and

184 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. VI.
by some of the Jewish interpreters, apud. Sal. b. Melee,
The rendering of the Syriac is, ':xTin, stupens, attonitus
sum. He imraediately gives the reason why be was struck
dumb ; because he was a man of polluted lips, and dwelt
among a people of polluted lips ; and was unworthy either to
join the seraphim in singing praises to God, or to be the mes
senger of God to his people. Compare Exod. iv. 10. vi. 12.
Jer. i. 6.
6. from off the altar.] That is, from the altar of burnt-
offering, before the door of the temple ; on which the fire that
came down at first from heaven. Lev. ix. 24. 2 Chron. vii, 1.
was perpetually kept burning : it was never to be extinguish
ed, Ley. vi. 12, 13.
9. Thirteen MSS have n«"), in the regular form.
10. Make gross — ] The Prophet speaks of the event, the
fact as it would actually hapjien ; not of God's purpose and
act by his ministry. The Prophets are in other places said to
perform the thing which they only foretell : —
" Lo ! I have given thee a charge this day.
Over the nations, and over the kingdoms ;
To pluck up, and to pull down ;
To destroy, and to demolish ;
To build, and to plant." Jer. i. 10.
And Ezekiel says, " when I came to destroy the city ; "
that is, as it is rendered in the margin of our version,
"when I came to prophesy, that the' city should be destroy
ed ; " chap, xlift. 3. To hear, and not understand ; to see,
and not perceive ; is a common saying in many languages,
Demosthenes uses it, and expressly calls it a proverb : »«¦£ to
TTif iTu,^iiift,isu; o^anoii fM) ofay, xM cixcvmrui ftui axoviii : Contra
Aristogit. i. sub fin. The Prophet, by the bold figure in the
sentiment above-mentioned, and the elegant form an4 con
struction ofthe sentence, has raised it from a common proverb
into a beautiful mashal, and given it the subUme air of poetry.
Ibid. — close up] ywT] : this word Sal. b. Melee, ex
plains to this sense, in which it is hardly used elsewhere, on
the authority of Onkelos. He says, it means closing up the
eyes, so that one cannot see ; that the root is ;;ity, by which
word the Targum has rendered the word na, Lev. xiv. 42.
n'3 m W\, " and shall plaster the ' house." And the
word na is used in the same sense, Isa. xliv. 18. So that it
signifies to close up the eyes by some matter spread upon
the lids. Mr. Harmer very ingeniously applies to this pas-

CHAP. VI, NOTES ON ISAIAH, 185
sage a practice of sealing up the eyes as a ceremonv, or as a
kind of punishment, used in the East, from which the image
may possibly be taken. Observations, ii. 278.
Ibid, — with their hearts.] i33'73i, fifteen MSS, and two
editions. Ibid. — and I should heal.} »?3nNi, LXX, Vulg. So
likewise Matt. xiii. 14. John xii. 40. Acts xxviii. 27.
11. — be left.] For nsu'n, LXX and Vulg. read •wan.
13. — a tenth part] This passage, though somewhat
obscure, and variously explained by various interpreters,
yet, I think, has been made so clear by the accomplishrhent
of the prophecy, that. there remains littie room to doubt of
the sense of it. When Nebuchadnezzar had carried away
the greater and belter part of the people into captivity,
there was yet a tenth remaining in the land, the poorer
son, left to he vine-dressers and husbandmen, under Geda-
liah, 2 Kings xxv. 12. 22.; and the dispersed Jews gatheied
themselves together, and returned lo him, Jer. xl. 12.: yet
even these, fleeing into Egypt after the death of Gedaliah,
contrary to the warning of God given by the Prophet Jere
miah, miserably perished there. Again, iu the subsequent
and more remarkable completion of the prophecy, in the
destruction of Jerusalem and ihe dissolution of the com
monwealth by the Romans, when the Jews, after the loss of
above a million bf men, had increased from the scanty resi
due that was left of them, and had become very numerous
again iu their countr}' ; Hadrian, provoked by their rebel
lious behaviour, slew above half a million more of them, and
a second lime almost extirpated ihe nation. Yet after these
signal and almost universal desiruclious of that nation, and
after so many olher repeated exterminations and massacres
of them, in different times and on various occasions since,
we yet see, wiih astonishment, that the slock still remains,
from whicli God. according to his promise, frequently given
by his Prophets, will cause hisjieople to shoot forth again, and
to flourish.
For D3, above seventy MSS (eleven ancient) read n3 ; and
BO LXX. CHAPTER VII.
The confederacy of Relsin king of Syria, and Pekah
king of Israel, against the kingdom of Judah, was formed in
the time of Jotham ; and perhaps the effects of it were felt
21*

186 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. VII.
in the latter part of his reign : see 2 Kings xv. 37. and
note on chap. i. 7 — ^9. However, iu the very beginning
of the reign of Ahaz, they jointly invaded Judah wfth a
powerful army, and threatened to destroy, or to dethrone,
the house of David. The king and royal f^mfty being in
the utmost consternation on receiving advices of their designs,
Isaiah. IS sent to thera to support and comfort tbem in their
present distress, by assuring thera, that God would make
good his promises to David and his house. This makes the
subject of this, and the following, aud the beginning of the
ninth chapters ; in ^hich there are many and great diffi
culties. Chapter vii. begins with an historical account of the occa--
sion of this prophecy ; and then follows, ver. 4 — 16. a pre
diction of the ill success of the designs of the Israelites and
Syrians against Judah ; and, from thence to the end of the
chapter, a denunciation of the calamities to be brought upon
the king and people of Judah by the Assyrians, whom they
had now hired to assist them. Chapter viii. bas a pretty
close connexion with the foregoing : it contains a confirma
tion of the prophecy before given of the approaching de
struction of the kingdoms of Israel and Syria by the Assy
rians ; of the denunciation of the invasion of Judah by the
same Assyrians : ver. 9, 10. give a repeated general assur
ance, that all the designs of the enemies of God's people shall
be'in the end disappointed, and brought to nought : ver. 11,
«fcc. admonitions and threatenings, (I do not attempt a more
particular explanation of this very difficult part), concluding
with an illustrious prophecy (chap. ix. 1 — 6.) of the mani
festation of Messiah ; the transcendent dignity of his char
acter ; and the universality and eternal duration of his
kingdom. 4. The Syriac omits D'^ni ; Vulg. reads Dix i'7D : one or the
other seems to be the true reading. I prefer the former ; or,
instead of j3i dini, read p np3i, MS.
8, 9. Though the head of Syria be Damascus,
And the head of Damascus, Retsin ;
Yet within threescore and five years
Ephraim shall be broken, that he be no more a people :
And the head of Ephraim be Samaria ;
, And the head of Samaria, Remahah's son.]
" Here are six Unes, or three distichs, the order of which
seems to have been disturbed by a transposition, occasioned
by three of the Unes beginning with . the same word u/irn ;

CHAP. VII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 187
which three Unes ought not to have been separated by any
Other Une intervening; but a copyist, having written the
first of them, and casting his eye on the third, might easily
proceed to write, after the first line beginning with V!tr(i,
that which, ought to have followed the third' Une beginning
with lyKil. 'Then, finding his mistake, to preserve the
beauty of his copy, added at the end the, distich which
should bave been in the middle ; making that the second
distich which ought to have been the third. For the order
as it now stands is preposterous : the destruction of Ephraim
is denounced, and then their grandeur is set forth ; whereas
naturally the representation of the grandeur of Eph rain;
should precede that of their destruction. And the destruc
tion of Ephraim has no coherence with the grandeur of
Syria, simply as such, which it now follows ; but it naturally
and properiy follows the grandeur of Ephraim, joined to that
of Syria their ally.
" The arrangement then of the whole sentence seems
originally to have been thus :
" Though the head of Syria be Damascus;
And the head of Damascus, Retsin:
And the head of Ephraim be Samaria;
And the head of Samaria, Remaliah's son:
Yet within threescore and five years
Ephraim shall be broken, that he be no more a people." Dr. Jubb.
8. — threescore and five years] It was sixty-five years
from the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, when this pro
phecy was delivered, lo the total depopulation of the king
dom of Israel hy Esarhaddon, who carried away the re
mains of tiie ten tribes whicb had been left by Tiglath
Pfteser and Shalmaneser, and -vvho planted the country with
new inhabitants. That the country was not wholly stripped
of its inhabitants by Shalmaneser, appears from many pas
sages of the history of Josiah ; where Israelites are men
tioned as still remaining there, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 6, 7. 33.
and xxxv. 18. 2 Kings xxift. 19, 20. This seems to be tbe
best explanation of the chronological difficulty in this place,
which has much embarrassed the commentators : see Usserft
Anna]. V. T. ad an. 3327 ; and Sir I. Newton, Chronol. p. 283,
" That the last deportation of Israel by Esarhaddon was
in the sixty-fifth year after the second of Ahaz, is probable,
for the foftowing reasons : The Jews, in Seder Olara Rabba,

188 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. VII.
¦and the Talmudists, in D. Kimchi on Ezek. iv. say, that
Manasseh king of J ulab was carried to Babylon by the king
of Assyria's captains, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. in the twenty-
second year of his reign ; that is, before Christ 676, accord
ing to Dr. Blair's tables. And they are probably right in
this. It could not be ranch eariier ; as the king of Assyria
was not king of Babylon tift 680 ; ibid. As Esarhaddon
was then in tbe neighbourhood of Saraaria, it is highly pro
bable that he did then carry away the last remains of Israel ;
and brought those strangers thither, who mention him as
their founder, Ezra iv. 2. But this year is just the sixty-
fifth year frora the second of Ahaz, which was 740 before
Ghrist. Now the carrying away of the last remains of
Israel, (who, tftl theu, though their kingdom was destroyed
forty-five years before, and though small in number, yet
might keep up some form of being a people, by living ac
cording to their own laws), entirely put an end to the peo
ple of Israel, as a people separate from all others: for from
this time they never returne I to their own country in a body,
but were confounded with the people of Judah jn the captivity ;
and the whole people, the ten tribes included, were called
Jews." Dr. Jube.
9. If ye believe not — ] " This clause is very much illus
trated, by considering the captivity of Manasseh as happen
ing at the same time with this predicted final ruin of
Ephraim as a people. The near connexion of the (wo
facts makes the prediction of the one naturally to cohere
with the prediction of the other. And the words are well
suited to this event in the history of the people of Judah.
"If j'e believe not, ye shall not be established;" that is,
unless ye believe this prophecy of the destruction of Israel,
ye Jews also, as well as the people of Israel, shall not re
main established as a kingdom and people ; ye also shall be
visiled with pmiishment at the same time: As our Saviour
told the Jews in his time, " unless ye repent, ye shall aft
Ukewise perish;" intimating their destruction by llie Ro
mans ; to which als^o, as well as to the cnpliviiy of Blanas^eb,
and to the Babylonish captivity, the views of the Prophet
might here extend. I'he close connexion of this threat to the
Jews, with the prophecy of the destruction of Israel, is another
strong pioof, that the order of the preceding lines above pro
posed is right." Dr. Jubb.
Ibid. If ye believe not in me — ] The exhortation of .Je
hoshaphat to his people, when God had promised to them, by

CHAP. VII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 189
the Prophet Jahaziel, victory over tbe Moabites and Ammon
ites, is very Uke this, both in sense and expression, and seems
to be delivered in verse :
" Hear me, O Judah ; and ye inhabftants of Jerusalem!
Believe in J,ehovah your God, and ye shall be established:
Believe his pro]^ets, and ye shaft prosper." 2 Chron xx. 20.
Where both T,he sense and construction render very proba
ble a conjecture of Archbishop. Seeker on this place ; that
instead of o we should read '3. " If ye wftl not believe in
me, ye shall not be established." So Ukewise Dr. DureU.
The Chaldee has, " If ye wift not believe in the words of the
Prophet , " which seems to be a paraphrase of the reading
here proposed. In favour of which it may be further ob
served, that in one MS '3 is upon a rasure; and another for
the last kV reads K^i ; which wohld properly follow '3, but
could not follow "'3.
11. Go deep to the grave — ] So Aquila, Sym. Theodot.
Vulg. 14. Jehovah] For "Jis, twenty-five MSS (nine ancient)
read mn'. And so ver. 20. eighteen MSS.
14 — 16. When he shall know — ] " Though so much
has been written on this important passage, there is an ob
scurity and inconsequence wbich stftl attends it, in the gen
eral run of all the interpretations given to ft by the most
learned. And this obscure incoherence is given to it by the
false rendering of a Hebrew particle, viz. b in in;?!'?. This
has been generally rendered, .either " that he may know,"
or " tift he know." It is capable of either version, without
doubt. But either of these versions makes ver. 15. incoherent
and inconsistent with ver. 16. For ver. 16. plainly means to
give a reason. for the assertion in ver. 15. ; because it is sub-
jgined to it by the particle '3, for. But it is no reason why
a chftd should eat butter and honey till he was at an age to
distinguish, that before that time the land of his nativity
should be free from its enemies. This latter supposition
indeed implies what is inconsistent with the preceding asser
tion : For it implies, that in part of that tirae of the infancy
spoken of, the land should not be free from enemies, and
consequently these species of delicate food could not be at
tainable, as they are in times of peace. The other 'version,
" that he may know," has no meaning atall : For what sense
is there in asserting, that a child shaft eat butter and honey,

190 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. VII.
that be may know to refuse evft and choose good? Is there
any such effect in this food ? Surely no. Besides, the child
is thus represented to eat those things, which only a stale of
peace produces, during its whole infancy, incousistenlly with
ver. 16. which promises a relief from enemies only before the
end of this infancy ; implying plainly, thaJt part of it would
be passed in distressful times of war and siege j which was
the state of things when the prophecy was delivered.
" But all these objections, are cut off, and a clear cohe
rent sense is given to this passage, by giving another sense
to the particle "? ; which never occurred lo me tift I saw it
in Harmer's Observat. vol. i. p. 299. See how coherent
the words ofthe Prophet run, with how natural a connexion
one clause follows another, by properiy rendering this one
particle : — " Behold this virgin shaft conceive and bear a son,
and ihou shalt caft his name Immanuel : Butter and honey
shall he eat, when he shall know to refuse evil, and choose
good. For, before this child shall know to refuse evil, aud
choose good, the land shall be desolate, by whose two kings
thou art distressed." Thus ver. 16. subjoins a plain reason
why the child should eat butter and honey, the food of plen
tiful times, when he came to a distinguishing age ; viz. be
cause before that time the country of the two kings, who now
disiressed Judea, should be desolated ; aud so Judea should
recover that plenty which attends peace. Tbat this render
ing, which gives perspicuily and rational connexion to the
passage, is according to the use of the Hebrew particle is
certain. Thus, 'ip3 ms^, " at the appearing of morning,
or, w.ien morning appeared ; " Exod. xiv. 27. bDHTi nyb,
" at meal-time, or, when it was time to eat ; " Ruth. ft. 14.
Iri the same manner, in;>i'7, " at his knowing, that is, when
he knows."
" Harmer (Ibid.)) has clearly shewn, that these articles Qf
food are delicacies in the East ; and as such denote a state
of plenty. See also Josh. v. 6. They therefore naturaUy
express the plenty of the country, as a mark of peace re
stored to it. Indeed, ver. 22. it expresses a plenty arising
from the thinness ofthe people; but that it signifies, ver. 15.
a plenty arising from deliverance from war then present, is
evjilent; because otherwise there is no expression of this
deliverance. And that a deliverance was intended to be
here expressed is plain, from calling the child, which should
be born, Immanuel, God with us. It is plain, also, because

GHAP. VII, NOTES ON ISAIAH. 191
it is before given to the Prophet in charge to make a decla
ration of the deliverance, ver. 3 — 7.; and it is there made ;
and this prophecy must undoubtedly be conformable to that in
this matter." Dr. Jubb.
The circumstance of the child's eating butter and honey
is explained by Jarchi as denoting a slate of plenty : " Buty-
rum et mel comedet infans iste, quoniam terra nostra plena
erit omnis boni : " Comment, in locum. The infant Jupiter,
says Callimachus, was tenderly nursed with goat's milk and
honey : Hymn, in Jov. 48. Homer, ofthe orphan daughters
of Pandareus, " KofiiPTe Si Si' A/p^oSiTu
Tafft), KM fteAiri yAuKsfisu, xm 'riSii oiv&i." OdySS. XX. 68..
"Venus in tender delicacy rears
With honey, milk, and wine, their infant years." Pope.
Tfu^i!5 Eriv £y^£(|(5' " This is a description of delicate food,"
says Eustathius on the place.
Agreeably to the observations communicated by the
learned person above-mentioned, which pferfectiy well ex
plain the historical sense of this much-disputed passage, not
excluding a higher secondary sense, the obvious and literal
meaning of the-prophecy is this : ' That wiihin the time that
a young woman, now a virgin, should conceive and bring
forth a chftd, aud that child should arrive at such an age
as to distinguish between good and evil, that is, wiihin a
few years, (compare chap. Vift. 4), the enemies of Judah
should be destroyed.' But the prophecy is introduced in so
solemn a manner ; tlie sign is so marked, as a sign selected
and given by God himself, after Ahaz had rejected the offer
of any sign of his own choosing out of the whole compass'
of natiue ; the terms of the prophecy are so peculiar, and
the name of the child so expressive, containing in them
much more than the circumstances of the birth of a common
chftd required, or even admitted ; that we may easily sup-
jjose, that, in miuds prepared by the general expectation of
a great Deliverer to spring ftom the house of David, they
raised hopes far beyond what the present occasion suggested ;
especially when it was found, that in the subsequent pro
phecy, delivered immediately afterward, this child, called
Immanuel, is treated as the Lord and Prince of the land of
Judah. Who could this be, other than the heir of the
throne of David? under which character a great and even

192 Notes on isaiah. chap, vii,
a divine person had been promised. No one of that age
answered to this character, except Hezekiah ; but he wag
certainly born nine or ten years before the deUvery of this
prophecy. That this was so understood at that time, is
collected, I think, with gre'at probabiUty, from a passage of
Micah, a Prophet conteraporary with Isaiah, but who began
to prophesy after hira ; and who, as I have already observed,
imitated him, and sometimes used his expressions. Micah,
having delivered that remarkable prophecy, which deter
mines the place of the birth of Messiah, " the ruler of God's
people, whose goings forth have been of old, frora everlast
ing ; " that it should he Bethlehem Ephrata ; adds imme
diately, that nevertheless, in the mean time, God would
deliver his people into the hands of their enemies: " he wift
give them up, tift she, who is to bear a child, shall bring
forth ; " Micah. v. 3. This obviously and plainly refers to
some known prophecy concerning a woman to bring forth
a child ; and seems much more properly appUcable to this
passage of Isaiah, than to any others of the same Prophet,
to which some interpreters have applied it. St. Matthew,
therefore, in applying this prophecy to the birth of Christ,
does it not merely in the way of accom raodating the words of
the Prophet to a suitable case not in the Prophet's view ; but
takes it in its strictest, clearest, and raost important sense, and
applies it according to the original design and principal inten
tion of the Prophet.
17. But Jehovah will bring] Houbigant reads s'S'i,
frora LXX ; «aa« iTra^u i Oici : to mark the transition to a
new subject.
Ibid. Even the king of Assyria — ] Houbigant supposes
these words to have been a marginal gloss, brought into the
text by mistake; and so Ukewise Archbp. Seeker. Besides
their having nb force or effect here, they do not join well in
construction with the words preceding ; as may be 'seen by
the strange manner in which the ancient interpreters have
taken them ; and they very inelegantly forestall the mention
of the king of Assyria, which comes in with great propriety
in the 20th verse. I bave therefore taken the liberty of omit
ting them in the translation.
18. — hist the fly] See note on chap. v. 26.
Ibid. Egypt and Assyria] Senacherib, Esarhaddon,
Pharao Necho, and Nebuchadnezzar, who one after another
desolated Judea.

CHAP. VII. IJOTES ON ISAIAH. 193
19. — caiserns] So LXX, Syr. Viftg. whence Houbigant.
supposes the true reading to be D''7'7n3n.
20. — the river] That is, the Euphrates ; injn, so read
the LXX, and two MSS.
Ibid. Jehovah shall shave by the hired rasor — ] To
shave with the hired rasor'the head, the feet, and the beard,
is an expression highly parabolical ; to denote the utter de
vastation of the country from one end to the other, and the
plundering of the people, frora the highest to the lowest, by
the Assyrians ; whom God employed as his instrument to
punish the Jews. Ahaz himself, in the first place, hired the
king of Assyria to come to help him against the Syrians,
by a present made to hira of all the treasures of the temple,
as vvell as his own : And God himself considered the great
nations, whom he thus employed, as his mercenaries, and
paid thera their wages : thus he paid Nebuchadnezzar for
his services against 'Tyre, by the conquest of Egypt ; Ezek.
xXix. 18—20. The hairs of the head are those ofthe high
est order in the state ; those of the feet, or the lower parts,
are the common people'; the beard is the king,, the high-
priest, the very supreme in dignity and majesty. The
eastern people have always held the beard in the highest
veneration, and have been extremely jealous of its honour.
To pluck a man's beard is an instance of the greatest in
dignity that can be offered. See Isa. 1. 6. The king of the
Ammonites, to shew the utmost contempt of David, " cut
off half the beards of his servants ; and the men were greatly
ashamed : and David bade them tarry at Jericho till their
beards were grown ; " 2 Sam. x. 4, 5. Niebuhr, Arable, p.
275. gives a modern instance of the very same kind of insult.
" The Turks," says Thevenot, " greatly esteem a man who
has a fine beard : it is a very great affront to take a man by
his beard, unless it be to kiss it : they swear by the beard ; "
Voyages, i. p. 57. D'Arvieux gives a remarkable instance
of an Arab, who, having received a wound in his jaw, chose
to hazard his life, rather than suffer his surgeon to take off
his beard. Memoires, tom, iii. p. 214. See also Niebuhr,
Arable, p, 61.
The remaining verses of this chapter, 21 — 25. contain
an elegant and very expressive description of a country
depopulated, and left to run' wild, from its adjuncts and cir
cumstances : the vineyards and corn-fields, before weft cul
tivated, now overrun with briers and thorns ; much grass,
22

194 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP, VII,
SO that the few cattle that are left, a young cow and two
sheep, have their fuU range, and abundant pasture, so as
to yield mftk in plenty to the scanty family of the owner ;
the thinly scattered people, living not on corn, wine and oil,
the, produce of cultivation, but on mftk and honey, the gifts
of nature ; and the whole land gfven up to the wild beasts ;
so that the miserable inhabitants are forced to go out armed
with bows and arrows, either to defend themselves against .
the wild beasts, or to supply themselves with necessary food
by hunting.
CHAPTER VIH.
The prophecy in the foregoing chapter relates directly to
the kingdom of Judah only : the first part of it promises them
deliverance frora the united invasion of the Israelites and
Syrians ; the latter part, from ver. 17. denounces the de
solation to be brought upon the kingdora of Judah by the
Assyrians. The 6th, 7th, and 8th verses of tbis chapter,
seem to take in both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
" This people, that refuseth the waters of Siloah," may be
meant of both : the Israelites despised the kingdora of Judah,
which they had deserted, and now attempted to des roy ; the
people of Judah, frora a consideration of their own weak
ness, and a distrust of God's promises, being reduced to
despair, applied to the Assyrians for assistance against tbe
two confederate kings. But how could it be said of ludah,
that they rejoiced in Retsin and the son of Remaliah, the
enemies confederated against them ? If some of the people
were incUned to revolt to tbe enemy, which however does
not clearly appear from any part of tbe history or the pro
phecy, yet there was nothing like a tendency to a general
defection. This, therefore, must be understood of Israel.
The Prophet denounces the Assyrian invasion, which should
overwhelm the whole kingdora of Israel under Tiglath Pfte
ser and Shalmaneser : and the subsequent invasion of Judah
by the sarae power under Senacherib, which" would bring
them into the most imminent danger, like a flood reaching
to the neck, in which a raan can but just keep his head
above water. The two next verses, 9, 10. are addressed by
the Prophet, as a subject of the kingdom of Judah, to the
IsraeUtes and Syrians ; and perhaps lo all the enemies of
God's people ; assuring them, that their attempts against

CHAP. VIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 195
that kingdom shall be fruitless ; for that the promised Im
manuel, to whom he alludes by using his name, to express
the signification of it, /or God is with us, shall be the de
fence of the house of David, and deftver the kingdora of
Judah out of their hands. He then proceeds to warn the
people of Judah against idolatry, divination, and the like
forbidden practices ; to which they were much inclined, and
which would soon bring down God's judgments upon Israel,
The prophecy concludes, at the Oth verse of chap. ix. with
promises of blessings in future times, by the coming of the
great DeUverer already pointed out by the name of Imman
uel, whose person and character is set forth in terms the raost
ample and raagnificent.
And here it may be observed, that it is almost the con
stant practice of the Prophet to connect in Uke manner de
liverances teraporal with spiritual. Thus the xith chapterj
setting forth the kingdom of Messiah, is closely connected
with the xth, which foretells the destruction of Senacherib,
So likewise the destruction of nations, enemies to God, in
the xxxivth chapter, introduces the fiourishing state of the
kingdom of Christ in the xxxvth. And thus the chapters,
from xl. to xlix. inclusive, plainly relating to the deliverance
from the captivity of Babylon, do iu some parts as plainly
relate to the great deliverance by Christ.
1. Take unto thee a large mirror — ] The word \v'-)i is
not regularly formed frora 'iii, to roll, but from n'7J ; as [na
from m3, ]v'73 from n'73, mi from npJ, \\-'-)y from nbj?,
&;c. the ' supplying the place of the radical n. , nbj signifies
to shew, to reveal ; properly, as Schroederus says, (De
Vestitu MuUer. Hebr. p. 294.), to render clear and bright
by rubbing, to polish : p'Vj, therefore, according to this de
rivation, is not a roft, or volume, but may very well signify
a polished t.ablet of metal, such as anciently was used for a
mirror: the Chaldee paraphrast renders it by nb, a tablet;
and the same word, though somewhat differentiy pointed,
the Chaldee paraphrast and the Rabbins render a mirror,
chap. in. 23^. The mirrors of the Israelitish women were
made of brass finely polished, Exod. xxxviii. 8. ; from which
. place it likewise appears, that what they used were little
hand-mirrors, which they carried with them, even when they
assembled at the door of the tabernacle. I have a metaUine
mirror, found in Herculaneum, which is riot above three
inches square. The prophet is commanded to take a

196 , NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. VIII.
mirror, or brazen polished tablet, not Uke these littie hand-
mirrors, but a large one ; large enough for hira to engrave
upon it, in deep and lasting characters, m:ii Din3, with a
workman's graving tool, the prophecy which he was to de
liver. Din in this place certainly signifies an instrument
to write, or to engrave with ; but D'ln, the same word, only
differing a little in the form, means something belonging to
a lady's dress, chap. ift. 22. (where however five MSS leave
out the ", whereby only it differs from the word in this
place) ; either a crisping-pin, which might be not unlike a
graving tool, as some wftl have it ; or a purse, as others
infer from 2 Kings v. 23. It may therefore be cafted here
tyiJK mn, a workman's instrument, to distinguish it from
ntys D'nn, an instrument of the same name used "by the
women. In tbis manner he was to record the prophecy .of
the destruction of Damascus and Samaria by the Assyrians r
the subject and sum of which prophecy is here expressed
with great brevity in four words, maher shalal, hash baz ;
i. e. "to hasten the spoil, to take quickly the prey :" which
are afterwards applied as the name of the Prophet's son,
who was made a sign of the speedy completion of it : Maher-
shalal Hash-baz ; Haste-to-the-spoil Quick-to-the-prey. Ahd
that it might he done with the greater solemnity, and to pre
clude all doubt ofthe real delivery ofthe prophecy before the
event, he calls witnesses to attest the recording of it.
4. For before the child — ] The prophecy Was according
ly accomplished within three years ; when Tiglath Pileser,
king of Assyria, went up against Damascus, and took il, and
carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Retsin ; and
also took the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe
of Manasseh, and carried them captive to Assyria ; 2 Kings
xvi. 9. XV. 29. 1 Chron. v. 26.
6, 7. Because this people have rejected — ] The gentle
waters of Siloah, a small fountain and brook pist without
Jerusalem, which supplied a pool wiihin the city for the. use
ofthe inhabitants, is an apt emblem of the state of the king
dora and house of David, much reduced in its apparent
strength, yet supported by the blessing of God : and is fine
ly contrasted with the waters ofthe Euphrates, great, rapid,
and impetuous ; the image of the Babylonian empire, which
God threatens to bring down, like a mighty flood, upon alt
these apostates of both kingdoms, as a punishment for their
manifold iniquities, and their contemptuous disregard of his

CHAP. VIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH, 107
promises. The brook and the river are put fbr the king
doms to which they belong, and the different states of which
respectively they most aptly represent. Juvenal, inveighing
against the corruption of Rome by the importation of Asiatic
manners, says, with great elegance, that the Orontes has been.
long discharging itself into the Tiber : —
" Jampridem Syrus in Tiberira defluxit Orontes."
And Virgil, to express the submission of some of the eastern
countries to the Roman arms, says, that the waters of Eu
phrates now flowed more humbly and gentiy : — "Euphrates
ibat jam moftior undis : " .^n. viii. 726. But the happy
contrast between the brook and the river gives a peculiar
beauty to this passage of the Prophet, with which the simple
figure in the Roman poets, however beautiful, yet uncon-
trasted, cannot contend.
8. Even to the neck shall he reach] He compares Jeru
salem (says Kimchi) to the head in the human body : as
when the waters come up to a man'§ neck, he is very near
drowning ; for a Uttie increase of them would go over his
head : so the king of Assyria coming up to Jerusalem was
like a fiood reaching to the neck ; the whole country was
overflowed, and the capital was in imminent danger. Ac
cordingly the Chaldee renders reaching to the neck, by reach
ing to Jerusalem.
9. Know ye this] God by his Prophet plainly declares
to the confederate adversaries of Judah, and bids thera regard
and attend to his declaration, that all their efforts shall be in
vain. The present reading ^y^, is subject to raany difficul
ties : I follow that of the LXX, ^y^^, yiuTe. Archbishop
Seeker 'approves this reading. ^})-\, knov) ye this, is parallel
and synonymous to 'Wi^'n, give ear to it, inihe next line.
The LXX have likewise very well paraphrased the conclu
sion of this verse : " When ye have strengthened yourselves,
ye shaft be broken ; and though ye again strengthen your
selves, again shall ye be broken : " taking mn as meaning the
same with nsiyj.
\{. As taking me hy the hand] Eleven MSS (two an
cient) read npin3 : and so Sym. Syr. Vulg.
12. Say ye not, It is holy—] ¦ T^p. Both the reading
and the sense of this word are doubtful. The LXX mani
festly read nep; for they render it by toJi^jov, hard, Syr.
and Chald. render it vma and nnn, rebellion. How they
came by this sense of the word, or what they read in their
22*

198 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. VIII,
copies, is not so clear. But the worst of it is, that neither
of these readings or renderings, gives any clear sense in Ibis
place : For why should God forbid his faithful servants to
say, with the unbelieving Jews, it is hard ; or, there is a
rebellion ; or, as our translators render it, a confederacy '\
And how can this be called, " walking in tbe way of this
people," ver. 11. which usually means, following their exam
ple; joining with thera in reUgious worship? Or what con
federacy do they raean ? The union of the kingdoras of
Syria and Israel against Judah ? That was properly a
league between two independent states ; not an unlawful
conspiracy of one part against another in the same state ; for
this is the meaning of the word 'iiyp. For want of any satig-
factory interpretation of this place, that lean meet with, I
adopt a conjecture of Archbishop Seeker, which he proposes
with great diffidence ; and even seems immediately to give
up, as being destitute of any authority to support it. I wift
give it in his own words : " Videri potest ex cap. v. 16. et
hujus cap. 13, 14. 19. legendum tvnp, vel tynp, eadera sen
tentia, qua ij>n'7«, Hos. xiv. 3. Sed nihil necesse est. Vide
enira Jer. xi. 9. Ezek. xxii. 25. Optime tamen sic responde-
rent huic versiculo versiculi 13, 14." The passages of Jere
miah and Ezekiel, above referred to, seem to me not at aft to
clear up the sense of the wordityp in this place. But the con
text greatly favours the conjecture here given, and makes it
highly probable : " Walk not in the way of this people ; call
not their idols holy ; nor fear ye the object of their fear : (that
is, the iriQaTiAMTo,, or gods of the idolaters ; for so fear here
signifies, tp wit, the thing feared ; so God is called " the fear
of Isaac,'' Gen. xxxi. 42. 53.): but look up to Jehovah as
your Holy One ; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be
your dread ; and He shaU be a holy refuge unto you." llere
there is a harmony and consistency running through the
whole sentence ; and the latter part naturally arises out of the
former, and answers to it. Observe, that the difference be
tween iiyp and tynp is chiefly in the transposftion of the two
last letters ; for the letters i and t are hardly distinguishable
in some copies, printed as well as MS ; so that the mistake,
in respect of the letters themselves, is a very easy and a very
comraon one.
14. And He shall be unto you a sanctuary,] The word
CD'?, unto you, absolutely necessary, as I conceive, to the
sense, is lost in this place : it is preserved by the "Vulgate ;

CHAP. VIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH, 190"'
" et erit vobis in sanctific&.tionem : " the LXX have it in the
singular number ; erM m m ayiaFiMt. Or else, instead of ivipn,
a sanctuary, we must read wvn, a snare, which would then
be repeated, without any propriety or elegance, at the end of
the verse. The Chaldee reads instead of it asam, judgment ;
for he renders it by ]j;ii3 ; which word frequeritly answers to
oswu in his paraphrase. A MS has (instead of ]3s'7i tynpo)
p^b orh i which clears the sense and construction. But the
reading, of' the Vulgate is, I think, the best remedy to this
difficulty ; and is in some degree authorized by on'?, the read
ing of the MS above hientioned.
16. among my disciples] nD'73. " The LXX render it,
TH ft)) fixisit. Bishop Chandler, Defence of Christianity, p.
308. " thinks they read na'?n, that it be not understood ;
and approves this reading : " Archbishop Seckee.
18. God of Hosts] A MS reads niN3S 'n'?N.
19. Should they seek — ] After w\y, the LXX, repeating
the word, read tt>1TT\ '. Ovx sitsi ¦arfai B-ui hvth ex^rrrriT-Ho-ii Ti
ex^irrna-isn TTipi Tav ^anai tsj nxpHi; and this repetition of the verb
seems necessary to the sense ; and, as Procopius on the place
observes, it strongly expresses the Prophet's indignation at
their, follj^
20. tfnto the command, and, unto the testimony — ] " Is
not mi;?n here the attested prophecy, ver. 1 — 4.? and perhaps
mm the command, ver. 11 — 15.? for it raeans sometimes a
particular, and even a human command ; see Prov. vi. 20.
and vii. 2, 3. where it is ordered to be hid, that is, secretly
kept : " Archbishop Secker. So Deschamps in his transla
tion, or rather paraphrase, understands it: " Tenops-nous a
I'instrument authentique,^mis en depot par ordre du Seigneur."
If this be right, the 16tli verse must be understood in the same
manner. Ibid. In lohich there is no obscurity] inty, as an adjec
tive, frequentiy signifies dark, obscure; and the noun int7
signihes darkness, gloominess, Joel ii. 2. if we may judge
by the context :
" A day of darkness and obscurity ;
Of cloud, and of thick vapour ;
As the gloom spread upon the mountains :
A people mighty and numerous ; "
Where the gloom, inty, seems to be the same with tbe
cloud and thick vapour, mentioned in the line preceding :
see Lam. iv. 8. Job xxx. 30. See this meaning of the word

200 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. VlII.
insy weft supported in Christ. Muller Satura Observationum
Philolog. p. 53, Ludg. Bat. 1752. The morning seems to
be an idea wholly incongruous in the passage of Joel : And
in this of Isaiah, the words, " in which there is no morning,"
(for so it ought to be rendered, if inty in this place signifies,
according to its usual sense, morning), seem to give no mean
ing at all. " It is because there is no light in them," says our
translation : If there be any sense in these words, it is not the
sense of the original ; which cannot justly be so translated.
Q,ui n'a rien d'obscur ; Deschamps. The reading of LXX
and Syr. nnty, gift, affords not any assistance towards the
clearing up of this difficuft place.
21. — distressed — ] Instead of n\l?pj, distressed, the
Vulg. Chald. and Sym, manifestiy read '71^3:, stumbling, tot
tering through weakness, ready to fall ; a sense which suits
very well with the place.
22. And he shall cast his eyes upward — ] The learn
ed professor Michaelis, treating of this place, (Not. in De S.
Poes. Hebr. Prsel. ix.), refers to a passage in the Koran, which
is similar to it. As it is a very celebrated passage, and on
many accounts remarkable, I shaft give it here at large, with
the same author's further remarks upon it in another place of
his writings. It must be noted here, that the learned profes-'
sor renders 03J in this and the parallel place, chap. v. 30. which
I translate he looketh, by it ihundereth, frora Schultens, Orig,
Ling. Hebr. Ub. i. chap. 2.; of the justness of which rendering
I much doubt. This brings the image of Isaiah more near,
in one circumstance, to that of Mohammed, than it appears to
be in my translation.
" liabid, contemporary with Mohammed, the last of the
seven Arabian poets who had the honour of having their poems,
one of each, hung up in the entrance of the Temple of Mecca,
struck wfth the sublimity of a passage in the Koran, became
a convert to Mohammedisra ; for he concluded, that no man
could write in such a raanner, unless he were divinely
inspired. " One must have a curiosity to examine a passage which
had so great an effect upon Labid. It is, I must own, the
finest that I know in the whole Koran ; but I scarce think
it will have a second time the like effect, so as to tempt any
one of my readers to submit to circumcision. It is in the
second chapter ; where he is speaking of certain apostates
from the faith. ' They are Uke,' sailh he, 'to a man whf

CHAP. VIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 201
kindleth alight. As soon as it begins to shine, God takes
from them the light, and leaves them in darkness, that they
see nothing. They are deaf, dumb, and Wind ; and return
not into the right way. Or they fare, as when a cloud, full
of darkness, thunder, and lightning, covers the heaven :
when it bursteth, they stop their ears with their fingers, with
deadly fear ; and God hath the unbelievers in his power.
The Ughtning almost robbeth them of their eyes : as often
as it flasheth, they go on by its light ; and when it vanisheth
in darkness, they stand stftl. If God pleased, they would re
tain neither hearing nor sight.' That the thought is beauti
ful, no one will deny ; and Labid, who had probably a raind
to flatter Mohammed, was lucky in finding a passage in the
Koran, so Uttle abounding in poetical beauties, to which his
conversion might with any propriety be ascribed. It was
well that he went no further ; otherwise his taste for poetry
might have made him again an infidel." MichaeUs, Erpenir
Arabische Grammatik abgekurzt, Vorrede, s. 32.
23. — accumulated datkness] Either nm:n, fem. to agree
withn'73.x; or niJon '?3N, alluding perhaps to the palpable
Egyptian darkness, Exod. x. 21.
Ibid. The land of Zebulon — ] Zebulon, Naphthali, Ma
nasseh, that is, the country of Galilee, aft round the Sea of
Genesareth, were the parts that principafty suffered in the
first Assyrian invasion under Tiglath Pileser : see 2 Kings
XV. 29. 1. Chron. v. 26.: and they were the first that en
joyed the blessing of Christ's preaching the gospel, and ex
hibiting his miraculous works among them. See Mede's
Works, p. 101. and 457-

CHAPTER IX.
2. Thou hast increased their joy] Eleven MSS (two
ancient) read ib, according to the Masoretical correction.
Ibid. — as w'lth the joy of harvest] T!fp3 nnaiy3. For
TSp3 a MSS has TVp, and another TSpn; one of which
seems to be the true reading, as the noun preceding is in reg
imine. 4, The greaves of the arm.ed warrior] ]nd pxD. This
word) occurring only in this place, is of very doubtful sig
nification. Schindler fairly tells us, that we must guess at
it by the context. The Jews bave explained it, by guess I

2Q2 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. IX.
believe, as signifying battle, conflict: the Vulgate renders it
violenta prcedatio. But it seems as if something was raiher
meant, which was capable of becoming fuel for the fire
together with' the garments mentioned in the same sentence.
In Syriac, the word, as a noun, -signifies a shoe or a sandal,
as a learned friend suggested to me some years ago : see
Luke XV. 22. Acts xii. 8. I take it therefore to mean that
part of the armour which covered the legs and feet, and
I would render Ihe two words in Latin by caliga caligati.
The burning of heaps of armour, gathered from the field of
battie, as an offering made to the god supposed to be the
giver of victory, was a custom that prevailed among some
heathen nations; and the Romans used it as an erablem of
peace: which perfectiy well suits with the design of the
Prophet in this place. A medal, slruck by Vespasian on
finishing his wars both at home and abroad, represents the
goddess Peace, holding an olive branch in one hand, and
with a lighted torch in the other setting fire lo a heap of ar
mour. Virgil mentions the custom :
" Cum primam aciem PrEeneste sub ipsa
Stravi, scutorumque incendi victor acervos. " .^n. viii. 561.
See Addison on Medals, Series ii. 18. And there are notices
of some such practice among the Israelites, and other nations
of the most early times. God promises to Joshua victory
over the kings of Canaan ; " To-morrow I will dehver
them up all slain before Israel : thou shaft hough their
horses, and burn their chariots wiih fire; " Josh. xi. 6. See
also Nahum ii. 13. And the Psalmist employs this image
to express complete victory, and a perfect establishment of
peace :
" He maketh wars to cease, even to the end ofthe land:
He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder;
And burneth the chariots in the fire." Psal. xlvi. 9.
n'hiy, properiy plaustra, ihe.baggage-waggons ; which how
ever tbe LXX and Vulg. render scuta, shields, and Chald.
round shields, to shew the propriety of that sense of the
word from the etymology ; which, if admitted, makes the
image the same with that used by the Romans
Ezekiel, in his bold manner, has carried this image to a
degree of amplification, which, I think, hardly any olher of
the Hebrew poets would have attempted. He describes
the burning of tbe arms of the enemy, in consequence of

CHAP, IX. NOTES ON ISAIAH, 203
the complete victory to be obtained by the Israelites over Gog
and Magog :
" Behold, it is come to pass, and it is done;
Safth the Lord Jehovah.
This is the day, of which 1 spake:
And the inhabftants ofthe cfties of Israel shall go forth;
And shall set on fire the armour, and the shield.
And the buckler, and the bow, and the arrows.
And the clubs, and the lances;
And they shall set them on fire for seven years:
And they shall not bear wood from the field;
Neither shall they hew from the forest:
For ofthe armour shall they make their fires;
And they shall spoft their spoilers.
And they shall'plunder their plunderers." Ezek. xxxix.JS-lO.
5. The government shall be upon his shoulder.]- That is,
the ensign of government ; tbe sceptre, the sword, the key,
or the like, wbich was borne upon or hung from the shoul
der. See note on chap. xxii. 22.
Chaprix. 7. — Chap. x. 4.] This whole passage, reduced
to its proper and entire form, and healed of the dislocation
which it suffeis by the absurd division ofthe chapters, makes
a distinct prophecy, and a just poem, remarkable for the
regularity of its disposition, and the elegance pf its plan. It
has no relation to the preceding or the following prophecy ;
though the parts, violently torn asunder, have been, on the
one side and the other, patched on to them. Those relate
principally to the kingdom of Judah ; this is addressed ex
clusively to the kingdom of Israel. The subject of it is a
denunciation of vengeance awaiting their crimes. It is di
vided into four parts, each threalening the particular pun
ishment of some grievous offence, — of their pride; of their
perseverance in their vices; of their impiety; and of their
injustice. To which is added a general denunciation of a
further reserve of divine wrath, contained in a distich, be
fore used by the Prophet on a like occasion, chap. v. 25. and
here repeated after each part : this makes the intercalary
verse ofthe poem, or, as we call il, the burthen of the song.
" Post hoc comma (chap. x. 4.) interponitur spatium
unius Uneee, in cod. 2. et 3. : idemque observatur in 245.
in quo nullum est spatium ad finem capitis ix." Kennicott,
Var. Lect.
7. Jehovah] For '¦jnN, thirty MSS and three editions
read nin'.

204 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP, IX.
8. — carry themselves haughtily] \yv), and they shall
know : so oUrs, and the versions in general. But what is it
that they shall know ? Tbe verb stands destitute of its ob
ject ; and the sense is imperfect. The Chaldee is the only
one, as far as I can find, that expresses it otiierwise. He
renders the verb in this place by i3i3'mNi, they exalt them
selves, or carry themselves haughtily ; the same word by
which he renders in3J, chap. iii. 16. He seeras therefore
in this place to have read in3ri; which agrees perfectly
weft wfth what follows, and clears up the difficulty. Arch
bishop Secker conjectured n3Ti, referring it to ids'? in
the next verse ; which shews, that he was not satisfied wfth
the present reading. Houbigant reads ij?Tl, et pravi facti
sunt ; which is found in a MS ; but I prefer the reading of
the Chaldee, which suits ranch better with the context.
9. The bricks — ] " The eastern bricks, (says Sir John
Chardin, see Harmer, Obser. i. p. 176.), are only clay weft
moistened with water, and mixed with straw, and dried in
the sun." So that their walls are commonly no better than
our mud-waft : see Maundreft, p. 124. That straw was a
necessary part in the composition of this sort of bricks, to
make the parts of the clay adhere together, appears frora
Exodus, chap. v. These bricks are properly opposed to
hewn stone, so greatly superior in beauty and durableness.
The sycamores, which, as Jerom on the place says, are tim
ber of little worth, with equal propriety are opposed to the ce
dars. " As the grain and texture of the sycamore is remark
ably coarse and spongy, it could therefore stand in uo com
petition at all (as it is observed, Isa. ix. 10.) with the cedar
for beauty and ornament : " Shaw, Supplement to Travels,
p. 96. We meet wfth the sarae opposition of cedars to syca
mores, 1 Kings X. 27. where Solomon is said to have made
silver as the stones, and cedars as the sycamores in the vale,
for abundance. By this mashal, or figurative and senten
tious speech, they boast, that tbey shall easily be able to re
pair their present losses, suffered perhaps by the first As
syrian invasion under Tiglath Pileser ; and to bring their
affairs to a more fiourishing condition than ever.
10. — the princes of Retsin against him] For ¦'is, ene
mies, Houbigant by conjecture reads '-liy, princes ; which is
confirmed by twenty-one MSS (two ancient), and nine more
have s upon a rasure, and therefore had probably at first
naf. The princes of Retsin, the late ally of Israel, that is.

CHAP. IXi NOTES ON ISAIAH. 205
the Syrians, expressly naraed in tbe next verse, shaU now be
excited against Israel.,
The LXX in this place gives us another variation : for
I'n, they read p'S in, »?»« Si»v, Mount Sion ; of which this
may be the sense ; But Jehovah shall set up the adversaries
of Mount Sion against him (i. e. against Israel), and wift
strengthen his enemies together : the Syrians,-^the Philis
tines, — who are called the adversaries of Mount Sion. See
Simonis Lex. in voce po.
11. — on every side] niJ '733, in every corner; in every
part of their country, pursuing them to the remotest extrem
ities, and the most retired parts. So the Chald. inx '733, in
every place.
13. — in one day] Eight MSS read Dr3 ; and another
has a rasure in the place of the letter 3.
16. Jehovah] For 'Jix, eighteen MSS read nin'.
17. For wickedness — ] Wickedness rageth like a fire,
destroying and laying waste the nation : but it shall be its
own destruction, by bringing down the fire of God's wrath,
which shaU burn up the briers and the thorns ; that is, the
wicked themselves. Briers and thorns are an image fre
quently applied in Scripture, when set on fire, to the rage of
the wicked, violent yet impotent, and of no long continuance,
— " they are extinct as the fire of thorns ; " Psal. cxviii. 12. ;
— to the wicked themselves, as useless and unprofitable, proper
objects of God's wrath, to be burned up, or driven away by the
wind, — " as thorns cut up, they shall be consumed in the fire ; "-
Isa. xxxift. 12. Both these ideas seem to be joined in Psal.
lviii. 9.
" Before your pots shall feel the thorn,
As well the green as the dry, the tempest shall bear them
away."
The green and the dry is a proverbial expression, meaning all
sorts of them, good and bad, great and small, &c. ; so Ezekiel :
— " Behold, I wftl kindle a fire, and it shalh devour every
green tree, and every dry tree ; " chap. xx. 47. D'Herbelot
quotes a Persian poet describing a pestilence under the image
of a conflagration : — " This was a lightning that, falling upon
a forest, consumed there the green wood with the dry." See
Harmer, Obser. ft. p. 187.
19. — the flesh of his neighbour} " Tou iSgtcxmm nv eiSi>i<pov
avTov, LXX, Alexand. Duplex Versio, quarura altera legit
i;n, quae vox extat Jer. vi. 21. Nam 3f\ ahxpoi, Gen. xlift.
23

206 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. IX,
33. Recte, ni fallor : " Secker. I add to this excellent
reraark, that the Chaldee manifestly reads i;>i, not i_j?ir ; for
he renders it by n'3np, his neighbour. And Jeremiah has
the very same expression : i'73N' 'Sn^n lty3 ly'Si, "And every
one shaft eat the flesh of his neighbour;" chap. xix. 9.
This observation, I think, gives the true reading and sense
of this place ; and the context strongly confirms it, by explain
ing the general idea by particular instances, in the following
verse : " Every man shall devour the flesh of his neighbour ;
(that is, they shaft harass and destroy one another) ; Ma
nasseh shaft devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh ; (which
two tribes were most closely connected both in blood and
situation, as brothers and neighbours) ; and both of them in
the midst of their own dissensions shall agree in preying upon
Judah." The comraon reading, " shall devour the flesh of
his own arm," in connexion with what follows, seeras to make
either an inconsistency, or an anticlimax ; whereas by this
correction the foftowing verse becomes an elegant illustration
of the foregoing.

CHAPTER X.
4. Withojit me — ] That is, without my aid, they shaft
be taken captive even by the captives, and shall be subdued
by the vanquished. " The ' in ''n'73 is a pronoun, as in Hos.
xiii. 4, : " Kimchi on the place.
5. Ho to the Assyrian — ] Here begins "a new and dis
tinct prophecy ; continued to the end of the xifth chapter :
and it appears from ver. 9 — 11. of this chapter, that this
prophecy was deUvered after the taking of Samaria by
Shalmaneser ; which was in the sixth year of the reign of
Hezekiah : and as the former part of it foretells the invasion
of Senacherib, and the destruction of his array, which makes
the whole subject of this chapter, it must have been delivered
before the fourteenth of the same reign.
Ibid. The staff in whose hand] The word sin in this
place seems to embarrass the sentence. 1 omit it on the au
thority of the Alexandrine copy of LXX; and five MSS,
(two ancjent), for wn ntODi, read inaa. Archbishop Secker
was not satisfied with the present reading : he proposes
another method of clearing up the sense, by reading DV3
instead of DT3: " And he is a staff in the day of mine indig
nation."

CHAP," X, NOTES ON ISAIAH. 207
12. Jehovah] For tjis, fourteen MSS, and three edi
tions, read nin'.
Ibid, —the effect — ] " 'is, f. '3y, vid. xfti. 19. sed confer
Prov. i. 31. xxxi. 16. 31 :" Secker. The Chaldee renders
the word 'ia by '131;?, opera ; which seems to be the true
sense ; and I have followed it.
13. — strongly — ] Twelve MSS agree with tbe Keri in
reading t33 without the x. And S. b. Melee and "Kimchi
thus explain it : " Them, who dwefted in a great and strong
place, I have brought down to the ground."
15. — its master] I have here given the meaning, wit-b
out attempting to keep to the expression of the original : s'?
]»;?, " the no-wood ;'' that which is not wood like itself, but of
a quite different and superior nature. The Hebrews have a
peculiar way of joining the negative particle s*? to a noun, to
signify in a strong manner a total negation of the thing ex
pressed by the noun.
" Ho-w hast thou given help,'n3 J?'?'?, to the no-strength?
And saved the arm, tj; n*?, ofthe no-power?
How hast thou given counsel, nD3n tth, to the no-wisdom?"
that is, to the man totally deprived of strength, power, and
wisdom : Job xxvi. 2. 3.
" Ye that rejoice, 131 n'?'?, in no-thing : " '
tbat is, in your fancied strength, which is none at all, a mere
nonentity : Amos vi. 13.
" For I am God, tSf'S n'?!, and no-man;
The Holy One in the midst of thee, yet do not frequent ci
ties," Hosea xi. 9.
" And the Assyrians shall fall by a sword, ty'N s'?, of no-man;
And a sword of, dtn s'?, no-mortal shaft devour him." Isa. xxxi. 8.
" Wherefore do ye weigh out your sftver, urb N'l'73, for the
no-bread." Isa. lv. 2.
So here ^V n'? means hira who is far frora being an inert piece
of wood, but is an animated and active being ; not an instru
ment, but an agent.
16. Jehovah] For ni^, fifty-two MSS, and six editions,
read nin'-
Ibid. And under his glory] That is, all that he could
boast of as great and strong in his army ; (Sal. b. Melee in
loc); expressed afterwards, ver. 18. by the glory of his forest,
and of his fruitful field.

208 notes on isaiah, CH.iP. X.
17, 18. And he shall burn and consume his thorn — ]
The briers and thorns are the comraon people ; the glory of
his forest are the nobles, and those of highest rank and im
portance. See note on chap. ix. 17. and compare Ezek. xx.
47. The fire of God's wrath shall destroy them both great
and small, it shall consume ihem from, the soul to the flesh :
a proverbial expression ; soul and body, as we say ; it shall
consurae them entirely and altogether. And the few that
escape shall be looked upon as having escaped from the raost
imminent danger ; " as a firebrand plucked out of the fire ; "
Amos iv. 11. 'fls Six aru^os, 1 Cor. iii, 15. as a man, when a
house is burning, is forced to make his escape by running
through the midst of the fire. '
I follow here the reading of the LXX ; DDJ K'saD, a? i ^ivyai
um rpAoyos xMo/ism- SymiTiachus also renders the latter word
by ipivyati.
22, 23. For though thy people, O Israel — ] I have en
deavoured to keep to the letter of the text, as nearl)' as I can,
in this obscure passage. But it is reraarkable, that neither the
LXX, nor St Paul, Rom. ix. 28, who, except in a few words
of no great importance, foftows thera nearly in this place, nor
any one of the ancient versions, take any notice of the word
^m, overflowing ; which seeras to give an idea not easily
reconcileable with those with whicb it is here joined. I. S.
Moerlius (Schol. Phftolog. ad Selecla S. Cod. loca) conjec
tures, that the two last letters of this word are by mistake
transposed, and that the true reading is am, judging wiih
strict justice. The LXX might think this sufficientiy ex
pressed by £v SixMoFutt,. A MS,- with St Paul and LXX Alex.
omits o in the 22d verse ; sixty-nine MSS, and six editions,
omit '73 in the 23d verse : and so St. Paul, Rom. ix. 28.
, The learned Dr. Bagot, dean of Christchurch, Oxford,
in some observations on this place, which he has been so
kind as to communicate to rae, and which will appear in
their proper light when he himself shaft give thera to the
pubUc, renders the word p''73 by accomplishment, and makes
it refer to tbe predictions of Moses ; the blessing and the
curse which he laid before the people ; both conditional,
and depending on their future conduct. They had by their
disobedience incurred those judgments which were now to
be fully executed upon thera. His translation is : " The
accomplishraent deterrained overflows with justice ; for it is

CHAP. X. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 209
accomplished, and that which is determined the Lord God of
Hosts doeth in the midst of the land."
24. and 26. — in the way of Egypt] I think there is a
designed ambiguity in these words. Senacherib, soon after
his return from his Egyptian expedition, which, I imagine,
took him up three years, invested Jerusalem. He is repre
sented by the Prophet as lifting up his rod in his raarch from
Egypt, and threatening the people of God, as Pharaoh and
the Egyptians had done when they pursued them to the Red
Sea. But God in his turn will lift up his rod over the sea,
as he did at that time, in the way, or after the manner of
Egypt : and as Senacberib has imitated the Egyptiansin his
threats, and came full of rage against thera from the same
quarter ; so God will act over again the same part that he
had taken formerly in Egypt, and overthrow their enemies
in as signal a manner. It was all to be, both the attack and
¦the deliverance, •]n3, or -jtid, as a MS has it in each place, in
the way, or after the manner, of Egypt.
25. mine indignation] Indignatio mea, Vulg. ; 'i e^yi,
LXX ; /tti! ¦? c^yv i xeiT» FH, MS. Pachom, ; fts» o^yri xctrx. fh,
MS I. D. II. : so that 'd;?i, or Q,;>Tn, as a MS has it, seems to
be the true reading.
26. And like his rod which he lifted up over the sea] The
Jewish interpreters suppose here an eftipsis of 3, the particle
of similitude, before pm, to be supphed frora the line above :
so that here are two simiUtudes ; one comparing the destruc
tion of the Assyrians to the slaughter of the Midianites at
the rock of Oreb ; the other to that of the Egyptians at the
Red Sea. Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Salomo b. Melee. '
27. — -from of your shoulders] I follow here the LXX,
who, for pty 'J3D, read D3''n3tya, »m tui uiumi iuMr, not being
able to make any good sense out of the present reading. I
wift add here the marginal conjectures qf Archbishop Secker,
who appears, like all others, to have been at a loss for a
probable interpretation of the text as it now stands, "'o.^leg.
031? ; forte legend. \m! 'J3n, vid. cap. v; 1. Zech. iv. 14. Et
possunt intelligi Judaei uncti Dei ; Psal. cv. 15. vel Assyrii
D'JotyD, hie ver. 16. ut dicat Propheta depulsura iri jugura ab
hisimpositum : sed hoc durius. Vel potest legi 'Dt^'jan:"
Secker. 28 — 32. He is come to Aiath — ] A description of the
march of Senacherih's array approaching Jerusalem in order
to invest it, and of the terror and confusion spreading and.
23*

210 notes on isaiah. chap. x.
increasing through the several places as he advanced ; ex
pressed with great brevity, but finely diversified. The places
here raentioned are all in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem ;
frora Ai northward, to Nob westward of it ; frora which last
place he might probably have a prospect of Mount Sion.
Anathoth was within three Roman miles of Jerusalem ; ac
cording to Eusebius, Jerom, and Josephus : Onomast. Loc.
Hebr. et. Antiq. Jud. x. 7. 3. Nob probably still nearer.
And it should seem from this passage of Isaiah, that Sena
cherih's army was destroyed near the latter of these places.
In coraing out of Egypt, he raight perhaps join the rest of
his army at Ashdod, after the taking of that place, which
happened about that tirae, (see chap, xx.) ; and raarch frora
thence near the coast by Lachish and Libnah, which lay in
his way, from south to north, and both which he invested,
till he carae to the north-west of Jerusalem ; crossing over to
the north of it, perhaps by Joppa and Lydda, or still raore
north through the plain of Esdraelon.
29. They have passed the strait — ] The strait here
raentioned is that of Michmas, a very narrow passage be
tween two sharp hills of rocks, (see 1 Sara. xiv. 4, 5.), where
a great array raight have been opposed with advantage by a
very inferior force. The author of the book of Judith might
perhaps raean this pass, at least among others : " Charging
them to keep the passages of the hill country ; for by them
there was an entrance into Judea, and it was easy to stop
them that would come up ; because the passage was strait,
for two men at the most : " Judith iv. 7. The enemies
having passed the strait without opposition, shews that all
thoughts of making a stand in the open country were given
up, and that their only resource was in the strength of the
city. Ibid. — their lodging — ] The sense seems necessarily
to require, that we read id*? instead of ij*?. These two
words are in other places mistaken one for the other. Thus
Isa. xliv. 7. for id'? read u'?, with the Chaldee : and in the
same manner Psal. Ixiv. 6. with Syr, and Psal. Ixxx. 7. on
the authority of LXX and Syr. beside the necessity of t e
sense. 30. Hearken unto her, O Laish ; answer her, O Ana
thoth .'] I follow in this the Syriac version. The Prophet
plainly alludes to the name of the place ; and with a pecu
Uar propriety, if it had its name from its remarkable echo.

CHAP. X, NOTES ON ISAIAH. 211
" ninv, responsiones : eadem ratio nominis, quae in my
n'3, locus echus ; nam bodienum ejus rudera ostenduntur
in valle, soft, in medio montium, ut referunt Robertus in
Itiner. p. 70. et Monconnysius, p. 301." Simonis Onomas-
ticon Vet. Test.

CHAPTER XI.
The Prophet had described the destruction of the Assy
rian array under the iraage of a mighty forest, consisting of
flourishing trees, growing thick together, and of a great
height — of Lebanon itself crowned with lofty cedars ; but
cut down and laid level with the ground by the axe, wielded
by tbe hand of some powerful and illustrious agent. In op
position to this image he represents the great person, who
makes the subject of this chapter, as a slender twig, shooting
out from the tr^ink of an old tree, cut down, lopped to the
very root, and decayed ;' which tender plant, so weak in ap
pearance, should nevertheless become fruitful and prosper.
This contrast shows plainly tbe connexion between this and
the preceding chapter; which. is moreover expressed by the
connecting particle : And we have here a remarkable instance
of that method so common with the Prophets, and particu
larly with Isaiah, of taking occasion, frora tbe mention of
some great temporal dehverance, to launch out into the
display of the spiritual deliverance of God's people by the
Messiah : for that this prophecy relates to the Messiah,
we have the express authority of St. Paul, Rom. xv. 12.
" Conjungit Parasciam hanc, quae respicit dies futuros
Messiae, cum fiducia, quae fuit in diebus Ezekiae : " Kimchi
in ver. 1. Thus, in the latter part of Isaiah's prophecies, the
subject of the great redemption, and of tbe glories of Mes
siah's kingdom, arises out o'f the restoration of Judah by the
deUverance from the captivity of Babylon, and is all along
connected and intermixed with it.
4. By the blast of his, mouth] For B3ty3, by the rod,
Houbigant reads n3B'3, by the blast of his mouth, from
2m, to blow. The conjecture is ingenious and probable ;
and seems to be confirmed by the LXX and Chaldee, who
render it, by the word of his mouth ; which answers much
better to the correction than to the present reading. Add
to this, that the blast of his mouth, is perfectly parallel to
the breath of his lips in the next Une.

212 notes on isaiah. chap. xi.
5. — the cincture — ] AU the ancient versions, except
that of Symmachus, have two different words for girdle in
the two hemistichs. It is not probable that Isaiah > would
have repeated iiin, when a synonymous word so obvious as
lun occurred. The tautology seems to have arisen from
the mistake of some transcriber. The meaning of this verse
is, that a zeal for justice and truth shall make hira active
and strong in executing the great work which he shall un
dertake. See note on chap. v. 27.
6 — 8. Then shall the loolf—] The idea of the renewal
of the golden age, as it is cafted, is ranch the same in the
oriental writers with that of tiie Greeks anfl Romans : the
wild beasts grow tame ; serpents and poisonous herbs become
harmless ; aft is peace and harmony, plenty and happiness :
" Occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni
Occidet." -" Nee magnos metuent armentaleones."

'. " Nee lupus insidias pecori  ." Virg.
" Nee vespertinus circumgemit ursus ovile,
Nee inturaescit alta viperis humus." Hor.
" E5"«( Slj THT «|K«f , OTTtlllUM V£?f«» £V IVVa
Ka^^a^oSm fivifSm iSat ^.VKOi Hx liiXnFii.^^ Theoc,
1 have laid before the reader these common passages
from the most elegant of the ancient poets, that he may see
how greatlj' the Prophet on the same subject has the advan
tage upon the comparison ; how much the former fall short
. of that beauty and elegance, and variety of imagery, with
which Isaiah has, set forth the very same ideas. The wolf
and the leopard not only forbear to destroy the lamb and
the kid, but even take their abode and Ue down together
with thera. The calf, and the young lion, and the fatiing,
not only corae together, but are led quietly in the sarae band,
and that by a ftttle child. The heifer and the she-bear not
only feed together, but even lodge their young ones, for
whom they used to be most jealously fearful, in the same
place. All the serpent kind is so perfectly harmless, that the
sucking infant, sind the newly weaned child, puts his hand
on the basilisk's den, and plays upon the hole of the aspic.
The fton not only abstains from preying on the weaker ani
mals, but becomes tame and domestic, and feeds on straw
like the ox. These are all beautiful circumstances, not
one of which has been touched upon by the ancient poets.

CHAP. XI. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 213
The Arabian and Persian poets elegantly apply the same
ideas, to shew the effects of justice impartiafty administered,
and firmly supported, by a great and good king :
" Rerum dominus Mahmud, rex potens ;
Ad cujus aquam potum veniunt simul agnus et lupus." Ferdusi.
" Justitia, a qua mansuetus fit lupus fame astrictus,
Esuriens, licet hinnuleum candidum videat." Ibn Onein.
Jones, Poes. Asiat. Comment, p. 380.
The application is extremely ingenious and beautiful ; but the
exquisite imagery of Isaiah is not equalled.
7. Together — ] Here a word is omitted in the text, nn'',
together ; which ought to be repeated in the second hemis
tich, being quite necessary to the sense. It is accordingly
twice expressed by the LXX, and Syr.
10. The root of Jesse, which standeth — ] St. John hath
taken this expression from Isaiah, Rev. v. 5. and xxii. 16.
where Christ hath twice applied it to himself. Seven MSS
have nni;?, the present participle " Radix Isaei dicitur jam
stare, et aftquantum stetisse, in signum populorum :" Vitringa.
Which rightly explains either of the two readings.
11. Jehovah] For 'jin, thirty-three MSS, and two edi
tions, read mn'.
11 — 16. And it shall come to pass in that day — ] This
part of the chapter contains a prophecy, whicb certainly re
mains yet to be accomplished. See Lowth on the place.
13. And the enmity of Judah — ] D'ns. " Poslulat pars
posterior versus, ut intelliganlur inimicitice Judae in Eph-
raimum : — et potest D'IIV inimicitiam notare, ut D'onj poeniien-
tiara, Hos. xi. 8 ;" Secker.
15. S7nite vnth a drought — ] The Chaldee reads y^V\'i^ ;
and so perhaps LXX, who have ipritiMTn, the word by which
they commonly render it, Vulg. desolabit. The LXX,
Vulg. and Chald. read in3'-nn, " shall make it passable," add
ing the pronoun, which is necessary.
Here is a plain allusion to the passage of the Red Sea.
And the Lord^s shaking his hand over the river with his
vehement wind, refers to a particular circum.stance of the
same miracle : for " he caused the sea to go back by a
strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land :
Exod. xiv. 21. The tongue ; a very apposite and descrip
tive expression for a bay, such as that of the Red Sea : it is

214 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XI.
used in the same sense, Josh. xv. 2. 5. xvift. 19. The Latins.
gave the same name to a narrow strip of land running intO'
the sea : "tenuem producit in sequoia linguara :" Lucan, ii.
613. Herodotus, i. 189. teUs a story of his Cyrus, (a very differ
ent character frora that of the Cyrus of the Scriptures and
Xenophon), which may somewhat illustrate this passage ; in
which it is said, that God would inflict a kind of punishment
and judgment on the Euphrates, and render it fordable, by
dividing it into seven streams. " Cyrus being impeded in his
march to Babylon by the Gyndes, a deep and rapid river
which falls into the Tigris, and having lost one of his sacred
white horses that attempted to pass it, was so enraged against
the river, that he threatened to reduce it, and make it so shal
low, that it should be easily fordable even by woraen, who
should not be up to their knees in passing it. Accordingly,
he set his whole array to work ; and, cutting three hundred
and sixty trenches, fi"ora both sides of the river, turned the
waters into them, and drained them off."

CHAPTER XH.
This hyinn seems, by its whole tenor, and by many ex
pressions in it, much better calculated for the use of the
Christian church, than for the Jewish in any circumstances,
or at any time that can be assigned. The Jews themselves
seem to have applied it to the times of Messiah. On the
hist day of the feast of tabernacles, they fetched water in a
golden pitcher frora the fountain of Siloah, springing at the
foot of Mount Sion without the city : they brought it through
the water-gate into the temple, and poured it, mixed with
wine, on the sacrifice as it lay upon the aftar, with great re
joicing. They seem to have taken up this custora, for it is not
ordained in the law of Moses, as an erablem of future bless
ings, in aftusion to this passage of Isaiah, " Ye shall draw
waters with joy frora the fountains of salvation :" expres
sions, that can hardly be understood of any benefits afforded
by the Mosaic dispensation. Our Saviour applied the cere
mony, and the intention of it, to hiraself, and to the effu
sion of the Holy Spirit, promised, and to be given, by him.
The sense of the Jews in this raatter is plainly shewn by the
following passage of tbe Jerusalem Talmud: "Why is it

CHAP. XII. NOTES ON ISAIAH, 215
called tbe place, or house, of drawing ? " (for that was tbe
terra for this cereraony, or for the place where the water
was taken up) : " Because frora thence they draw the Holy
Spirit ; as it is written. And ye shall draw water with joy
from the fountains of salvation." See Wolf. Curse Philol. in
N. T. on John vii. 37. 39.
1. for, though thou hast, been angry — ] The Hebrew
phrase, to which tbe LXX, Vulg. and our translation, have
too closely adhered, is exactly the same with that of St. Paul,
Rom. vi. 17. " But thanks be to God, that ye were the slaves
of sin; but have obeyed froin tbe heart" — ^that is, "that,
¦whereas, or though, ye were the slaves of sin ; yet ye have
now obeyed from the heart the doctrine, on the model of which
ye were formed."
2. — my song — ] The pronoun is here necessary ; and it
is added by LXX, Vulg. Syr. who read 'mm ; as it is in a
MS. Two MSS omit n' : See Houbigant, not. in loc. An-
-other MS has it in one word, n'mni. Seven others omit nin'-
See Exod. xv. 2. with Var. Lect. Kennicott.

CHAPTERS XIII. & XIV.
These two chapters (striking off the five last verses of the
latter, which belong to a quite different subject), contain one
entire prophecy, foreteUing the destruction of Babylon by
the Medes and Persians ; deUvered probably in the reign of
Ahaz, (see Vitringa, i. 380.), about 200 years before the com
pletion of it. The captivity itself of the Jews at Babylon,
(which the Prophet does not expressly foreteft, but supposes,
in the spirit of prophecy, as what was actually to be effected),
did not fully take place till about 130 years after the
delivery of this prophecy : and the Medes, who are ex
pressly mentioned, chap. xfti. 17, as the principal agents
in the overthrow of the Babylonian monarchy, by which
the Jews were released frora that captivity, were at this
tirae an inconsiderable people ; having been in a state of
anarchy ever since the faft of the great Assyrian Empire, of
which they had made a part, under Sardanapalus, and did
not become a kingdora under Deioces till about the 17th of
Hezekiah. The former part of this prophecy is one of the most beauti
ful examples, that can be given, of elegance of composition.

216 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XIII,
variety of imagery, and sublimity of sentiment and diction, in
the prophetic style ; and the latter part consists of an ode of
supreme and singular excellence.
The prophecy opens with the command of God to gather
together the forces which he had destined to this service, ver.
2, 3. Upon which the Prophet immediately hears the tu
multuous noise of the different nations crowding together to
his standard ; he sees thera advancing, prepared to execute
the divine wrath, ver. 4, 5. He proceeds to describe the dread
ful consequences of this visitation ; the consternation which
wift seize those ihat are the objects of it; and, transferring
unawares the speech frora hiraself to God, vel". 11. sets forth,
under a variety of the most striking images, the dreadful de
struction of the inhabitants of Babylon which will follow, ver.
1 1 — 1 6. ; and the everlasting desplation lo which that great
city is doomed, ver. 17 — 22.
The deliverance of Judea from captivity, the immediate
consequence of this great revolution, is then set forth, with
out being much enlarged upon, or greatly amplified ; chap.
xiv. 1, 2. This introduces, with the greatest ease, and the
utmost propriety, the triumphant song on tbat subject, ver.
4 — 28. The beauties of which, the various images, scenes,
persons introduced, and the elegant transitions from one to
another, I shaft here endeavour to point out in their order ;
leaving a few remarks upon particular passages of these two
chapters to be given, after these general observations on the
whole. A chorus of Jews is introduced, expressing their surprise
and astonishment at the sudden 'downfaft of Babylon, and the
great reverse of fortune that had befaften the tyrant, who, Uke
his predecessors, had oppressed- his own, and harassed the
neighbouring kingdoras. These oppressed kingdoras, or their
rulers, are represented under the iraage of the fir-trees and the
cedars of Libanus, frequentiy used to express any thing in the ¦
political or religious worid that is supereminently great and
majestic : the whole earth shouteth for joy ; the cedars of Li-
batius utter a severe taunt over the fallen tyrant, and boast
their security now he is no raore.
The scene is immediately changed ; and a new set of per
sons is introduced : The regions of the dead are laid open,
and Hades is represented as rousing up the shades of the
departed monarchs: they rise frora their' thrones to meet
the king of Babylon at his coming ; and insult him on his

CHAP. XIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. • 217
being reduced to the same low estate of impotence and dis
solution with themselves. This is one of tbe boldest proso
popoeias that ever was attempted in poetry ; and is executed
wfth astonishing brevity and perspicuity, and wfth that pe
cuhar force which in a great subject naturally results from
both. The image of the state of the dead, or the Infernum
Poeticum of the Hebrews, is taken from their custora of
burying, those at least of the higher rank, in large sepulchral
vaults hewn in the rock. Of this kind of sepulchres there
are remains at Jerusalem now extant ; and some that are
said to be the sepulchres of the kings of Judah : see Maun
drell, p. 76. You are to form to yourself an idea of an
immense subterraneous vault, a vast gloomy cavern, all
round the sides of which there are cells to receive the dead
bodies : Here the deceased monarchs lie in a distinguished
sort of state, suitable to their former rank, each on his own
couch, with his arms beside hira, his sword at his head, and
the bodies of his chiefs and corapanions round about hira:
see Ezek. xxxii. 27. On which place Sir John Chardin's
MS note is as follows : — " En "Mingrelie lis dorraent tous
leur epee sous leurs tetes, et leuis autres armes a leur cote ;
et on les enterre de mesme, leurs armes posees de cette fa-
9on." These ftlustrious shades rise at once from their couches,
as from their thrones ; and advance to the entrance of the
cavern to meet the king of Babylon, and to receive him with
insults on his fall.
The Jews now resume the speech : They address the king
of Babylon as the morning-star fallen frora heaven, as the
first in splendour aud dignity in the political world fallen from
his high state ; they introduce him as uttering the raost ex
travagant vaunts of his power and ambitious designs in his
former glory : these are strongly contrasted in the close with
his present low and abject condition.
Imraediately follows a different scene, and a raost happy
image, to diversify the same subject, to give it a new turn
and an additional force. Certain persons are introduced,
who light upon the corpse of the king of Babylon, cast out
and lying naked on the bare ground, among the common
slain, just after the taking of the city ; covered with wounds,
and so disfigured, that it is some time before they know hira.
They accost him wfth the severest . taunts, and bitterly re
proach hiin witii his destructive ambition, and his cruel
usage of the conquered ; which have deservedly brought
24

218 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XIII.
upon him this ignorainious treatment, so different fi"om that
which those of his rank usually raeet with, and which shaft
cover his posterity with disgrace.
To complete the whole, God is introduced, declaring the
fate of Babylon, the utter extirpation of the royal family, and
the total desolation of the city ; the deliverance of his people,
and the destruction of their enemies ; confirming the irrever
sible decree by the awful sanction of bis oath.
I believe it may with truth be affirmed, that there is no
poem of its kind extant in any language, in which the sub
ject is so well laid out, and so happily conducted, with such
a richness of invention, with such variety of iraages, persons,
and distinct actions, with such rapidity and ease of transi
tion, in so small a compass, as in this ode of Isaiah. For
beauty of disposition, strength of colouring, greatness of sen
timent, brevity, perspicuity, and force of expression, it stands
among all the monuments of antiquity unrivaled.
2. Exalt the voice — ] The word Dnb, to them, which is
of no use, and rather weakens tbe sentence, is omitted by an
ancient MS and Vulg.
4. for the battle] The Bodley MS has nan'7n'7. Cyrus's
army was made up of raany different nations. Jeremiah
calls it " an assembly of great nations frora the north coun
try," chap. 1. 9. And afterwards mentions the kingdoms of
" Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz, (i. e. Armenia, Corduene,
Pontus vel Phrygia ; Vftring.), with the kings ofthe Medes; "
chap. li. 37, 28. See Xenopbon. Cyrop.
8. — and they shall he terrified] 1 join this verb, i'?n3Ji,
to the preceding verse, with Syr. and Vulg.
Ibid, pangs shall seize them — ] The LXX, Syr. and
Chald. read DiinN', instead of pinN', which does not express
the pronoun them, necessary to the sense.
10. Yea the stars of heaven — ] The Hebrew poets, to
express happiness, prosperity, the instauration and advance
ment of states, kingdoms, and potentates, make use of images
taken from the most striking parts of nature, — from the heav
enly bodies, from the sun, moon, and stars ; which they de
scribe as shining with increased splendour, and never setting ;
the raoon becomes like the meridian sun, and the sun's light
is augmented sevenfold ; see Isa. xxx. 26. : new heavens and
a new earth are created, and a brighter age commences.
On the contrary, the overthrow and destruction of king
doras is represented by opposite images: the stars are ob-

CHAP. XIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 219
scured, the moon withdraws her light, and the sun shines no
more ; the earth quakes, and the heavens tremble ; and all
things seem tending to their original chaos. See Joel ii. 10.
ift. 15, 16. Amos viii. 9. Matth. xxiv. 29. and De S. Poes.
Hebr. Prael. vi. and ix.
11. I will visit the world] That is, the Babylonish em
pire : as « oixaiiin, for the Roraan erapire, or for Judea ;
Luke ii. 1. Acts xi. 28. So, universus orbis Romanus, for
tiie Roraan erapire; Salvian. ftb. v. Minos calls Crete his
world : " Creten, quae meus est orbis ; " Ovid. Metamorph.
vift. 99.
14. And the rem,nant — ] Here is plainly a defect in this
sentence, as it stands in the Hebrew text ; the subject ofthe
proposition is lost. What is it, that shaft be like a roe chased?
The LXX happily supply it: hi xa,Ta.Xi>^ifiiiitioi,'\iw, thei-em-
nant, A MS here supplies the word 3!i'i', the inhabitant,
which makes. a tolerably good sense ; but I much prefer the
reading of the LXX.
Ibid. They shall look — ] That is, the forces of the king
of Babylon, destitute of their leader, and all his auxiUaries,
collected from Asia Minor and other distant countries, shall
disperse, and flee to their respective homes.
15. Every one that is overtaken — ] That is, none shall
escape frora the slaughter ; neither they who flee singly, dis
persed and in confusion ; nor they who endeavour to make
their retreat in a more regular manner, by forming compact
bodies, — they shaft all be equaUy cut off by the sword of the
enemy. The LXX have understood it in this sense ; which
they have well expressed : —
" Os y«f m aXtf ^T%6riirilM,
Kal QiTtvii Fvvsryfi.ivot eiiri sriirHvjM f.uix^t^ci.
Where for 'nrJiiSuFilM, MS Pachom. has exKii6?i<riTM ; and it
r Cod. Marchal. in margine, and MS i. D. ii. ixxinn^nnTM :
which seems to be right, being properly expressive of the
Hebrew. 17. Who shall hold silver of no account] That is, who
shall not be induced, by large offers of gold and silver for
ransom, to spare the lives of those whom they have subdued
in battle : their rage and cruelty will get the better of all
such motives. We have many examples in the Iliad and in
the .ffineid of addresses of the vanquished to the pity and
avarice of the vanquishers, to induce them to spare their
Uves.

220 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XIII.
" Est domus alta: jacent penitus defossa talenta
Caelati argenti: sunt auri pondera facti
Infectique mihi: non hie victoria Teucrum
Vertitur; aut anima una dabit discrimina tanta.
Dixerat: .^neas contra cui talia reddit:
Argenti atque auri memoras quse multa talenta
Gnatis parce tuis." .^n. x. 526.
" High in my dome are silver talents roll'd,
With pftes of labour'd and unlabour'd gold:
These, to procure my ransom, I resign;
*rhe war depends not on a life like mine:
One, one poor life can no such difference yield,
Nor turn the mighty balance ofthe field.
Thy talents, (cried the prince), thy treasur'd store.
Keep for thy sons." Pitt.
It is remarkable, that Xenophon makes Cyrus open a speech
to his army, and in particular to the Medes, w.ho made the
principal part of it, with praising them for their disregard of
riches. Avaj £5 MiiSoi, km ircimi 01 w«f(jvT£?, lya ufiXi oiSa Fx^a?, en
are x^nfj-xTati Siii[/.iui fvi ift^i £|>)A^£T£: — " Ye Medes, and others
who now hear me, I well know that you have not accom
panied me in this expedition with a view of ac([uiring wealth: "
Cyrop. lib. v.
18. Their hows shall dash — ] Both H^erodotus, i, 61.
and Xenophon, Anab. ift. mention, that the Persians used
large bows, t(i|» fiEy«A«: and the latter says particularly, that
their bows were three cubits long ; Anab. iv. They were
celebrated for their archers : see chap. xxii. 6. Jer. xlix, 35.
Probably their neighbours and allies, the Medes, dealt much
in the same sort of arms. In Psal. xviii. 35. and Job, xx.
24. mention is made of a bow of brass : If the Persian bows
were of metal, we may easily conceive, that with a metaftine
bow of three cubits length, and proportionably strong, the
soldiers might dash and slay the young men, the weaker and
unresisting part of the inhabitants, (for they are joined with
the fruit of the womb and the children), in the general car
nage on taking the city.
18. And on the fruit—] A MS reads 'id '7,i!1. And
nine MSS (three ancient) and two editions, with LXX, Vulg.
Syr. add likewise the conjunction 1 to by afterward.
19. Ajid Babylon] Thegreat city of Babylon was at this
time rising to fts height of glory, while the Prophet Isaiah,
was repeatedly denouncing its utter destruction. From the
first of Hezekiah to the first of Nebuchadnezzar, under

CHAP. XIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 221
whom it .was brought to the highest degree of strength and
splendour, are about one hundred and twenty years. I will
here very briefly mention some particulars of the greatness
of the place, and note the several steps by which this re
markable prophecy was at length accomplished in the total
ruin of it.
It was, according to the lowest account given of it by
ancient historians, a regular square, forty-five miles in com
pass, enclosed by a wall two'^hundred feet high, fifty broad ;
in which there were a hundred gates of brass. Its principal
ornaments were tbe temple of Belus, in the middle of which
was a tower of eight stories of building, upon a base of a
quarter of a mile square ; a most raagnificent palace ; anjJ the
famous hanging gardens ; which were an artificial mountain,
raised upon arches, and planted with trees of the largest as
weft as the most beautiful sorts.
Cyrus took the city by diverting the waters of the Eu
phrates, which ran through the midst of ft, and entering the
place at night by the dry channel. The river, being never
restored afterward to its proper course, overflowed the whole
country, and made it Uttle better than a great morass: This,
and the great slaughter of the inhabitants, -with other biid
consequences of the taking of the city, was the first step to
the ruin of the place. The Persian monarchs ever regarded
it with a jealous eye ; they kept it under, and took care to
prevent its recovering its former greatness. Darius Hystas-
pis not long afterward most severely punished it for a re
volt, greatly depopulated the place, lowered the wafts, and
demolished ' the gates. Xerxes destroyed the temples, and
with the rest the great teraple of Belus ; Herod, fti. 159.
Arrian. Exp. Alexandri, lib. vii. The building of Seleucia
on the Tigris exhausted Babylon by its neighbourhood, as
weft as by the ira mediate loss of inhabitants taken away by
Seleucus to people his new city : Strabo, lib. xvi. A king
of the Parthians soon after carried away into slavery a great
number of the inhabitants, and burnt and destroyed the
most beautiful parts of the city : Valesii Excerpt. Diodori,
p. 377. fetrabo (ibid.) says, that in his time great part of
it was a mere desert ; that the Persians had partiy destroyed
it; and that time, and the neglect of the Macedonians, while
they were masters of it, had nearly completed its destruction.
Jerom (in loc.) says, that in his ' time it was quite in ruins,
and that the walls served only for the inclosure of a park or
24*

222 NOTES 0*N ISAIAH. CHAP. XIII
forest for the king's hunting. Modern travellers, who have
endeavoured to find the remains of it, have given but a very
unsatisfactory account of their success : what Benjamin of
Tudela and Pietro della Vafte supposed to have been some
of its ruins, Tavernier thinks are the remains of some late
Arabian building. Upon the whole, Babylon is so utterly
annihilated, that even the place where this wonder of the
world stood, cannot now be deterrained with any certainty.
See also note on chap, xliii. 14.
We are astonished at the accounts which ancient histo
rians of the best credft give, of the iramense extent, height,
and thickness of the walls of Nineveh and Babylon : nor are
we less astonished when we are assured, by the concurrent
testimony of modern travellers, that no remains, not the
least traces, of these prodigious works are now to be found.
Our wonder wftl, I think, be moderated in both respects, if
we consider the fabric of these celebrated walls, and the na
ture of the materials of which they consisted. Buildings in
the East have always been, and are to this day, made of earth
or clay, mixed or beat up with straw, to raake the parts
cohere, and dried only in the sun. This is their method of
making bricks : see note on chap. ix. 9. The walls of the
city were built of the earth digged out on the spot, and dried
upon the place ; by which means both the ditch and the waft
were at once forraed ; the former furnishing materials for
the latter. That tbe wafts of Babylon were of this kind is
Avell known ; and Berosus expressly says, (apud Joseph.
Antiq. X. 11.), that Nebuchadnezzar added tbree new walls
both to the old and new city, partiy of brick and bitumen,
and partly of brick alone. A wall of this sort must have a
great thickness in proportion to fts height, otherwise it can
not stand. The thickness of the walls of Babylon is said to
have been one-fourth of their height, which seems to have
been no more than was absolutely necessary. Maundreft,
speaking of the garden walls of Damascus, — "They are,"
says he, " of a very singular structure. They are buftt of
great pieces of earth, made in the fashion of brick, and
hardened in the sun. In their dimensions they are two
yards long each, and somewhat more than one broad, and
half a yard thick." And afterward, speaking of the walls of
the houses : — " From this dirty way of building they have
this amongst other inconveniences, that upon any violent
rain the whole city becoraes, by the washing of the houses, as
it were a quagraire," p. 124. ; and see note on chap. xxx. 13.

CHAP. XIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH, 223
When a wall of this sort comes to be out of repair, and is
neglected, it is easy to conceive the necessary consequences ;
namely, that in no long course of ages it must be totally de
stroyed by the heavyrains, and at length washed away, and
reduced to its original earth.
22. — in their palaces] rniJD'?i<3, a plain mistake, I
presume, for Tniwij<3. It is so corrected in one MS.
" HHXVTToSli S^ £V £|H.0( 5«A«f«8;-, (paxMTe i^iXmiM,
OixM -zTaniFitTM axYiSta., XiVu A«»»." Homer. Hymn, in Apol.77,
Of which the foftowing passage of Milton may be taken for
a translation, though not so designed : —
" And in their palaces,
Where luxury late reign'd, sea-monsters whelp'd.
And stabled." P. L. xi. 750.
CHAPTER XIV.
1. And vnll yet choose Israel] That is, will still regard
Israel as his chosen people ; however he may seem to desert
them, by giving them up to their enemies, and scattering
them among the nations. Judah is sometimes called Israel ;
see Ezek. xiii. 16. Mal. i. 1. ii. 11, ; but the name of Jacob,
and of Israel, used apparentiy with design in this place,
each of which names includes the twelve tribes, and the other
circumstances mentioned in this and the next verse, which
did not in any complete sense accompany the return frora the
captivity of Babylon ; seem to intimate, that this whole proph
ecy extends its views beyond that event.
3. — in that day] Ninn Di'3. The word Ninn is added
in two MSS, and was in the copies from which the LXX
and Vulg. translated : n tji 'nfn^a ixuvri, in die ilia, ('si maTravFei^
MS Pachora. adding »). . This is a raatter of no, great con
sequence : however, it restores the text to the common form
almost constantly used on such occasions ; and is one among
many instances of a word lost out ofthe printed copies.
4. — this parable — ] Mashal. I take this to be the gen
eral name for poetic style among the Hebrews, including
every sort of it, as ranging, under one, or other, or all of the
characters, of sententious, figurative, and sublime ; which
are all contained in the original notion, or in the use and
application of the word mashal. Parables or proverbs,
such as those of -Solomon, are always expressed in short
pointed sentences ; frequently figurative, being forined on

224 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XIV.
some comparison ; generally forcible and authoritative, both
in the raatter and the forra. And such in general is the style
of the Hebrew poetry. I'he verb m,ashal signifies to rule,
to exercise authority ; to make equal, to compare one thing
with another ; to utter parables, or acute, weighty, and
powerful speeches, in the form and manner of parables, though
not properly such. Thus Balaam's first prophecy. Numb.
xxift. 7 — 10. is called his mashal ; though it has hardly any
thing figurative in it : but it is beautifully sententious, and,
from the very form find manner of ft, has great spirit, force,
and energy. Thus Job's last speeches, in answer to the
three friends, chap, xxvii — xxxi. are cafted mashals ; from
no one particular character vifbich discriminates them from
the rest of the poem, but from the sublime, the figurative,
the sententious manner, which equally prevails thr ugh the
whole poem, and makes it one of the first and most eminent
examples extant of the truly great and beautiful in poetic
style. The LXX in this place render the word by .9-fuvo5, a la-
m,entation. They plainly consider the speech here intro
duced as a piece of poetry ; and of that species of poetry
which we caft the elegiac, — either from the subject, it being
a poem on the fall and death of the king of Babylon ; or
from the form of the composition, which is of the longer
sort of Hebrew verse, in which the Lamentations of Jeremiah,
called by the LXX S-fuvoi, are written.
11. — thy covering] Twenty-eight MSS (ten ancient)
and seven editions, with the LXX and Vulg. read 1D3D1, in
the singular number.
12. O Lucifer, son of the morning} See note on xiii. 10.
13. the m,ount of the divi?is presence — ] It appears
plainly from Exod. xxv. 22. and xxix. 42, 43. where God
appoints the place of meeting with Moses, and promises to-
meet with him before the ark, to commune with him, and
to speak unto him ; and to meet the children of Israel at the
door of the tabernacle ; thai the tabernacle, and afterward
tbe temple," and Mount Sion, (or Moriah, which is reckoned
a part of Sion), whereon it stood, was called the tabernacle,
and the mount, of convention, or of appointment ; not from
the people's assembling there to perforin the services of their
religion, (which is what our translation expresses by calling
it the tabernacle of the congregation), but because God ap
pointed that for the place where he hiraself would meet with

CHAP. XIV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 225
Moses, and commune with him, and would meet with the
peopje. Therefore, -\);m in, or n;?io '7ns, means the place ap
pointed by God, where he would present himself; agreeably
to which I have rendered it, in this place, the mount of the
divine presence.
19. — like the tree abominated] That is, as an object of
abomination and detestation ; such as the tree is on which a
raalefactor has been hanged. " It is written," saith St. Paul,
Gal. iii. 13. " Cursed is every man that hangelh on a tree ;"
from Deut. xxi. 23. The Jews therefore held also as ac
cursed and polluted the tree itself on which a malefactor had
been executed, or on which tie had been hanged after having
been put to death by stoning, " Non suspendunt super
arbore, quae radicibus solo adhaereat ; sed super ligno era
dicate, ut ne sit excisio molesta : nam lignum, super quo
fuit aliquis suspensus, cum suspendioso sepeUtur; ne maneat
illi malum nomen, et dicant homines, Istud est lignum, in
quo suspensus est ille, i Sum. Sic lapis, quo aliquis fuit la-
pidatus ; et gladius, quo fuit occisus is qui est occisus ; et
sudarium sive mantile, quo fuit aliquis strangulatus ; orania.
haec cum fts, qui perierunf, sepeliuntur :" Mairaonides,
apud Casaub. in Baron. Exercitat. xvi. An. 34, Num, 134.
" Cura itaque homo suspensus maximae esset abominationi —
Judaei quoque pree caeteiis abominabantur lignum quo fuerat
suspensus, ita ut ftlud quoque terra tegerent, tanquam rem
abominabilem. Unde Interpres Chaldaeus haec verba trans-
tuUt TOB m3, sicut .virgultum absconditum, sive sepultum :"
Kaftnski, Vaticinia Observationibus ftlustrata, p. 342. Agree
ably to which, Theodoret, Hist. Ecclesiast. i. 17, 18, in his
account of the finding of the, cross by Helena, says, that the
three crosses were buried in the earth near the place of our
Lord's sepulchre.
Ibid. —Clothed with the slain.] Thirty-five MSS (ten
ancient), and three editions, have the word fully written,
iyn'?. It is not a noun, but the participle passive : thrown
out among the common slain, and covered with the dead
bodies. So ver. 11. the earth-worm is said lo be his bed-cov
ering. 20. Because thou hast destroyed thy country ; thou hast
slain thy people.] Xenophon gives an instance of this king's
wanton cruelty in killing the son of Gobrias, on no other pro
vocation than that, in hunting, he struck a boar and a lion,
which the king had missed : Cyrop. iv. p. 309.

226 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XIV.
23. 1 will plunge it — ] I have here very nearly followed
the version of the LXX : the reasons for which see in. the
ast note on De Poesi Hebr. Praelect. xxviii.
25. To crush the Assyrian — on m,y mountains} Tbe As
syrians and Babylonians are the same people : Herod, i. 199,
200. Babylon is reckoned the principal city in Assyria :
ibid. 178. Strabo says the s,ame thing ; ftb- xvi. sub init.
The circumstance of this judgment's being to be executed on
God's mountains is of importance : it may mean the destruc
tion of Senacherih's army near Jerusalem; and have stift a
further view: Compare Ezek. xxxix. 4.; and see Lowth on
this place of Isaiah.
28. Uzziah had subdued the Philistines, 2 Chron. xxvi.
6, 7,; but taking advantage ofthe weak reign of Ahaz, they
invaded Judea, and took and held in possession some cities
in the southern part of the kingdom. On the death of
Ahaz, Isaiah delivers this prophecy, threatening thera with
the destruction that Hezekiah, his son, and great-grandson
of Uzziah, should bring upon them : which he effected ; for
"he smote the Phftistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders
thereof;" 2 Kings xviii. 8. Uzziah therefore must be
meant by the rod that smote them, and by the serpent, from
whom should spring the flying fiery serpent ; that is, Heze
kiah, a much more terrible enemy than even Uzziah had
been, 30. — he will .slay] The LXX read n'nn, in the third
person, avi>iii; and so Chald. The Vulgate remedies the
Confusion of persons in the present text, by reading both the
verbs in the first person.
31. From the north cometh a smoke] That is, a cloud of
dust, raised by the march of Hezekiab's array against Phi
listia ; which lay to the south-west frora Jerusalem. A great
dust raised has, at a distance, the appearance of smoke :
" fumantes pulvere campi :" Virg. .^n. xi. 908.
32, — to the ambassadors of the nations] The LXX read
D'lJ, eSiav, plural ; and so the Chaldee, and one MS. The
ambassadors of the neighbouring nations, that send to con
gratulate Hezekiah on his success ; which in his answer he
will ascribe to the protection of God. See 2 Chron. xxxii.
23. Or, if 'U, singular, the reading of the text, be prefer
red, the ambassadors sent by the PhiUstines to demand
peace.

CHAP, XV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 227

CHAPTER XV.
This and the following chapter, taken togeiher, make one
entire prophecy, very improperly divided into two parts.
The time of tbe delivery, and consequently ofthe completion
of it, which was to be in three years frora that time, is un
certain ; the former not being marked in the propbecy it
self, nor the. latter recorded in history. But the most pro
bable account is, that it was deUvered soon after the foregoing,
in the first year of Hezekiah ; and that it was accomplished
in his fourth year, when Shalmaneser invaded the kingdom
of Israel. He might probably march through Moab ; and,
to secure every thing behind him, possess hiraself of the whole
country, by taking their principal strong places, Ar and Kir
hares. Jereraiah bas happily introduced much of this prophecy of
Isaiah into his own larger prophecy against the same people
in his xlviiith chapter ; denouncing God's judgments on Moab,
subsequent to the calamity here foretold, and to he executed hy
Nebuchadnezzar : by which means several mistakes in tbe
present text of both Prophets may be rectified.
1. Because in the night — ] '7''73. That both these cities
should be taken in the night, is a circumstance somewhat
unusual ; and not so material as to deserve to be so strongly
insisted upon. Vitringa, .by his remark on this word, shews,
that he was dissatisfied with it in its plain and obvious mean
ing ; and is forced to have recourse to a very hard metapho
rical interpretation of it: " Noctu, vel nocturno impetu; vel
metaphorice, repente, subito, inexpect.ata destructione : placet
posterius." Calmet conjectures, and I think it probable, that
the true reading is '7''73. There are many mistakes in the
Hebrew text arising from the very great similitude of the letters
3 and 3, w'hich in raany MSS, and even in some printed edi
tions, are hardly distinguishable. Admitting this reading, the
translation will be : —
¦" B-ecause Ar is utterly destroyed, Moab is undone !
Because Kir is utterly destroyed, Moab is undone !*'
2, Belh-Dihon : — ] This is the name of one place ; and
the two words are to be joined together, without the 1 inter
vening: so Chald. and Syr.
Ibid, — on every head} For I'tyxi, read tyNl. So the paral
lel place, Jer. xlvift. 37. and so three MSS(one ancient). An
ancient MS reads bnt '73 '?>'.

228 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XV.
Ibid. On every head there is baldness and every beard is
shorn.] Herodotus, ii. 36. speaks of it as a general practice
among aft men, except the Egyptians, to cut off their hair as a
token of mourning. "Cut off thy hair and cast it away,"
says Jeremiah, vii. 29. " and take up a lamentation."
TsTo w XM yi^a; ofov ei^v^oiFi ^^otoifi
Kii^ctFiM Te xt/Mif, /3»A£HV t' «5ro Selx^v Trct^eiai. Hom. Od.iv. 197.
"The rftes of woe
Are all, alas ! the living can bestow ;
O'er the congenial dust enjoin'd to shear
The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear." Pope.
Ibid. — shorn — ] The printed editions, as well as the MSS,
are divided on the reading of this word : some have n,j?nj,
others n;JlJ. The similitude of the letters n and i has Uke
wise occasioned many mistakes. In the present case, the
sense is pretty much the same with either reading. The text
of Jer. xlviii. 37. has the latter.
4. — the very loins — ] So the LXX, » oFipvi, and Syr.
They cry out violently, with their utmost force.
5. The heart. of Moab crieth tvithin her.] For '3'?, LXX,
read 13*7, or n'? ; the Chald. in*?. For n'n'i3, Syr. reads nnii3;
and so ftirewise the LXX, rendering it a a.vT>i, Edit. Vat.
or £v iavT-f, Edit. Alex, and MS i, D. ii.
Ibid — a young heifer] Heb. a heifer three years old,
in full strength ; as Horace uses equa trima, for a young mare
just coming to her prime. Bochart observes from Aristolle,
Hist. Animal, lib. iv., that, in this kind of animals alone, the
voice of the female is deeper than that of the male ; there
fore the lowing of the heifer, rather than of the bullock, is
chosen by the Prophet as the properer image to express the
mourning of Moab. But I must add, tiiat the expression here,
is very short and obscure, and the opinions of interpreters are
various in regard to the meaning. Compare Jer. xlviii.
34. ' ¦
Ibid, — they shall ascend] For n'7j;', LXX and a MS
read in the plural by\ And from this .passage the parallel
place in Jer, xlviii. 5. must be corrected ; where, for '33 rhi!',
which gives no good sense, read u rby.
7 — shall perish] n3N, or m3N. This word seems to
have been lost out of the text: it is supplied by the parallel
place, Jer. xlviii. 36. Syr. expresses it by ia;>, praeterftt ; and
Chald. by piian', diripientur.
Ibid, to the valley of willows.] That is, to Babylon.

CHAP. XV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 229
Hieron, and Jarchi in loc. both referring to Psal. cxxxvii. 2.
So likewise Prideaux, Le Clerc, <fcc.
9. Upon the escaped of Moab and Ariel, and the rem
nant of Admah] The LXX for n'-ix read '7N'1N. Ar Moab
was called also Ariel or Areopolis ; Hieron. and Theodoret.
See Cellarius. They make nmN also a proper name.
Michaelis thinks, that the Moabites might be called the
remnant of Admah, as sprung from Lot and his daughters
escaped from the destruction of that and the other cities ; or
metaphorically, as the Jews are called the princes of Sodom
and people of Gomorrah, chap. i. 10. Bibliothek Oiient.
Part. V. p. 195. The reading of this verse is very doubtful ;
and the sense, in every way in which it can be read, very
obscure. CHAPTER XVI.
1. I will send forth the son — ] Both the reading and
meaning of this verse are stift more doubtful than those
of the preceding. The LXX and Syr. read n'?iyx, in the
first person sing, future tense : the Vulg. and Talmud Baby
lon, read rh'iV, sing, imperative. The Syr. for id reads
"13, which is confirmed by one MS, and perhaps by a se
cond. The two first verses describe the distress of Moab on
the Assyrian invasion ; in which even the son of the prince
of the country is represented as forced to fiee for his life
through the desert, that he may escape to Judea ; and the
young women are driven forth, like young birds cast out of
the nest, and endeavouring to wade through the fords ofthe
river Arnon.
3. Impart counsel — ] The Vulg. renders the verbs in
the beginning of this verse in the singular number. So the
Keri ; dnd so Ukewise many MSS have it, and some editions,
and Syr. The verbs throughout the verse are also in the
feminine gender ; agreeing wfth Sion, which I suppose to be
understood. 4. — the outcasts of Moab — ] Setting the points aside, this
is hy much the most obvious construction of the Hebrew,
as well as most agreeable to the context, and the design of
the Prophet. And it is confirmed by the LXX, ii ipvyaSn
Hau,Q, et Syr.
Ibid. — the oppressor — ] Perhaps the Israelites ; who
in the time of Ahaz invaded Judah, defeated his army, slay-
25

230 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XVI.
ing 120,000 men ; and brought the kingdom to the brink of
destruction. Judah, being now in a more prosperous condi
tion, is represented as able to receive and to protect the fugi
tive Moabites. And with those former times of distress, the
security and flourishing state ofthe kingdora under the gov-'
ernment of Hezekiah is contrasted.
6. We have heard the pride of Moah — ] For sj, read
nsj; two MSS, (one ancient), and Jer. xlviii. 29. Zepha-
niab, in his prophecy against Moab, the subject of which is
the same with that of Jeremiah in his xlviiith chapter, (see
above Note on xv. 1.), enlarges much on the pride of Moab,
and their insolent behaviour towards the Jews : —
" 1 have heard the reproach of Moab;
And the revilings of the sons of Ammon:
Who have reproached my people;
And have magnified themselves, against their borders.
Therefore, as 1 live, safth Jehovah God of Hosts, the God
of Israel,
Surely Moab shall be as Sodom,
And the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah:
A possession of nettles, and pits of salt,
And a desolation forever.
The residue of my people shall spoil them.
And the rpmnant of my nation shall dispossess them :
This shall they have for their pride;
Because they have raised a reproach, and have magnified
1 themselves.
Against the people of Jehovah God of Hosts." Zeph. ft. 8 — 10.
7. For the men of Kirhares — ] A palpable mistake in
this place is happily corrected by the parallel text of Jer,
xlviii. 31. where, instead of 'K'e'N, foundatioris or flagons,
we read 'lyjK, men. In ihe same place of Jereraiah, and in
ver. 36., and here in ver. 11., the name of the city is Kir
hares, not Kirhareshelh.
Ibid. — are put to shame] Here the text of Jeremiah
leaves us much at a loss, in a place that seems to be greatiy
corrupled. The LXX join the two last words of this verse
with ihe beginning of the following. Their rendering is ;
KM HX iiT^ctTTiiFr, TO, ¦uriSiit EriSat. For "IK they raust have read
'7N ; Otherwise, how came they by the negative, which seems
not to belong to this place ? Neither is it easy to make sense
of the rest without a small alteration, by reading, instead of
DiT^cnrtjFii TX, iiT^aztiFiTxi. In a word, the Arabic version taken

CHAP. XVI. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 231
from the LXX, plainly authorizes this reading of the LXX,
and without the negative ; and it is hilly confirmed by MSS
Pachom. and I. D. II. which have both of them ivt^xttiifitm
TTsSix EnSav, without the negative ; which makes an exceftent
sense, and, I think, gives us the true reading ofthe Hebrew
text : p3tyn nimiy mbj: "in. They frequentiy render the verb
D'73: by nir^m/iM. And in'73J answers perfectly well to '?'7nN,
theparaftel word in the next line. The MSS vary in ex
pressing in the word D'n3J, which gives no tolerable sense in
this place : one reads D'N3i3, two others D'X33, in another the 3
is upon a rasure of two letters ; and Vulg. instead of it reads
Dni3o, pia gas suas.
8. Her branches extended themselves-^] For lU'BJ a
MS has Miiii ; which may perhaps be right : Compare Jer.
xlvift. 32. which has in this part of the sentence the synony
mous word ^yii.
The meaning of this verse is, that the wines of Sibmah and
Heshbon were greatiy celebrated, and in high repute witii aft
the' great raen and princes of that and the neighbouring coun
tries; who indulged themselves even to intemperance in the
use of thera. So that their vines were so raucb in request, as
not only to be propagated all over the country of Moab, to the
sea of Sodom ; but to have cions of them sent even beyond
the sea into foreign countries.
ia'7n, knocked down, demolished ; that is, overpowered, in
toxicated. The drunkards of Ephraim are called by the
Prophet, chap, xxvfti. 1. ]" •Di'7n. See Schultens on Prov.
xxift. 25. Gratius, speaking of the Mareotic wine, says of ft,
" Pharios quae fregit noxia reges." Cyneg, ver. 312.
9. as with the weeping — ] For '333 a MS reads '33.
In Jer. xlviii. 32. it is '33D. LXX read »333, which I fol
low. Ibid. And upon thy vintage the destroyer hathfalle7i]
hs: iTr\ iTSp hy^. In these few words there are two great
mistakes ; which the text of Jer. xlviii. 32. rectifies :
for 1TSp, it has "jTM ; and for iyr\, iiw- both which
corrections the Chaldee in this place coiifirras. Ai to the
first, " Hesebon and Eleale, and
The flowery dale of Sibmah clad with vines,"
were never celebrated for their harvests ; it was the vintage
that suffered by tbe irruption ofthe enemy : and so read LXX

232 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XVI.
and Syr. -\rr\ is the noisy acclamation of the treaders of
the grapes : and see what sense this makes in the literal ren
dering of the Vulgate — super raesseni tuam " vox calcantium
irruit." The reading in Jer. xlvii. 32. is certainly right,
'73J i']W,vastator irruit. The shout of the treadersdoes not come
in till the next verse ; in which the text of Isaiah in its turn
mends that of Jeremiah, xlviii. 33. where, instead of the first
m'n, ihe shout, we ought undoubtedly to read, as here, -j-nn,
the treader.
10. A?i end is put to the shouting] The LXX read
n3iyn,"passive, and in the third person, — rightly ; fbr God is
not the speaker in this place. The rendering of LXX is
¦zTiTTxvTxi ya^ xiX'.vFfia ; which last word, necqfsary to the ren
dering of the Hebrew, and to the sense, is supplied by MSS
Pachom. and i. D, ii,, having been lost out of the other
copies, 12. when Moah'sho.ll sec — ] For nxiJ a MS reads nxi,
and so Syr. and Chald. " Perhaps nKiJ '3 is only a va
rious reading of nx'?^ '3; " Seckek. A very probable con
jecture. 14. — and without strength] An ancient MS, with LXX,
reads ab).

CHAPTER XVII.
This prophecy by iis title shoiftd relate only to Damas
cus; but it fuft as much concerns, and more largely treats of,
the kingdom of Samaria and the Israelites, confederate with
Damascus and the Syrians against the kingdom of Judah. It
was delivered probably soon after the prophecies ofthe viith
and viiith chapters, iu the beginning of the reign of Ahaz ;
and was ftilfilled by Tiglath Pftesei's taking Damascus, and
carrying the people captives to Kir, (2 Kings xvi, 9.); and
overrunning great part of the kingdom of Israel, and carrying
a great number of the Israelites also captives to Assyria ; and
stift more fully in regard to Israel, by the conquest of the king
dom, and the captivity of the people, effected a few years after
by Shalmaneser.
1, — a ruinous heap] For yo the LXX read yb, Vulg.
';?3. I follow the former.
2. The cities are deserted for ever] What has Aroer on
tbe river Arnon to do wfth Damascus? and if there be

CHAP. XVII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 233
another Aroer on the northen border of the tribe of Gad,
(as Reland seems to think there raight be), this is not much
more to the purpose. Besides, the cities of Aroer, if Aroer
itself is a city, makes no good sense. The LXX, for ^yiy,
Aroer, read n,j; ny, £'? rov caam, for ever, or for a long dura
tion. The Chald. takes the word for a verb from tT\y, trans
lating it i3nn, devastabuhtur. The Syr. read 'Tj;n:7. So
that the reading is very doubtful. I foUow the LXX, as
making the plainest sense.
3. — the pride of Syria — ] For iNty Houbigant reads
nsty, </te prifie, answering, as the sentence seeras evidently
to require, to ni33, the glory of Israel. The conjecture is
so very probable, that I venture to follow it.
5. — as when one gathereth — ] That is, the king of As
syria shall sweep away the whole body of the people, as the
reaper strippeth off the whole crop of corn ; and the rem
nant shall be no more, in proportion, than the scattered ears
left to the gleaner. The valley of Rephaim near Jerusalem
was celebrated for its plentiful harvests ; it is here used poet
ically for any fruitful country.
8. — the altars dedicated to the work of his hands] The
construction of the words, and the meaning of the sentence,
in this place, are not obvious : all the ancient versions, and
most of the modern, have mistaken it. The word ntyjJD
stands in regimine with nin3iD, not in apposition with it :.
it means the altars of the work of their hands ; that is, of
the idols ; not which are the work of their hands. Thus
Kirachi has explained it, and Le Clerc has followed him. •
9. — the Hivites and the Amorites-] Taxni tyiinn.
No one has ever yet been able to raake any tolerable sense
of these words. The translation of the LXX has happily
preserved what seems to be the true reading of the text, as
it stood- in the copies of their time ; though the words are
now transposed, either in the text, or in their version : ii
AfipfMoi Kxi 01 Evaioi. It is remarkable, that raany commen
tators, who never thought of admitting the reading of the
LXX, yet understand the passage as refeiring to that very
event which their version expresses : so that it is plain, that
nothing can be more suitable to the context. My Father
saw the necessity of admitting this variation, at a time when
it was not usual to make so free with the Hebrew text. See
Lowth on the place.
10. — shoots from a foreign soil] The pleasant plants,
25*.

234 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XVII.
and shoots from a foreign soft, are aUegorical expressions for
strange and idolatrous worship ; vicious and abominable prac
tices connected with it ; reliance on human aid, and on al
liances entered into with the neighbouring nations, especially
Egypt: to all which the Israelites ' v/ere greatly' addicted ;
and in their expectations frora whicb they should be grievous
ly disappointed.
12 — 14. Wo to the multitude — ] The three last verses
of this chapter seem to have no relation to the foregoing
prophecy, to which they are joined. It is a beautiful piece,
standing singly and by itself; for nefther has it any con
nexion with what follows: whether ft stands in its right
place, or not, I cannot say. It is a noble description of the
formidable invasion, and of the sudden overthrow, of Sena
cherib ; which is intimated in the strongest terms, and the
most expressive images, exactly suitable to the event.
12, l3. Like the roaring of mighty waters — ] Five words,
three at the end of the I2th verse, and tw-o at the beginning
of the 13th, are omitted in five MSS ; that is, in effect, the
repetition, contained in the first line of verse 13, in this
translation, is not made. After having observed, that it is
equally easy to account for the omission of these words by a
transcriber, if they are genuine; or their insertion, if they are
not genuine : occasioned by his carrying his eye backwards
to the word d'dn'?, or forwards to psB'; I shaft leave it to the
reader's judgment to determine, whether they are genuine,
or not.
14. — and he is no more} For wa, ten MSS (three an
cient) and two editions, and LXX, Syr. Chald. Vulg. have
IJJ'SI. This particle, authenticated by so many good vouch
ers, restores the sentetice to the true poetical form, implying
a repetition of some part of the parallel line preceding,
thus : " At the season of evening, behold terror!
Before the morning, and [behold] he is no more! "
See Prelim. Dissert, p. xu. note.
CHAPTER XVIII.
This is one of the most obscure prophecies in the whole
book of Isaiah. The subject of it, the end and design of it,
the people to whom it is addressed, the history to which it
belongs, the person who sends the messengers, and the na-

chap, xviii, notes on isaiah. 235
tion to whom the messengers are sent ; are all obscure and
doubtful. 1. The winged cymbal] D'3J3 b'ib-i. I adopt this as the
most probable of the many interpretations that have been given
of these words. It is Bochart's : see Phaleg iv, 2. The Egyp
tian Sistrum is expressed by a periphrasis ; the Hebrews had
no name for it in their language, not having in use the
instrument itself. The cymbal they had ; an instrument in
its use and sound not much unlike to the sistrum ; and to dis
tinguish from it the sistrum, they called it the cymbal with
wings. The cymbal was a round hollow^ piece of metal,
which being struck against another, gave a ringing sound :
the sistrum was a round instrument, consisting of a broad rim
of metal, through which from side to side ran several loose
laminae, or small rods, of metal, which being shaken, gave a
like sound : These projecting on each side, had somewhat of
the appearance of wings ; or might be very properly expressed
by the same word which the Hebrews used for wings, or for
the extremfty, or a part of any thing projecting. The sistrum
is given in a medal of Adrian, as the proper attribute of Egypt.
See Addison on MedaL^, Series ift. No. -4. where the figure of
it may be seen.
In opposition to olher interpretations of these words which
have prevailed, it may be briefly observed, that '7s'7S is
never used to signify shadow, nor md applied to the sails of
ships." ¦ If therefore the words are rightly interpreted the winged
cymbal, meaning the sistrum, Egypt raust be the country to
which the prophecy is addressed : And upon this hypothesis
the version and explanation raust proceed. I further suppose,
that the prophecy was delivered before Senacherih's return
frora his Egyptian expedition, which took up three years ;
and that it. was designed to give to the Jews, and perhaps
likewise to the Egyptians; an intiraation of God's counsels in
regard to the destruction of their great and powerful ene
my. Ibid, Which borders on the rivers of Cush} What are
the rivers of Cush, whether the eastern branches of the lower
Nile, the boundary of Egypt towards Arabia, or the parts of
the upper Nile towards "Etbiopia, it is not easy to determine.
The word ¦i3;;d signifies eft her on this side or on the further
side: I have made use of the same kind of ambiguous expres
sion in the translation.

"236 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XVIIE„
2. — in vessels of papyrus] This circumstance agrees per-
• fectiy weft with Egypt. It is well known, that the Egyp
tians commonly used on the Nile a light.sort of ships, or boats,
made of the reed papyrus. " Ex ipso quidem papyro navigia
texunt:" PUn. xiii. 11.
" Conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro." Luc.'-iv. 136.
Ibid. Go, ye swift messengers — ] To this nation before
mentioned, who, by the Nile, and by their numerous canals,
have the means of spreading the report, in the raost expedi
tious raanner, through the. whole country ; go, ye swift mes
sengers, and carry this notice of God's designs in regard to
thera. By the swift messengers are meant, not any particu
lar pei'Softs specially appointed to. this office, but any the usu
al conveyers of news whatsoever, travellers, merchants, and
the like, the instruments and agents of comraon fame :
these are ordered to publish this declaration raade by the
Prophet throughout Egypt, and to aft the world; and to ex
cite their attention to the promised visible interposition of God.
Ibid. — stretched out in length — ] Egypt, that is, the
fruitful part of il, exclusive of the deserts on each side, is one
long vale,' tbrough the middle of which runs the Nile, bound
ed on each side to the east and west by a chain of mountains ;
seven hundred and fifty miles in length ; in breadth,
from one to two or three days' journey : even at the widest
part of the Delta, from Pelusium to Alexandria, not above two
hundred and fifty railes broad. Egraont and Heyman, and
Pococke's Travels.
Ibid. — smoothed — ] Either relating to the practice of the
Egyptian priests, who made their bodies smooth by shav-.
ing off their hair ; see Herod, ft. 37,; or rather to the coun
try's being made sraooth, perfectly plain and level, by the
overflowing of the Nile.
Ibid. — meted out by line — ] It is generaUy referred to
the frequent necessity of having recourse to mensuration, in
Egypt, in order to. determine the boundaries after the inun
dations ofthe Nile ; to which even the origin of thescience of
geometry is by some ascribed. Strabo, lib. xvii. sub init..
Ibid, ^-trodden down — ] Supposed to allude to a peculiar
method of tillage in use among the Egyptians. Both Her
odotus (ftb. ii.) and Diodorus (lib. i.) say, that when the
Nile had retired within its banks, and the ground became
somewhat drj^, tftey sowed theft land, and then sent fti theft

CHAP. XVIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 237
cattie (their hogs, says the former) to tread in the seed ;
and without any further care expected the harvest.
Ibid. — the rivers have nourished} The word ini3 is
generally taken to be an irregular form for in3, have spoiled,
as an ancient MS -has it in this place ; and so most of the
versions, both ancient and modern, understand it. On
which Schultens, Gram. Heb. p. 491. has the following
remark : " Ne minimam quidem speciera veri habet ind,
Esai. xvii. 2. elatum pro irr3, diripiunt. Haec esset ano-
malia, cui nihil simile in toto linguae ambitu. In taUbus nil
fiuire, vel fateri ex mera agi conjectura, tutius jusliusque.
Radicem xi3 olim extare poiuisse, quis neget? Si cogna-
tum quid sectahdum erat, ad ni3, contemsit, potius decur-
rendum fuisset : ut ind pro id sit enuntialum, vel i'i3.
Digna phrasis, flumina contemnunt terram, i. e. inun-
dant." " NI3, Arab, exiii.lit se superbius, item subjecit sibi:
unde preet. pi. ixi3 suhjecerimt sibi, i, e. inundarunt : ",
Simonis Lexic. Heb.
A learned friend has suggested to me another explanation
of the word, ndj- Syr, and xi'd, Chald, signifies uher, mam-
wza ; agreeably to which the verb might signify ^o nourish.
This would perfectly well suit with the Nile : whereas nothing
can be raore discordant than the idea of spoiling and plun
dering; for to the 'inundation of the Nfte Egypt owed every
thing, — ihe fertility of the soil, and the very soft itself. Be
sides, the overflowing of the Nfte came on by gentie degrees,
covering without laying waste the country. "Mira aeque
natura fluminis, quod cura caeteri oranes abluant terras
et eviscerent, Niftis tanlo ceeteris major adeo nihil exedit,
nee abradit, ut contra adjiciat vires ; minimumque in eo sit,
quod solum temperet. Iftato enim limo arenas saturat ac
jungit: debetque illi .ffigyptus non tantumfertifttatem terra-
rum, sed ipsas : " Seneca, Nat. duaest. iv. 2. I take the
liberty, therefore, which Schultens seems to think allowable
in this place, of hazarding a conjectural interpretation.
3. When the standard is lifted up — ] I take God to be
the agent in this verse ; and that by the standard and the
trumpet are meant the meteors, the thunder, the lightning,
the storm, earthquake, and tempest, by which Senacherih's
army shall be destroyed, or by which at least the destruc
tion of it shaU be accompanied ; as it is described in chap.
xxix. 6. and xxx. 30, 31. and x. 16, 17. See also Psal.
Ixxvi. and the titie of it according to LXX, Vulg. and

238 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XVIII,
.^ilhiop. They are caUed by a bold metaphor, the standard
lifted up, aiid the trumpet sounded. The latter is used by
Homer, I think, with great force, in his introduction to the
battie of the gods ; though I find it has disgtisted some of
tbe minor critics :
'Bpx^i S'' iv^iix %^ai,
Ayjpi Si FaXTTiy^ii fiiyxi H^auf, II. XXr. 388.
" Heaven in loud thunders bids the trumpet sound,
And wide beneath them groans the rending ground." Pope.
4. For thus hath Jehovah said unto m,e — ] The sub
ject of the remaining part of the chapter is, that God would
comfort and support his own people, though threatened with
immediate destruction by the Assyrians ; ihat Senacherih's
great designs and mighty efforts against thera should be
frustrated, and that his vast expectations should be rendered
abortive, when he thought them mature, and just ready to be
crowned with success ; tiiat the chief part of his army should
be made a prey for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of
the air, (for this, is the meaning of the aUegory continued
througb the 5th and 6lh verses) ; and that Egypt, being de
livered,,,." ora his oppression, and avenged by the hand of Go^
of the wrongs which she had suffered, should return thanks
for the wonderful deliverance, both of herself and of the
Jiiws, from this raost powerful adversarj'.
Ibid. Like the clear heat — r] The sarae iraages are em
ployed by an Arabian poet : —
" Softs more fervens, dum frigus ; quumque ardet
Sirius, turn vero frigus ipse et umbra."
Which is illustrated in the note by a Uke passage from
another Arabian poet : —
" Calor est hyeme, refrigerium sestate."
Excerpta ex Hamasa ; published by Schuftens, at the end of
Erpenius's Arabic Grammar, p.- 425.
ibid. — after rain — ] "tiN hie significat pluviam ; juxta
iftud, sparse; nubes pluv'iam suam, Job xxxvft. ll."JCimclii.
In which place of Job the Chaldee paraphrast does indeed
¦explain nik by n'lLro; and so again ver. 21.; and chap.
xxxvi. 30. This meaning of the word seems to make the
best sense in this place ; it is to be wished, that it were bet
ter supported.
Ibid. — in the day of harvest.] For Dn3, in the heat,

CHAP. XVIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 239
five MSS, (three ancient), LXX, Syr. and Vulg, read Di»3,
in the day. The mistake seems to have risen from Dn3 in
the Une above.
5. — the blossom — ] Heb. her blossom ; ns3 : that is,
the blossom of the vine, ]3J, understood, which is of the-
coramon gender. See Gen. xl. 10. Note, that, by the de
fective punctuation of this word, many interpreters, and our
translators among the rest, have heen led into a grievous
mistake, (for how can the swelftng grape become a blossom ?)
taking the word ns3 for the predicate ;' whereas it is the sub
ject of the proposition, or the nominative case to the verb.
7. — a gift — ]¦ 'The Egyptians were in aftiance with the
kingdora of Judah, and were feftow-sufferers with the Jews
under the invasion of their coramon enemy Senacherib ; and
so were very nearly interested in the great and miraculous de
liverance of that kingdom by the destruction of the Assyrian
army. Upon which wonderful event, it is said, 2 Chron.
xxxii. 23. that " many brought gifts unto Jehovah to Jeru
salem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah ; so that he
was magnified of all nations from thenceforth." It is not to
be doubted, that among these the Egyptians distinguished
themselves in their acknowledgments on this occasion.
Ibid, —from a people — ] The LXX and Vulg. read
uya ; which is confirmed by the repetition of it in the next
line. The difference is of importance ; for, if this be the true
reading, the prediction of the admission of Egypt into the
true church of God is not so explicit as it might otherwise
seem to be. However, that event is clearly foretold at the
end- of the next chapter.

CHAPTER XIX.
Not many years after the destruction of Senacherih's
army before Jerusalem, by which the Egyptians were freed
from the yoke with which' they were threatened by so
powerful an enemy, who had carried on a successftil war of
three years' continuance against them ; the affairs of Egypt
were again thrown into confusion by intestine broils among
themselves ; which ended in a perfect anarchy, that lasted
some few years. This was followed by an aristocracy, or
rather tyranny, of twelve princes, who divided the country
between thera ; and at last by the sole dominion of Psammi-

240 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XIX.
tichus, which he held for fifty-four years. Not long after
that, followed the invasion and conquest of Egypt by Nebu-'
chadnezzar ; and then by the Persians under Cambyses, the
son of Cyrus. The yoke of the Persians was so grievous,
that the conquest of the Persians by Alexander may well
be considered as a deliverance to Egypt ; especially as he and
his successors greatly favoured the people, and improved the
country. To all these events the Prophet seems to have had
a view in this chapter; and in particular, from ver. 18. the
prophecy of the propagation of the true religion in Egypt
seems to point to the flourishing state of Judaism in that
country, in consequence of the great favour shewn to the
Jews by the Ptolemies. Alexander himself settled a great
many Jews in his new city Alexandria, granting them privi
leges equal to those of the Macedonians, The first Ptolemy,
called Soter, carried great numbers of them thither, and gave
them such encouragement, that still more of thera were
collected there from different parts ; so that Phfto reckons,
that in his tirae there were a million of Jews in that coun
try. These worshipped the God of their fathers ; and their
example and infiuence must have had a great effect in spread
ing the knowledge and worship of the true God through the
whole country. See Bishop Newton on the Prophecies,
Dissert, xii.
4. — cruel lords] Nebuchadnezzar in the first place, and
afterwards the whole succession of Persian kings, who in gen
eral wtere hard masters, and grievously oppressed the coun
try. Note, that for ntyp, a MS reads C'a'p, agreeable to which
is the rendering of LXX, Syr. and Vulg.
6. — shall become putrid] in'JJNn. This sense of the
word, which Simonis gives in his Lexicon from the meaning
of it in the Arabic, suits the place much better than any
other interpretation hitherto given. And that the word in
Hebrew had some such signification is probable from 2 Chron.
xxix. 18.- where the Vulgate renders ft by polluit, and the
Targum by profanavit and ahominabile fecit, which the
context in that place seeras plainly to require. 'I'he form of
the verb here is very ftregular ; and the rabbins and graVn-
marians seem to give no probable account of it.
8. — A7id the fishers — ] There was great plenty of fish
in Egypt: see Numb. xi. 5. " Tbe Nile," says Diodorus,
lib. 1. " abounds with incredible numbers of all sorts of fish."
And much raore the lakes ; Egraont, Pococke, &c.

CHAP. XIX. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 241
10. — her stores — ] n'nnty, x?roSi,xxi, Aqufta.
Ibid, all that make a gain of pools for fish] This ob
scure line is rendered by different interpreters in very differ
ent manners. Kimchi explains '3JN, as if ft were the same
with tDJ.;;, frora Job xxx. 25. In which he is followed by
sorae of the rabbins, and supported by LXX : and nsty,
which I translate gain, and which some take for nets, or in-
closures, the LXX render by jl^ov, strong drink, or beer,
which it is weft known was much used in Egypt : and so
likewise the Syriac, retaining the Hebrew word N13B'. I
submft these very different interpretations to the reader
judgment. The version of the LXX is as follows : — xai
a-anTES il TTOIHVTli; Toy ^vSov XvTrnhiFo'lTxi, xxi TXq i^v^Xi ttovifhfi : "And
all they that make barley-wine shaU mourn, and be grieved
in soul."
11. — have counselled a brutish counsel] The sentence,
as it now stands in the Hebrew, is imperfect ; it wants the
verb. Archbishop Secker conjectures, that the words 's;>i'
nj;i3 should be transposed ; which would in some degree
remove the difficufty. But it is to be observed, that the
translator of the Vulgate seems to have found in his copy
the verbis,;;' added after n;;i3: " Sapientes consiliarii Phar-
aonis dederunt consiftum insipiens," This is probably the
true reading ; it is perfectly agreeable to the Hebrew idiom,
makes the construction of the sentence clear, and renders the
transposition of the above words unnecessary.
12, — let them come — ] Here too a word seems to have
been left out of the text. After ya3n, two MSS (one ancient)
add INT, let them come. Which, if we consider the form and
the construction of the sentence, has very much the appear
ance of being genuine ; otherwise the connective conjunction
^t the beginning of the next member, is not only superflu
ous but embarrassing. See also the version of LXX, in which
the same deficiency is manifest.
Ibid," — and let them declare — ] " For ^yy, let them know,
perhaps we ought to read \}}ny, let them make known:"
Secker. The LXX and Vulg. favour this reading :
uvxraFxi, ittdicent.
13. They have caused — ] The text has i,;?nni, and they
have caused to err. Fifty MSS, thirteen editions, Vulg. and
Chald. omit the i.
Ibid. — pillars — -j n:3 to be pointed as plural without doubt.
So Grotius, and so Chald. 26

242 NOTES ON ISAIAH, CHAP. XIX,
14:— in the midst of them, — ] " D3ip3, LXX, quod forte
rectius :" Secker. So Ukewise Chald.
16. — the Egyptians shall be — ] rn', plural, MS Bodl,
LXX, and Chald. This is not proposed as an emendation,
for either forra is proper.
17. And the land of Judah — ] The threatening hand of
God will be held out and shaken over Egypt, frora the side of
Judea ; through which the Assyrians will march to invade it.
Five MSS and two editions have njn'?,
IS.— the City of the Sun] D'lnn y}}- This passage is
attended with much difficulty and obscurity. First, in re
gard to the true reading. It is well known, that Onias ap
pUed it to his own views, either to procure frora tbe king of-
Egypt permission to build his temple in the Hieropolitan
Nome, or to gain credit and authority to it when built ; frora
the notion whicli he industriously propagated, that Isaiah
had in this place prophesied of the building of such a teraple.
He pretended, that the very place were it should be buftt'
was expressly naraed by the Prophet D"inn T;?, the city of
the sun. This possibly may have beeii the original reading.
The present text has Dinn t;?, the city of destruction : which
some suppose to have been introduced into the text by
the Jews of Palestine afterwards ; to express their de
testation of the place, being much offended with this schis
matical teraple in Egypt. Some think the latter to have been
the true reading, and that the Prophet himself gave
this turn to the name out of contempt, and to intimate the
deraolftion of this Hieropolitan temple ; which in effect was
destroyed by Vespasian's orders after that of Jerusalem.
'¦'¦ Videtur Propheta consulto scripsisse Din pro Din, ut alibi
scribitur ps n'3 pro ba n'3, nB'3 b"n pro '?,;;3 wa, &c.
Vide Lowth in loc. : " Secker. But on supposition
that Dinn yy, is the true reading, others understand it
differentiy. Tha word Din in Arabic signifies a lion: and
Conrad Ikenius has written a dissertation (Dissert. Philol.
Theol., xvi.) to prove that the place here mentioned is not
Heliopolis, as it is commonly supposed to be, but Leonto
polis in the Hehopolitan Nome ; as it is indeed called in the
letter, whether real or pretended, of Onias to Ptolemy,
which Josephus has inserted in his Jewish Antiquities, lib.
xift. cap. 3. And I find, that several persons of great learn
ing and judgment think that Ikenius has proved, the point be
yond contradiction. See Christian. Mufter. Satura. Observ.

OHAP. XIX. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 243
Phftolog. Michaelis Bibliothek Oriental, Part V. p. 171.
But after all, I believe, that neither Onias, nor Heliopolis,
nor Leontopolis, has any thing to do with this subject. The
application of this place of Isaiah to Onias's purpose seeras
to have been a raere invention ; and, in consequence of it,
there may perhaps have been some unfair management lo
accommodate the text to that purpose ; which has been carried
even further than the Hebrew text ; for the Greek version
has here been either translated frora a corrupted text, or wil-
fufty mistranslated or corrupted, to serve the same cause. The
place is tbere called zroxii AfiSix, the city of righteousness ; a
name apparently contrived by Onias's party to give credit to
their temple, which was to rival that of Jerusalem. Upon
the whole, the true reading of the Hebrew text in this
place is very uncertain ; nine MSS and seven editions have
Din, so Ukewise Syra. Vulg. Arab. LXX, Compl. On the
other hand, Aqufta, Theodot. and Syr. read Din ; the Chaldee
paraphrase takes in both readings.
The reading of the' text being so uncertain, no one can
pretend to determine what the city was that is here raen
tioned byname ; much less to determine, what the four other
cities were' whicb the Prophet does not name. I take the
whole passage, frora the 18th verse to the end of the chap
ter, to contain a general intiraation of the future pro
pagation of the knowledge of the true God in Egypt and Sy
ria, under the successors of Alexander ; and, in consequence
of this propagation, of the early reception of the gospel in
the same countries, when it should be published to the worid.
See further on this subject, Prideaux's Connect, an. 149.;
Dr. Owen's Inquiry into the Present State of the LXX Ver
sion, p. 41., and Bryant's Observations on Ancient History, p.
124.

CHAPTER XX.
Tharthan beseiged Ashdod or Azotus, which probably
belonged at this time to Hezekiab's dominions: see 2 Kings
' xvfti. 8. The people expected to be relieved by the Cush-
ites of Arabia, and by the Egyptians. Isaiah was ordeied to
go uncovied, that is, without his upper garment, the
rough ma i le commonly worn by the prophets, (se ¦ Zech.
xiii. 4.), p. bably three days, to shew that within three years

244 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XX.
the town should be taken, after the defeat of the Cushites
and Egyptians by the king of Assyria, which event should
make their case desperate, and induce thera to surrender.
Azotus was a strong place : it afterwards held out twenty-nine
years against Psamniitich us, king of Egypt, Herod, ii. 157.
Tharthan wasoneofSenacnerib's generals, 2 Kings xvift. 17.,
and Tirhakah king of the Cushites was in aftiance with the
king of Egypt against Senacherib. These circumstances
make it probable, that by Sargon is meant Senacherib. It
might be one of the seven names by which Jerom, on this
place, says he was cafted. He is called Sacherdonus and Sa-
cherdan in the book of Tobil. The taking of Azotus must
have happened before Senacherih's attempt on Jerusalem;
when he boasted of big late conquests, chap, Xxxvii. 25. And
the warning of the Prophet had a principal respect to the
Jews also, who were too much inclined to depend upon the as
sistance of Egypt. As to the rest, history and chronology af
fording us no light, it may be impossible to clear either this
or any other hypothesis, (which takes- Sargon to be Shalman
eser, or Asarhaddon, (fcc), frora all difficulties.
It is not probable that the Prophet walked uncovered and
barefoot for three years : his appearing in that manner was a
sign, that wiihin three years the Egyptians and Cushites
should be in the same condition, being conquered and made
captives by the king of Assyria. The time was denoted, as
well as the event; but his appearing in that manner for three
whole years, could give no premonition of the time at aft.
It is probable; therefore, that the Prophet was ordered to walk
so for three days, to denote the accomplishment of the event
in three years ; a day for a year, according to the prophetical
rule: Numb. xiv. 34. Ezek. iv. 6. The words Co' wbw,
three dMys, may possibly have been lost out pf the text, at the
end of the second verse, after fjn', barefoot ; or after tbe same
word in the third verse: where, in the Alexandrine and Va
tican copies of LXX, and in MSS Pachom. and i, D. ii. the
words Tf(« £Ti, are twice expressed. Perhaps; instead oi'd^
D'D', the Greek translator might read D'Jty ^b^, by his own
mistake, or by that of his copy, after pjh' in the third verse,
for which stands the first t^ix im in the Alexandrine and Va
tican LXX, and in the two MSS above-mentioned.

CHAP. XXI. NOTES ON ISAIAH, 245

CHAPTER XXI,
The ten first verses of this chapter contain a prediction of
the taking of Babylon by the Medes and Persians. It is
a passage singular in its kind, for its brevity and force ; fjr
the varie'y and rapidity of the movements ; and for the
strength and energy of colouring with which the action and
event is painted. It opens with the Prophet's seeing at a
distance the dreadful storm that is g.ithering, and ready to
burst upon Babylon: The event is intimated n general
terms; and God's orders are issued to the Persians and
Medes to set forth upon the expedition which he has given
them in charge. Upon this the Prophet enters into the midst
of the action ; and, in the person of Babylon, expresses in' the
strongest terms the astonishment and horror that seizes her
on the sudden surprise of the city, at the very season dedica
ted to pleasure and festivity, ver. 3, 4. : then in his own per
son describes the situation of things there ; the security of the
Babylonians, and in the midst of their feasting the sudden
alarm of war, ver. 5. The event is then declared in a very
singular manner. God orders the Prophet to set a watchman
to look out, and to report what he sees : he sees two com
panies marching onward, representing by their appearance
the two nations that were to execute God's orders, who de
clare, that Babylon is fallen, ver. 6 — 9.
But what is lids to the- Prophet, and to the Jews, the ob
ject of his ministry ? The application, the end, aud design of
the prophecy is arlmirably given in a short expressive address
to the Jews, partly in the person of God, partiy in that ofthe
Prophet : " O my threshing !" — " 0 my people, whom for your
punishment I shall make subject to the Babylonians,
to try and to prove you, and to separate the chaff fom
the corn, the bad from the good among you ; hear this for
your consolation : Your punishment, your slavery and op
pression, WiU have an end in the destruction of your oppres
sors." 1. — the desert of the sea] This plainly means Babylon,
which is the subject of tbe prophecy. The country about
Babylon, and especially below it towards the sea, was a great
flat morass, often overflowed by the Euphrates and Tigris.
It became habitable by being, drained by the many canals
that were made in it. 26*

^46 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXI
Herodotus, i. 184. says, that " Serairarais confined the Eu
phrates within its channel, by raising great dams against it ;
for before it overflowed the whole country Uke a set."
And Abydenus, (quoting Megasthenes, apud Euseb. Praep.
Evang. ix. 41.), speaking of the building of Babylon by
Nebuchadonosor, " It is reported, that all this part was
covered with water, and was called the sea ; and that Belusi
drew off the waters, conveying thera into proper receptacles,:
and surrounded Babylon with a w'all." When the Euphrates
was turned out of its channel by Cyrus, it was suffered stftl to
drown the neighbouring country. The Persian'government,
which did not favour the place, taking no care to remedy
this inconvenience, ft became in lime a great barren morassy
desert ; which event the title of the prophecy may perhaps
intimate. Such it was originally ; such it became after the
taking of the city by Cyrus ; and such it continues to this
day. Ibid. Like the southern tempests^] The most veheraent
storms, to which Judea was subject, came from the great
desert country to the south of it. " Out of the south
cometh the whirlwind;" Job xxxvft. 9. "And there came
a great wind frora the wilderness, and sraote the four corners
of the house;" Ibid. i. 19. For the situation of Iduraea, the
country, as I suppose, of Job, (see Lara. iv. 21. compared
with Job i. 1.), was the sarae in this respect with ihat of
Judea.
" And Jehovah shaft appear over them.
And his arrow shall go forth as the lightning :
And the Lord Jehovah shaft sound the trumpet;
And shall march in the whirlwinds ofthe south." Zech. ix. 14.
2. The plunderer is plundered, and the destroyer is de
stroyed,] niity mnyni iji3 imn. The MSS vary in
expressing or omitting the i in these four words. Ten MSS
are without the i in the second word, and eight MSS are
without the i in the fourth word ; which justifies Symmachus,
who has rendered them passively : i xhTai aSiTUTxi, xxi i
Ta>MiTagi^av T»>Mi?ra^ii, He read inty, iiJ3. Cocceius (Lexi-
icon in voce) observes, that the Chaldee very often renders
the verb ud by id, spoliavit; and in this place, and in
xxxiii. 1. by the equivalent word oia ; and in chap. xxiv. 16.
both by DJN and in; and Syr. in this place renders it by d'7D,
oppressit. Ibid. — her vexations — ] Heb. her sighing ; that is, the

CHAP. XXI. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 247
sighing caused by her. So Kimchi on the place : " fnmiit
iftos, qui gemebant ob timorem ejus ; quia suffixa nora imuu
referuntur ad agentem et ad patientem." " Omnes q li .e-
mebaut a facie regis Babylonis, requiescere feci eos ;" Chald.
And so likewise Ephraem Syr. in loc. edit. AssBmaui : " Ge-
niilum ejus : dolorem scilicet et lachrymas, quas ChalJeci
reliqu per orbein gentibus ciere pergunt."
5. The table is prepared — ] In Heb. the verbs are in
the infinitive mode absolute; as in Ezek. i. 14. "And ihe
animals ran and returned, yw\ xivi, like the appearance
of lightning :" just as the Latins say currere el reverti, for
currebant el revertebantur. See chap, xxxft. 2. and the note
there. 7. And he saw a chariot wiih two riiers ; a rider on nn
ass, a rider on a camel] This passage i-i extremely obscure,
from the ambiguity of the term 331, which is used three
times ; and which signifies a chariot, or any other vehicle, or
the rider in it ; or a rider on a horse, or any other animal ;
or a company of chariots or riders. The Prophet may
possibly mean a cavahy in two parts, wfth two sorts of riders ;
riders on asses or mules, and riders on camels : or led on
by two riders, one on au ass, and one on a camel. However,
so far it is pretty clear, that Darius and Cyrus, the Medes
and the Persians, are intended to be distinguished by the
two riders, or the two sorts of cattie. It appears frora Hero
dotus, i. 80. that the baggage of Cyrus's array was carried
on camels. In his engagement with Croesus, he took off the
baggage frora the camels, and mounted his horsemen upon
them : the enemy's horses, offended with the sraeU of the
camels, turned back and fled.
8. he that looked ptit on the watch — •] The present read
ing n'l.v, a lion, is so unintelligible, and the mistake so ob
vious, that I raake no doubt that the true reading is nsin,
as the Syriac translator manifestly found it in his copy,, who
renders it by a'sn, speculator.
9. — a man, one nf the two riders] So the Syriac un
derstands it ; and Ephraem Syr.
18. O my threshing — ] " O thou, the object upon which
I shall exercise the severity of my discipline ; that shalt lie
under ray afflicting hand, like corn spread upon the floor to
be threshed out and winnowed, to separate the chaff frora
the wheat I" The image of threshing is frequently used by
the Hebrew poets with great elegance and force, to express

248 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXI.
the piinishmen cf the wicked and the t ial of the good, or
the ulier dispersion and. destruction of ¦^¦oH's enenties. Of
the different ways of threshing in use among the Hebrews,
and llie raanner of performing them, see note on chap, xx .ft.
27. Our translators have taken llie liberty of u ing the word
thre.^hing in a passive sense, lo express th ¦ object or matter
that is threshed : in which I have followed them, not being
able to express it more properly, without departing too rauch
from the form and letter of the original. Son of my floor,
Hel.). It is an idiom of the Hebrew language to ca I the
effect, the object, the adjunct, any thing that belong -i iu al
most any way to another, the son of it. " 0 ray thresliing — "
The Piophet abruptiy breaks off the speech of God, and,
instead of continuing it in the form in wbich he hai beg, in,'
and in the person of God, " This I declare unto you by my
Prophet ; " he changes the form of address, and adds, in his
own person, " This I declare unto you from God."
11, 12. The oracle concerning Dumah.] "Pro nan
Codex R. Meiri habet ; mix et sic LXX. Vid. Kimchi ad
h. I. ; " Biblia Michaehs, Hate 1720, not. ad I.
This prophecy, from the uncertainty of the occasion on
which it was uttered, and from ihe brevity ofthe expression,
is extremely obscure. The Edomftes as well as Jews were
subdued by the Babylonians. They inquire of the Prophet,
how long iheir subjection is to last? he intimates, th t the
Jews should be delivered from their captivity ; not so the
Edomites. Thus far the interpretation seems to caVry wfth
it some degree of probabftiiy. What the raeaning of the last
line may be, I cannot pretend to divine. In this difficufty
the Hebrew MSS give no assistance. «The MSS of LXX,
and the fragmenis of the olher Greek versions, give some
variations, but no light. Tbis being the case, I thought it
best lo give an exact literal translation of the whole two verses ;
Avhich may serve lo enable the English reader to judge in
some measure of the foundation ofthe various interpretations
that have been given of ihem.
13. The oracle concerning Arabia.] This tille is of doubt
ful aulhority. In the first place, because it is not in many
of Ihe MSS ofthe LXX ; it is in MSS Pachom. and i.D.
II. only, as far as I can find with certainty : secondly, from
the singularity of the phraseology ; for Ntyn i? generally pre
fixed to iis object wfthout a proposition, as ^33 kki:; and

CHAP. XXI. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 249
never but in this place with the preposition 2. Besides, as
the word 3ip occurs at the very beginning of the prophecy
itself, the first word but one, it is much to be suspected that
someone, taking it for a proper name and the object of the
.prophecy, might note ft as such by the words 3i,y3 'awo
written in the margin, frora whence they might easily get in
to the text. The LXX did not take it for a proper name,
but render it iFTn^ai;; and so Chald. whom I follow: for,
otherwise, the forest in Arabia is so indeterminate and vague
a description, that in effect it means nothing at all. This
observation might .have been of good use in clearing up the
foregoing very obscure prophecy, if any light had arisen from
joining the two together by removing the separating title ; but
1 see no connexion between thera.
This prophecy was to have been fulfilled within a year of
the time of its delivery, see ver. 16.; and it was probably de
Uvered about the same time with the rest in this part of the
book, that is, soon before or after the 14th of Hezekiah, the
year of Senacherib's invasion. In his first march into Ju
dea, or in his return from the Egyptian expedition, he raight
perhaps overrun these several clans of Arabians : thei. distress
on sorae such occasion is the subject of this prophecy.
14. — the southern country] SxifiMt, LXX ; Aust ', Vulg.
They read jD'n, which seems to be right; for probably the
inhabitants of Tema might. he involved in the same calamity
with their' brethren and neighbours of Kedar, and not in a
condition to give thera assistance, and to relieve them, in
their flight before the enemy, with bread and water. To
bring forth bread and water is an instance of common hu
manity in such cases of distress ; especially in these desert
countries, in which the common necessaries of life, more
particularly water, are not easily lo be met with or procured.
Moses forbids the Ammonfte and Moabite to be admitted
into the congregation or the Lord to the tenth generation ;
one reason which he gives for this reprobation is, their omis
sion of the common offices of humanity towards the Israel
ites ; " because they met them not with bread and water in
the way, when they came forth out of Egypt ;" Deut. xxiii. 4.
17. — the 7nigluy bowmen] Sagilt iriorum forlium, Vulg.
transposing the two words, and reading t p 'vcj ; which seems
to be right. •
Ibid. For .Tehovah hatli spoken it.] The prophetic Car
mina of Marcius, foretefting the battle ofCannas, Liv. xxv. 12.

250 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP; XXI,
conclude wfth the same kind of soleran forra : — "Nam raihi
ita Jupfter fatus est." Observe, that the word dni , (to pro
nounce, to declare), is the soleran word appropriated to the
deftvering of prophecies: — "Behold, I ara against the pro
phets, saith (pa:) Jehovah, who use their tongues, idwii
DNJ, and solemnly pronounce. He hath pronounced it ;" Jer.
xxift. 31.
CHAPTER XXII.
This prophecy, ending with the ] 4th verse of this chap
ter, is entitied, " The Oracle concerning the Valley of
Vision," by which is meant Jerusalem, because, says Sal. b.
Melech, it was the place of prophecy. Jerusalem, accord
ing to Josephus, was built upon two opposi c hifts, Sion and
Acra, separated by a valley in the midst : he speaks of ano
ther broad valley between Acra and Moriah, Bell. Jud. v.
13. vi. 6. It was the seat of divine revelation, the place
where chiefly prophetic vision was given, and where God
manifested himself visibly in the holy place. ' The prophecy
foretells the invasion of Jerusalem by the Assyrians under
Senacherib ; or by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar.
Vitringa is of opinion, tbat the Prophet bas both in view ;
that of the Chaldeans in th;- first part, ver. 1 — 5. (v^-hich he
thinks relates to the flight of Zedekiah, 2 Kings xxv. 4, 5,);
and that of the Assyrians in the latter part ; wbich agrees
with the circumstances of that time, and particularly describes
the preparations made by Hezekiah for the defence of the
city, ver. 8 — 11. Compare 2 Chron. xxxft. 2—^5.
k 1. — aj-e gone up to the hoy,se-tops] The houses in the
East were in ancient times, as they are still generally, built
in one and the same uniform manner. The roof or top of
the house is always flat, covered with broad stones, or a
strong plaster of terrace, and guarded on every side wfth a
low parapet wall : see Deut. xxii. 8. The terrace is fre
quented as much as any. part of the house. On this, as the
season favours, they walk, they eat, they sleep, they transact
business, (1 Sam. ix. 25. see also the LXX in that place),
they perform their devotions, (Acts x. 9.) The house is
built with a court within, into which chiefly the windows
open ; those that open to the street are so obstructed with
laltice-work, that no one either without or within can see
through them. Whenever therefore any thing is to be seen

CHAP. XXII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 251
or heard in the streets, any public spectacle, any alarm of a
public nature, every one immediately goes up to the house
top to satisfy his curiosity. In the same raanner, when any
one had occasion to make any thing public, the readiest and
most effectual way of doing it was to proclaim it from the
house-tops to the people in the streets : " What ye hear in the
ear, that gubUsh ye on the house-top," saith our Saviour,
Matt. X. 27. The people's running all to the tops of their
houses gives a lively image of a sudden general alarm. Sir
John Chardin's MS note on this place is as follows : — " Dans
les festes pour voir passer quelque chose, et dans les maladies
pour les annoncer aux voisins en aUumant des lumieres, le
peuple raonte sur les terrasses."
3. -^are gone off together.] There seems to be some
what of an inconsistency in the sense, according to the pre
sent reading. If the leaders were bound, iidn, how could they
flee away? for their being bound, according to the obvious
construction and course of the sentence, is a circumstance
prior to their flight. I therefore follow Houbigant, who reads
non, remoti sunt, they are gone off, i'7j, transmigraverunt,
Chald. which seeras to confirra this emendation.
.6. — the Syrian—-] It is not easy to say what din 331,
a chariot of men, can mean. It seems, by the forra of the
sentence, which consists of three merabers, the first and the
third mentioning a particular people, that the second should
do so Ukewise ; thus D»"ijii3i din 3313, " with chariots the
Syrian, and with horsemen : " the similitude of the letters i
and 1 is so great, and the mistakes arising from it so frequent,
that I readily adopt the correction of Houbigant, din instead
of DIN, which seems to me extremely probable. The con
junction 1 prefixed lo p'ii'13 seems necessary, in whatever
way the sentence is taken ; and it is confirmed by five MSS
(one ancient) and three editions. Kir was a city belonging
to the Medes. The Medes were subject to the Assyrians in
Hezekiab's time : see 2 Kings xvi. 9. and xvii. 6. ; and so
perhaps might Elam (the Persians) likewise be, orauxftiaries
to them. 8. — the arsenal — ] Buftt by Solomon within the city,
and called the House of the forest of Lebanon ; probably from
the great quantity of cedar from Lebanon which was era-
ployed in the buftding : see 1 Kings vii. 2, 3.
9. And ye shall collect the waters — ] There wfere two
pools in or near Jerusalern, supplied by springs : the upper

252 notes on isaiah. chap. xxii.
pool, or the old pool, supplied by the spring called Gihon, 2.
Chron. xxxii. 30. towards the higher part of the city, near
Sion or the city of David ; and the lower pool, probably sup
phed by Siloam, towards the lower part. When Hezekiah
was threatened with a siege by Senacherib, he stopped up aft
the ¦ waters of the fountains without the city, and brought
thera into tiie city by a conduit, or subterraneous passage cut
through the rock ; those of the old pool, to the place where
he raade a double waft, so that the pool was between the two
wafts. This he did in order to distress the enemy, and to
supply the city during the siege. This was so great a work,
that not only the historians have made particular mention
of it, 2 Kings xx. 20. 2 Chron. xxxft. 2, 3. 5. 30. ; but the
son of Sirach also has celebrated it in his encomium on Hez
ekiah : " Hezekiah fortified his city, and brought in water
into the midst thereof: he digged the hard rock with iron, and
raade wells for water : " Eccl'us xlviii. 17.
11. — to him that hath disposed this] That is, to God,
the author and disposer of this visitation, the invasion with
which he now threatens you. The very same expressions are
applied to God, and upon the sarae occasion, chap, xxxvii. 26.
" Hast thou not heard, of old, that I have disposed it;
And, of ancient times, that 1 have formed it? "
14. the voice of Jehovah — ] The Vulg. has vox Do
mini; as if in his copy he had read nin' bip: and', in truth,
wfthout theword '7.ip, it is not easy to make out the sense.of
the passage ; as it appears from the strange versions which
the rest ofthe ancients, (except Chald.), and many of the
moderns, have given of it ; as if the matter were revealed in,
or to, the ears of Jehovah ; iv m^ an Kv^ih, LXX. Vitringa
translates it, "revelatus est in auri'bus raeis Jehovah; " and
refers to 1 Sam. ii. 27. iii. 21. : but the construction in those
places is different, and there is no speech of God added ;
which here seems to want something more than the verb
n*?;: to introduce it. Compare chap. v. 9. where the text is
still more imperfect.
15. Go unto Shebna — ] The following prophecy con
cerning Shebna seems to have very ftltle relation to the fore
going ; except that it might have been delivered about the
same tirae, and Shebna might be a principal person among
those whose luxury and profaneness is severely reprehended
by the Prophet in the conclusion of that prophecy, ver.
11—14.

CHAP. XXII. NOTES ON ISAIAH, 253
Shebna the scribe, mentioned in the history of Hezekiah,
chap, xxxvi. seeras to have been a different person frora this
Shebna, the treasurer or steward of the household, to whom
the prophecy relates. The EUakim here mentioned was
probably the person, who, at the time of Senacherib's inva
sion, was actually treasurer, the son of Hilkiah. If so, this
prophecy was delivered, as the preceding, which makes the
former part of the chapter, plainly was, some time before the
invasion of Senacherib. As to the rest, history affords us no
information. Ibid. — and say unto him] Here are two w-ords lost out of
the text ; which are supplied by two MSS, (one ancient),
which read r'jN niONi ; by LXX, xm umi xvtu j and in the
same raanner by aft the ancient versions., Itis to be observed,
that tbis passage is merely historical, and does not admit of
thtit sort of eftipsis by whicb, in tbe poetical parts, a person
is frequently introduced speaking, without the usual notice
that what follows was delivered by him.
16. thy sepulchre on high- — in the rock] It has been
observed before on chap. xiv. that persons of high rank in
Judea, and in raost parts of the East, were generally buried
in large sepulchral vaults hewn out .in the rock for the use
of themselves and their families. The vanity of Shebna is
set forth by his being so. studious and careful to have his
sepulchre on high ; in a lofty vault, and that probably in a
high situation, that it raight be raore conspicuous. Heze
kiah was buried Tbjjob, £» xtxSxFn, LXX ; in the chiefest,
says our translation ; rather, in the highest part of the se
pulchres of the sons of David, to do him the more honour ;
2 Chron. xxxii. 33. There are some monuments still re
maining in Persia of great antiquity, called Naksi Rustam,
which give one a clear idea of Shebna's pompous design for
his sepulchre. They consist of several sepulchres, each of
them hewn in a high rock near the top ; the front of the
rock to the valley below is adorned with carved work in re
lievo, being the outside of the sepulchre. Some of these se-
pulcbres are about thirty feet in the perpendicular from the
valley ; which is itself raised perhaps above half as rauch by
the accumulation of the earth since they were raade. See
the description of them in Chardin, Pietro della Valle, The
venot, and Kempfer. Diodorus Siculus, lib. xvii. mentions
these ancient monuraents, and calls them the sepulchres of
the kings of Persia. 27

254 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP, XXII,
17. — cover thee] That is, thy face. This was the con
dition of mourners in general, and particularly of condemned
parsons : see Esther vi. 12. vii. 8.
19. / will drive thee] ^]o^^na, in the first person, Syr.
Vulg. 21. — to the inhabitants — ] '31?',''?, in the plural number,
four MSS; (two ancient), LXX, Syr. Vulg.
22. —the key upon his shoulder.] As the robe and the
baldric, , mentioned in the preceding verse, were the ensigns
pf power and authority, so likewise was the key the mark of
office, either sacred or civil. The priestess of Juno is said
to be' the key-bearer of the goddess, kA£(iJ'»;k''5 H^aj: Eschyl.
Suppl. 299. A female high in office under a great queen
has the sarae titie : —
KxMiSoi) xPiiiS^xoi OXviA-ma^oi 'BaFamti.
Auctor Phoronidis ap. Clem. Alex, p, 418. Edit. Potter.
This mark of office was likewise araong the Greeks, as here
in Isaiah, borne on the shoulder : the priestess of Ceres
KXTafixSixv CXI xXmSx; Callim. Ceres, ver. 45. To compre
hend how the key could be borne on the shoulder, it will be
necessary to say somewhat of the form of it: but wfthout
enterftig into a long disquisition, and a great deal of obscure
learning, concerrnng the locks and keys of the ancients, it
wift be sufficient to observe, that one sort of keys, and that
probably the most ancient, was of considerable magnitude,
and as to the shape very much bent and 'crooked. Aratus,
to give his reader an idea of the form of the constellation
Cassiopeia, compares it to a key. It must be owned, that
the passage is very obscure ; but the learned Huetius has
bestowed a great deal of pains in explaining it, Animadvers.
in Manilii, lib. i. 355, and I think bas succeeded very weft
in it. Homer, Odyss. xxi. 6. describes the key of Ulysses's
storehouse as evxa/A-Trr,?, of a large curvature ; which Eusta
thius explains by. saying it was S^iTratonSia, in shape like a
reap-hook. Huetius says, the constellation Cassiopeia an
swers to this description ; the stars to the north making the
curve part, that is, the principal part of the key ; the
southern stars, the handle. The curve part was introduced
into the key-hole ; and, being properly directed by the
handle, took hold of the bolts within, and moved them from
their places. We may easily collect from this account, that
such a key would lie very well upon the shoulder ; that it
must be of some considerable size and weight, and could

OHAP. XXII, NOTES ON ISAIAH, 255
hardly be commodiously carried otherwise. Ulysses's key
was of brass, and the handle of ivory : but this was a royal
key ; the more comraon ones were probably of wood. In
Egypt they have no other than wooden locks and keys to
this day ; even tbe gates of Cairo bave no better : Baumgar-
ten, Peregr. i. 18; Thevenot, Part II. ch. 10.
In aftusion to the iraage of the key as the ensign of
power, the unlimited extent, of that power is expressed,
with great clearness as well as force, by the sole and exclu
sive atflhority to open and shut. Our Saviour therefore
has upon a siraftar occasion made use of a Uke manner of
expression. Matt. xvi. 19.; and in Rev. iii. 7. has appUed to
himself the very words ofthe Prophet.
23. — a nail — ] In ancient times, and in the eastern
countries, fis the way of life, so the houses were rauch more
simple then ours at present. They had not that quantity
and variety of furniture, nor those accommodations of all
sorts, with which we abound. 'It was convenient and even
necessary for them, and it made an essential part in the
building of a house, lo furnish the inside of the several
apartments with sets of spikes, nails, or large pegs, upon
which to dispose of, and lo hang up, the several moveables and
utensils in comraon use, and proper to the apartment. These
spikes they worked into the walls at the first erection of
thera— rthe walls being of such raaterials, that they could not
bear their being driven in afterwards; and they were con
trived so as to strengthen the walls, by binding the parts
together, as well as to serve for convenience. Sir John
Chardin's account of this matter is this : " They do not
drive with a hammer the nails that are put into tbe eastern
wafts: the walls are too hard, being of brick; or -if they are
of clay, too mouldering : but they fix thera in the brick
work as they are building. They are large nafts, with
square heads ftke dice, weft raade ; the ends being bent so as
to make thera cramp-irons. They commonly place them
at the windows and doors, in order to hang upon them,
when they like, veils and curtains :" Harraer, Observat. i.
p. 191. And we may add, that they were put in other
places too, in order to hang up other things of various
kinds ; as it appears frora this place of Isaiah, and from
Ezekiel xv. 3. who speaks of a pin, or naft, "to hang any
vessel thereon." The "word used here for a nail of this sort,
is the sarae by wbich they express that instrument, the stake.

256 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXII.
or large pin of iron, with which they fastened down to the
ground the cords of their tents. We see, therefore, that
these nails were of necessary and common use, and of no
smaft importance, in aft their apartments ; conspicuous, and
much exposed to observation : and if they seem to us mean
and insignificant, it is because we are not acquainted wfth
the thing itself, and have no name to express it by, but
what conveys to us a low and contemptible idea. " Grace
hath been shewed from the Lord our God, (saith Ezra ix, 8,),
to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a na'il in his
holy place :" that is, as the margin of our Bible explains it,
" a constant and sure abode."
" He that doth lodge near her [Wisdom's] house,
Shall also fasten a pin in her walls." Eccl'us xiv, 24,
The dignity and propriety of the metaphor appears from the
Prophet Zechariah's use of it :
" From him shaft be the corner-stone; from him the nail.
From him the battle-bow.
From him every ruler together." Zech. x. 4.
And Mohammed, using the sarae word, caUs Pharaoh the
lord or master of the Nails; that is, well attended by nobles
and officers capable of administering his affairs ; Koran
Sur. xxxvfti. 11. and Ixxxix. 9. So some understand this
passage of the Koran : Mr. Sale seems to prefer another in
terpretation. Taylor, in his Concordance, thinks "in' raeans the pillar or
post that stands in the middle, and supports the tent, ia
which such pegs are fixed to hang their arms, &c. upon ;
referring to Shaw's Travels, p. 287. But in"* is never used,
as far as it appears to rae, in that sense. It was indeed
necessary that the piftar of the tent should have such pegs
on it for that purpose ; but the hanging of such things in
this manner upon this pillar, does not prove that m' was the
pillar itself.
23. — a glorious seat — ] That is, his father's house, and
all his own fomily, shall be gloriously seated, shaft flourish
in honor and prosperity ; and shaft depend upon him, and be
supported by bim.
24. — all the glory — ] One considerable part of the mag
nificence of the eastern princes, consisted in the great quanti
ty of gold and silver vessels which they had for various uses.
" Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels

CHAP. XXII. NOTES ON ISAIAH, 257
of the House of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold :
none were of sftver ; it was nothing accounted of in Solo
mon's days ; " 1 Kings x. 21. " The vessels in the House
of the forest of Lebanon (the armory of Jerusalem so
called) were two hundred targets, and three hundred shields,
of beaten gold ; " Ibid. ver. 16,17. These were ranged in
order upon the vvalls of the armoury, (see Cant. iv. 4.) upon
pins worked into tbe waUs on purpose, as above pientioned.
Eliakim is considered as a principal stake of this sort, im
moveably fastened in the wall, for the support of all vessels
destined for common or sacred uses: that is, as the principal
support of the whole civft and ecclesiastical poUty. And the
consequence of his continued power will be the promotion and
flourishing condition of his family and dependents, frora the
highest to the lowest.
Ibid. — meaner vessels] D''733 seeras to raean earthen ves
sels of coraraon use, brittle, and of littie value, (see Lara. iv.
2. Jer. xlvift. 12.), in opposition to nuJN, goblets of gold and
sftver used in the sacrifices ; Exod. xxiv. 6.
25. The nail fastened — ] This raust be understood of
Shebna, as a repetition and confirmation ofthe sentence above
denounced against him.

CHAPTER XXIII.
1. Howl, O ye ships of Tarshish — ] This prophecy de-
nounceth tbe destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. It
opens with an address to the Tyrian negociators and sailos
at Tarshish, (Tartessus in Spain), a place which, in the
course of their trade, they greatiy frequented. The news
of the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar is said to be
brought to them frora Chittim, the islands and coasts of the
Mediterranean: " For the Tyrians, (says Jerora on, ver. 6.),
when they saw they had no other means of escaping, fled in
their ships, and took refuge in Carthage, and the islands of
the Ionian and Egean Sea : " from whence the news would
spread and reach Tarshish. So also Jarchi on the place.
'This seems to be the raost probable interpretation oi this
verse. 2. Be silent] Silence is a mark of grief and consterna
tion : see chap, xlvii. 5. Jeremiah has finely expressed this
image : — 27*

258 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXIII,
" The elders ofthe daughter of Sion sit on the ground, they
are sftent:
They have cast up dust on their heads, they have girded
, themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the
ground." Lam. ii. 10.
3. And the seed ofthe Nile — ] The Nile is cafted here
Shichor, as it is Jer. ii. 18. and 1 Chron. xiii. 5. It had this
name from the blackness of its waters charged with the mud
which it brings down from Ethiopia, when it overflows, " Et
viridem iEgyptum nigra foecundat arena : " as it was called
by the Greeks Melas, and by the Latins Melo, for the same
reason. See Servius on the above line of Virgil, Georg, iv.
291. It was called Siris by the Ethiopians ; by some sup
posed to be the same with Shichor. Egypt, by its extraordi
nary fertility, caused by the overflowing of the Nile, suppUed
the neighbouring nations with corn ; by which branch of
trade the Tyrians gained great wealth.
4. Be ashamed, O Sidon — ] Tyre is cafted, ver. 12. the
daughter of Sidon. " The Sidonians, (says Justin, xvift. 3,),
when their cfty was taken by the king of Ascalon, betook
theinsleves to their ships, and landed, and built Tyre." Si
don, as the mother city, is supposed to be deeply affected
with the calamity of her daughter.
Ibid. — nor educated — ] 'nnnni, so an ancient MS, pre
fixing the 1, which refers to the negative preceding, and" is
equivalent to n'?!. See Deut. xxxiii. 6. Prov. xxx. 3.
7. — whose antiquity is of the earliest date.] Justin, in
the passage above quoted, had dated the building of Tyre at
a certain number of years before the taking of Troy ; but the
number is lost in the present copies. Tyre, though not so
old as Sidon, yet was of very high antiquity : it was a strong
city, even in the tirae of Joshua : it is called is iS3a yy,
" the city of the fortress of Sor," Josh. xix. 29. Interpre
ters raise difficulties in regard to this passage, and will not
allow it to have been so ancient : with what good reason, I
do not see ; for it is called by the same name, " the fortress
of Sor," in the history of David, 2 Sam. xxiv. 7. ; ahd the
circumstances of the history determine the place to be the
very sarae.
10. O daughter of Tarshish — ] Tyre is caUed the daugh
ter of Tarshish ; perhaps J,because, Tyre being ruined, Tar
shish was become the superior city, and might be considered
as the metropolis of the Tyrian people ; or rather, because of

CHAP. XXIII. NOtES ON ISAlAH, 259
the close connexion and perpetual intercourse between thera' ;
according to that latitude of signification in which the He
brews Use the words son and daughter, to express any sort
of conjunction and dependence whatever. nJD, a girdle,
which collects, binds, and keeps together the loose raftnent,
when applied to a river, may raean a mound, mole, or arti
ficial dara, which contains the waters, and prevents them from
spreading abroad. A city, taken by seige, and destroyed,
whose walls are deraoUshed, whose policy is dissolved, whose
wealth is dissipated, whose people is scattered over the wide
country, is corapared to a river whose banks are broken down,
and its waters, let loose a,nd overflowing all the neghbourina-
plains, are wasted and lost. This raay possibly be the niean-
ing of this very obscure verse ; of which I can find no other
interpretation that is at all satisfactory.
13. Behold the land of the Chaldeans — ] This verse is
extreraely obscuie : the obscurity arises from the ambiguity
of the agents which belong to the verbs, and of the objects
expressed by the pronouns ; from the change of number in
the verbs, and of gender in the pronouns. The MSS
gives us no assistance ; and the ancient versions very Uttie.
The Chaldee and Vulg. read maty in the plural number.
I have followed the interpretation, which among many
different ones seemed to me most probable, that of Perizonius
and Vitringa.
The Chaldeans, Chasdim, are supposed to have had their
origin, and to have taken their name, from Chesed the son
of Nachor, the brother of Abraham. They were known by
that nariie in the time of Moses ; who calls Ur in Mesopo
tamia, from whence Abraham came, to distinguish it frora
other places ofthe sarae name, Ur ofthe Chaldeans. And Je
remiah calls them an ancient nation. This is not inconsis
tent with what Isaiah here says of thera : " This people was
not ;" that is, they were of no account, (see Deut. xxxii. 21.);
they were not reckoned among the great and potent nations
of the world, till of later times ; they were a rude, uncivftized,
barbairous people, without laws, without settled habitations ;
wandering in a wide desert country, D"S, and addicted to
rapine, like the wild Arabians. Such they are represented
to have heen in the tirae of Job, (i. 16.), and such they con
tinued to be till Assur, some powerful king of Assyria, ga
thered them together, and settled thera in Babylon, and the
neighbouring country. This probably was Ninus, whom I

260 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXIII.
suppose to have Uved in the tirae of the Judges. In this,
with many eminent chronologers, I follow the authority of
Herodotus ; who says, that the Assyrian monarchy lasted
but five hundred and twenty years. Ninus got possession of
Babylon from the Cuthean Arabians, the successors of Nim
rod in that empire, collected the Cbaldeans, and settled a
colony of them there, to secure the possession of the city,
which he and his successors greatly enlarged and ornamented.
They had perhaps been useful to him in his wars, and might
be likely to be further useful in keeping under the old inhabi
tants of that city, and of the country belonging to it ; ac
cording to the policy of the Assyrian kings, who generally
brought new people into the conquered countries. See Isa.
xxxvi. 17. 2 Kings xvii. 6, 24, The^ testimony of Dicae-
archus, a Greek historian contemporary with Alexander,
(apud Steph. de Urbibus, in v. XxxSxiog), in regard to the
fact is reraarkable, though he is mistaken in the name ofthe
king he speaks of: He says, " That a certain king of Assy
ria, the fourteenth in succession frora Ninus," (as he might
be, if Ninus is placed, as in the coraraon chronology, eight
hundred years higher than we have above set him), "named
as it is said Chaldaeus. having gathered together and united
all the people called Chaldeans, built the famous city Ba
bylon, upon the Euphrates."
14. Howl, O ye ships — ] The Prophet Ezekiel hath
enlarged upon this part of the same subject with great force
and elegance : —
"Thus saith the Lord Jehovah concerning Tyre :
At the sound of thy fall, at the cry ofthe wounded.
At the great slaughter in the midst of thee, shall not the is
lands tremble .'
And shall not aft the princes of the sea descend from their
thrones.
And lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered gar
ments .'
They shaft clothe themselves with trembling, they shall sit on
the ground ;
They shaft tremble every moment, they shaft be astonished at
thee.
And they shaft utter a lamentation over thee, and shaft say un
to thee :
How art thou lost, thou that wast inhabited from the seas !
The renowned city, that was strong in the sea, she and her
inhabitants !

Chap, xxiii. notes on isaiah. 261
That struck wfth terror all her neighbours!
Now shdft the coasts tremble in the day of thy faft,
And the isles that are in the sea shaft be troubled at thy de
parture." Ezek. xxvi. 15 — 18.
15. According to the days of one king — J That is, of
one kingdom. See Dan. vii, 17, vfti. 20. Nebuchadnezzar
began his conquests in the first year of his reign ; frora thence
to the taking of Babylon by Cyrus are seventy years ; at
which time the nations conquered by Nebuchadnezzar were
to be restored to liberty. These seventy years limit the du
ration ofthe Babylonish monarchy. Tyre was tfiken by hira,
towards the middle of that period ; so did not serve the king
of Babylon during the whole period, but only for the remain
ing part of it. This seeras to be the meaning of Isaiah :
The days allotted to the one king, or kingdom, are seventy
years ; Tyre, with the rest of the conquered nations, shall
continue in a state of subjection and desolation to the end of
that period — not from the begir.'uiiig and thro'Ogh the whole
Cl tuc peilod ; for, by being one of the latest conquests, the
duration of that state of subjection in regard to her was not
much more than half of it. " All these nations," saith Jer
emiah, (xxv. 11.), " shaft serve the king of Babylon seventy
years." Some of them were conquered sooner, some later ;
but the end of this period was the common term for the de
Uverance of thera all.
There is another way of computing the seventy years,
from the year in which Tyre was actually taken to the nine
teenth of Darius Hystaspis ; whom the Phenicians, or Tyri
ans, assisted against the lonians, and probably on that ac
count raight then be restored to their former liberties and priv
ileges. But I think the former the more probable interpre
tation. Ibid, sing as the harlot singeth — ] " Fidicinara esse
meretricum est," says Donatus in Terent. Eunuch, ift. 2.. 4.
" Nee meretrix tibicina, cujus
Ad strepftum salias." Hor. I. Epist. xiv. 25.
Sir John Chardin, in his MS note on this place, says : "C'est
que les vieiftes proslituees — ne font que chanter quand les
jeunes dancet, et les ani mer par I'inslrument et par la yoix."
17, 18. And at. the end of seventy years — ] i Tyre, after
its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, recovered, as it is here
Jforetold, its ancient trade, wealth, and grandeur ; as it did

262 notes on ISAIAH. CHAP. XXIII.
likewise after a second destruction by Alexander. It be
came Christian early with the rest ofthe neighbouring coun
tries. St. Paul himself found many Christians there. Acts
xxi. 4. It suffered much in the Diocletian persecution. It
was an archbishoprick under the patriarchate of Jerusalem,
with fourteen bishopricks under its jurisdiction. It con
tinued Christian tftl it was taken by the Saracens in 639:
was recovered by the Christians in 1124. But in 1280
was conquered by the Mamelukes ; and afterw-ards taken
from them by the Turks in 1516. Since that time it has
sunk into utter decay ; is now a mere ruin ; a bare rock ;
'¦'a place to spread nets upon," as the Prophet Ezekiel fore
told it should be, chap. xxvi. 14. See Sandys's Travels ;
Vitringa on the place ; Bishop Newton on the Prophecies,
Dissert, xi.
CHAPTER XXIV.
From the xiftth chapter to the xxiiid inclusive, the fate
of several cities and nations is denounced; — of Babylon, of
the Phftistines, Moab, Damascus, Egypt, 'Tyre. After hav
ing foretold the destruction of the foreign nations, enemies of
Judah, the Prophet declares the judgments impending on the
people of God themselves, for their wickedness and apostasy;
and the desolation that shall be brought on their whole coun
try. The xxivth, and the tbree foftowing chapters, seem to
have been delivered about the same time — before the de
struction of Moab by Shalmaneser, (see xxv, 10.) ; conse
quently before the destruction of Samaria ; probably in the
beginning of Hezekiab's reign. But concerning the partic
ular subject of the xxivth chapter, interpreters are not at
all agreed : some refer it to the desolation caused by the in
vasion of Shalmaneser ; others to ihe invasion of Nebuchad
nezzar ; and others to the de^ruction of the city and
nation by the Romans. Vitringa is singular in his opinion,
who applies it to the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes.
Perhaps it raay have a view to all of the three great desola
tions of the country, by Shalmaneser, by Nebuchadnezzar,
and by the Romans ; especially the last, to which some parts
of it may seem more peculiariy applicable. However, the
Prophet chiefly employs general images ; such as set forth
the greatness and universality of tbe ruin and desolation

¦CHAP. XXIV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 263
that is to be brought upon the country by these great revo
lutions, involving all orders and degrees of raen, changing
entirely the face of things, and destroying the whole polity
both reUgious and civil ; without entering into rainute circura-
stances, or necessarily restraining it by particular raarks to one
great event, exclusive 6f others ofthe sarae kind,
4. The world languisheth] The world is the same with
the land ; that is, the kingdoms of Judah and Israel ; orbis
Israeftticus. See note on chap, xiii. 11.
5. — the law] nun, singular : so read LXX, Syr.
Chald. 6. — are destroyed] For iin, read -isin: see LXX, Syr.
Chald. Syra. >
9. — palm wine — ] This is the proper meaning of the
word ym, Fixipx; see note on chap. v. 11. All enjoyment
shal! cease ; the sweetest wine shall become bitter to their
taste. 11. — is passed avmy] For n3ip, read ni3;?; transpos
ing a letter: Houbigant, Secker. Five MSS (two an
cient) add bo after E'la'D : LXX add the sarae word before
ft. 14. But these — ] That is, they that escaped out of these
calamities. The great distresses brought upon Israel and
Judah drove the people away, and dispersed thera aft over
the neighbouring countiies : they fled ta Egypt, to Asia
Minor, to the islands and the coasts of Greece. They -weie
to be found in great "numbers in most of the principal cities
of these countries. Alexandria v.'as in a, great measure
peopled by them. They had synagogues for their worship
in many places;, and were greatiy instrumental in propagat
ing the knowledge of the true God amongst these heathen
nations, and preparing them for the reception of Christian
ity. This is what the Prophet seems to mean by the cele
bration of the name of Jehovah in the waters, in the dis
tant coasts, and in the uttermost parts of the land. D'D,
the tcaters ; ilJiv^, LXX ; iSxTx, Theod.; not D'D, /row the
sea, '^'
15. I?i the distant coasts of the sea] For D'1N3, I sup
pose we ought to readD"'N3; which is in a great degree
justifled by the repetition of tbe word in the next member
of the sentence, with the addition of en to vary the phrase,
exactly in the manner of the Prophet. D"n is a word
chiefly applied to any distant countries, especially those

264 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXIV.
lying on the Mediterranean Sea. Others conjecture d»in'3,
0'in3, D'dns, D'd;?3, D'iin3 ; D'11S3, a in3, iftustrati; Le Clerc.
Twenty-three MSS read D'11N3. The LXX do not acknowl
edge the reading of the text, expressing here only the word
D"N, It TMi vtiFoii, and that not repeated. But MSS Pachom.
and I, D, ii. supply in this place the defect in the other co
pies of LXX, thus : A(« tsto ii So^x Kvpin irxi £» tm? nFoii Tr,i
^xXxFFrfi' IV TM( VTjFoii TO ovofix TH KvpiH <B>iH lF^xr,X e»«o|ov erxi. Ac
cording to which the LXX had in their Hebrew copy d"n3,
repeated afterward, 'not D'1N3.
16. But I said — ] The Prophet speaks in the person
of the inhabitants of the land still remaining there; who
should be pursued by divine vengeance, and suffer repeated
distresses from the inroads and depredations of their powerful
enemies. ' Agreeably to what he said before in a general de
nunciation of these calamities.
" Though there be a tenth part remaining in it;
Even this shaft undergo a repeated destruction."
Chap. vi. IS. See the note there.
Ibid. The plunderers plunder] The note on chap, xxi, 2;
17, 18. The terror, the pit, — ] If they escape one cala
mity, another shaft overtake them ;
"As if a man should flee froHi a lion, and a bear should over
take him:
Or should betake himself to his house, and lean his hand on
the wall.
And a serpent shall bfte him." Amos v. 19.
For, as our Saviour expressed it in a like parabolical man
ner, " wheresoever the carcass is, there shall the eagles be
gathered together ;" Matt. xxiv. 28. The images are taken
from the different methods of hunting and taking wild beasts,
vi'hich were anciently in use. The terror was a line strung
with feathers of all colours, -which fluttering in the air scared
and frightened the beasts into the toils, or into the pit, which
was prepared for them. " Nee est mirum, cum maximos
ferarum greges linea pennis distincta contineat, et in insidias
agat, , ab ipso effectu dicta Formido :" Seneca de ira, ii.
12. The pft, or pit-fall, Fovea ; digged deep in the ground,
and covered over w-ith green boughs, turf, &c. in order to
deceive them, that they might fall into it unawares. The
snare, or toils, Indago ; a series of nets, inclosing at first a
great space of ground, in which the wild beasts were known
to be ; and then drawn in by degrees into a narrower com-

CHAP. XXIV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 265
pass, till tiiey were at last closely shut up, and entangled in
thera. For '7ipB a MS reads 'jsd, as it is in Jer. xlviii. 44. ; and
so the Vulg. and Chald. But perhaps ft is only, Uke the
latter, a Hebraism, and means no more than the simple pre
position D- See Psal. cii. 6. For it does not appear, that
the iterror was intended to scare the wild beasts by its noise.
The paronomasia is very remarkable ; pachad pachath pach:
and that it was a common prov.erbial form, appears from Jer
emiah's repeating it in the sarae words, chap, xlvift. 43,
44. 18. from the pit] For lina, from the midst of, a MS
reads ¦m,from, as it is in Jer. xlviii. 44. ; and so likewise
LXX, Syr. Viilg.'
19, The land] " psn, forte delendum n, ut ex preece-
dente ortura. Vid. seqq." Secker.
20. — like a lodge for a night.] See note on chap. i. 8.
21 — 23. — 071 high, — on earth — ] That is, the ecclesias
tical and civil polity of the Jews ; which shall be destroyed :
The nation shall continue in a state of depression and dere
liction for a long tirae. The iraage seeras to be taken from
the practice of the great monarchs of that tirae ; who, when
they had thrown their wretched captives into a dungeon,
never gave themselves the trouble of inquiring about them ;
but let thera lie a long time in that miserable condition,
wholly destitute of relief, and disregarded. God shall at
length revisit and restore his people in the last age ; and then
the kingdom of God shaft be established in such perfection,
as wholly to obscure and eclipse the glory of the temporary,
typical, preparative kingdora now sftbsisting.
" The 'figurative langrfage of the Prophets is taken from
the analogy between the world natural, and an empire or
kingdoin considered as a world politic. Accordingly the
whole world natural, consisting of heaven and earth, signifies
the whole world politic, consisting of thrones and people,
or so rauch of it as is considered in prophecy ; and the
things in that world -signify the analogous things in this.
For the heavens and the things therein signify thrones and
dignities, and those who enjoy thera' ; and the earth, with
the things thereon, the inferior people ; and the lowest parts
of the earth, called hades or hell, the lowest or raost miseiar
ble part of thera. — Great earthquakes, and the shaking of
-heaven and earth, are put for the shaking of kingdoras, so
28

266 notes on isaiah. chap. xxiv.
as to distract and overthrow them ; the creating a new
heaven and earth, and the passing of an old one, or the be
ginning and end of a world, for the rise and ruin of a body
polftic signified thereby. — The sun, for the whole species
and race of kings, in the kingdoms of the world polftic;
the moon, for the body of the common people, considered
as the king's wife ; the stars, for subordinate princes and
great men ; or for bishops and rulers of the people of God,
when the sun is Christ :— ^setting of tbe sun, raoon, and
stars ; darkening the sun, turning the moon into blood, and
fafting of the stars, for the ceasing of a kingdom." Sir I.
Newton, Observations on the Prophecies, Part I. chap. ii.

CHAPTER XXV.
It doth not appear to me, that this chapter hath any close
and particular connexion with the chapter immediately pre
ceding, taken separately, and by itself The subject of that
was the desolation of the land of Israel and Judah, hy the
just judgment of God, for the wickedness and disobedience
of the people ; which, taken by itself, seems not with any
propriety to introduce a hymn of thanksgiving to God for
his mercies to his people in delivering them from. their ene
mies. But taking the whole course of prophecies, from the
xiifth to the xxivth chapter inclusive, in which the Prophet
foretefts the destruction of several cities and nations, enemies
to the Jews, and of the land of' Judah' itself, yet wfth inti
mations of a remnant to be saved, and a restoration to be at
length effected hy a glorious establishment of the kingdom
of God ; with a view to this extensive scene of God's pro
vidence in all its parts, and in all its consequences, the Pro
phet may well be supposed to break out into this song of
praise ; in -which his mind seems to be more possessed with
the prospect of future mercies than with the recoUection of
the past.
2. — the city — ] Nineveh, Babylon, Ar Moab, or any
other strong fortress possessed by the enemies of the people
of God.
For the first yyn, Syr. Vulg. read yjn; LXX, and
Chald. read, in the pftual, d'1;?, transposing the letters.
After the second tjtd, a MS adds '7j'7.
Ibid. — the proud ones, — ] For D'ir, strangers, MS

chap. xxv. notes on isaiah. 267
Bodl. and another read D'lt, the proud : so likewise the
LXX ; for they render it as-sCsiv here, and in verse 5th, as
they do in some other places : see Deut.. xvift. 20, 22.
Another MS reads D'is, adversaries ; which also makes a
good sense. But D'ir and d'IT are often confounded by the
great simiUtude of the letters i and i. See Mal. ift. 15.
iv. 1. Psal. xix. 14. apud LXX; and Psal. liv. 5. (where
Chald. reads D'ii) compared with Psal. Ixxxvi. 14.
4. - — a winter storm.] For I'p read up : or as i';; from
11;?, so lip frora up : Capellus.
5. — the proud—] The same mistake here as in ver. 2. :
see note there. Here D'ir, the proud, is parallel to D.'S'ij,',
the formidable ; as in Psal. liv. 5. and Ixxxvi. 14,
Ibid. As the heat by a thick cloud.} For3in, Syr Chald.
Vulg. and two MSS, read 3in3; which is a repetition of
the beginning of the forgoing parallel line : and the verse
taken out of the parallel forra, and more fully expressed,
would .^ run thus: "As a thick cloud interposing tempers
the heat of the sun on the burnt soil, so shalt thou, by the
interposition of tby power, bring low and abate the tumult
of the proud, and the triumph of the formidable."
6. — shall m,akefor all the people a feast.] A feast is a
proper and usual expression of joy in consequence of vic
tory, or any other great success. The feast here spoken of
is to be celebrated on Mount Sion, and all the peoples with
out distinction are to be invited to -it. This can be no other
than the celebration of the establishment of Christ's king-'
dora, which is frequently represented in the gospel under
the image of a feast ; where raany shall come from the east
and west, and shaU sit down at table with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, in the kingdora of heaven ;" Matt. viii. fl. See
also Luke xiv. 16. xxft. 29, 30. This sense is fully con
firmed by the concomitants of this feast expressed in the
next verse ; the removing of the veft from the face of the
nations, and the abolition of death : the first of which is
obviously and cleariy explained of the preaching of the gos
pel ; and the second must mean' the blessing of immortality
procured for us by Christ, " who hath abolished death and
ihrough death hath destroyed him that had the po'A'er of
death.", Ibid. — of old wines} Heb. lees; that is, of wines kept
long on tbe lees. The word used to express the lees in the
0!;iginal signifies the preservers ; because they preserve the

268 notes on isaiah. chap, xxv,
strength and flavour of the wine. " All recent wines, after
the fermentation has ceased, ought to be kept on their lees
for a certain time ; which greatly contribute to increase
their strength and flavour. Whenever this first fermenta
tion has been deficient, they will retain a more rich and
sweet taste than is natural to thera in a recent true vinous
state ; and unless further fermentation is promoted by their
lying longer on their own lees, they wftl never attain their
genuine strength and flavor, but run into repeated and
ineffectual fermentatioris, and soon degenerate into a liquor
of an acetous kind. — Aft wines of a Ught and austere kind,
by a fermentation too great, or too long continued, cer
tainly degenerate into a weak sort of vinegar ; while the
stronger not only require, but wift safely bear a stronger
and often repeated fermentation ; and are more apt to de
generate from a defect than excess of fermentation, into a
vapid, ropy, ,and at length into a putrescent state :" Sir
Edward Barry, Observations on the Wines of the Ancients,
p. 9. 10.
Thevenot observes particularly of the Schiras wine, that,
after it is refined frora the lees, it is apt to grow sour : " 11
a beaucoup de lie ; c'est pourquoi ft donne puissemment
dans la teste ; et pour le rendre plus traitable, on le passe
par un chausse d'hypocras : apres quoi il est fort clair, et
moins furaeux. lis mettent ce vin dans des grandes janes
,de terre, qui tiennent dix ou douze jusqu'a quatorse cara-
bas : mais quand Ton a entame une jarre, il faut la vuider
au plutost, et mettre le vin qu'on en tire dans des bouteilles
ou carabas ; car si l'on y manque en lelaigsant quelque tems
apres que la jarre est entamee, il se gate et s'aigrit:"
Voyages, tom. ii. p. 245.
This clearly explains the very elegant comparison, or
rather aftegory, of Jeremiah ; where the reader will find a
reraarkable example of the mixture of the proper with the
allegorical, not uncommon in the Hebrew^ poets :
" Moab hath been at ease from his youth.
And he hath sel,tled upon his lees ;
Nor hath he been drawn offfrom vessel to vessel,
Neither hath he gone into captivity :
Wherefore his taste remaineth in him,
And his flavor is not changed," Jer. xlviii. II.
' Sir John Chardin's MS note on tijis place of Jeremiah
is as follows : " On change ainsi le via de cupe en cupe en

chap. xxv. notes on isaiah. 269
Orient ; et quand on en entame une, il faut la vuider ,en
petites cupes ou bouteilles, sans quoy il s.'aigrit."
7 , —the face of all— ] MS Bodl. reads '73 'J3 '?^. The
word 'J3 has been removed frora its right place into the
Une above, where it raakes no sense ; as Houbigant conjec
tured. 9. — shall they say — ] "So LXX and Vulg. in the plural
number. They read iidni. Syr. reads niDNi, Thou shalt
say. 10. — shall give rest — ] " Heb. niJn, qidescet. Annon
n':n, ([uietem dabit, ut Graeci, mxTrxvFi^ SaFa, et Copt. ?"
Mr. Woihe. That is, " shall give' peace and quiet to Sion,
' by destroying tbe enemy ;" as it foftows.
Ibid. As the stravj is threshed — ] '"Hoc juxta ritura
loquitur Palaestinas et multarum Orientis provinciarura,
quae ob pratorum et faeni penuriara paleas preparant esui
animantiura. Sunt autem carpenta ferrata rotis per medium
in serrarura raodum se volventibus, qusestipulam conterunt ;
et coraminuunt in paleas. l^uoraodo igftur plaustris ferratis
paleae conteruntur, sic conteretur Moab sub eo ; sive sub
Dei potentia, sive in semefipso, ut nihil in eo integri rema-
heat :" Hieron. in loc. See Note on chap, xxviii. 27.
Ibid. — under the wheels of the car.] For nJDiD, LXX,
Syr. Vulg. read n33ia ; which I have followed. See Joshua
XV. 21. compared'with xix. 5. where there is a raistake very
nearly the same. The Keri, id3, is confirmed by twenty-eight
MSS (seven ancient) and tbree editions.
11. As he that sinketh stretcheth out his hands to swim,.]
There- is great obscurity in this place: some understand
God as the agent ; others Moab. I have chosen the latter
sense, as I cannot conceive that the stretching out of the
hands of a swimmer in swimming, can be any iUustration of
the action of God stretching out his hands over Moab *to
destroy it. I take nnB''n, altering the point on the w on the
authority of LXX, to be the participle of nnti', the same
with nits' and nrw, inclinari, deprimi ; and that the Prophet
designed a paronomasia here, a figure which he frequent
ly uses, between the similar words nntv and ninty. As 'nnn,
in his place, or on the spot, as we say, in the preceding
verse, gives us an idea of the sudden and complete destruc
tion of Moab ; so I3ip3, in the midst of him, means that
this destruction shaft be open, and exposed to the view
of aU : The neighbouring nations shalt plainly see hira strug-
28*

270 notes ON ISAIAH. CHAP XXV
gling against it, as a man in the midst of the deep waters
exerts all his efforts, by swimming, to save himself from
drowning.
CHAPTER XXVI.
1. — loe have a strong city] In opposition to the city of
the enemy, which God hath destroyed, chap. xxv. 2.; see the
note there.
3. — they have trusted] So Chald. in[33. Syr. and Vulg.
read unt33, we have trusted. Schroeder, Gram. Hebr. p. 360.
explains the present reading, nn33, impersonally, confisum
est. 4. — in Jehovah], In Jah Jehovah, Heb.; but see
Houbigant, not. in cap. xft. 2.
'8. We have placed our confidence in thy name] LXX,
Syr. and Chald. read u'lp, without the pronoun annexed.
9. - — have I desired thee] Forty -one MSS. (nine ancient),
and five editions, read I'n'iN. It is proper to note this ; be
cause the second i being omitted in the text, Vulg. and many
others have rendered it in the third person.
16. — we have sought thee — } So LXX, and two MSS,
•]mpD, in the first person. And so perhaps it should be
Ups, in the first person : but how LXX read this word is not
clear ; and this last member of the verse is extremely ob
scure. For ID*? the LXX read ij'?, in the first person likewise:. a
frequent mistake ; see note on chap. x. 29.
19. — we have brought forth wind] The learned pro
fessor Michaelis explains this image in the following man
ner : — " Rariorem raorbum describi, empneumatosin, aut
ventosam raolam, dictum ; quo quae laborant diu et sibi et
peritis raedicis gravidae videntur, tanderaque post omnes verae
graviditatis raolestias et labores ventura ex utero emittunt :
¦quera ngorbura passim describunt medici :" Syntagma Com
ment, vol. ii, pi 165. The Syriac translator seeras to have
understood it in this manner : " Enixi sumus, ut illae, quae
ventos pariunt."
Ibid. — -hi the land) yiN3, so a MS, LXX, Syr, and
Vulg. 19. — my deceased] All the ancient versions render it
in the plural; they read ini'73j, m,y dead bodies, Syr, , and
Chald, read Dn'ni'rsj, their dead bodies.

chap. XXVI. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 271
Ibid. — of the dawn} Lucis, Vulg, ;. so also Syr. and
Chald. The deliverance of the people of God from a state of the
lowest depression, is explained by iraages plainly taken from
the resurrection of the dead. In the same manner the Pro
phet Ezekiel represents the restoration of the Jewish nation
from a state of utter dissolution, by the restoring of the dry
bones to life, exhibited to hira in a vision, chap, xxxvii.
which is directly thus applied and explained, ver. 11 — 13.
And this deUverance is expressed with a manifest opposition
to what is here said above, ver. 14. of the great lords and
tyrants under whom they bad groaned ;
" They are dead, they shall not live ;
They are deceased tyrants, they shall cot rise :"
that they should be destroyed utterly, hnd should never be
restored lo their former power and glory. It appears from
hence that the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead was
at that tirae a popular and coramon doctrine : for an iraage
which is assuraed in order to express or represent any thing
in the way of allegory or raetaphor, whether poetical or pro
phetical, must be an image coraraonly known and qnder-
stood ; otherwise it will not answer the purpose for which ft
is assumed.
20. Come O my jyeople ; retire — ] An exhortation to
patience and resignation under oppression, with a confident
expectation of deUverance, by the power of God manifestly
to be exerted in the, destruction of the oppressor. It seems
to be an allusion to the command of Moses to the Israelites,
when the destroying angel was to go through the land of.
Egypt, " not to go out at the door of their houses until the
' morning ;" Exod. xii. 22. And before the passage of tbe
Red Sea : " Fear , ye not, stand stift, and see the salvation
of Jehovah : — Jehovah shaU fight for you, and ye shaU
hold your peace ;" Exod, xiv, 13, 14,
CHAPTER XXVH,
The subject of this chapter seems to be the nature, the
measure, and the design of God's deaUngs wfth his people :
ver. 1. his judgments, inflicted on their great and powerful
enenftes ; ver. 2. his constant care and protection of his fa
vourite vineyard, in the form of a didogue : ver. 7, the mo-

272 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXVII.
deration and lenity with which the severity of his judgments
have been tempered : ver. 9. the end and' design of thera,
to recover them from idolatry ; and, ver. 12. the recafting
of them, on their repentance, from their several disper
sions. The first verse seeras connected with the two last
verses of the preceding chapter.
1. Leviathan, ^c] The animals here raentioned seem
to^he, — the crocodile, rigid, by the stiffness of the back-bone,
so that he cannot readily turn himself, when he pursues his
prey ; hence the easiest way of escaping frora hira is by
making frequent and short turnings : the serpent, or dragon,
flexible and winding ; which coils hiraself up in a circular
forra : the sea-radnster, or the whale. These are used alle-
goricafty,^ without doubt, for great potentates, enemies and
persecutors of the people of God : but to specify the parti
cular persons or states designed by the Prophet under these
images is a raatter of great difficulty, and comes not neces
sarily within the design of these notes.
, 2. — The beloved vineyard] For inn, a great number of
MSS, and some printed editions, have mn ; which is con
firmed by LXX, and Chald.
Ibid. ^ — a responsive song] That nJ,i?, #o awsrce?', signi
fies occasionally to sing responsively ; and. that this mode of
singing was frequently practised among the ancient Jews,
see De S, Poes. Hebr. Prasl. xix. at the beginning.
3. I will take care of her} For ip3' ]3, Syr. read lp3Ni:
and fifteen MSS (six ancient), and six editions, read ipsN,
in the first person.
4. / have no wall] For nnn, LXX and Syr: read
HDin. An ancient MS has nn'n. For n3, two MSS
read d3, plural. The vineyard wishes for a wall, and a
fence of thorns ; human strength and protection ; (as the
Jews were too apt to apply to their powerful neighbours for
assistance, and to trust to the shadow of Eygpt) : Jehovah
replies, that this would not avaft her, nor defend her against
his wrath : he counsels her therefore to betake herself to his
protection. On which she entreats him to make peace with
her. "About Tripoly there are abundance of vineyards and
gardens, enclosed for the most part wfth hedges; which
chiefly consist of the rhamnus, paliurus, oxyacantha," &c. :
Bawolf, p. 21, 22. A fence of thorns is esteeraed equal to
a waU for strength, being commonly represented as iinpene-
trable. See Micah vii. 4. Hos. ii. 6,

CHAP. XXVII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 273
Ibid. — of the thorn and brier] Seven MSS (two an
cient), and one edition, and Syr. Vulg. Aquila, read n'syi, wfth
the conjunction i prefixed. *
5. Ah !] For in, I read 'in, as it was at first in a MS.
The ' was easily lost, • being followed by another '.
6. — from the root] ¦ For tfflB", I read with the Syr. tyilVD.
And for nisi ]"S', ma wv, joining the i to the first word, and
taking that into construction with the first part of the sen
tence. I suppose the dialogue to be continued in this verse,
which pursues the sarae iraage of the allegory, but in the way
of metaphor.
9. ,And if—] n'?i, four MSS (two ancient), and LXX.
11. — her boughs] n'i'Sp, MS and Vulg. ; that is, the
boughs of the vineyard, referring stift to the subject of the di
alogue above.
The scarcity of fuel, especially wood, in raost parts of the
East is so great, that they supply it with every thing capable
of burning; cow dung dried, roots, parings of fruit, withered
stalks of herbs and flowers : see Matt. vi. 28 — 30. Vine-twigs
are particularly raentioned, as used for fuel in dressing their
food, by D'Arvieux ; La Roque, Palestine,' p. 198. Ezekiel
says, in his parable of the vine, used figuratively for the peo
ple of God, as the vineyard is here, " Shall wood be taken
thereof to do any work ? or will men take a pin of it to hang
any vessel thereon ? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel ; "
chap. XV. 3, 4. " If a raan abide not in me," saith our Lord,
" he is cast forth as a branch [of the vine], and is withered ;
and men gather thera, and cast thera into the fire, and they
are burned ; " John xv. 6. They eraployed woraen and chil
dren to gather these things ; and they laid thera up in store
for use. The dressing and pruning of their vines afforded a
good supply of the last sort of fuel : but the Prophet says,
that the vines themselves of the beloved vineyard shall he
blasted, withered, and broken ; and the women shall come,
and gather them up, and carry away the whole of thera, to
make their fires, for domestic uses. See Harmer, Observ. i,
p. 254. &c.

CHAPTER xxvm.
1. The proud crown — ] "Sebaste, the ancient Samaria,
is situated on a long mount of an oval .figure ; having first

274 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXVIII.
a fruitful valley, and then a ring of hftls, running round about
ft : " Maundreft, p. 58. " E regione horura ruderum mons
est peramoenus, planitie adrfiodura frugifera circurnseptus, su
per quem oftra Samaria urbs condita fuit : " Fureri Itinerari-
ura, p, 93, The city, beautifufty situated on the top of a
round hill, and surrounded iramediately with a rich vaftey,
and a circle of other hftls beyond it, suggested the idea of a
chaplet, or wreath of flowers, worn upon their heads on occa
sions of festivity ; expressed by the proud croivn, and the
fading flower of ihe drunkards. That this custora of wear
ing chaplets in their banquets prevailed among the Jews, as
weft as among the Greeks and Romans, appears from the
following passage of the book of Wisdom :
" Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments.
And let no flower ofthe spring pass by us;
Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds, before they are
" wfthered." Wisd. ii. 7, 8.-
2. — the exceedingly strong one] 'Jits'? 'p'aN, fortis Dom
ino, i. e. fortissiraus, a Hebraism. For 'Jin*?, thirty-eight
MSS, and two edil>ions, read mn''?.
3. — crowns} I read niiC3;r, plural, to agree with the
verb nJDDin.
4. The early fruit before summer} " No sooner doth the
boccore [the early fig] draw near to perfection, in the middle
or latter end of Jupe, than the kermez, or summer fig, be
gins to be formed, though it rarely ripens before August ;
about which time the same tree frequently throws out a third
crop, or the winter fig, as we raay call it. This is usually
of a much longer shape and darker complexion than the
kermez, hanging and ripening upon the tree even after the
leaves are shed ; and, provided the winter proves mild and
temperate, is gathered as a delicious morsel in the spring:"
Shaw, Travels, p. 370. fol. The image was very obvious to
the inhabitants of Judea and the neighbouring countries, and
is frequentiy applied by the Prophets to express a desirable
object ; by none more elegantly than by Hosea, clrap, ix.
Id. " Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel;
Like the first ripe fig in her prime, 1 saw your fathers."
Ibid. — he plucketh it] For nNi', which with nxin
makes a miserable tautology, read by a transposition of a
letter nij^' ; a happy conjecture of Houbigant, The image.

•CHAP. XXVIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH, 275
expresses in the strongest manner the great ease with wbich
the Assyrians shaft take the city and the whole kingdora,
and the avidity with whicft they shall seize the rich prey
without resistance.
5. In that day — } Thus far tbe prophecy relates to the
Israefttes, and manifestiy denounces their approaching de
struction by Shalmaneser. Here it turns to the two tribes
of Judah and Benjamin, the remnant of God's people, who
were to continue a kingdom after the final captivity of the
Israelites. It begins with a favourable prognostication of
their affairs under Hezekiah ; but soon changes to reproofs
and threatenings, for their intemperance, disobedience, and
profaneness. 6. — to the 'gate of the enemy] That is, who pursue the
fieeing enemy even to the very gates of their own city:
" But we were upon thera even unto the entering of the
gate ;" 2 Sam. xi, 23. ; that is, we drove the enemy back to
their own gates : see also 1 Sam. xvii. 52:
9. Whom [say they] would he teach — ] The scoffers
mentioned below, ver. 14. are here introduced as uttering
their sententious speeches : they treat God's method of deal
ing .wfth them, and warning thera by his Prophets, with
contempt and derision. What, say they, doth he treat us
as raere infants just weaned ? doth he teach us Uke Uttie
children, perpetually inculcating the sarae elementary les
sons, the mere rudiments of knowledge ; precept after pre
cept, line after line, here and ihere, by little and little?
iraitating at the sarae tirae, and ridiculing, ver. 10. the con
cise prophetical manner. God by his 'Prophet retorts upon
thera, with great severity, their own contemptuous mockery ;
turning it to a sense quite different from what they intended.
Yes, saith, he, it shaU be in fact as you say: ye shaU be
taught by a strange tongue, and a. stammering Up.; in a
strange country : ye shall be carried into captivity by a
people whose . language shaU be unintelligible to you, and
which ye shall be forced to learn Uke cbildren : and my
dealing with you shall be according to your own words ; it
shall be command upon coraraand for your punishment ; it
shall be line upon line, stretched over you tp mark out your
destruction ; (compare 2 Kings xxi. 13.) : it shall corae upon
you at different times, and' by different degrees ; tift the
judgments, with whicb from time to time I have threatened
3'OU", shall have their full accompUshment.

276 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXVIII.
Jerom seeras to have rightiy understood the general de
sign of this passage, as expressing the raanner in which the
scoffers, by their se"ntentious speeches, turned into ridicule
the warnings of God by his Prophets ; though he has not
so weU explained tbe raeaning of the repetition of their
speech in the 13th verse. His words, are, on ver. 9. " Sole-
bant hoc ex persona Prophelarum ludentes dicere :" and on
ver. 14.- " Q,uod supra dixiraus, cura irrisione soUtos prin-
cipes Judaeoruin Prophetis dicere, manda, remanda, et
caetera his simftia, per, quae ostenditur, nequaquam eos Pro-
phetarura credidisse serraonibus, sed Piophetiam habuisse
despectui, praesens ostendit capitulum, per quod appellautur
viri illusores :" Hieron. in loc.
And so Jarchi interprets the word G'but'a in the next
verse : " Qui dicunt verba irrisionis parabolice." And the
Chaldee paraphrases the 11th verse to the same purpose,
understanding it as spoken not of God, but of the people
deriding his prophets : " (iuoniara in mutatione loquelae et
in lingua subsannationis irridebant contra Prophetas qui
prophetabant populo huic."
12. This is ihe true rest — ] The sense of this verse is :
God had warned thera hy his prophets, that their safety
and security, their deliverance from their present calamities,
and from the apprehensions of stift greater approaching,
depended wholly on their trust in God, their faith and obe
dience ; but they rejected this gracious warning with con-
terapt and mockery.
15. — a covetiani with death] To be in covenant with,
is a kind of proverbial expression to denote perfect security
from evil and mischief of any sort :
"For thou shalt be in league with the stones ofthe field ;
And the beasts ofthe field shall be at peace with thee."
Job v, 23.
". And I wift make a covenant for them with the beasts of the
field.
And with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things
ofthe ground." Hos. ii. 18.
That is, none of these shall hurt thera. But Lucan, spea!k-
ing of the PsyUi, whose peculiar property it was to be unhurt
by the bite of serpents, with which their country abounded,
comes stftl nearer to the expression of Isaiah in this place : —

•CHAP. XXVIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 277
" Gens unica terras
Incolit a saevo serpentum innoxia morsu
Marmaridae Psylli. 
Pax illis cum morte data est." Pharsal. ix. 894.
" Of all who scorching Afric's sun endure.
None like the swarthy Psyllians are secure;
With healing gifts and privileges" graced.
Well in the land of serpents were they placed:
Truce wfth the dreadful tyrant death they have,
And border safely on his realm the grave." Rowe.
18. — shall he broken} For 123, which seems not to be
long to this place, Chald. reads I2n; which is approved by
Houbigant and Secker : see Jer. xxxiii. 21. where the very
same phrase is used. See Prelim. Dissert, p. xxxi.
, 20, — For the bed is too short — J A mashal or prover
bial saying, the raeaning of which is, that they will find all
means of defence and protection insufficient to secure them,
and cover them from the evils coming upon thera. pD, chap.
xxii. 8. the covering, is used for the outworks of defence,
the barrier of the country; and here in the aUegorical sense
it means rauch the same thing. Their beds were only mat
tresses laid on the floor; and the coveriet, a sheet, or in ihe
winter a carpet, laid over it, in which the person wrapt him
self. For DJ3nn3, it ought probably to be DKnna: Houbigant,
Secker.
23. Listen ye, and hear my voice — J The foregoing dis
course, consisting of severe reproofs, and threatenings of
dreadful judgments impending on tbe Jews for their vices,
and their profane contempt of God's warnings by his mes
sengers, the Prophet concludes with an explanation and de
fence of God's method of dealing with his people in an ele
gant parable or allegory ; in which he employs a variety of
images, all taken from the science of agriculture. As the
husbandman uses various methods in preparing his land, and
adapting it to the several kinds of seed to be sown, with a
due observation of times and seasons ; and, when he hath
gathered in his harvest, employs methods as various in sepa
rating the corn ftom the straw and the chaff by different in
struments, according to the nature of the different sorts of
grain : so God, with unerring wisdom, and with strict jus
tice, instructs, admonishes, and corrects his people ; chastises
and punishes them in various ways, as the exigence of the
case requires ; now more moderately, now more sev'erely ;
always tempering justice with mercy ; in order to reclaim
29

278 notes on ISAIAH. CHAP. XXVIII.
the wicked, to improve the good ; and finally, to separate the
one from the other.
26. For his God instructeth him} All nations have agreed
in attributing agriculture, the most useful and the most ne
cessary of all sciences, to the invention and.to the suggestions
of their deities. " The Most High bath ordained husbandry,"
saith the son of Sirach ; Eccl'us vii. 15.
" Namque Ceres fertur fruges, Liberque liquoris
Vitigeni laticem mortalibus instftuisse." Lucretius, v. 14.
'O S^ ijsrio; xvi^aTToiFi
Ali,IX FII/iMIVll, A«0!J; S^ ITTI leyov lyil^Cl
M-ifatsFxai fiiorcio' Xiyii S' cts ^a>iOi a^i^n
SouFi Ti XXI fiaxi>aiFr Myii S' on Si^:xi «»«;
K«i tpuTx yv^aFxi, XXI FTTi^fixTx TTxvTx fixAiF^xi. Aratus, Plisen, 5.
He (Jupiter) to the human race
Indulgent, prompts to necessary toil
Man provident of life; with kindly signs
The seasons marks, when best to turn the glebe
With spade and plough, to nurse the tender plant,
And cast o'er fostering earth the seeds abroad.
27, 28. Four methods of threshing are here mentioned, by
different instruments ; the flail, the drag, the wain, and the
treading of the cattle. The staff, or flail, was used for the
inflrmiora semina, says Hieron. the grain that was too tender
to be treated in the other methods. The drag consisted of
a sort of frame of strong planks, made rough at the bottom
with hard stones or iron : it w-as drawn by horses or oxen over
the corn-sheaves spread on the floor, the driver sitting upon
ft. Kempfer has given a print representing the manner of
using this instrument : Amoen. Exot, p. 682. flg. 3. The
wain was rauch like the former, but had wheels with iron
teeth or edges Uke a saw. " Ferrata carpenta rotis per me
dium in serrarura modura se volventibus : " Hieron. in loc. ;
by which it should seera that the axle was armed with iron
teeth, or serrated wheels, throughout. See a description
and print of such a machine used at present in Egypt for
the same purpose; it moves upon three rollers armed with
iron teeth or wheels, to cut the straw ; in Niebuhr's Voyage
en Arable, tab. xvii. p. 123. In Syria they make use ofthe
drag, constructed in the very same manner as above de
scribed : Niebuhr, Description de I'Arabie, p. 140.' This
not only forced out the grain, but cut tbe straw in pieces
for fodder for the cattle; for in the eastern countries they

CHAP. XXVIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 279
have no hay. See Harmer's Observ. i. p. 425. The last
method is weU known frora the law of Moses, which " forbids
the ox to be muzzled, when he treadeth out the corn ;" Deut.
xxv. 4.
28. — but the bread-corn — ] I read Dn'71, on the author
ity of Vulg. and Symraachus : the former expresses the
conjunction \, omitted in the text, by autem, ; the latter by
St. Ibid, —^hnofs — ] For nyi3, horsemen, read i«di3, hoofs: so
Syr. Sym, Theod. Vulg.

CHAPTER XXIX.
The subject of this and the four following chapters is the
invasion of Senacherib ; the great distress of the Jews while
it continued; their sudden and unexpected deliverance by
God's immediate interposition in their favour ; the subse
quent prosperous state of the kingdom under Hezekiah ; —
interspersed with severe reproofs, and threats of punishment,
for their hypocrisy, stupidity, infideftty, their want of trust
in God, and their vain reliance on the assistance of Egypt;
and witii proraises of better times, both 'immediately to suc
ceed, and to be expected in the future age. The whole
making not one continued discourse, but rather a collection
of different discourses upon the sarae subject ; which is treat
ed wfth great elegance and variety : though the matter is va
rious, and the transitions sudden, j^et the Prophet seldom goes
far from his subject. It is properly enough divided by the
chapters in the common translation.
1. Ariel — ] That Jerusalem is here called by this name
is 'very certain ; but the reason of this name, and the mean
ing of it as applied to Jerusalem, is very obscure and doubt
ful. Some, with the Chaldee, suppose it to, be taken from
the hearth of the great aftar of burnt-offerings, which Ezekiel
plainly calls by the same name ; and that Jerusalem is here con
sidered as the seat of the fire of God, '?n iin, which should
issue from thence to consume his enemies : compare chap.
xxxi. 9. Sorae, according lo the coraraon derivation..of the
word, ba 'in, the lion of God, or the strong lion, suppose
it to signify the strength ofthe place, by which it was en
abled to resist and overcome all its enemies. Tiia St
ipxTi TtjV jro^i]) ivTai ii^riFlxl' ertsi, Six ®sov, >\£ovTo^ Sixtfi if^x^xtIi Tovf

280

NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXIX.

«»T«(f <i»T«5 : Procop. in loc. There are other explanations of
this name given, but none that seeras to be perfectly satisfac
tory. Ihid. Add year to year — ] Ironically : Go on year after
year ; keep your solemn feasts : yet know, that God will
punish you for your hypdcritica! worship, consisting of mere
form destitute of true piety. Probably delivered at the time
of some great feast, when they,iyei"e thus eraployed.
2. — mourning and sorrow^^ Instead of your present
joy and festivity. __^,^
Ibid. — as tlie- hem" fUTof ihe great allar — ] That is, it
shall be the seat of the fire of God ; which shaft issue from
thence to consurae his enemies. See note on ver. 1. Or,
perhaps, all on flame, as it was when taken by the Chal
deans ; or covered with carcasses and blood, as when taken
by the Romans : an intimation of which raore distant events,
though not immediate subjects of the prophecy, may perhaps
be given in this obscure passage.
3. — like David] For in3 read mo ; So LXX, and two
MSS, and f. two more.
Ibid. — towers — ] For niiSi3 read nnxD ; so LXX, and
fivfe MSS, one of ih^m ancient.
4. — a feeble speech] That the souls of the dead uttered
a feeble strid ulcus sound, very different frora the natural
human voice, was a popular notion among the heathens as
well as araong the Jews. This appears- frora several pas
sages of their poets ; Homer, Virgil, Horace. The jjre-
tenders to the art of necromancy, who were chiefly women,
had an art of speaking with a feigned voice ; so as to deceive
those who ap'plied to them, by making them believe that it
was the voice of the ghost. They had a way of uttering
sounds, as if they were formed, not hy the organs of speech,
but deep in the chest, or in the belly ; and were thence
called eyfxT^ii^vhi, ventriloqui : they could make ihe voice
seem to come ftom beneath the ground, frora a distant part,
in another direction, and not from themselves, the better to
impose upon those who consufted thera. E^iTtiTriSii n yim
TOVTO TOV x/^vS^ov ri^ov i^iTijSivovTat, iva Six rjjv xFX/piixv rjjg pavrt<; Tov Tov
¦^/ivSovi xvoSiS^xFKUFiv I'Xtyxfli : Psellus de Daeraonibus, apud
Bochart. i. p. 731. "These people studiously acquire, and
affect on purpose, this sort of obscure sound, that by the
uncertainty of the voice they may the better escape being
detected in the cheat." From these arts of the necroman-

CHAP. xxix:. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 281
cers, the popular notion seems to have arisen, that the ghost's
voice was a weak, strid ulcus, almost inarticulate sort of
sound, very different frora the speech of the living.
5. — the proud — ] For "^'ir, thy strangers, read d'IT, the
proud, LXX ; parallel and synonyraous toD'S'l;? the terrible,
in the next line : the i was at first i in a MS. See note on
xxv. 2.
5 — 7. But the multitude of the proud — ] These verses
contain an admirable description of the destruction of Se
nacherib's army, with a beautiful variety of the most expres
sive and sublime images ; perhaps more adapted to shew
the greatness, the suddenness, and horror, of the event,
than the means and manner by which it was effected. Com
pare chap xxx, 30 — 33.
7. — like as a dream — ] This is the beginning of the
coraparison, which is pursued and applied in the next verse.
Senacherib and his mighty array are not compared to a
dream, because of their sudden disappearance : but the dis
appointment of their eager hopes is corapared to what hap
pens to a hungry and thirsty raan, when he awakes frora a
dream in which fancy had presented to him meat and drink
in abundance, and finds it nothing but a vain iftusion.
The coraparison is elegant and beautiful in the highest de
gree, well wrought up, and perfectiy suited to the end pro
posed : the image is extreraely natural, but not obvious ; it
appeals to our inward feelings, not to our outward senses ;
and is applied to an event in its concomitant circumstances
exactly simftar, but in its nature totally different. See De
S. Poes. Hebr. Praelect. xft. For beauty and ingenuity it
may fairly come in competition with one of the most elegant
of Virgil, (greatly improved from Homer, Iftad xxft. 199,),
where he has applied to a different purpose, but not so hap
pily, the same image of the ineffectual working of imagina
tion in a dream : —
*' Ac veluti in somnis oculos ubi languida pressit
Nocte quies, necquicquam avidos extendere cursus
Velle videmur, et in mediis conatibus aegri
Succidimus ; non lingua valet, non corpore notae
Sufficiunt vires, nee vox, aut verba sequuntur." Msi. xii. 908.
" And as, when slumber seals the closing sight,
The sick wftd fancy labours in the night ;
Some dreadful visionary foe we shun
With airy strides, but strive in vain to run ;
29*

282 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXIX.
In vain our baffled limbs their powers essay ;
We faint, we struggle, sink, and fall away ;
Drain'd of our strength, we neither fight nor fly.
And on the tongue the struggling accents die." Pitt.
Lucretius expresses the very same image with Isaiah :
"Ac veluti in somnis sitiens quum quurit, et humor
Non datur, ardorem in membris quistinguere possit :
Sed laticum simulachra petit, fru.straque laborat.
In medioque sitit torrenti flumine potans." iv. 1091.
Ibid. — iheir armies and iheir towers] For nmsDi n'3V,
I read with the Chald. Dmsai DN32;.
9. They are drunken, but not wiih wine.] See note on
chap. li. 21.
11. I cannot read ii — ] An ancient MS and LXX have
preserved a word here, lost out of the text, nnp'?, (for
riNIp'?), xvxyvavxi.
13. Jehovah — ] For 'Ji«, sixty-three MSS and three
editions read nin', and five MSS add nin'.
Ibid. And vain — ] I read, for 'nni, inni with LXX,
Matt. XV. 9. Mark vft, 7. ; and for mD'7a, D'iD'?a with
Chald. 17. Ere Lebanon become like Carmel — ] A mashal, or
proverbial sa3ftng, expressing any great revolution of things;
and, when respecting two subjects, an entire reciprocal
change : explained here by some interpreters, I think with
great probability, as having its principal view beyond the
revolutions then near at hand ; to the rejection of the Jews,
and the calling of the Gentftes. The first were the vine
yard of God, '7N D13, (if the Prophet, who loves an aftu
sion to words of Uke sounds, may be supposed to have
intended one here), cuftivated and watered by him in vain,
to be given up, and to become a wilderness : corapare chap.
V. 1 — 7. The last had been hitherto barren, but were, by
the grace of God, to be rendered fruitful. See Matt. xxi.
43. Rom. xi. 30, 31. Carmel stands here Opposed to Le
banon, and therefore is to be taken as a proper name.
21. — that pleaded in the gate] "They are heard by
the treasurer, master of the horse, and other principal offi
cers of the regency [of Algiers], who sit constantly in the
gate of the palace for that purpose ;" [that is, the distribu
tion of justice] : Shaw's Travels, p. 315. fol. He adds, in
the note, " That we read of the elders in the gate, Deut.
xxii. 15. xxv. 7. ; and Isa. xxix. 21. Amos. v. 10. of him

CHAP. XXIX. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 283
that reproveth and rebuketh in the gate. The Ottoman
Court likewise seeras to have been called the Port, frora the
distribution of justice, and the despatch of public business,
that is carried on in the gates of it."
22. — the God of the house of Jacob.] I read Sn as a
noun, not a preposition : thp parallel line favours this sense ;
and tbere is no address to the house of Jacob, to justify the
other. Ibid. — covered with confusion] " mn', Chald. ut i
IfiiTxSxXn'], Theod. ivt^xtthfitxi, Syr. ii3nJ,, videtur legendum
nan* : hie enim solum legitur verbum nn, nee in Unguis
affinibus habet pudoris significationem : " Secker.
23. When his children shall see — ] For inNi3, I read
nNi3, with LXX and Syr.

CHAPTER XXX.
1. Who ratify covenants — ] Heb. "Who pour out a
libation." Sacrifice and libation were ceremonies constant
ly used, in ancient times, by raost nations, in the ratifying
of covenants : a Ubation therefore is used for a covenant, as
in Greek the word fttovSi,, for the same reason, stands for
both. This seems to be the raost easy explication of the
Hebrew phrase ; and it has the authority of the LXX,
ITTOttlFXTl FVv6ilXX^.
4, — at Hanes] Six MSS, and perhaps six others, read
Djn, in vain, for DJn, Hanes ; -and so also LXX, who read
likewise ij?j', laboured, for i;?'j', arrived at.
'5. — were ashamed — ] Eight MSS (one ancient) read
t5"3n without N. So Chald. and Vulg.
Ibid. But proved — ] Four MSS (three ancient) after
'3 add DN, which seeras wanted to complete the phrase in its
usual form.
6. The burthen — ] Ntyn seems here fo be taken in its
,proper sense; the load,, not the oracle. The same subject
is continued ; and there seems to be no place here for a new
title to a distinct prophecy.
Ibid. — a land of'distress—} The sarae deserts are here
spgken of, which tbe Israelites passed through when they
came out of Egypt ; wbich Moses describes, Deut. viii. l5.
as " that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery
serpents, and scorpions, and drought ; where there was no

284 notes on ISAIAH. CHAP. XXX.
water." And which was designed to be a kind of barrier
between thera and Egypt, of which the Lord had said, " Yg
shall henceforth return no more that way ; " Deut, xvii, 16.
6. — will not profit them^ A MS adds in the margin the
word ia'7, which seems to have been lost out of the text : it
is authorized by LXX and Vulg.
7. Rahab the Inactive} The two last words, n3B' Dn,
joined into one, make the participle pihel, n3i!?Dn. find,
that the learned professor Doederlein, in his version of Isaiah,
and note on this place, has given the same conjecture ;
which he speaks of as having been formerly published by
bim. A concurrence of different persons in the same conjec
ture, adds to it a greater degree of probabiUty.
8. For a testimony} 'yyb, so Syr, Chald. Vulg. and LXX,
in MSS Pachom. and i. D, n. m ftM^lv^iov ; which two woi"d,=i
have been lost out of the other copies of LXX.
12. — in obliquity} tJ'pjJS, transposing the two last letters
of pti',j'3, in oppression, which seems not to belong to this
place: a very probable conjecture of Houbigant.
13. — a swelling in a high wall} It has been observed
before, that the buildings in Asia generally consist of littie
better than what we call mud-'wafts. " Aft the houses at
Ispahan," says Thevenot, vol. ii. p. 159. "are built of bricks
made of clay and straw, and dried in the sun ; and covered
with a plaster made of a fine white stone. In other places
in Persia, the houses are built with nothing else but such
bricks, made with tempered clay and. chopped straw, weft
mingled together, and dried in the sun, and then used : but
the least rain dissolves them." Sir John Chardin's MS re
raark on this place of Isaiah is very apposite : " Murs en Asie
etant fails de terre se fendent ainsi par milieu et de haul en
bas." This shews clearly how obvious and expressive the
iraage is. The Psalmist has in the same manner made use
of il, to express sudden and utter destruction :
" ¥e shall be slain aft of you;
[Ye shaft be] like an inclining wall, like a shattered fence."
Psal. lxii. 4.
14. — and spareth it not} Five MSS add the conjunc
tion 1 to the negative ; ' n'ji.
17. — ten thousand — ] In the second line of this verse
a word is manifestly omitted, which should answer to one
thousand in the first : LXX supply s-oMo/, D'31. But the
true word is n33l; as, I am persuaded, any one wftl be

CHAP. XXX. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 285
convinced, who will compare the following passage with
this place :
" How should one chase a thousand :
And two put ten thousand [n33l] to flight ?"
Deut. XXXU. 30,
"And five of you shaft chase a hundred ;
And a hundred of you shall chase [n33l] ten thousand."
Lev. xxvi. 8.
18. — shall he expect in silence] For Di', he shall he
exalted, which belongs not to this place, Houbigant reads
Oil", he shall be silent : and so it seems to be in a MS.
Another MS instead of it reads 3ity', he shall retum. 'The
mistakes occasioned by the sirailitude of the letters n and i
are very frequent, as the reader raay have already observed.
1 9. When a. holy people — ] Axoi xyioi, LXX, tffnp D>'.
The word tffiip, lost out of the text, but happily supphed
by LXX, clears up the sense, otherwise extremely obscure.
Ibid. — shalt implore him wiih weeping] The negative
particle n'? is not acknowledged by LXX. It may perhaps
have been written by mistake for b, of which there are
many examples.
20. Though Jehovah—} For 'jin, sixteen MSS and
three editions have nin'.
21. — io the right, or to the left] Syr. Chald. Vulg.
translate as if, instead of '31 — '3, they read n'?! — n'?.
22. And ye shall treat — ] The very prohibition of Mo
ses, Deut. vft. 25, only thrown out of the prose into the
poetical form. " The graven images of their gods ye shall
burn with fire : thou shaft not desire the silver or the gold
that is on them ; nor take it unto thee, leat thou be snared
therein ; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God,"
25. — the mighty — ] d''71Jd, i^iyxy^vq, Sym. ft^yxxwoficvovi,
Aquila ; j'3i3i, Chald.
26. — shall be sevenfold} The text adds, npty 11N3
Cn'n,, " as the Ught of seven days ;" a manifest gloss, taken
in from the margin : it is not in most of the copies of I^XX ;
it interrupts the rhythmical construction, and obscures the
sense, by a false, or at"least an unnecessary interpretation.
27. — the flame — ] nNE/n; this word seems to be rightly
rendered in our translation, the flame, Judg. xx. 30. 40.
&c. ; a sign of flre, Jer. vi. 1, cafted properly nNiffD, an ele-
ijation, from its tending upwards.
38. — to toss ihe nations with the van of perdition] Tho

286 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXX,
word najn'? is in its forra very irregular. Kimchi says it ig
for tjjJiT?. Houbigant supposes it to be a raistake, and shews
the cause of it ; the adjoining it to the n, which should begin
the following word. 'The true reading is D'un •"^'^n'?.
The Vulgate seeras to be the only one of the ancient in
terpreters who has explained rightly the sense ; but he has
dropped the image : " ad perdendas gentes in nihilum."
Kimchi's explanation is to the following effect : " nsj is
a van with which they winnow corn ; and its use is to
cleanse the corn from the chaff and straw: but the van, with
which God will winnow the nations, will be the van of emp
tiness, or perdftion ; for nothing useful shaft remain behind,
.but all shall come to nothing, and perish. In like manner,
a bridle is designed to guide the horse in the right way ; but
the bridle which God will put in the jaws of the people,
shaft not direct them aright, but shall make them err, and
lead them into destruction." This latter iraage the Prophet
has applied to the same subject afterward, chap, xxxvii. 29.
" I will put my bridle in thy jaws.
And turn thee back by the way in which thou camest."
And as to the former it is to be observed, that the van of
the ancients was a large instrument, somewhat like a shovel,
with a long handle, with which they tossed the corn mixed
with the chaff and chopped straw into the air that the wind
might separate them. See Hammond on Matt. iii. 12.
31. He, that was — ] "Post hj^n forte excidit ityN;"
Secker,
32. — the rod of correction} For niDio, the grounded
staff, of which no one yet has been able to make any tolera- ¦
ble sense, Le Clerc conjectured niDJa, of correction ; seo
Prov. xxii. 15, ; and so ft is in two MSS (one of them an
cient), and seems to be so in the Bodley MS. Syr. has
m3i?iii'i, virga domans, vel subjectionis.
Ibid. — against them] For na, fifty-two MSS and five
editions read D3. .
Ibid. — with tabrets and harps] With every demonstra
tion of joy and thanksgiving for the destruction of the enemy
sn so wonderful a manner: with hymns of praise, accom-;
panied with musical instruments. See ver. 29.
33. For Tophet is ordained—] Tophet is a vaftey very
near to Jerusalem, to the south-east, called also the valley of
Hinnom, or Gehenna ; where the Canaanites, and afterwards
tlje Israelites, sacrifice4 tfteiv children, by making them pasa

CHAP. XXX. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 287
through the fire — that is, by burning them in the fire — to
Moloch, It is therefore used for a place of punishment by
fire ; and by our blessed Saviour in the gospel for hell-fire ;
as the Jews themselves had applied ft. See Chald. on Isa.
xxxiii. 14. where d'?.j; 'ipin is rendered "the Gehenna of
everiasting fire." Here the place where the Assyrian array
was destroyed is cafted Tophet by a metonymy ; for the As
syrian array was destroyed probably at a greater distance
from Jerusalem, and ([uite on the opposite side of it : for
Nob is raentioned as the last station from which the king
of Assyria should threaten Jerusalera, chap. x. 32, -where
the Prophet seeras to have given a very exact chorographical
description of his raarch in order to attack the city.

CHAPTER XXXI.
1. Who trust—] For '7.i?i, 1°"°, twenty MSS, and LXX
and Vulg. readb;?, without the conjunction.
2, — his word] nm, singular, without ' ; MS and LXX,
and Targ. Hieros.
4. Like as, the lion — ] This coraparison is exactiy in
the spirit and manner, and very nearly approaching to the ex
pression of Homer : —
B)) pifiiv, are >i£av oqiFiT^oipoi, oV' eTriSevrn
Ait^ov iri x^eiav, kiMtxi Se e ^Vfioi xyr/va^,
MjjAiWV TTH^tJFOVTX, 71X1 £$ TVXtVoV SofAjOV £A^«V*
EiTTi^ y«o x' ev^TiTi tcx^'' xvToipi lian^xi avS^xi
2ti» xvFi XXI Sh^iffi (pv^iXFFovrag rre^i paiXx, ,
Ov px t' X7rn^7iTo(; ftei.uive rx6i.uio SiifSxi'
AAA' iy «j.' ti 'tj^TTx^i lAsTx^/MUi, tie xxi xvToi
EbA;)t' IV TT^aTolFi S-otj^ xwo x^i"'' »kovti. Iliad, xii. 299.
As the bold lion, mountain-bred, now long
Famish'd, with courage and with hunger stung.
Attempts the thronged fold : him nought appals,
Though dogs and armed shepherds stand in guard
Collected; he nathless undaunted springs
O'er the high fence, and rends the trembling prey;
Or rushing onward in his breast receives
The weft-aimed spear.
Of metaphors, allegories, and comparisons of the Hebrew
poets, in which the divine nature and attributes are repre
sented under iraages taken from brutes and -other low ob-

288 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXXI.
jects ; of their effect, their subUraity, and the cause of it ; see
De S, Poes. Hebr. Praelect. xvi. sub fin.
5. leaping forward — ] The generality of interpreters
observe, in this place, an allusion to the deliverance which
God vouchsafed to his people, when he destroyed the first
born of the Egyptians, and exerapted those of the Israefttes
sojourning among them by a peculiar interposition. The
same word is made use of here which is used upon that oc
casion, and which gave the name to the feast which was
instituted in commemoration of that dehverance ; nD2. But
the difficufty is, to reconcile the commonly received meaning
of tiiat word wdth the circumstances of the siraftitude here
used to illustrate the deliverance represented as parallel to the
deliverance in Egypt.
" As the mother-birds hovering over their young;
So shaft Jehovah God of Hosts protect Jerusalem,
Pr.otecting and delivering, passing over, and rescuing her."
This difficulty is, 1 think, weft solved by Vitringa ; whose
remark is the more worthy of observation, as it leads
to the true meaning of an important word, which hitherto
seems greatiy to have been misunderstood ; though Vitringa
himself, as it appears to me, has not exactly enough defined
the precise meaning of il. He says, " nos signifies to
cover, to protect by covering ; Fxi^rxFa iJ/.txi, LXX ; Jehovah
obieget ostium :" whereas it means that particular action
or motion, by which God at that time placed hiraself in
such a situation as to protect the house of the Israelite
against the destroying angel, — to spring forward, to throw
one's self in the way, in order to cover and protect. Coc
ceius comes nearer to the true meaning than Vitringa, by
rendering it gradumfacere, to march, to step forward : Lexi
con in V. The common meaning of the word nos upon
other occasions is to halt, to be lame, to leap as in a rude
manner of dancing, (as the prophets of Baal did, 1 Kings
xviii. 26.); all which agrees very well together ; for the motion
of a lame person is a perpetual springing forward, by throw
ing himself from the weaker upon the stronger leg. The
common notion of God's passing over the houses of the Is
raelites is, that in going through the land of Egypt to smite
the first-born, seeing the blood on the door of the houses of
the Israelites, he passed over, or skipped, those houses, and
forbore to smite them. But that this is not the true notion
ofthe thing, will be plain from considering the words of the

C-HAP. XXXI. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 289
sacred historian ; where he describes Very explicitiy the ac
tion : "For Jehovah wftl pass through, to smite the Egyp
tians ; and when he seeth the blood on the ftntels and on
the two side-posts, Jehovah wift spring forward over (or be
fore) the door, nnsn b}} nin' noBi, and will not suffer the de
stroyer to come into your houses to smite you;" Exod. xii.
23. Here are manifestly two distinct agents, with which the
notion of passing over is not consistent; for that supposes
but one agent : The two agents are the destroying angel
passing through to smite every house ; and Jehovah the
protector, keeping pace with hira ; and who, seeing the door
of the Israelite marked with the blood, the token prescribed,
leaps forward, throws hiraself -with a sudden motion in the
way, opposes the destroying angel ; and covers and protects that
house against the destroying angel, nor suffers him to smite
it. In this wa}' of considering the action, the beautiful sirail
itude of the bird protecting her young, answers exactly to
the application by the aUusion to the deliverance in Egypt :
As the mother-bird spreads her wings to cover her young,
throws herself before them, and opposes the rapacious bird
that assaults them ; so shaft Jehovah protect, as with a
shield, Jerusalera from the enemy, protecting and delivering,
springing forward and rescuing her ; uTre^SMvav, as the
three other Greek interpreters, Aqiula, Symraachus, and The
odotion, render it : LXX, Tre^iTToitiFiTxi ; instead of which, MS
Pachora. has ¦Tre^iQtiFiTxi, circumeundo proteget, vi'hicb I
think is the true reading. Homer (II. vift. 331.) expresses
the very same image by this word : —
AAA* ^lav Tri^iQri, xxi ol fxxo^ x^^exxXvipel
 " But Ajax his broad shield display'd,
And screen'd his brother with a mighty shade." Pope,
— ^-^— 'O5 X^vFuv xpt/piQeSiiKX(. II. i. 37.
Which the Scholiast explains by TregiQiSiixag, uTre^ftMxen;.
6. ye have so deeply — •] All the ancient versions read
ip'n.I?n, in the second person.
7. The sin, which iheir own hands have made] The con
struction of the word am, sin, in this place is not easy.
The LXX bave omitted it : MSS Pachom. and i. D. 11. and
Cod. Marchal. in margine, supply the omission by the word
afix^Tixv, or xfix^TriiAM, said to be from Aquila's version ;
which I have followed. The learned professor Schrofeder,
Instftut. Ling. Hebr. p. 298. makes ft tobe in regimine with
30

290 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXXI.
D3»T, as an epfthet ; your sinful hands. The LXX render
the pronoun in the third person, «i x"?^'^ avTav, and an an
cient MS has, agreeably to that rendering, Dn'?, for dd*?;
which word they have likewise omitted, as not necessary to
complete the sense.

CHAPTER XXXII.
1. And princes—] D'ltfi, without b ; so the ancient
versions. An ancient MS has inBi, and his princes.
2. As the shadow of a great rock] The shadow of a
great projecting rock is the most refreshing that is possible in
a hot country ; not only as most pe: fectiy excluding the rays
of the sun, but also having in itself a natural coolness, which
it reflects and coraraunicates to every thing about it.
" Speluncaeque tegant, et saxea procubet umbra."
Virg. Georg. iu. 145,
" Let the cool cave and shady rock protect them." '
E^£( x£p«Ai)V XXI yovvxTX 'Zii^ioi x^ii,
AyceAfa5 Se Te y^a,^ xtto kxv^.xtoc,. xXXx tot ajosj
E/>) 3-£Tf«n, T£ Fxm, XXI B(?A(vo5 o'vos. Hesiod. ii, 206.
Wlien Sirius rages, and thine aching head,
Parch'd skin, and feeble knees, refreshment need;
Then to the rock's projected shade retire,
With Biblin wine recruit thy wasted powers.
3. And him the eyes] For n'?i Le Clerc reads i'?! ; of
which raistake the Masoretes acknowledge there are fifteen
instances ; and raany mor are reckoned by others. The re
moval of the negative restores to the verb its true and usual
sense. 6. The fool will still niter folly] A sort of proverbial
saying ; which Euripides (Bacchae, 369.) has expressed in
the very sarae raanner and words: fia^x ya^ pia^oi >^yei. Of
this kind of simple and unadorned proverb or parable, see
De S. Poes. Hebr. Praelect. xxiv.
Ibid. Against Jehovah] For '7N, two MSS read '?;',
moVe properly,
7. As for the niggard his instruments — ] His machi
nations, his designs. The paronomasia, which the Prophet
frequently deals in, suggested this expression : i»'73 ''?3l. The
first word is expressed with some variety in the MSS : seven
MSS read i'7'31, one '731, another ''7131.

CHAP. XXXII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 291
Ibid. And to defeat the assertions — ] A word seems to
have been lost here, and two others to have suffered a small
alteration ; which has raade the sentence very t)bscure. The
LXX have happily retained the rendering of the lost word,
and restored the sentence in all its parts : xxi SixfxiSxfxi Ao-
¦yous TXTTiivav iv xpiFeC B3B'D3 p'3N '131 isn*?!. They frequent
ly render the verb I3n by SixfxcSxfm, A MS reads i^iVi ;
which gives authority for the preposition '7 necessary to the
sense ; and LXX, Syr. Chald. read aawm,
8. And he by, his generous — ] " Of the four sorts of per
sons raentioned ver. 5. three are described, ver. 6, 7, and 8.
but not the fourth:" Secker. Perhaps for Nini we ought
to read );w).
11. Gird ihe sackcloth — ] pty, sackcloth, a word neces
sary to the sense, is here lost, but preserved by*LXX, MSS
Alex, and Pachora. and i. D. 11. and Edft. Aid. and Comp.
and Arab, and Syr.
Ibid. Trem,ble — be disquieted — strip ye — ] nni, nm?3,
&c. These are infinitives, with a paragogic n, according
to Schultens, Institut. Ling. Hebr. p. 453. and are to be
taken in an imperative gense.
12. Mourn ye for the pleasant fleld] The LXX, Syr.
and Vulg. read nao, mourn ye, irapera.tive : twelve MSS
(five ancient), two editions, LXX, Aquilla, Syra. Theod.
Syr. Vulg. aU read r\'\'!0 , field ; not 'ity, breasts.
13. — And the brier shall come up] All the ancient ver
sions read Tatffi, with the conjunction. And an ancient
MS has 13 n'?;;n, which seems to be right ; or rather ns:
and there is a rasure in the place of 13 in another ancient MS.
Ibid. Yea over all — ] For >3, the ancient versions, ex
cept Vulg. seem to have read 1. 'd may perhaps be a mis
take for 13 or n3 above-mentioned. It is not necessary in
this place.
13 — 18. Over the land of my people-, — ] This description
of impending distress belongs to other times than that of
Senacherib's invasion, from which they were so soon de
livered. It must at least extend to the ruin of the country
and city by the Chaldeans. And the promise of blessings,
which follows, was not fulfilled under the Mosaic dispensa
tion ; they belong to the kingdora of Messiah. Corapare
ver. 15. with chap xxix. 17. and see the note there.
14. Ophel] It was a part of Mount Sion, rising higher
than the rest ; at the eastern extremity, near to the temple.

292 notes on isaiah. chap, xxxii.
a littie to the south of it ; called by Micah, iv. 8. " Ophel of
the daughter of Sion." It was naturally strong by iis situa
tion, and had a waft of its own, by which it was separated
from the rest of Sion.
15. A?id ihe fruiifid field] brram, fifteen MSS (six
ancient), and two editions ; which seems to raake the noun
an appellative.
10. The city shall he laid level wiih ihe plain] For
n"73!y3i, Syr. reads n'73B'3i. The city, probably Nineveh,
or Babylon : but this verse is very obscure. " Saltus ; As-
syriorura regnuni: civitas : niagnifica Assyriorum castra :"
Ephraem. Syr. in loc. For nni, a MS has iti ; and so
conjectured Archbishop Secker, referring to Zech. xi. 2
20. who sow your seed in every watery place] Sir John
Chardin's note on this place is : " This exactly answers the
manner of planting rice; for they sow it upon the water:
and before sowing, while the earth is covered with water,
they cause the ground to be trodden by oxen, horses, and
asses, who go raid-leg deep ; and this is the way of prepar
ing the ground for sowing. As they sow the rice on the
water, they transplant it in the water ; Harraer's Observ-
i. p. 280. "Rice is the food of two-thirds of mankind:"
Dr. Arbulhnot. " It is cuftivated in raost of the eastern
countries:" Miller. "It is good for all, and at all times:"
Sir J. Chardin, ibid. " La ris, qui est leur principal aftment
et leur fioment (/. e. des Siamois), n'est jamais assez arrose ;
il croit au milieu de I'eau, et les campagnes oii on le cultive
ressemblent plutot a de raarels que non pas a des terres
qti'on laboure avec la charue. Le ris a bien cette force, que
quoy qu'il y ait six ou sept pieds d'eau sur lui, ft pousse
toujours sa tige au dessus, et le tuyau qui le porte s'eleve et
croit a proportion de la hauteur de I'eau qui noye son
champ :" Voyage de I'Eveque de Beryte, p. 144. ; Paris,
1666.

CHAPTER XXXIII.
The plan of the prophecy, continued in this chapter, and
which is manifestiy distinct from the foregoing, is peculiarly
elegant. To set it in a proper light, it wift be necessary to
mark the transftions frora one part of it to another.
In ver. 1. the Prophet addresses himself to Senacherib,
briefly, but strongly and elegantly, expressing the injustice

chap, xxxiii. notes on isaiah. 293
<of his ambitious designs, and the sudden disappointment of
theni. Ver. 2. the Jews are introduced offering up their earnest
supplications to God in their present distressful condition ;
with expressions of their trust and confidence in his pro
tection. Ver. 3. and 4. tbe Prophet, in the narae of God, or ra
ther God hiraself, is introduced addressing himself to Sena
cherib, and threatening him, that notwithstanding the terror
which he had occasioned in the Invaded countries, yet he
should fall, and become an easy prey to thos,e whom he had
intended to subdue.
' Ver. 5. and 6. a chorus of Jews is introduced, acknow
ledging the mercy and power of God, who had undertaken
to protect them ; extolling it with direct opposition to the
boasted power of their enemies ; and celebrating the wis
dom and piety of their king Hezekiah, who had placed his
confidence in the favour of God.
Then follows, ver. 7 — 9. a description of the distress and
¦despair of the Jews, upon the king of Assyria's marching
against Jerusalem, and sending his summons to them to
surrender, after the treatyx he bad made with Hezekiah on
the conditions of his paying, as he actually did pay to hira,
three hundred talents of sftver, and thirty talents of gold ;
2 Kings xvift. 14 — 16.
Ver. 10. God himself is again introduced, declaring that
he will interpose in this critical situation cf affairs, and dis
appoint the vain designs of the enemies of his people, by
discomfiting and utterly consuming them.
Then follows, ver, 11 — 22. stift in the person of God,
(which however falls at last into that of the Prophet), a
description of the dreadful apprehensions of the wicked in
those times of distress and imminent danger ; finely con
trasted with the confidence and security of the righteous,
and their trust in. the promises of God, that he will be their
never-fafting strength and protector.
Th^ whole conclddes, in the person of the Prophet, with
a description of the security of the Jews under the protection
of God, and of the wretched state of Senacherib and his army,
wholly discomfited, and exposed to be plundered even by the
weakest of the enemy. -
Much of the beauty of this passage depends on the expla
nation above given of ver. 3. and 4. as addressed by the
30*

294 notes on isaiah. chap, xxxiii.
Prophet, or by God himself, to Senacherib ; not, as it is usually
taken, as addressed by the Jews to God, ver. 3. and then, ver.
4. as addressed to the Assyrians. To set this in a clear Ught,
it may be of use to compare it with a passage of the Prophet
Joel; where, speaking ofthe destruction caused by the locusts,
he sets in the same strong light of opposition, as Isaiah does
here, the power of the enemy, and the power of Jehovah who
would destroy that enemy. Thus Isaiah, to Senacherib ;
" When thou didst raise thyself up, the nations were dispersed. ver. 3.
" But now will I arise, saith Jehovah;
Now wftl I be exafted." ver. 10.
And thus Joel, ft, 20, 21.
" His stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall ascend;
Though he hath done great things.
Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice;
For Jehovah wil] do great things."
1. ihou plunderer — ] See note on chap. xxi. 2.
Ibid. — when thou art weary — ] "¦]n'?J3, aft bi non extat
in s. s. nisi f. Job. xv. 29. — ,?implicius est legere ¦]n'733. Vid.
Capell. nee repugnat Vitringa. Vid. Dan. ix. 24. n'?3,
D'nn: " Secker.
2. our strength — ] For dj^it, Syr. Chald. Vulg. read -
l3j;iT, in the first person of the pronoun, not the third : the
edition of Felix Pratensis has irn;?ii in the margin.
3. From ihy terrible voice — ] For pan, LXX and Syr.
read y^N ; whom I follow.
6. — thy treasure — ] c^jjo-aajoseroi;, Syra. He had in his
copy ^iSN, not nvN.
7. — ihe mighty m,en raise a grievous cry] Three MSS
read D''7N1n; that is, lions of God, or strong lions: so they
cafted vaftant raen, heroes ; which appellation the Arabians
and Persians still use. See Bochart. Hieroz. Part I. lib. iii.
cap. 1. " Mahomet ayant reconnu Harazeh son oncle pour
liorarae de courage et de valeur, lui donne le litre ou surnom
d' Assad Allah, qui signifie, le Lion de Dieu : " D'Herbe
lot, p. 427. And for nsn, Syr. and Chald. read nE^p:
whom I follow. Chald. Syr. Aquila, Syra. and Theod.
read urh nNiN, or nNi' ; with what meaning, is not
clear. 9. — are stripped — ] LXX, ipxve^x erxr they read ni.^'Jl,
IL And my spirit—] "For D3nii, read id3 »nii:"

CHAP. XXXIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 295
Secker. Which reading is confirmed by Chald. where
no'D, my word, answers to 'nn, my spirit,
15. — the proposal of bloodshed} A MS reads D'ai3. '
18. Where is he thai numbered the towers 7] That is,
the commander of the enemy's forces, who surveyed the
fortifications of the city, and took an account of the height,
strength, and situation ofthe wafts and towers, that he might
know where to make the assault with the greatest advan
tage ; as Capaneus before Thebes is represented in a pas
sage of the Phoenissee of Euripides, which Grotius has ap
plied as an illustration of this place :
'Exelvoq eTTTX Tr^oFaXFeii Tix/iMfpTxi
Ilv^yav, xvuTi xxixxTa Tiix>! iJ,tT^av. VCr. 187.
20. Thou shall see — ] For mn, read ninn with the Chaldee :
Houbigant. 21. But the glorious name of Jehovah — ] I take Dty
for a noun, with LXX and Syr. : see Psal. xx. 1. Prov. xvfti.
10. 23. Thy mast — ] For DJin, iheir mast, Syr. reads yjin,
LXX and Vul, "[Jin, « 's-es "" txxinv, ihy mast is fallen aside:
LXX, they seem to have read nuj, or (njfl) pin; or rather ab
p, is not firm, the negative having been omitted in the pres
ent text by mistake. However, I have followed their sense,
which seems very probable ; as the present reading is to me
extremely obscure.
24. Neither shall the inhabitant say — ] This verse is some
what obscure : the meaning of it seems to be, that the army
of Senacherib shall by the stroke of God be reduced to so
shattered and so weak a condition, that the Jews shaft fall
upon the remains of them, and plunder them without resis
tance : that the raost infirm and disabled of the people of Je
rusalem shall come in for their share of the spoil ; the lame
shall seize the prey ; even the sick and the diseased shall
throw aside their infirmities, and recover strength enough to
hasten to the general plunder.
The last line of the verse is parallel to the first, and ex
presses the sarae sense in other words. Sickness being con
sidered as a visitation frora God, and a punishment of sin ;
the forgiveness of sin is equivalent to the removal of a disease.
Thus the Psalmist ;
"Who forgiveth aft thy sin;
And healeth all thine infirmfties." Psal. ciii. 3.

296 NOTES ON ISAIAH, CHAP. ScXxtll.
Where the latter line only varies the expression of the for
mer. And our blessed Saviour reasons with the Jews on the
same principle : " Whether is it easier to say to the sick
of the palsy. Thy sins are forgiven thee ; or to say. Arise,
and take up thy bed, and walk ?" Mark ii. 9. See also
Matt. viii. 17. Isa. Uii. 4. " dui locus Isaiae, 1 Pet. ft.
24. refertur ad remissionera peccatorura : hie vero ad sana-
tionem raorborum, quia ejusdem potentiae et bonitatis est
utrumque praestare ; et, quia peccatis remissis, et morbi, qui
fructus sunt peccatorura, pelluntur :" Wetstein on Matt. viii.
17. That this prophecy was exactly fulfilled, I think we may
gather from the history of this great event given by the
Prophet himself. It is plain, that Hezekiah, by his treaty
with Senacherib, by which he agreed to pay him three hun
dred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold, had stripped
himself of his whole treasure : he not only gave him all the
sftver and gold that was in his own treasury, and in that of
the temple, but was even forced to cut off the gold from the
doors of the temple and from the pillars, with which he had
himself overlaid them, to satisfy the demands of the king of
Assyria : but after the destruction of the Assyrian army we
find, that he " had exceeding rauch riches, and that he made
hiraself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious
stones," &c.; 2 Chron. xxxft. 27. He was so rich, that out
of pride and vanity he displayed his wealth to the ambassadors
frora Babylon. This cannot be otherwise accounted for, than
by the prodigious spoil that was taken on the destruction of
the Assyrian army.

CHAPTERS XXXIV. & XXXV.
These two chapters raake one distinct prophecy ; an
entire, regular, and beautiful poem, consisting of two parts :
the first containing a denunciation of Divine vengeance
against the enemies of the people or church of God ; the
second describing the flourishing state of the church of God,
consequent upon the execution of those judgments. The
event foretold is represented as of the highest importance,
and of universal concern: aft nations are cafted upon to
attend to the declaration of it; and the wrath of God is
denounced against aft the nations ; that is, all those that

CHAP. XXXIV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 297
had provoked to anger the defender of the cause of Sion.
Among those, Edom is particularly specified. The prin
cipal provocation of Edom was their insulting the Jews in
their distress, anfl joining against thera with their enemies
the Chaldeans; see Amos i. 11. Ezek. xxv. 12. xxxv. 15.
Psal. cxxxvii. 7. Accordingly the Edomites were, toge
ther with the rest of the neighbouring nations, ravaged and
laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar : see Jer. xxv. 15. — 26 Mal
i. 3, 4. ; and see Marshara. Can. Chron. Saec. xvfti, who calls
this the age of the destruction of cities. The general de
vastation spread through aift these countries by Nebuchad
nezzar, raay be the event which the Prophet has primarily
in view in the xxxivth chapter ; but this event, as far as we
have any account of it in history, seera by no means to
come up to the terms of the prophecy, or to justify so high-
¦w'rought and so terrible a description. And it is not easy
to discover what connexion the extremely flourishing stale
of the church or people of God, described in the next chap
ter, could have with those events, and how^ the former could
be the consequence of the latter, as ft is there represented
to be. By a figure very conmion in the prophetical writ
ings, aqy city, or people, remarkably distinguished as ene
mies of the people and kingdom of God, is put for those
enemies in general. This seems here to be the case witFi
Edom and Botsra. It seems therefore reasonable to sup
pose, with many learned expositors, that this prophecy has
a ifurther view to events still future ; to some great revo*-
lutions to be effected in later times, antecedent to that more
perfect state of the kingdom of God upon earth, and serv
ing to introduce it, which the Holy Scriptures warrant us
to expect.
That the xxxvth chapter has a view beyond any thing
that could be. the immediate consequence of those events, is
.plain from every part, especially fiom the middle of it, ver.
5, 6, ; where the miraculous works wrought by our blessed
Saviour are so clearly specified, that -eve cannot avoid mak
ing the application. And our Saviour himself has moreover
plainly referred to this very passage as speaking of him and
bis works : Matt. xi. 4, 5. He bids the disciples of John
to go and report to tbeir master the things which they
heard and saw ; that the blind received their sight, the lame
walked, and the deaf heard ; and leaves it to him to draw
the conclusion in answer to his inquiry, whether he who

S98 NtlTES DN ISAIAH. CHAP. XXXIV.
performed the very works which the Prophets foretold
-should be performed by the Messiah, was not indeed the
" Messiah himself'.' And where are these works so distinctly
marked by any of the Prophets as in this place ; and how
•could they be marked raore distinctly ? To these the strictly
literal interpretation of the Prophet's words directs us."
According to the allegorical interpretation they may have
-a further view: This part of the prophecy may run pnraUef
wiih the former, and relate to the future advent of Christ;
to the conversion of the Jews, and their restitution to their
land ; to the extension and purification of the Christian
faith ; — events predicted in the Holy Scriptures, as preparatory
to it.
1. And attend unto me — ] A MS adds in this line the
word ¦'7N, unto me, after D'rsx'?," which seems to be genuine.
4. And all the host of heaven — ] See note on chap.
xxiv. 21. and De S, Poesi Hebraeorum Prael. ix.
5. For my sword is made bare in the heaven] There
•^eeths to be some impropriety in this, according to the pre-
^^enl reading, " my sword is made drunken, or is bathed, in
the heavens ;" -wtiiich forestalls, and expresses not in its pro
per place, what belongs to the next verse: for the sword of
.Jehovah was not to be bathed or glutted with blood in the
^heavens, but in Botsra and the land of Edom. In the
lieavens it was only prepared for slaughter. To remedy
t;his, Archbishop Secker proposes to read, for D'Di!'3,D:3i3i
referring to Jer. xlvi. 10. But -even this is premature, and
not in its proper place. The Chaldee, for nnn, has ''7Jnn,
«hall be revealed, or disclosed : perhaps he read nxin, or
nnNU. Whatever reading, different I presume from the
present, he raight find in his copy, I follow the sense which
he has given of it.
6. For Jehovah celebrateth a sacrifice] Ezekiel has
manifestly imftated this place of Isaiah : he hath set forth
the great leaders and princes of the adverse powers under
the same emblems of goats, bulls, rams, fatftngs, &c, and
has added to the boldness of the imagery, by introducing
God as summoning aft the fowls of the air, and aft the beasts
of the field, and bidding them to the feast which he has
prepared for thera by the slaughter of the enemies of his
people : —
" And thou, son of man,
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah :

CHAP. XXXIV. NOTES ON ISAIAH, 299
Say to the bird of every wing.
And to every beast ofthe field,
Assemble yourselves, and come ;
Gather together from every side,
To the sacrifice which 1 make for you,.
A great slaughter on the mountains of Israel.
And ye shaft eat flesh and drink blood :
The flesh of the mighty shaft ye eat,
And the blood ofthe lofty of the earth shall ye drink;",
Of rams, of lambs, and of goats.
Of bullocks, all of them the fat ones of Basan.
And ye shall eat fat, till ye are cloyed,
Ahd drink blood till ye are drunken;
Of my slaughter, which I have slain for you."
Ezek. xxxix. 16.. 17".-
¦¦ The sublime author of the Revelation (chap. xix. 17, 18.)i
has taken this iraage frora Ezekiel, rather than frora Isaiah.
7. — with their blood] DDID: so an ancient MS, Syr. and
Chald. •
8. — the defender of the cause of Sion] As frora pi^pl,-
a. judge; so from 311, 3'i, an advocate, or defender: Judici
¦Sionis, Syr.
11. — over her scorched plains} The w-ord n'ln, joined
to the 12th verse, embarrasses it, and makes it inexplicable.
At least I do not know that any one has yet made out the
construction, or given any tolerable explication of' it. Ijoin
it to the 11th verse, and supply a letter or two, which seem
lo have been lost. Fifteen MSS (five ancient), and two-
•editions, read n'lin. The first printed edition of 1486, I
think nearer to the truth, n'ln iin. I read n'iin3, or n'lin
by : see Jer. xvii. 6. A MS has nnn, and tbe Syriac
reads nnn, gaudium, joining it to. the two preceding
words ; which he likewise reads differently, but without
improving the sense. However, his authority is clear for
dividing the verses, as they are here divided. I read DE? as
a noun. They shall boast, iNip'j see Prov. xx. 6.
13. And in her palaces shall spring up—] b]}^
n'nijniN3 ; - so read all the ancient versions.
15. Every one her mate] A MS adds bN after niyN,
which seeras necessary to the construction ; and so Syr. and'
Vulg. Another MS adds in the sarae place nN, which ia
equivalent. 16. For the mouth of JehoVAH] For Nin, five MSS
(three ancient) read nin', and another is so corrected: so

300 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXXIV.
likewise LXX. Two editions have Dis, and so LXX and
Vulg. ; and a MS has DS3p, wfth tbe raascuftne pronoun
instead of the feminine: and so in the next verses it is Dn'?,
instead of [n'?, in fourteen MSS, six of them ancient.

CHAPTER XXXV.
1 . — shall bo glad,} Ditya"' : In a MS the d seems to
have been added ^ and Dii? is upon a rasure in another.
None of the ancient versions acknowledge it : it seems to
have been a mistake arising frora the next word's beginning
wfth the same letter. Sixteen MSS have uww, and five
MSS Dtyw.
2. The well-watered plain of Jordan^ For pii, the
LXX read pi' ; tx e^tiuM tov lopSxvov. Four MSS read nbi ;
see Joshua xv. 19. irrigua Jordani ; Houbigant : ni'J, ripa
Joi'dani; Kennicott. See De S. Poesi Hebr. Praelect. sx,
note, Ibid. For n'?, to ii, nine MSS read "]*?, io thee. See ibid.
7. — the gloioing sand] Dity: This word is Arabic as
weft as Hebrew, expressing in both languages the same
thing ; the glowing sandy plain, which in the hot countries
at a distance has the appearance of water. It occurs in the
Koran, chap. xxiv. " But as to the unbeliever?, their works
are like a vapour in a plain ; which the thirsty traveller
thinketh to be water, untft, -when he comeih thereto, he
findeth it to be nothing." Mr. Sale's note on this place is :
— "The Arabic word serab signifies that false appearance
which in the eastern countries is often seen in sandy plains
about noon, resembUng a large lake of water in motion, and
is occasioned by the reverberation of the sunbeams : [' by
the quivering undulating motion of that quick succession of
vapours and exhalations, which are extracted by the power
ful influence of the sun ; ' Shaw, Trav. p. ,378,] It -some
times tempts thirsty travellers out of' their way, but deceives
them, when they come near, either going forward, (foi» it
always appears at the same distance), or quite vanishes."
Q.. Curtius has mentioned it : — " Arenas vapor sestivi soUs
accendit ; — camporuraque non alia, quam vasti et profundi
aequoris species est ; " lib. vii. cap. 5. Dr. Hyde gives us the
precise raeaning and derivation of the word : — " Dictura
nomen [Barca] npl3n, splendorem seu splendentem regio-

CHAP. XXXV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 301
nem notat ; cum ea regio. radiis solaribus tam copiose collus-
tretur, ut reflexum ab arenis lumen adeo intense fulgens, a
longinquo spectantibus, ad instar corporis Solaris, aquarum
speciem referat ; et bine arenarum splendor et radiatio (ex
lingua Persica petito nomine) dicitur serab, i. e. aquae super
ficies, seu superficialis aquarum species :" Annot, in Peritsol.
cap. 2.
Ibid. — shall spring forth — ] Then, in ns3l, seems to
have been at first D in MS Bodl. ; whence Dr. Kennicott
concludes it should he D'xai. But instead of this word,
Syr. Vulg. and Chald. read some word signifying to grow,t
spring up, or abound ; perhaps nsis, or isia ; or yi£)
Tsnn, as Houbigant reads.
8. And a highway] The word im is by mistake added
to the first member of the sentence from the beginning of
the following member : sixteen MSS (seven ancient) have
it but once ; so likewise Syr.
Ibid. — err thereiti] A MS adds 13, which seems neces
sary to the sense : and so Vulg. per eam.
Ibid. But He shall be with them, walking—^ That is,
God ; see ver. 4. " Who shall dwell among them, and set
them an example, that they should follow his steps." Our
old EngUsh versions translated tbe place to this purpose : , our
last translators were misled by tbe authority of the Jews, who
have absurdly made a division of the verses in the midst of
the sentence, thereby destroying the construction and the
sense. 9. Neither shall he be found there} Three MSS read
N'71, adding the conjunction ; and so likewise LXX and
Vulg. And four MSS (one ancient) read nsd', the verb,
as it certainly ought to be, in the masculine form!
. For further remarks on the two foregoing chapters, see
De S. Poesi Hebr. Praelect. xx.

CHAPTER XXXVI,
The history of the invasion of Senacherib, and of the
miraculous destruction of his army, which makes the subject
of so many of Isaiah's prophecies, is very properly inserted
here, as affording the best light to many parts of those pro
phecies ; and as almost necessary to introduce the prophecy in
the xxxviith chapter, being the answer of Gpd to Hezekiab's
31

302 notes on isaiah. chap, xxxvi.
prayer, which could not be properly understood without it.
We find the sarae narrative in the second book of Kirtgs,
chapters xviii. xix. xx. ; and these chapters of Isaiah, xxxvi,
xxxvii. xxxvift. xxxix. for much the most part, (the account
of the sickness of Hezekiah only excepted), are but a differ
ent copy of that narration. The difference of the two copies
is ftttle more than what has manifestly arisen from the mis
takes of transcribers : they mutually correct each other; and
most of the mistakes may be perfectly rectified by a coUation
of the two copies, wfth the assistance of the ancient versions.
Some few sentences, or merabers of sentences, are oraitted
in this copy of Isaiah, which are found in the other copy in
tbe book of Kings. Whether these omissions were made by
design -or by mistake, may be doubted: these therefore I
have not inserted in the translation ; I shall only report them
in tbe notes.
3. Then came out %mto him] Before these words, the
other copy, 2 Kings xvfti. 18, adds ¦]'7Dn '?N iNip'i, "and
they demanded audience of the king."
5. Thou hast said] Fourteen MSS (tbree ancient) have
it in tbe second person, niDN; and so the other copy, 2 Kings
xviii. 20.
6. — i7i Egypt] MS Bodl. adds ¦p'a, the king of Egypt :
and so perhaps Chald. might read.
7. But if ye say] Two ancient MSS have iiDNn in the
plui"al number : so Ukewise LXX, Chald. and the other
copy, 2 Kings xvfti. 22.
• Ibid, only before this altar — ] See 2 Chron. xxxft. 12.
12. destined to eat their own dung] '7dn'7, " that they
raay eat," as our translation literally renders it. But Syr.
reads '73Na, " that they may not eat," perhaps rightly ; and
afterwards ninK^Di, or nintyi, to tbe sarae purpose.
17. and of vineyards] The other copy, 2 Kings xviii.
32. adds here, " a land of oil-olive, and of honey ; that ye
may live, and not die ; and hearken not unto Hezekiah,
when he seduceth you."
19., — of Sepharvaim— ^} The other copy, 2 Kings xvfti.
34. adds of " Henah and Ivah."
Ibid, have they delivered} 'di, the copulative is not ex
pressed here by LXX, Syr. Vulg. and three MSS ; nor is it
in the other copy : Ibid. Houbigant reads on, wfth the
interrogative particle : a probable conjecture, wbich the ancient
versions, above quoted, seem to favour.

chap, xxxvi. notes on isaiah. ¦ ' 303
21. But the people held their peace} The word D;?n, the
people, is suppUed from the other copy ; and is authorized
by a MS, which inserts it after inN.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
7, I will infuse a spirit into him} "nn 13 pni never
signifies any thing but putting a spirit into a person ; this
was TnevfiM SeiXion: " Secker.
9,. he sent messengers .again} The word j;nty'i, (and he
heard), which occurs the second time in this verse, is re
peated by mistake from the beginning of the verse. It is
omitted in an ancient MS. It is a mere tautology, and em
barrasses the sense. The true reading, instead of it,^ is 3iy'i,
which ^ the LXX read in this place «5r£rf£'4'£, and which is
preserved in tbe other copy, 2 Kings xix. 9. " He returned
and sent " — that is, according to the Hebrew idiom, " he sent
again." 14. and read them] DNip'l, so MS Bodl. in this place ;
and so the other copy ; instead of inNipn, and read ii.
Ibid, — and spread them] mtffiS'i ; in , is upon a rasure
in a MS ; which probably was at first d. The same mistake
as in the foregoing note. ,
15. — before Jehovah] That is, in the sanctuary. For
'7^?, Syr. Chald. and the other copy, 2 Kings xix. 15, read
'ja"?. 18. — the nations—} nisiNn, the lands : instead of this
word, whjch destroys the sense, ten MSS (one ancient) have
here D'u, nations ; which is undoubtedly the true reading,
being preserved also in the other copy, 2 Kings xix. 17,
Another MS suggests another method of rectifying the sense
in this place, by reading D3'7a, their king, instead of dsin,
their land ; but it ought to be Dn'3'?a, " all the countries
and their kftigs,"
20, Save us, we beseech thee—f} The supplicating par
ticle NJ is suppUed here from eighteen MSS (three ancient),
and from the other copy.
Ibid. — that thou Jehovah art the only God} The
word D'n'7N, God, is lost here in the Hebrew text, but pre
served in the other copy, 2 Kings xix. 19. Syr. and LXX
seem here to have had in their copies D'n'7Nj instead of nin'.
21. Then Isaiah sent unto Hezekiah] Syr. and LXX
understand and render the verb passively, was sent.

304 , N6TES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXXVII.
Ibid. — I have heard] 'n,3;DB': this word, necessary to the
sense, is lost in this place out of the Hebrew text. A MS
has it written above the line in a later hand. LXX and
Syr. found it in their copies; and it is preserved in the other
copy, 2 Kings xix. 20.
23. — against the Holy One of Israel] For '7N, the other
copy has '?;?, rather more properly.
24. — By thy messengers — ] The text has y\'iy ; thy
servants: but the true reading seems to be T3n'7D, thy mes
sengers, as in tbe other <;opy, 2 Kings xix. 23. ; and as LXX
and Syr. found it in their copies in this place.
Ihid. — his extreme retreats] The text has niiD, the
highth; whicb seems to have been taken by mistake from
the line but one above. A MS has here |i'7n, the lodge, or
retreat ; which is the word in the other copy, 2 Kings xix.
23. ; and I think is tbe true reading.
25. — -strange waters] The wM"d o'li, strange, lost out
of the Hebrew text in this place, is supplied from the other
, copy. A MS supplies the word D'3l, m,any, instead of it.
Ibid, all the canals of fenced places] The principal cities
of Egypt, the scene of his late exploits, were chiefly defended
by deep moats, canals, or large lakes, made by labour and
art, with which they were surro.unded. See Harmer's Observ.
ii. p. 304. Claudian introduces Alaric boasting of his con
quests in the same extravagant manner :
" Subsidere nostris
Sub pedibus montes; arescere vidimus amnes. —
Fregi Alpes, galeisque Padum victricibus hausi."
De Befto Getic. 526.
, 26. warlike nations] D'SJ D''7J. It is not easy to give a
satisfactory account of these two words; which have greatly
embarrassed all the interpreters, ancient and modern. For
D''7J, I read D'ii, as the LXX do in this place, dvn. The
word D'SJ, Vulg. renders in this place compugnantium ; in
the parallel place, 2 Kings xix. 25. pugnantium, and LXX,
fcxxifuiiv; fighting, warlike. This rendering is as well autho
rized as any other that I know of, and, with the reading of
LXX, perfectly clears up the construction.
27. corn blasted] nnity. It does not appear that there
is any good authority for this word. The true reading seems
to be nfliK', as it is in four MSS (two ancient), here, and in
the other copy.
29. I will put my hook in thy nose] f Etfrainum meum:

chap, xxxvii. notes on isaiah. 305
Jonathan vocem jnn interpretatus est ddi, i- e, annulum,
sive uncum, eumque ferreum, quem infigunt naribus ca-
melae : eoque trahitur, quoniam iUa feris motibus agftur : et
hoc est, quod disciraus in Talraude ; et caraela cum aniiulo
narium : scilicet, egreditur die Sabbathi :" Jarchi in 2 Reg.
xix. 28. " Ponam circulura in naribus tuis :" Hieron. Just
as at tbis day tbey put a ring into the nose of the bear, the
¦ buffalo, and other wftd beasts, to lead them, and to govern
them when they are unruly.
35. And the angel — ] Before "the angel," the other
copy, 2 Kings xix. 35. adds, " it came to pass' the same night,
that" 
The Prophet Hosea has given a plain prediction of this
miraculous deliverance of the kingdom of Judah :
" And to the house of Judah 1 will be tenderly merciful:
And I will save them by Jehovah their God.
And 1 willnot save them by the bow;
Nor by sword, nor by battle;
By horses, nor by horsemen. Hosea i. 7.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.
2. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall] The fur
niture of an eastern divan, or chamber either for the recep-
tiqn of company or for private use, consists chiefly of carpets
spread on the- floor in tbe middle, and of sophas or couches
ranged on one or more sides of the room, on a part raised
somewhat above the floor. On these they repose theraselves
in the day, and sleep at night. It is to be observed, that
the corner of the room is the place of honour. Dr Pococke,
when he was introduced to the Sheik of Furshout, found
him sitting in the corner of his room. He describes ano
ther Arab Sheik, "as sitting in a corner of a large green
tent, pitched in the middle of an encampment of Arabs ;
and the Bey of Girge as placed on a sopha, in ' a corner to
the right as one entered the room :" Harraer's Obs. ii. p. 60.
Lady Mary W. Montague, giving an account of a visit
which she made to ihe Kahya's lady at Adrianople, says,
" She ordered cushions to be given me, and .took care to place
me in the corner, which is (he place of honour :" Letter
xxxiii. The reason of this seems to be, that the person, so
placed, is distinguished, and in a manner separated from the
31*

306 notes on isaiah. chap, xxxviii.
rest of the company, and as it were guarded by the wall on
each side. We are to suppose Hezekiah^ couch placed iu the
sarae situation : in which, turning on either side, he must
turn bis face to the wall ; by which he would withdraw him
self from those who were attending upon him in his apart
ment, in order to address his private prayer to God. .
4, 5. The words in the translation included within crotchets
are supplied from the parallel place, 2 Kings xx. 4, 5. to
make tbe narration more perfect. I have also taken the
Uberty, with Houbigant, of bringing forward the two last
verses of this chapter, and inserting them in their proper
places of the narration with the same mark. ' Kimchi's note
on these two verses is as follows : " This and the following
verse belong not to the writing of Hezekiah : and I see no
reason why they are written here after the writing ; for their
right place is above, after A?id I will protect this city, ver. 6.
And so they stand in tbe book of Kings ;" 2 Kings xx. 7, 8.
The narration of this chapter seehis to be in some parts an
abridgment of that of 2 Kings xx. The abridger, having
finished his extract here with the 11th verse, seems to have
observed, that the 7th and 8th verses of 2 Kings xx. were
wanted to complete the narration : he therefore added them
at the end of the chapter, after he had inserted the song of
Hezekiah, probably with marks for theft insertion in their
proper places ; which marks were afterwards neglected by
transcribers : or a transcriber might omit them by mistake,
and add them at the end of the chapter with such marks.
Many transpositions are, with great probabftity, to be account
ed for in the same way,
6. 1 will protect this city — ] The other copy, 2 Kings
XX, 6. adds, "for mine own sake, and for the sake of David
my servant ;" and the sentence seems somewhat abrupt with
out it.
8. by which the sun is gone dovm — ] For tynty3,LXX,
Syr. Chaid. read jyotyn : Houbigant. In the history of
this miracle in the book of Kings; 2 Kings xx, 9 — 11. there
is no mention at aU made of the sun, but only of the going
backward of the shadow ; which might he effected hy a su
pernatural refraction. The first » '^Afo; in this verse is omitted
in LXX, MS Pachom.
9. The writing of Hezekiah.} Here tbe book of Kings
deserts us, the song of Hezekiah not being inserted in it.
Another copy of this very obscure passage (obscure not only

chap, xxxviii. notes on isaiah, 307
from the concise poetical style, but because it is probably
very incorrect) would have been of great service. The MSS
and ancient versions, especially the latter, wftl help us to get
through some of the many difficulties which we meet with in
it, '
11, Jehovah] n» n- seems to be nin' in MSS Bodl.
and it was so at first written in another ; so Syr. See Hou
bigant. 12. — a shepherd's tent — } ^y^ is put for n;>i, say the
Rabbins ; Sal. b. Melee on the place : but much more proba
bly is written imperfectly for d';;i. See note on chap, v. 1.
Ibid. My life is cut off — ] 'map: this verb is rendered
passively, and in the third person, by ^yr. Chald. Vulg.
13. 'The last line of the foregoing verse, phb ly avn
'3D''7t5'n, " In the course of the day thou wftt finish my web,"
is not repeated at the end of this verse in the Syriac version ;
and a MS omits it. It seems to have been inserted a second
time in the Hebrew text by mistake.
Ibid. I roared — ] For 'n'W, the Chaldee has n'nm: he
read 'njNty, the proper term for the roaring of a lion ; often
appUed to the deep groaning of men in sickness : see Psal.
xxii, 2, xxxii, 4. xxxvift. 9. Job. iii. 24. The Masoretes di
vide the sentence, as I have done, taking »in3, like a lion,
into the first member ; and so likewise IjXX.
14. Like the swallow — ] d'D3 ; so read two MSS, Theod.
and Hieron. ,
Ibid. — mine eyes fail] For i'7i, the LXX read, i'73,
e^exmoi. Compare Psal. Ixix. 4. cxix. 82. 123. Lam. ft. 11. iv.
17. in the Hebrew and in LXX.
Ibid. — O Lord — ] For nin*, thirty MSS and eight edi
tions read '31N.
Ibid; — contend thou — ] npty;', wfth ty, Jarchi. This
sense ofthe word is established by Gen. xxvi. 20. "he called
the name of the weU nwy, Esek, because they strove with
him:" ipty,j;nn," equivalent- to U'l' at the beginning of the
verse. 15. —will I reflect — ] miN, recogitabo, Vulg. reputabo,
Hieron. in loc.
16. For this cause shall it be declared — } lie^i «,vTm y«?
«»«yy£Ai) FOI, XXI t%v/ii^xi ftow rjjv srvow, LXX. They read in
tbeir copies, 'nn "nni "p lin' n''?;;; not very different from
the present text, from which all the ancient versions vary."
They entirely omft two words, ]n3 '73'7i; as to which there is

308 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XXXVIII.
some variation in" the MSS. A MS has '7331, two others '731,
and ten MSS have Dn3.
Ibid. — hast prolonged my life.} A MS and tbe Baby
lonish Talraud read 'j"nni; and so the ancient versions. It
must necessarily be in tbe second person.
17. My anguish is changed into ease — ] ID ''? id,
" mutata mihi' est amaritudo." . Paronomasia ; a figure,
which tbe Prophet frequently adrafts : I do not always note
it, because it cannot ever he preserved in the translation, and
the sense seldora depends upon it. But here it perfectly clears
up the great obscurity of the passage. See Lowth on the
place. ¦Ibid. Thou hast rescued — ] n3!J'n, with 3 instead of p;
so LXX and Vulg. : Houbigant. See Chappelow on Job
xxxift, 18.
Ibid. — from perdition — ] ''73 nrwa, hx yji xTroXiTxi,
LXX ; ut non periret, Vulg. ; perhaps inverting the order of
the words. See Houbigant.
19.— thy truth} "jnoN ^n. A MSoraits'7N; and instead
of '7N, an ancient MS and one edition read n^. The same
mistake as in Psal. ii. 7.
21. Let them take a lump of figs : and they bruised
them — ] God, in effecting this miraculous cure, was pleased
to order the use of raeans not improper for that end. " Folia,
et, quae non maturuere, fici, strumis illinuntur, omnibusque
quae eraollienda sunt discutiendave : " Plin. Nat. Hist, xxiii.
7. " Ad discutienda ea, quae in corporis parte aUqua coierunt,
maxime possunt — ^ficus arida," &c. : Celsus, v. 11.

CHAPTER XXXIX.
Hitherto the copy of this history in the second book of
Kings has been much the most correct : in this chapter, that
in Isaiah has tbe advantage. In tbe two first verses two
liiistakes in the other copy are to be corrected frora this : for
v\''n'm, Hezekiah, read pin'i, and vms recovered; and for
y'aa'\, he heard, read naty'i, he rejoiced.
1. — arid ambassadors.} The LXX add here >««' ?r^iF<^eii;
that is, D'3N'7ai, and ambassadors ; which word seems
necessary to the sense, though oraitted in the Hebrew text
both here and in the other copy, 2 Kings xx. 12. For the
subsequent narration refers to them aU along; " these men,

CHAP. XXXIX. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 309
whence carae they ? " «fcc^ plainly supposing them to have
been personally mentioned before. See Houbigant.
6. — to Babylon — ] n'733 ; so two MSS (one ancient) ;
rightly wfthout doubt, as the other copy, 2 Kings xx. 17. bas
ft. 8. And Hezekiah said — ] The nature of Hezekiab's
crime, and his humftiation on the message of God to him
by the Prophet, is more expressly declared by the author of
the book of Chronicles: "But Hezekiah rendered not again,
according td the benefit done unto him ; for his heart was
lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon
Judah and Jerusalem. Notwithstanding, Hezekiah bumbled
himself for the pride of his heart, (both he and the inhabi
tants of Jerusalem), so that tbe wrath of the Lord came
not upon thera in the days of Hezekiah. And Hezekiah
prospered in all his works. Howbeit, in the business of the
ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him
to inquire of the wonder tbat, was done in the land, God left
him, to try him, that he might know aU that was in his
heart ; " 2 Chron. 25, 26. 30, 31.

CHAPTER XL.
The course of prophecies, which follow from hence to the
end ofthe book, and which taken together constftute the most
elegant part of the sacred writings of the Old, Testament ;
interspersed also with many passages of the highest sublimi
ty ; was probably deUvered in the latter part of the reign of
Hezekiah. The Prophet in the foregoing chapter had de
livered a very explicit declaration of the impending dissolution
of the kingdom, and of the captivity of the royal house of
, David, and of the people, under the kings of Babylon. As
the, subject of his subsequent prophecies was to be chiefly of
the consolatory kind, he opens them with giving a promise of
the restoration ofthe kingdora, and the return of the people
from that captivity, by the merciful interposition of God in
their favour. But the views of the Propbet are not confined
to this event. As the restoration of the royal family, and
of the tribe of Judah, which would otherwise have soon be
come undistinguishedj and have been irrecoverably lost, was
necessary, in the design and order of Providence, for the ful-
fiUing of God's promises of establishing a more glorious and

310 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XL.
an everlasting kingdora, under the Messiah to be born of the
tribe of Judah, and of the family of David ; the Prophet
connects these two events together, and hardly ever treats of
the former without throwing in soraie intimations of the
latter ; and soraetimes is so fully possessed wfth the glories of
the future raore remote kingdom, that he seems to leave the
raore iraniediate subject of his coramission alrjlost out of the
question. Indeed this evangelical, sense of the propbecy is so apparent,
and stands forth in so strong a light, that some interpreters
cannot see that it has any other ; and wftl not allow the
prophecy to bave -'any relation at all to the return from the
captivity of Babylon. It may be useful, therefore, to ex
amine more attentively the train of the Prophet's ideas, and
to consider carefully the iraages under which he displays his
subject. He hears a crier giving orders by soleran proclama
tion to prepare the way of tbe Lord in the wilderness ; to
remove all obstructions before Jehovah marching through
the desert ; through the wild, uninhabited, un passable coun
try. The deUverance of God's people from the Babylonish
captivity is considered by him as parallel to the former de
liverance of thera from the Egyptian bondage. God was.
then represented as their king, leading thera in person through
the vast deserts, which lay in their way to the proraised land
of Canaan. It is not merely for Jehovah himself, that in
both cases the way was to be prepared, and all obstructions
to be removed ; but for Jehovah marching in person at
the head of his people. Let us first see, how this idea is
pursued by the sacred poets who treat of the Exodus, which
is a favourite subject with them, and affords great choice of
examples : —
" When Israel came out of Egypt;
The house of Jacob, from the barbarous people;
Judah was his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion." Psal. cxiv. 1 , 2.
" Jehovah his God is with him;
And the shout of a king is among them:
God brought them out of Egypt." Numb, xxift. 21, 22.
" Make a highway for him that rideth tiirough the deserts:
O God, when thou.wentest forth before thy people;
When thou marchedst through the wftderness,
¦The heavens dropped." Psal. Ixviu. 4. 7.
Let us now see how Isaiah treats the subject of the return

CHAP. XL. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 311
of the people from Babylon : they ,were to march through
the wftderness with Jehovah at their head, who was to lead
them, to smooth the way before them, and to supply them
with water in the thirsty desert ; with perpetual allusion to
the Exodus :
"Come ye forth from Babylon, flee ye from the land of the
Chaldeans with the voice of joy:
PubUsh ye this, and make it heard; utter it forth even to
the end of the earth :
Say ye, Jehovah hath redeerned his servant Jacob:
They thirsted not in the deserts, through which he made
them go;
Waters from the rock he caused to flow for them;
Yea he clave the rock, and forth gushed the waters." ,
Chap, xlvift. 20, 21.
" Remember not the former things; '
And the things of ancieiit times regard not: ''
(That is, the deliverance from Egypt) :
" Behold, I raake a new thing;
Even now shaft it spring forth: wift ye not regard it?
Tea 1 will make in the wilderness a way;
In the desert, streams of water." Chap, xlift. 18, 19.
, " But he that trusteth'in me shall inherit the land,
And shall possess my -holy mountain.
Then wftl I say. Cast up, cast up the causeway; make
cleair the way ;
Remove every obstruction from the road of my people."
Chap. lvii. 13, 14.
" How beautiful appear on the mountains
The feet of the joyful messenger, of him that announceth
.peace;
Ofthe joyful messenger of good tidings, of him that an
nounceth salvation; '
Of him that sayeth to Sion, Thy God reigneth!
All thy watchmen lift up their voice, they shout together;
For face to face shall they see, when Jehovah returneth
to Sion.
Verily not in haste shall ye go forth;
And not by flight shall ye march along:
For Jehovah shall march in your front ;
And the God of Israel shall bring up your rear."
Chap. fti. 7, 8. 12.
Babylon was separated from Judea by an imraense tract
of country, which was one continued desert ; that large part
of Arabia caUed very properly Deserta. It is raentioned

312 NOTi:s ON i«aiah. chap. xl.
in history as a remarkable occurrence, that Nebuchadnezzar,
having received the news of tbe death of his father, in order
to make the utmost expedition in his journey to Babylon from
Egypt and Phoenicia, set out with a few attendants, and
passed through this desert. Berosus, apud Joseph. Antiq. x.
11. This was the nearest way homewards for the Jews ;
and whether they actually returned by this way or. not, the
first thing that would occur on the proposal or thought of
their return, would be the difficulty of this almost impractica
ble passage. Accordingly the proclamation for the prepara
tion of the way is the most natural idea, and the most obvious
circumstance, by -which the Prophet could have opened his
subject. 'These things considered, I have not the least doubt, that
the return of the Jew^s from the captivity of Babylon is the
first, though not the principal, thing in the Prophet's view.
The redemption from Babylon is clearly foretold ; and at the
same tirae is eraployed as an image to shadow out a redemp
tion of an infinitely higher and more important nature. I
should not have thought it necessary to employ so many-
words in endeavouring to establish what is called tbe literal
sense of this prophecy, which I think cannot be rightly un
derstood without it, had I not observed, tbat many iaterpi-e-
ters of the first authority, in particular the very learned Vit
ringa, have excluded it entirely.
Yet obvious and plain as I think this literal sense is, we
have nevertheless tbe irrefragable authority of John the Bap
tist, and of our blessed Saviour hiraself, as recorded by all the
Evangelists, for explaining this exordium of the prophecy of
the opening of the gospel by the preaching of John, and of
the introducing of the kingdora of Messiah ; who was to ef
fect a much greater deliverance of tbe people of God, Gen
tiles as weU as Jews, from tbe captivity of sin and the domin
ion of death. And this we shall find to be the case in many
subsequent parts also of this prophecy, where passages mani
festiy relating to the deliverance of the Jewish nation, effected
by Cyrus, are with good reason, and upon undoubted author
ity, to be understood of the redemption wrougbt for mankind
by Christ.
If the literal sense of this prophecy, as above explained,
cannot be questioned, much less surely can tbe spiritual;
which, I think, is allowed on aU hands even by Grotius
himself If both are to be admitted, here is a plain example

CHAP. XL, NOTES ON ISAIAH. 313
of the mystical allegory, or double sense, as it is commonly
caUed, of prophecy ; which the sacred writers of the New Tes
tament clearly suppose, and according to which tbey frequent
ly frame their interpretation of passages of ' the Old Testa
ment. Of tbe foundation and properties of this sort of alle
gory, see De S. Poes. Hebr. Praelect. xi.
2. Blessings double to the punishment} It does not
seem i"econcileable to our notions of the divine justice, which
always punishes less than our iniquities deserve, to suppose,
that God had punished the sins of the Jews in double pro
portion : and it is more agreeable to the tenor of this con
solatory message, to understand it as a promise of ample
recompense for the effects of past displeasure, on the recon-
ciUation of God to his returning people. 'To express this
sense of the passage, wbich the words of the original will
very weU bear, it was necessary to add a- word or two in
the verssion to supply the eUiptical expression of the He
brew. Corapare chap. Ixi. 7. Job. xiii. 10. Zech. ix. 12.
nNDn signifies punishment for sin. Lam. ift. 39. Zech. xiv. 19.
3. A voice crieth : In the icilderness — ] The idea is
taken from the practice of eastern monarchs, who, whenever
they entered upon an expedition, or took a journey, especially
through desert and unpractised countries, sent harbingers be
fore them to prepare aft things for their passage, and pioneers
to open the passes, to level the ways, and to remove all im
pediments. The officers appointed to superintend such prep
arations the Latins caU Stratores. " Ipse (Johannes Bap-
tista) se siraiorem vocat Messiae, cujus esset alta et elafa voce
homines in desettis locis habitantes ad itinera et vias Regi
mox venturo sternendas et reficiendas hortari : " Mosheim,
Instituta Majora, p. 96.
Diodorus's account of Semirarais's marches into Media
and Persia, will give us a clear notion of the preparation of
the way for a royal expedition : " In her raarch to Ecbatane
she carae to the Zarcean mountain ; which extending many
furlongs, and being full of craggy precipices and deep hol
lows, could not be passed without taking a great compass
about. Being tberefore desirous of leaving an everlasting
memorial of herself, as well as of shortening the way, she
ordered the precipices to be digged down, and the hollows
to be filled up ; and at a great expense she made a shorter
and raore expeditious roaft, which to this day is called frora
32

314 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XL.
her the Road of Serairarais. Afterward she went into Per
sia, and all the other countries of Asia subject to her dorain-
ion ; and wherever she went, she ordered the mountains and
precipices to be levelled, raised causeways in the plaincoun-
try, and at a great expense made the ways passable : " Diod.
Sic. ftb. ft.
The VvTiter of the apocryphal book cafted Baruch, expresses
the same subject by the same images ; either taking them
frora this place of Isaiah, or from the comraon notions of his
countryraen : " For God hath appointed, that every high hill,
and banks of long continuance, should be cast down, and
vafties fifted up, to make even the ground, that Israel raay go
safely in the glory of God ; " chap. v. 7.
The Jewish church, to which John was sent to announce
the coraing of Messiab, was at that time in a barren and
desert condition, unfit without reformation for the reception
of her king. It was in this desert country, destitute at that
tirae of all religious cultivation, in true piety and good
works unfruitful, that John was sent to prepare the way of
the Lord by preaching repentance. I have distinguished
the parts ofthe sentence according to the punctuation of the
Masoretes, which agrees best both with the literal and the
spiritual sense ; which the construction and parallelism of
the distich in the Hebrew plainly favours ; and of which the
Greek of the LXX and of the Evangelists is equally suscep
tible. John was born in the desert of Judea, and passed bis whole
life in it, tftl the tirae of his being raanifested to Israel. He .
preached in tbe sarae desert : it was a niountainous coun
try ; however, not entirely and properly a desert, for, though
less cultivated than other parts of Judea, yet it was not unin
habited : Joshua (chap. xv. 61, 62.) reckons six cities in it.
We are so prepossessed with the idea of John's living and
preaching in the desert, that we are apt to consider this par
ticular scene of his preaching as a very important and essen
tial part of his history : whereas I apprehend this circumstance
to be no otherwise important, than as giving us a strong
idea of the rough character of the raan, which was answera
ble to the place of his education ; and as affording a proper
emblem of the rude state of the Jewish church at that time ;
wbich was the true wilderness meant by the Prophet, in
which John was to prepare the way for the coming of the
Messiab.

CHAP. XL. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 315
4. The word 3p;r is very generally rendered crooked ; but
this sense of the word seems not to be supported by any good
authority. Ludolphus, Comment, ad Hist. jElhiop. p. 206.
says, that in the .Slthiopic language it signifies clivus, locus
editus ; and so the Syriac version renders it in this place
aiTsy, Heb. nni;?, tumulus, acervus. Thus the paralleUsm
would be more perfect : " tiie hilly country shaft be made
level, and the precipices a sraooth plain."
5. — the salvation of our God] These words are added
here by LXX : ro FaTtipov nv &iov, ^rrba nyw nN, as it is in
the parallel place, chap. lii. 10. The sentence is abrupt with
out it, the verb wanting its object ; and I think it is genuine.
Our English translation has supplied the word it, whicb is
equivalent to this addition from LXX.
This omission in the Hebrew text is ancient, being prior
to the Chaldee, Syriac, and Vulgate versions : but the words
stand in all the copies of the LXX ; and they are acknowl
edged by Luke, ift. 6.
6. its glory — J For non read nn; LXX, and Vulg. and
1 Pet. i. 24.
7. this people — ] So Syr. who perhaps read ntn D;;n.
6 — 8. A voice sayeth, Proclaimr—] To understand right
ly this passage is a matter of importance ; for it seems de
signed to give us the true key to the remaining part of Isaiah's
prophecies ; the general subject of which is the restoration
of the people and church of God. The Prophet opens the
subject with great clearness and elegance : he declares at once
God's coraraand to his messengers, (his Prophets, as the
Chaldee rightiy explains it,) to comfort his people in captivi
ty, to^impart to them the joyful tidings, that their punish-
mept has now satisfied the divine justice, and the time of
reconcftiation and favour is at hand. He then introduces a
harbinger giving orders to prepare the way for God leading
his people from Babylon, as he did formerly frora Egypt,
through the wilderness ; to remove aft obstacles, and to clear
the way for tbeir passage. Thus far nothing raore appears
to be intended than a return frora the Babylonish captiv
ity: but the next words seem to intiraate soraething much
greater :
" And the glory df Jehovah shaft" be revealed;
And all flesh shall see together the fealvation of our God."
He then introduces a voice commanding hira to make a
solemn proclamation. And what is the import of it? That

316 NOTES ON isaiah. CHAP. XL.
the people, the flesh, is of a vain temporary nature ; that all
its glory fadeth, and is soon gone ; but that the word of
God endureth for ever. What is this, but a plain opposi
tion of the flesh to the spirit ; of the carnal Israel to the
spiritual ; of the temporary Mosaic economy to the eternal ,
Christian dispensation ? You raay be ready to conclude,
(the Prophet may be supposed to say), by. this introduction
to ray discourse, that ray coramission is only to 'comfort you
with a proraise of the restoration of your religion and polity,
of Jerusalera, of tbe teraple, and its services and worship in
all its ancient splendour : These are earthly, temporary,
shadowy, fading things, which shall soon pass away, and be
destroyed for ever ; these are not worthy to engage your
attention, in comparison of the greater blessings, the spirit-'
ual rederaption, the eternal inheritance, covered under the
veil of the former, which I have it in charge to unfold unto
you. The law has only a shadow of good things ; the sub
stance is the gospel. I promise you a restoration of the
former ; which, however, is only for a time, and shall be
done away, according to God's original appointment: but
under that iraage I give you a view of the latter ; which
shall never be done away, but shall endure for ever. This
I take to be agreeable to St. Peter's interpretation of this
passage of the Prophet, quoted hy him 1 Pet. i. 24, 25.
" Aft flesh is as grass, and all the glory of raan as the flower
of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And
this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."
This is the same word of the Lord of v.hich Isaiah speaks,
which bath now been preached unto you by the gospel. The
law and the gospel are frequentiy opposed to one another by
St Paul under the iraages of flesh and spirit : " Having begun
in the spirft, are ye now raade perfect by the flesh ? " Gal.
fti. 3. , ,
7. When the wind of Jehovah—} nin' nn, a wind of
Jehovah, is a Hebraism, meaning no more than a strong
wind. It is well known, tbat a hot wind in the East destroys
at once every green thing. .Compare Psal. ciii. 16. Two
MSS omit the word nin', Jehovah.
9. O daughter that bringest glad tidings} That the true
construction of the sentence is this, which raakes Sion the
receiver, not the publisher, of the glad tidings, (which latter
has been the most prevailing interpretation), wiU, I think,

OHAP. XL. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 317
very clearly appear, if we rightly consider the iraage itself,
and the custora and comraon practice frora which it is taken.
I have added the word daughter, to express the feminine
gender of the Hebrew participle, wbich I know not how
to do otherwise in our language. And this is absolutely
necessary in order to ascertain the image ; for the office of
announcing and celebrating such glad tidings as are here
spoken of, belonged peculiarly to the women. On occasion
of any great pubftc success, a signal victory, or any other
joyful event, it was usual for the women to gather together,
and with music, dances, and songs, to [publish and celebrate
the happy news. Thus, after the passage of the Red Sea,
Miriam, aud all the women, with trimbrels in their bands,
formed a chorus, and joined tbe men in their triumphant
song, dancing, and throwing in .alternately the refrain or
burthen of the song : —
Sing ye to Jehovah, for he is greatly exalted;
The horse and his rider hath he cast into the sea."
Exod. XV. 20, 21.
So Jephthah's daughter collected a chorus of virgins, and
with dances and songs came out to raeet her father, and to
celebrate his victory ; Judg. xi. 34. After David's conquest
of Goliab, " all the woraen carae out of the cities of Israel,
singing and dancing, to raeet Saul, with tabrets, with joy,
and with instruments of music :" and forming theraselves in
to two chorusses, they sung alternately, —
" Saul has slain his thousands;
And David his ten thousands." 1 Sam. xviii. 6, 7.
And this gives us the true sense of a passage in the Ixviftth
Psalm, which has frequently been misunderstood : —
" Jehovah gave the word; (that is, the joyful news);
The women, who published the glad tidings, were a great
company:
The kings of mighty armies did flee, did flee;
And even the niatron, who staid at home, shared the spoil."
The word signifying the publishers of glad tidings is the
same, and expressed in the same form by the feminine par
ticiple, as in this place ; and the last distich is the song which
they sung. So in this place, Jehovah having given the
word by bis Prophet, the joyful tidings of the restoration of
Sion, and of God's returning to Jerusalera, (see chap. Ui.
8.), the women are exhorted by tbe Prophet to publish tha
32*

318 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XL.
joyful news wfth a loud voice from eminences, whence they
might best be heard all over the country ; and the matter and
burthen of their song was to be, " Behold your God !"
10. — his reward, andthe recompense of his ivork] That
is, the reward and recorapense, which be bestows and
which he will pay to his faithful servants : this he has ready
at hand with hira, and holds it out before him, to encourage
those who trust in hira, and wait for him.
11. The nursing ewes shall he gently lead] A beautiful
iraage, expressing, with the utmost propriety as well as ele
gance, the tender attention of . the shepherd to his flock.
That the greatest care in driving the cattle in regard to the
dams and their young was necessary, appears clearly from
Jacob's apology to his brother Esau, Gen. xxxiii. 13. " The
flocks and the herds giving suck to their young are with
me ; and if they should be over-driven, all the flock will die."
Whicb is set in a still stronger light by the following remark
of Sir John Chardin ; " Their flocks, (says he, speaking
of those -who now live in the East after the patriarchal man
ner), feed down the places of their encampments so quick,
by tbe great numbers that they have, that they are obliged
to remove them too often ; which is very destructive to their
flocks on account of the young ones, who have not strength
enough to follow :" Harmer's Observ. i. p, 126.
16. And Lebanon is not sufficient — ] Tbe image is beau
tiful and uncommon; it has been imitated by an apocryphal.-
writer, who however coraes far short of the original : — -
" For all sacrifice is too little for a sweet savour unto thee;
And aft the fat is not sufficient for thy burnt offering." Judith xvi. 16.
19. — and forgeth — ] For tiny, the participle, twenty-
seven MSS (five ancient), and three editions, read nis, praBt.
3d person.
21. — understood it from the foundation — ] The true
reading seeras to be niiDlDD, to answer to t^NlD in the fore
going line. It follows a word ending with d; and out of three
m,ems concuring, it was an easy mistake to drop the middle one.
22. — as a thin veil] " It is usual in the summer season,
and upon aft occasions, when a large company is to be re
ceived, to have the court sheltered from heat, or inclemency
ofthe weather, by a vein umbrella, or veil, as I shall call
it ; which, being expanded on ropes from one side of the
parapet-waft to the other, may be folded or unfolded at

OHAP. XL. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 319
pleasure. The Psalmist seeras to allude -to some covering
of this kind in that beautiful expression of spreading out the
heavens ftke a curtain :" Shaw, Trav. p. 274,
24. If he but blow upon them] The LXX, Syr. Vulg.
and MS Bodl. and another, have dj without the conjunc
tion 1.
28. And that his understanding — [ Twenty-four MSS,
t-wo editions, LXX, and Vulg. read pNi, with the conjunc
tion 1.
31. They shall put forth fresh feathers.} It has been a
common and popular opinion, that the eagle lives and re
tains his vigour to a great age ; and that, beyond the com
mon lot of other birds, he moults in his old age, and renews
his feathers, and with them his youth. " Thou shalt renew
thy youth like tbe eagle," says the Psalmist, ciii. 5. ; on wbich
place St. Ambrose notes, " Aquila longam aetatem ducit,
dum, vetustis plurals fatiscentibus, nova pennarum succes-
sione juvenescit." Phile, de Aniraalibus, treating of the
eagle, and addressing bimself to the Emperor Michael
Palaeologus junior, raises his corapliraent upon the same
notion : —
toVTOV FV,' ^XFlXeV, TOV TtoXvv ^aoii ^lov,
All veov^yav, xxi x^xmvav Trfi fivFiv,
Long may'st thou live, 0 king ; still like the eagle
Renew thy youth, and stift retain thy vigour.
To this raany fabulous and absurd circumstances are added
by several ancient writers and commentators on Scripture:
see Bochart, Hieroz. II. ii. 1 , Whether the notion of the
eagle's renewing his youth is in any degree well founded or
not, I need not inquire ; it is enough for a poet, whether
profane or sacred, to have the authority of popular opinion
to support an image introduced for illustration or ornaraent,
CHAPTER XLI.
1 . — repair to me with new sentiments] 'Eyxaivi^iFh, LXX.
Fop Winn, be silent, they certainly read in their copy
Winn, he renewed ; which is parallel and synonyraous with
n3 iS'bn', recover their strength ; that is, their strength of
mind, their powers of reason ; that they may overcome those
prejudices by which they have been so long held enslaved
to idolatry. A MS has in upon a rasure. The sarae rais-

320 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XLI.
take seeras to have been raade in tbis word, Zeph. fti. 17, :
for in3nK3 B^'in', " silebit in dftectione sua," as the Vul
gate renders it, which seems not consistent with what ira
mediately foftows, " exultabit super te in laude ;" LXX and
Syr. read in3nN3 a/'in', "renovabitur in amore suo."
2. — the righteous man.] The Chald. and Vulg. seera to
have read p'ls. But Jerora, though his translation has
justum, appears to have read pis; for in his comment he
expresses it hy justum, sive justitiam. However, I think [all
interpreters understand it of a person. So the LXX, in
MS Pachom. ixa>i£Fev xvtov, but the other copies have avrnv.
They are divided in ascertaining this person : sorae explain
it of Abraham ; others of Cyrus. I rather think that the
former is meant ; because the character of the righteous
man, or righteousness, agrees better with Abraham than with
Cyrus. Besides, immediately after the description of the suc
cess given by God to Abraham and his posterity, (who, I
presume, are to be taken into the account), the idolaters are
introduced as greatiy alarmed at this event. Abraham was,
called out of the east; and his posterity were introduced
into the land of Canaan, in order to destroy the idolaters of
that country ; and they were established tbere, on purpose
to stand as a barrier against idolatry, then prevailing, and
threatening to overrun the whole face of the earth. Cyrus,
though not properly an idolater, or worshipper of images,
yet had nothing in his character to cause such an alarm
among the idolaters, ver. 5 — 7. Further, after having just
touched upon that circumstance, the Propbet with great ease
returns to his former subject, and resumes Abraham and the
IsraeUtes ; and assures them, that as God had called them,
and chosen thera for this purpose, he would uphold and
support them to the utmost, and at length give them victory
over all the heathen nations, their enemies ; ver. 8 — 16.
Ibid. — made ihem like ihe dust — ] The image is strong
and beautiful ; it is often made use of by the sacred poets ;
see Psal. i. 4. xxxv. 5. Job. xxi. 18. and by Isaiah himself in
other places, chap. xvii. 13. xxix. 5. But there is great
difficulty in making out the construction. The LXX read
tsm^), U2-^r\, iheir sword, their bow, understanding ft of the
sword and bow of the conquered kings ; but this is not so
agreeable to the analogy of the iraage, as employed in other
places. The Chaldee Paraphrast and Kimchi solve the dif
ficulty by supposing an eftipsis of 'J3'7 before those words.

CHAP. XU. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 321
It must be owned, tbat the ellipsis is hard and unusual : but
I choose rather to submit to this, than, by adhering with
Vitringa to the raore obvious construction, to destroy entirely
both the iraage and the sense. But the Vulgate by gladio
ejus, and arcui ejus, seems to express um'? and nityp^ ; the
admission of which reading may perhaps be thought prefera
ble to Kimchi's eftipsis.
3. — he passeth in safety] The preposition seems to have
been oraitted in the text by raistake : LXX and Vulg. seera
to have had it in their copies ; ev ei^m^, in pace, DISK'S.
4. — and made these things} A word is here lost out of
the text. It is suppUed by an ancient MS, n'7N, these things ;
and by LXX, txvtxj and by Vulg. hcec ; and by Chald.
I''7N. 5. — and they were terrified} Three MSS have mn'i,
adding the conjunction i, which restores the second member
of the sentence to its true poetical forra.
7. — that'it shall not move.] Five MSS (two ancient),
and the aneient versions, add the conjunction i, reading xbi ;
which seeras to be right.
9. — from the extremities thereof} n»'7'SND : VsN signi
fies the arra, axilla, ala ; and is used like f|J3, the wing, for
any thing extended frora the extreraity of another, or joined
on to it. Itis here paraUel and.synonoraous to nispD,/rowi
the ends, in the preceding member.
15. — a threshing wain,-r-a corn-drag} See note on
chap, xxvift. 27, 28.
19. Ll the wilderness I will give the cedar} The two
preceding verses express God's mercy to thera in their pas
sage through the dry deserts, in supplying tbem with abun
dant watef, when distressed with thirst, in aftusion to the
Exodus : tbis verse expresses the relief afforded to thera, faint
ing with heat in their journey through that hot country, des
titute of shelter, by causing shady trees, and those of the
taUest (ind most beautiful kinds, to spring up for their defence.
The apocryphal Baruch, speaking of the return frora Baby
lon, ' expresses God's protection of his people by, the same
iraage : " Even the woods and every sweet sraelling tree shall
overshadow Israel by the comraandment of God ; " chap.
V. 8.
20. -^and may consider — J The verb id'B", without 3'7
added, cannot signify to apply the heart, or to attend to a
thing, as Houbigant has observed : be therefore reads idb''.

322 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XLI.
they shaft wonder. The conjecture is ingenious : but it js
much raore probable that the word 3'7 is lost out of the text ;
for all the ancient versions render the phrase to the same
sense, as if it were fufty expressed, 3^ la't?'; andthe Chaldee
renders it paraphrasticaUy, yet still retaining the very words
in his paraphrase, pn3'7 by 'rbni pity'i, " ut ponant timorera
meum in corde suo." See also ver. 22. where the same phrase
is used, 21. Produce these your mighty powers] " Accedant, in-
quit, idola vestra, quae putatis esse fortissiraa :" Hieron. Com.
,in loc. I prefer this to all other interpretations of this place,
and to Jerom's own translation of it, which he adds immedi
ately after, " Afferte, si quid forte habfetis." The false gods
are called upoft to come forth, and appear in person ; and to
give evident demonstration of their fore-knowledge and power,
by foretelling future events, and exerting their power in doing
good or evil.
23. — and terror] The word ni31 is written imperfectly in
the Hebrew text: the Masoretes supply n at the 'end; and
so it is read in twenty-two MSS, and four editions ; tbat is,
nNUi, and we shall see. But the true reading seems to be
NI'Jl, and we shall fear, with i supplied, from Ni'.
24. — than nought] For^fSND, readoBNa; so Chald. and
Vulg. A manifest error of the text : compare chap. xl. 17.
The Rabbins acknowledge no such error ; but say, that the
former word signifies the same with the latter, by a change
ofthe two letters d andj?: Sal. b. Melech in loc.
25. — heshall trample — ] For n3', Le Clerc reads D3',
frora the Chaldee, -who seeras to read both words. " Forte
legend. D3'l, vel ddI'1 ; sequitur d : " Secker. See Na-
hura iii, 14.
27. I first to Sion — J This verse is soraewhat obscure by
the transposition of the parts ofthe sentence, and the pecuUar
raanner in which it is divided into two paraUel lines. 'The
verb at^ the end of the sentence belongs to both parts; and
the phrase. Behold they are here ! is parallel to the messen
ger of glad tidings ; and stands, like it, as the accusative
case to the verb. The following paraphrase will explain the
forra and the sense of it : "1 first, by my Prophets, give no
tice of these events, saying. Behold, they are at hand ! and I
give to Jerusalem a messenger of glad tidings."
28. And among the idols — ] For n^NDi, I read D'Vndi,
with the LXX, xxi omo Tav eiSaXav. See Exod. XV. 11. Isa. Ivft. 5.

CHAP. XLII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 323

CHAPTER XLII.
The Prophet, having opened his subject with the pre
paration for the return from captivity at Babylon, and in-
tiraated that a much greater deliverance was covered 'un
der the veil of that event ; proceeded to vindicate the power
of Gpd, as creator and disposer of all things ; and his infi
nite knowledge, frora his prediction of future events, and in
particular of that deliverance. He went stftl further, and
pointed out the instrument by which he should effect the
redemption of his people the Jews frora slavery, naraely, a
great conqueror, whora be would call forth frora the north
and the east to execute his orders. In this chapter he pro
ceeds to the greater deliverance ; and at once brings forth in
to full view, without throwing any veil of allegory over the
subject, the Messiah. " Behold, my servant, Messiah," says
the Chaldee. St Matthew has appfted it directly to Christ ;
nor can it with any justice or propriety be applied to any oth
er person or character whatever.
1. And he shall publish judgment] Four MSS (two an
cient) add the conjunction asam. See Matt. xii. 18.
The word astyn, judgment, like npis, righteousness, is
taken in a great latitude of signification. It means rule,
form, 'order, model, plan; rule of right, or of reUgion; an
ordinance, institution ; judicial process, cause, trial, sentence,
condemnation, acquittal, deliverance, mercy, &c. It certain
ly means in this place the law to be published by Messiah ;
the institution of the gospel.
4. His force shall not be abated nor broken] " Rabbi
Meir ita cifat locum istum, ut post yii' addat mo, robur ejus,
quod hodie non comparet in textu Hebraeo, sed addendum
videtur, ut sensus fiat planior :" Capel. Crit. Sac. p. 382.
For which reason I had added it in tbe translation, before I
observed this remark of Capellus.
6. a covenant to the people] For ay, two MSS read d'7i;[?,
the covenant of the age to come. Or the everlasting cove
nant ; which seeras to give a clearer and better sense.
7. To open the eyes of the blind — ] In this verse the
Propbet seeins to set forth the spiritual rederaption, under
iraages borrowed frora the teraporal deliverance.
Ibid. — and from the dungeon — ] 'The LXX, Syr. and
four MSS (one ancient), add the conjunction i, n'3Di.

324 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XLII,
10. Ye that go down upon the sea] This seems not to
belong to this place ; it does not well consist with what fol
lows, " and the fulness thereof." They that go down upon
the sea, means navigators, sailbrs, traders, such as do busi
ness in great waters : an idea much too confined for the
Prophet, who means the sea in general, as it is used by tbe
Hebrews, for the distant nations, the islands, the dwellers
on the sea-coasts all over the world. I suspect that sOme
transcriber had the 23d verse of Psal. cvii. running in his
head, ni'3N3 D'n 'ill' ; and wrote in this place D'n mv
instead of D'n D;;i', or yy, or p' ; "let the sea roar, or
shout, or exult." But as this is so different in appearance
from the present reading, I do not take the liberty of in
troducing it into the translation. " Conjeceram legendum
iTJ' ,ut ver. 12. ; sed non favent versiones :" 'Secker.
11. Let the desert — ] The most uncultivated countries,
and the. most rude and uncivilized people, shall confess and
celebrate with thanksgiving the blessing of tbe knowledge
of God graciously imparted to them. By ' tbe desert is
meant Arabia Deserta ; by the rocky country, Arabia Pe
traea : by the mountains, probably those celebrated ones, ,
Paran, Horeb, Sinai, in the sarae country; to which also
belonged Kedar, a clan of Arabians, dwelling for the most
part in tents : but there were others of them,, who inhabited
or frequented cities and villages, as raay be collected from
this place of the propbet. Pietro della Valle, speaking of
the people of Arabia Deserta, says, " There is a sort of
Arabs of that country called Maedi, who with their herds,
of buffaloes for the most part, sometiraes live in the deserts,
and sometimes in cities ; from whence they have their name,
which signifies wandering, going from place to place. They
have no professed homes ; nor are tbey properly Bedaui, or
Beduui, that is, Deserticoli, who are the most noble among
them, and never abide within walls, but always go wandering
through the open country with their black tents; nor are
they properly Hhadesi, as they call those who dwell in cities
and lands with fixed houses : these by the latter are esteemed
ignoble and base ; but by both are considered as of low con
dition :" Viaggi, Parte III. lett. 2.
14,. shall I keep silence for everi] After DlVj^o, in the
copy which the LXX had before thera, followed the word
Dl"7J?'7n, iFiaxriFX XTp Mavoc; furi xxi ctet FiaTntFcfJUi't; according tO
MSS Pachom. and i. D. ii. and edition Complut. ; which

CHAP, XLII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 325
word D'?i;;'7n has been omftted in the text by an easy mistake
of a transcriber, because of the simiUtude of the word preced
ing. 15. — dry deserts] Instead of D"n, islands, read D"s; a
very probable conjecture of Houbigant.
16. And through paths—] The LXX, Syr. Vulg. and
nine MSS (two ancient), read ni3'nJ3i.
Ibid. — will I do for them] Oivwy: This word so written,
as it is in the text, means. Thou wftt do, in the second per
son : the Masoretes have indeed pointed it for the first per
son ; but the ' in the last syllable is absolutely necessary to
distinguish the first person ; and so it is written in forty MSS,
vnwy.
Jarchi, Kimchi, Sal. b. Melech, (fcc. agree, that the past
time is here put for the future, ^Tfviy for Twya; and indeed the
context necessarily requires that interpretation. ' Further, it is
to be observed, that U''Y\'wy is for Dn'7 ^rvmy, I have done
them,, for / have done for them ; as nr\'\ay is for 'S in'tyy, /
have m,ade m,yself, for / have m,ade for m,yself ; Ezek.
xxix. 3. : and in the celebrated passage of Jephthah's vow,
Judges xi. 31. n'71;; in'n''?j;ni, for n'71;; 1*7 ¦'rvbyn, I will offer
him, a burnt-offering, for I will offer unto him (that is
unto Jehovah) a burnt-offering ; by an eftipsis of the prep
osition, of which Buxtorff gives many other examples, Thes.
Grammat. lib. ft. 17. See also note on chap. lxv. 5. A late
happy application of this grammatical remark to that much
disputed passage, has perfectly cleared up a difiiculty which
for two thousand years had puzzled all the translators and
expositors, had given occasion to dissertations without num
ber, and caused endless disputes among the learned, on the
question, whether Jephthah sacrificed his daughter, or not :
in which both parties bave been equally ignorant of the mean
ing of the place, of the state of the fact, and of the very terms
of the vow ; which now at last has been cleared up beyond
, all doubt by my very learned friend Dr. Randolph, Margaret
Professor of Divinity in the university of Oxford, in his ser
mon on Jephthah's vow ; Oxford, 1766.
19. — as he, to whom I have sent my messengers.] okSdd
nbtffs, " ut ad quem nuncios meos misi ; " Vulg. Chald. ;
almost the only interpreters who render it rightly, in consis
tence with the rest of the sentence, and in perfect agreement
with the Hebrew idiom ; according to which the ellipsis is to
be thus supplied, nbisa 'dn^d yieab's.
33

326 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP, XLII,
Ibid, — as he that is perfectly instructed} See note on
chap, xliv, 2,
Ibid. And deaf [as the servant of Jehovah] Foriij>i,
and blind, we must read t?ini, and deaf: »apos, Symmachus ;
and so MS. The mistake is palpable, and the correction
self-evident ; and admissible, though there had been no au
thority for it.
20. Thou hast seen indeed] The text has ni3i n»Ni,
which the Masoretes in the marginal Keri have corrected to
ni3i niNl ; as indeed a hundred and seven MSS, and five
editions, now have it in the text. This was probably the
reading of most of the MSS in tbeir time ; which, though
they approved of it, out of sorae superstition they would not
adrait into their standard text. But these wretched critics,
though they perceived there was some fault, yet. did not
know where the fault lay, nor consequently how to amend
it ; and yet it was open enough to a judicious eye : " ni3i,
sic veteres ; et tamen forte legendum, niNi : vide cap. vi. 9 : "
Secker. That is, niNi n'Ni. I believe no one wftl doubt
of admitting this as the true reading.
Ibid. — yet thou wilt not hear} For ;?Dty', read ynan, in
the second person : so all tbe ancient versions, and forty
MSS (four of them ancient), and perhaps five more. Two
others have ijrntyn, second person, plural.
21. — his own praise] For nun, the LXX read mw.
22. — are taken in the toils] For nan, read main, in the
plural number, Hophal ; as iN3nn, which answers to it in
the following member of the sentence : Le Clerc, Houbigant.
nan, Secker.
24. — they have sinned] For UNDn, first person, LXX
and Chald. read iNBn, in the third person.
25. the heat of his wrath] For nnn, the Bodley MS has
non, in regimine ; raore regularly.

CHAPTER XLIH.
1, I have called thee by thy naine] ptyn 'HNIp, " Sic ver
siones, Videtur ex versu septimo et reipsa legendum ynsip
'nw3, [vocavi te meo nomine] ; nam saepe usurpatur haec
phrasis, nunquam altera. Nam xlv, 24, de Gyro alia res est,
Sed dum Deus Jacobum Israelem vocat, Dei nomine vocat.
Vide Exod, xxxi, 2," Secker,

OHAP, XLIII, NOTES ON ISAIAH, 327
3, / have given Egypt for thy ransom} This is commonly
supposed to refer to the time of Senacherib's invasion ; who,
when he was just ready to faU upon Jerusalem, soon after
his entering Judea, was providentiaUy diverted from that
design, and turned his arms againgt the Egyptians, and their
aUies the Cushean Arabians, with their neighbours the Sa
beans probably joined with them, under Tirhakah, See
chap, XX, and xxxvii, 9. Or, as there are some reasonable
objections to this opinion, perhaps it may mean more gene
rally, that God had often saved his people at the expense of
other nations, whom he had, as it were in their stead, given
up to destruction, Vitringa explains this of Shalmaneser's
designs upon 4,he kingdom of Judea, after he had destroyed
that of Samaria ; from which he was diverted by carrying
the war against the Egyptians, Cusheans, and Sabeans ; but
of this, I think, he has no clear proof in history. It is not
to be wondered, that many things of this kind should re
main very obscure for want of the light of history, which in
regard to these times is extremely deficient,
" Did not Cyrus overcome these nations ? and might they
not be given him for releasing the Jews ? It seems to have
been so from chap, xlv, 14 :" Secker,
7, Whom for my glory — ] Ten MSS (three ancient),
Syr, and Vulg, read 71133'?, without the conjunction 1,
8, Bring forth the people blind — ] I understand this of
the Gentftes, as the verse foUowing, not of the Jews, Their
natural faculties, if they had made a proper use of them,
must have led them to the knowledge of the being and attri
butes of the one true God ; " for his eternal power and
Godhead, if well attended to, are clearly seen in his works ;"
Rom, i, 20, ; and would have preserved them from running
into the folly and absurdity of worshipping idols. They are
here challenged to produce the evidence of the power and
foreknowledge of their idol-gods ; and the Jews are just
afterward, ver, 10, appealed to as witnesses for God in this
cause : therefore these latter cannot here be meant by the
people blind with eyes, and deaf with ears.
9. Who among them — ] Seven MSS (three ancient),
and the first edition, 1486, with Syr. and Vulg. read d33,
who among ymi. The present reading is preferable.
14. — the Chaldeans exulting in their ships] Babylon
was very advantageously situated, both in respect to com
merce and as a naval power. It was open to the Persian

328 NOTES ON ISAIAH. OHAP. XLIII,
Gulf by the Euphrates, which was navigable by large ves
sels ; and being joined to the Tigris above Babylon by the
canal called Naharmalca, or the Royal River, supplied the
city with the produce of the whole country to the north of
it, as far as the Euxine and Caspian Seas : Herod, i. 194.
Serairarais was the foundress of this part also of the Baby
lonian greatness : she improved the navigation of the
Euphrates ; Herod, i. 184. Strabo, lib. xvi. ; and is said to
have had a fleet of three thousand gallies : Huet, Hist, du
Commerce, chap. xi. We are not to wonder, that in later
times we hear little of the coramerce and naval power of
Babylon"; for, after the taking of the city by Cyrus, the
Euphrates was not only rendered less fit for navigation, by
being on that occasion diverted frora its course, and left to
spread over the whole country, but the Persian monarchs,
residing iu their own country, to prevent any invasion by
sea on that part of their empire, purposely obstructed the
navigation of both the rivers, by making cataracts in them ;
Strabo, ibid. ; that is, by raising dams across the channel, and
making artificial falls in them, that no vessel of any size or
force could possibly corae up. Alexander began to restore
the navigation of the rivers by demolishing the cataracts
upon the Tigris as far up as Seleucia ; Arrian. lib. vii. ; but
he did not live to finish his great designs ; those upon the
Euphrates still continued. Amraianus, xxiv. 1. mentions
them as subsisting in his time.
The Prophet therefore might very justly speak of the
Chaldeans as glorying in their naval power in.his time,
though afterward they had no foundation for making any
such boast.
15. The Creator of Israel] For nii3, creator, six MSS
(two ancient) have 'n'7N, God.
20. The wild beast of the field shall glorify me — ] The
iraage is elegant and highly poetical. God will give such an
abundant rairaculous supply of water to_, his people traversing
the dry desert, in their return to their country, that even the
wild beasts, the serpents, the ostriches, and other animals
that haunt those adust regions, shall be sensible of the bless
ing ; and shaft break forth into thanksgiving and praises to
hira for the unusual refreshment, which they receive frora
his so plentifully watering the sandy wastes of Arabia De
serta, for the benefit of his people passing through thera.
22 — 24. But thou hast not invoked — ] The connexion

CBAP. Xtlll, NOTES ON ISAIAH, 329
is — ^But thou, Israel, whom I have chosen, whom I have
formed for myself, to be my witness against the false gods
of the nations ; even thou hast revolted frorri me, hast neg
lected my worship, and hast been perpetually running after
strange gods. The emphasis of this and the foUowing parts
of the sentence, on which the sense depends, seems to lie on
the words Me, on My account. &c. The Jew's were dili
gent in performing the external services of religion ; in of
fering prayers, incense, sacrifices, oblations : but tbeir pray
ers were not offered with faith ; and their oblations were
ma!de more frequently to their idols than to the God of their
fathers. The Hebrew idiom excludes with a general nega
tive, in a comparative sense, one of two objects opposed to
one another : thus, " I wiU have mercy, and not sacrifice ; "
Hosea vi. 6. " For I spake not to your fathers, nor com
manded them— concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices ; but
this thing I commanded them, saying. Obey my voice ; "
Jer, vft, 22, 23, And the meaning of this place of Isaiah
seems to be much the same with that of Amos ; who however
has explained at large both parts of the comparison, and
specified the false service opposed to the true :
"Have ye offered unto Me sacrifices and offerings
In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel ?
Nay, but ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch,
And Chiun, your images ;
The star of your God, which you made to yourselves."
Amps V. 25, 26.
22. Neither hast thou laboured — ] For nj>j' o, LXX
and Vulg. read nyj'i: Houbigant. 'The negative is re
peated, or referred to,l by the conjunction i ; as in many
other places. See note on chap, xxfti. 4.
20. And thy princes have profaned — ] Instead of '7"7nsi
'IB', read yyiit bbnn- So Syr. and LXX, xai efuxvxy ii
«f ;c«»»'« "»¦* «y'* fM". 'tffip : Houbigant. 'ot x^x"''''^ '^'"7 MSS
Pachom. and i. D. 11. and Marchal.
Ibid. — io reproach.} nanj*?, in the singular number ;
80 an ancient MS, and LXX, Syr. Vulg.
CHAPTER XLIV.
2. Jeshurun means Israel. This name was given to that
people by Moses, Deut. xjpcn, 15, xxxift, 5, and 26, The
33*

330 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAI», XLIV.
most probable account of it seems to be that in which the
Jewish commentators agree ; namely, that it is derived from
itff', and signifies upright. In the sarae manner, Israel, as
a people, is called obwii, perfect, chap. xiii. 19. 'They wer^'
(aught of God, and abundantiy furnished with the means of
rectitude and perfection in his service and worship.
4. — as the grass among the waters] TSn p33, " They
shaft spring up in the midit of, or rather, in among, the
grass."^ This cannot be right : ten MSS, and two editions,
have t'33, or [33. Twenty-four MSS read ft without the
', p3 ; and so reads the Chaldee ; the Syriac, T^d. The
true reading is in all probability 'i'33; and the word D'D,
which should have followed it, is lost out of the text ; but it
, is happily supplied by the LXX: as xvx fuFov uSxtos. "In
every place where there is water, there is always grass; for
water makes every thing grow in the East :" Sir John Char
din's note on 1 Kings xvfti. 5. ; Harmer's Observ. i p. 54.
5. — shall be called] Passive, Nip', kAd^jjo-etou, Symma-
chu.-i. Ibid. And this shall inscribe his hand to Jeho vah,] Kmi
tTi^oi in-iy^a-^ei X^'?' (x^'?*' Aq. Sym.) avrov, tov &eov iifU : " And
another shall write upon his hand, 1 belong to God : " LXX.
They seem to have read here, as before, "jN nin''7. But
the repetition of the same phrase without any variation is
not elegant. However, they seera to have understood it
rightiy as an aftusion to the raarks which were made, by
punctures rendered indelible by fire or by staining, upon
the haiid or sorae other part of the body, signifying the state
or character of the person, and to whom he belonged : the
.slave was marked with the name of his master ; the soldier,
of his commander; the idolater, with the name or ensign of
his god : reyfutTx e'lriy^x'poft.evx, ow Tav T^XTevoiAsvav . ev Txii XH"''" '•
Aelius apud Turnebura Advers. xxiv. 12. " Victuris in
cute punctis milites scripti et raatriculis inserti jurare solent:"
Vegelius, ii. 5. And the Christians seem to have imitated
this practice, by what Procopius says on this place of Isaiah :
To ^£ TH( XEIPI, Six to fi^eiv iFa^ sroAAoKs £5r< xx^irm, jj fi^xxMav, n
Tov rxvgov TO Fefieiov, j, mv x^ifoo 7r^oFr,yo^ixv : " Bccausc many
marked their wrists, or their arms, with the sign of the
ctoss, or with the name of Ghrist." See Rev. xx. 4.
Spencer, De Leg. Hebr. lib. ii. cap. 20.
7. — let them declare unto us] For id'7, unto them, the
Chaldee reads uV, unto us. The LXX read d3'7, unto you :

CHAP. XLIV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 331
which is preferable to the reading of the text. But 10*7 and
Mb are frequently mistaken one for the other : see chap. x.
29. Psal. Ixxx. 7, lxiv. 6.
8. Fear ye not — ] " mm nusquam occurrit : forte
TNTn, timete :" Secker. Two MSS read ini'n.
9, 10. That every one may be ashamed, that he hath
formed a god] The Bodleian MS, one of the first ex
tant for its antiquity and authority, instead of 'd at the
beginning of the lOth verse has '3, wbich greatly clears up
the construction of a- very obscure passage. "The LXX
likewise closely connect in construction the end of ver. 9.
with the beginning of ver. 10. and wholly omit the interro
gative 'D, which embarrasses the sentence: xifxvvSvfovtxi 01
¦a-^oFFovTei Qeov, xxi yAu^ovr£5 -zs-xvrei xvafiiM : agieeably to the
reading of the MS above-mentioned.
11. Even the workmen themselves shall blush} I do not
know, that any one has ever ,yet interpreted these words to
any tolerably good sense: dind nan D'K/ini. The Vul
gate, and our translators, have rendered thera very fairly, '
as they are written and pointed in the text : " Fabri enim
sunt ex hominibus :" "And the workraen, they are of men."
Out of which the coraraentators have not been able to ex
tract any thing worthy of the Prophet. I have given an
other explanation of the place ; agreeable enough to the
context, if it can be deduced frora the -words theraselves. I
presume, that din, rubuit may signify erubuit, to be red
through shame, as well as frora any other cause ; though I
cannot produce any example of it in that particular sense :
and the word in the text I would point d^nd ; or if any
one should object to the irregularity of the number, I would
read D'DIND. But I rather think, that the irregularity of
the construction has been the cause of the obscurity, and
has given occasion to the mistaken punctuation. The sin
gular is sometiraes put for the plural ; see Psal. Ixviii. 31. ;
and the participle for the future tense ; see Isa. lx. 11.
12. — cutteth off — ] is;;d, participiurn pihel of my, to
cut ; StiU used in that sense in the Arabic. See Simonis
Lex. Heb. The LXX and Syr. take the word in this forra ;
but they render it, sharpeneth the iron. See CasteU. Lex.
in voce.
The sacred writers are generally large and eloquent upon
the subject of idolatry : they treat it with great severity, arid
set forth the absurdity of it in the strongest Ught. But this

332 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP, XLIV,
passage of Isaiah, ver, 12 — 20, far exceeds any thing that
ever was written upon the subject, in force of argument,
energy of expression, and elegance of composition. One
or two of the apocryphal writers have atterapted to iraitate
the Prophet, but with very fti success ; Wisd. xift. 11 — 19.
XV. 7, (fee. Baruch, chap. vi. ; especially the latter, who,
injudiciously dilating his matter, and introducing a number
of minute circumstances, has very much weakened the force
and effect of his invective. On the contrary, a heathen au
thor, in the ludicrous way, has, in a line or two, given idol
atry one of the severest strokes it ever received : —
" Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum ;
Cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum,
Maluit esse Deum." Horat.
14. He heweth down — ] For nyh, the LXX and Vulg.
read ni3, or ni3'.
16. And with part — ] Twenty-three MSS, LXX, and
Vulg. add the conjunction i, by).
18. —their eyes are closed up] The LXX, Chald. and
Vulg, for nt3 read ina. See note on chap. vi. 10.
20. He feedeth on ashes] He feedeth on tbat which af-
fordeth no nourishment : a proverbial expression for using
ineffectual means, and bestowing labour to no purpose. In
the same sense Hosea says, " Ephraim feedeth on wind,"
chap. xii. 1.
22. I have made thy transgressions vanish away like a
cloud, and thy sins like a vapour,] Longinus admired the
sublimity of the sentiment, as well as the harmony of the
numbers, in the following sentence of Demosthenes : Tovn
n ^l^lFflX TOV TOTE TJI JToAfl W£^(J-«v7<« XlvJ'l/WV JTOtf tAfciV tTTOItlFeV aFJTip
teipec " This decree made the danger then hanging over the
city pass away like a cloud.",
24. by myself] Thirteen MSS (six ancient), confirm
the reading of the Keri, 'nsn.
27. Who sayeth to the deep. Be thou wasted] Cyrus took
Babylon by laying the bed of the Euphrates dry, and lead
ing his army into the city by night througb tbe empty chan
nel of the river. This remarkable circumstance, in which
the event so exactly corresponded with the prophecy, was also
noted by Jeremiah :
' ' A drought shall be upon her waters, and they shaft be dried up.
I will lay her sea dry ;
And I wiU scorch up her springs." Jer. 1. 38. li, 36,

chap. xliv. notes on ISAIAH. 333
It is proper here to give some account of the raeans and
raethod by which the stratagem of Cyrus was effected.
The Euphrates fti the middle of summer, from the melt
ing of the snows on the mountains of Armenia, Uke the Nile,
overflows the country. In order to diminish the inundation,
and to carry off the waters, two canals were raade by Neb
uchadnezzar a hundred miles above the city ; the first on
the eastern side, called Naharraalca, or the royal river, hy
which the Euphrates was let into the Tigris ; the other on
the western side,' called PaUacopas, or Naharaga, (djn inj,
the river of the pool), by wbich the redundant waters were
carried into a vast lake, forty raftes square, contrived not
only to lessen the inundation, but for a reservoir, with sluices,
to water the barren country on the Arabian side. Cyrus, by
turning the whole river into tbe lake by the Paftacopas, laid
the channel, where it ran through the city, almost dry ; so
that his army entered it, both above and below, by the bed
of the river, the water not reaching above the middle of the
thigh. By the great quantity of water let into the lake, the
sluices and dams were destroyed ; and being never repaired
afterward, the waters spread over the whole country below,
and reduced it to a morass, in which the river is lost. " In
gens modo et navigabilis, inde tenuis rivus, despectus emori-
tur ; et nusquam martifesto exitu eflluit, ut alii omnes; sed
deficit : " Mela, ift, 8. Herod, i. 185. 190. Xenophon. Cyrop.
vii. Arrian. vft.
28. Who sayeth to Cyrus, Thou art my shepherd] " Pas
tor meus es : " Vulg. The true reading seems to be ';?i
nnN ; the word nnN has probably been dropt out of the text.
The same word is lost out of the text, Psal. cxix. 57. It is
supplied in LXX by the word ei.
Ihid. Who sayeth to Jerusalem] For laxbl, LXX and
Vulg, read iDiNn.
Ibid, — and to the temple] byrb), as d'7B11''7 before : the
preposition is necessary ; and the Vulgate seems to rfead so :
Houbigant,
CHAPTER XLV.
1. And ungird the loins of kings] See note on chap. v.
27. Xenophon gives the following list of the nations con
quered by Cyrus : the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappa-
docians, both the Phrygians, Lydians, Carians, Phenicians,

334 notes ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XLV.
Babylonians. He moreover reigned over the Bactrians, In-
tlians, CiUcians, the Sacae, Paphlagones, and Mariandyni :
Cyrop. Ub. i. p. 4. edit. Hutchinson, 4to. All these king
doms he acknowledges, in his decree for the restoration of
the Jews, to have been given to him by Jehovah, the God
of heaven : Ezra i. 2.
Ibid. That I may open before him the valves ; and the
gates shall not be shut.} The gates bf Babylon within the
city, leading from tlie streets to the river, were providentially
left open, when Cyrus's forces entered the city in the night
through the channel of the river, in the general disorder oc
casioned by "the great feast wbich was then celebrated ; other
wise, says Herodotus, i. 191. the Persians would have been
shut up in the bed of the river, and taken as in a net, and
all destroyed : And the gates of the palace were opened im
prudently by the king's orders, to inquire what was the cause
of the tumult without ; when the two parties under Gobrias
and Gadatas rushed in, got possession of the palace, and
slpw the king : Xenoph. Cyrop. vii. p. 528.
2, — the mountains — ] For D'inn, a word not easily ap-
counted for in this place, the LXX read D'lin, tx oj«. Two
MSS have D'nn, without the i ; which is hardly distinguish
able from the reading of the LXX. The divine protection
which attended Cyrus, and rendered his expedition against
Babylon easy and prosperous, is finely expressed by God's
going before him, and making the mountains level. The
image is highly poetical :
" At vos, qua veniet, tumidi subsidite montes,
Et faciies curvis vallibus este viae." Ovid. Amor. ii. 16.
Ibid. The valves of brass — ] Abydenus, apud Euseb.
Praep, Evang. ix, 41. says, that the wall of Babylon had
brazen gates. And Herodotus, i. 179. more particularly :
" In the waU all rouftd there are a hundred gates, all df brass ;
and so in like manner are the sides and the lintels." The
gates Ukewise within the city, opening to the river from the
several streets, were of brass ; as were those also of the teni
ple of Belus: Id. i. 180, 181.
3. I will give unto thee the treasures of darkness] Sardes
and Babylon, when taken by Cyrus, were the Wealthiest
cities in the, world. Croesus, celebrated beyond all the kings
of that age for his riches, gave up his treasures to Cyrus,,
with an exact account in writing of the whole, containing
the particulars wfth which each waggon was loaded, when

chap, xlv. notes on isaiah. 335
they were carried away ; and they were deUvered to Cyrus
at the palace of Babylon : Xenoph, Cyrop, Ub, vn, p, 503.
515, 640,
Plipj gives the following account of the wealth taken by
Cyrus Ul Asia, "Jam Cyrus devicta Asia, pondo xxxiv
milUa [auri] invenerat^ praeter vasa aurea, aurumque fac,'
tum, et in eo folia, ac platanum, vitemque, Q,ua victoria
argenti quingenta mftlia talentorum reportavit ; et eraterem
Semiramidis, cujus pondus quindecim talenta colUgebat.
Talentura autem .^gyptium pondo Ixxx patere [I, capere}
Varro tradit : " Nat, Hist, xxxift, 15,
The gold and silver, estimated by weight in this ac
count, being converted into pounds sterling, amount to
£, 126,224,000 : Brerewood, De Ponderibus, cap, x,
7, Forming light, and creating darkness} It was the
great principle of the Magian religion, which prevailed ira
Persia in the time of Cyrus, and in which probably he was
educated, that there are two supreme, co-eternal, and inde
pendent Causes, always acting in opposition one to the other ;
one the author of all good, the other of all evil ; the good Be
ing they called Light ; the evil Being, Darkness : that, when
light had the ascendant, then good and happiness prevaUed
among men ; when darkness had the superiority, then evil
ahd misery abounded : — an opinion that contradicts the
clearest evidence of our reason, which plainly leads us to the
acknowledgment of one only Supreme Being, infinitely good
as well as powerful. With reference to this absurd opinion,
held by the person to whom this prophecy is addressed, God
by his Prophet, in the raost significant terms, asserts his om
nipotence and absolute supremacy :
" I am Jehovah, and none else;
Forming light, and creating darkness;
Making peace, and creating evil :
I Jehovah am the author of all these things,"
Declaring, that those Powers whom the Persians held to
be the original aftthors of good and evft to mankind, repre
senting them by light and darkness as their proper em
blems, are no other than creatures of God, the instruments
which he employs in his government of the world, ordained
or permitted by him in order to execute his wise and just
decrees ; and that there is no Power, either of good or evft,
independent of the One Supreme God, infinite in power and
in goodness.

336 notes on isaiah, chap, xlt.
There were, however, sorae among the Persians, whose
sentiments were more moderate as to this matter ; who held
the evft principle to be in some measure subordinate to the
good ; and that the former would at length be wholly sub
dued by the latter: See Hyde, De Relig. Vet. Pers. cap.
xxii. That this opinion prevafted among the Persians as early
as the time of Cyrus, we may, I think, infer, not only from
tbis passage of Isaiah, which has a manifest reference to it,
but likewise from a passage in Xenophon's Cyropaedia,
where the same doctrine is applied to the human mind.
Araspes, a noble young Persian, had fallen in love with the
fair captive Panthea, committed to his charge by Cyrus.
After all his boasting, that he was superior to tbe assaults of
that passion, he yielded so far to it, as even to threaten
violence, if she would not comply with his desires. Awed
by the reproof of Cyrus, fearing his displeasure, and having
by cool reflection recovered his reason ; in his discourse with
hira on this subject he says, " O Cyrus, I have certainly
two souls ; and this piece of philosophy I have learned from
that wicked sophist Love. For if I had but one soul, it
would not be at the sarae time good and evil ; it would not
at the same tirae approve of honourable and base actions ;
and at once desire to do, and refuse to do, the very same
things. But it is plain, that I ara aniraated by two souls ;
and when the good soul prevails, I do what is virtuous ; and
when the evft one prevails, I attempt what is vicious. But
now the good soul prevails, having gotten you for her as
sistant, and has clearly gained the superiority :" Lib. vi,
p, 424.
8, Dropdown, O ye heavens — ;] The eighty-fifth Psalm
is a very elegant ode on the same subject with this part of
Isaiah's prophecies — tbe restoration of Judah from captivity ;
ancj is, in the most beautiful part of it, a manifest imitation
of this passage of the Prophet : —
" Verily his salvation is nigh unto them that fear him,
That glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth have met together ;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth shall spring from the earth,
And righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Even Jehovah will give that which is good.
And our land shall yield her produce.

CHAP. XLV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 337
Righteousness shall go before him.
And shall direct his footsteps in the way."
Psal. Ixxxv. 10 — 14.
These images of the dew and the rain descending from
heaven, and making tbe earth fruitful, eraployed by the pro
phet, and sorae of those nearly of the sarae kind which are
used by the Psalmist, may perhaps be priniarily understood as
designed to set forth in a splendid manner the happy state
of God's people restored to their country, and flourishing
in peace and plenty, in piety and virtue : but justice and
salvation, mercy and truth, righteousnesss and peace, and
glory dwelUng in the land, cannot with any sort of pro
priety, in the one or the other, be interpreted as the conse
quences of that event ; they must mean tbe blessings of the
great redemption by Messiah.
Ibid. — let salvation produce her fruit] For na'i, the
LXX, Vulg. and Syr. read nia'i ; and a MS has a rasure
close after the letter i, which probably was n at flrst.
9. Wo unto him,, that contendeth with the power that
formed him,] The Prophet answers or prevents the objec
tions and cavils of the unbelieving Jews, disposed to mur
mur against God, and to arraign the wisdom and justice of
his dispensations in regard to tbem ; in permftting them to
be oppressed by their enemies, and in promising thera de
Uverance instead of preventing their captivity. St Paul
has borrowed the iraage, and has appUed ft to the Uke pur
pose with equal force and elegance : " Nay, but, O man !
who art thou that repUest against God ? ShaU the thing
formed say to him that formed it. Why hast thou made me
thus ? Hath not the potter power over the clay, out of the
same lump to make one vessel to honour, and another to dia-
honour ?" Rom. ix. 20, 21.
Ibid. — and to the workmen, Thou hast no hands] The
Syr. renders as if he had read I't bya »n'n s'71, " Neither
am I the work of thy hands ;" the LXX, as if they had
read, -p d'1» )'N1 rbya N'71, "Neither hast thou made me;
and thou hast no hands." But the fault seems to be in the
transposition of the two pronouns: for -^byS) read ¦sbytv,
and for .b read 1*7. So Houbigant corrects it, reading
also i'7;7a'7l ; which last correction seems not altogether
necessary. The LXX in MSS Pachom. and i. D. 11. have
it thus : XXI TO eqyov, OVK exfn x"?<^ > which favours the reading
here proposed. 34

338 .NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XLV,
1 1 . And he that formeth the things which are to come} I
read isvi, without the i sufiixed, frora the LXX, who join it
in construction with the folio-wing word ; « sromiras tx eTre^x't^'^'
Ibid. Do ye question me — ] " 'Jibxiffn, Chald. recte :
praecedit n ; et sic forte legerunt reliqui Intt. :" Secker.
14. The wealth of Egypt — ] 'This seems to relate to the
future admission of the Gentiles into the church of God.
Compare Psal. Ixviii. 32. Ixxii. 10. chap. lx. 6 — 9. And
perhaps these particular nations may be named, by a me
tonymy coraraon in all poetry, for powerful and wealthy
nations in general. See note on chap. lx. 1.
Ibid. The Sabeans tall of stature — ] That the Sabeans
were of a raore majestic appearance than comraon, is par
ticular y remarked by Agatha:rchides, an ancient Greeli his
torian quoted by Bochart, Phaleg. ii, 26. tx fu^uotx et-i Tav
xaloiKowlav «|<oAoy«7£f«. So also the LXX understand it, ren
dering it xvS^si ui^;)Aoj. And the same phrase, mn 'ijin, is
uspd for persons of extraordinary stature. Numb. xfti. 32.
and 1 Chrou. xx. 6.
Ibid. — and in suppliant guise — ] The conjunction i is
sUppUed by tbe ancient versions, and confirmed by fifteen
MSS (seven ancient), and six editions, ¦]''7Ni. Three MSS
(two ancient), omit the i before "^'^k at the beginning of the
Une. 16. They are ashamed — ] The reader cannot but ob
serve the sudden transition from the solemn adoration of
the secret and mysterious nature of God's counsels, in re
gard to his people, to the spirited denunciation of tbe con
fusion of idolaters, and the final destruction of idolatry ;
contrasted with the salvation of Israel, not from temporal
captivity, but the eternal salvation by Messiah, strongly
marked by tbe repetition and augmentation of the phrase,
to the ages of eternity. But there is not only a sudden
change in the sentiment ; the change is equaUy observable
in the construction of the sentences ; which from the usual
short measure runs out at once into two distichs of the longer
sort' of verse : See Prelim. Dissert, p. xli. «fcc. There is
another , instance of the sarae kind, and very like to this, of
a sudden transftion in regard both to the sentiment and
construction in chap. xfti. 17.
' ' Ibid. ¦ — his adversaries, all of them,.] ¦ This ftne, to the
great diminution of the beauty of the distich, is imperfect
in the present text ; the subject of the proposition is not

CHAP. XLV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 339
particularly expressed, as it is in the ftne following. The
version of the LXX bappily supplies the Avord that is lost ;
01 xvTiKiifievoi xvToi-. the original word was I'IS.
18. —for he formeth it to he inhabited] An ancient 5 S
has 'D before n3B''7; and so the ancient versions.
19. / have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the
earth] In opposition to the manner in which the heathen
oracles gave their answers ; which were generally delivered
frora sorae deep and obscure cavern. Such was the seat of
the Curaean Sybft :
" Excisum Euboicse latus ingens rupis in antrum."
Virg. Mr\. vi. 42.
Such was that of the famous oracle at Delphi : of which,
says Strabo, lib. 9. ^xfi S^ hvxi to f««v7£io» «»rfov miAov i*.elx fixUvi,
ov fuxXx tvqvTopuiv : " The oracle is said to be a hollow cavern
of considerable depth, with an opening not very wide."
And Diodorus, giving an account of the origin of this oracle,
says, " that there was in that place a great chasm, or cleft,
in the earth ; in which very place is now situated what is
called the Adytum of the teraple." aSvIcv ftfu^miov, n to xieox^v-
(pov ftefos ToK (£^0!; : Hesych. " Adytura means a cavern, or
the hidden part of the teraple."
Ibid. I am, Jehovah, who speak truth, who give direct
answers.] This also is said in opposition to the false and
ambiguous answers given by the heathen oracles ; of which
there are raany noted exaraples ; none raore so than that
of the answer given to Croesus, when he had raarched against
Cyrus, which piece of history has sorae connexion w th
this part of Isaiah's prophecies. Let us hear Cicero's account
of the Delphic answers in general, and of this in particular.
" Sed jam ad te venio,
O Sancte Apollo, qui umbiftcum certum terrarum obsides,
Unde superstitiosa primum sseva evasit vox fera.
Tuis enira oraculis Chrysippus totura volumen implevit,
partira falsis, ut ego opinor ; partiin casu veris, ut fit in
orani oratione saepissirae; partinl fiexiloquis et obscuris, ut
interpres egeat interprete, et sors ipsa ad sortes referenda
sit ; partira anibiguis, et quae ad dialecticura deferenda sint.
Nam cum sors ilia edita est opulentissimo regi Asiae,
Croesus Halym penetrans magnam per-vertet opum vim:
hostiura vim sese perversurum putavit ; pervertit autem
suam. Utrura igitur eorura accidisset, verura oraculum
fuisset :" De Divinat. ii. 56.

340 Notes on isaiah. chap. xlv.
21. — bring them near, and let them consult together} For
1SK? let thera consult, the LXX read )yif, let them know ;
but an ancient MS has )iyv, " let thera come together by
appointment ;" which may probably be the true reading.
23. — truth is gone forth from my mouth ;, Th6 word — ]
So the LXX distinguish the members of the sentence ; pre
serving the elegance of the construction, and the clearness
of the sense.
24. Saying, OVtly to JEHOVAfi — ] A MS omits 'S, mw/o-
m,e ; and instead of idn "b, he said or shall say unto me,
the LXX read, in the copy which they Used, ibSb, saying.
For N^', he shall come, in the singular, twelve MSS (three
ancient) read in3', plural ; and a letter is erased at the end
of the word in two others : and so the Alexandrine copy of
the LXX, Syr. and Vulg. read ft. For nipis, plural, two-
MSS read npis, singular ; and so LXX, Syr. Chald,
CHAPTER XLVI.
1. Their burthens are heavy} For DD'nNB^J, yowr bur
thens, the LXX had in their copy Dn'nxtyj, their burthens.
2. They could not deliver their own charge] That is,
their worshippers ; who ought to have been borne by them.
See the two next verses. The Chaldee and Syriac versions
render it in effect to the same purpose, portantes se, thdse
that bear them, meaning their worshippers ; but how they
can render Nt»D in an active sense, I do not understand.
Ibid. Even they them,selves — ] For oisajl, an ancient MS
has DB^aj »3, with more force.
- 3 — 7. Ye that have been, borne by me from the birth-^]
The Prophet very ingeniously, arid with great fojce, con
trasts the power of God, and his tender goodness effectually
exerted towards bis people, with the inability of the false
gods of the heathen : He like an indulgent lather had car
ried his people in his arras, " as a raan carrieth bis son ; "
Deut. i. 31. ; he had protected them, and delivered thera from
their distresses : whereas the idols of the heathen are forced
to be carried about themselves, and removed from place to
place, with great labour and fatigue, by their worahippers ;
nor can they answer, or deliver their votaries, when Ihey cry
urito thera.
Moses, expostulating with God on the ' weight of the

CHAP, XLVI. notes on ISAIAH. 341
charge laid upon hira as leader of his people, expresses that
charge, under the same image of a parent's carrying his
children, in very strong terms : " Have I conceived all this
people ? have I begotten them ? that thou shouldest say unto
me. Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth
the sucking chftd, unto the. land which thou swarest unto
their fathers ;" Numb. xi. 12.
Pindar has treated with a just and very elegant ridicule
the work of the statuary, even in coraparison with his own
poetry, from this circumstance of its being fixed to a certain
station. " The friends of Pytheas, says the Scholiast, came
to the poet, desiring him to write an ode on his victory. Pin
dar demanded three drachms [mince, I suppose it should be)
for the ode. No, say they, we can have a brazen statue
for tbat money, which will be better than a poera. However,
changing their rainds afterwards, they came and offered hira
whathehadderaanded." This gave hira the hint of the foUow
ing ingenious exordiura of his ode : —
Ovk xvagixvToTfoioi eift,'
'fir' e^iivvFFovTx ft' i^ya^cF-
6x1 xyx?ifutT^ eTp xvTxf ^xSuiSoi
Ef««'»"'. AAA' eTTi TTxFXf
OAxoc»;, tv t' xxxTa,
'S.Toi}^ aw' Aiyivxf SixryyeX-
Ao<e-' OTI Axpv!tavoi iioi
Tlvhoi ev^vFBeviK
N(x>| N£ft£io<5 5ro8yKj«T;s fe<pxvov. Nem. V.
Thus elegantly translated by Mr Francis in a note to Hor.
Carra. iv; 2. 19.
" It is not mine with forming hand
To bid a lifeless image stand
For ever on its base :
But fly, my verses, and proclaim
To distant realms, with deathless fame.
That Pytheas conquered in the rapid race."
Jeremiah seems to he indebted to Isaiah for most of tbe fol
lowing passage : —
"The practices of the people are aftogether vanity;
For they cut down a tree from the forest ;
The work of the artificer's hand with the axe :
With silver and with gold it is adorned;
With nafts and with hammers it is fastened, that it may not totter.
Like the palm-tree they stand, stiff, and cannot speak;
34*

342 ]<foTES tiU ISAIAH. cd^. xfiV».
They are carried about, for they cannot gO:
Fear them riot; for they cannot do harm,
Neither is it in them to do good." Jer. x. 3 — 6.
8. — shew yourselves men] itytyNnrt. This word is rath
er of doubtful derivation and signification. It occurs only in
thjs filace ; and sortie of the' ancient interpreters seem to have
had something different in tbeir copies. Vulg. read iVifc'3nn,
take^hame to yourselves; Syr. U3i3nn, consider with your-
selvei^ ; LXX, s-evx^ire ; perhaps i'73ton, groftn, or mourn,
wfthin yourselves.
11. Calling from, the east the eagle] - A Very proper era
blem for C}ft"Us, as in other respects, so particularly because
the ensign of Cyrus was a golden eagle, aetos x?'"^"'( i ^^^
very word a^y, which tlie' Prophet uses here, expressed as near
as may be in Greek letters. Xenoph. Cyrop. lib. vii. sub.
init, Ibid. And from a land] Two MSS add the conjnncftion
ijpNDi; and so LXX, Syr. Vulg.

CHAPTER XLVII.
1. Descend, and sit on the dusi~^\ See ndte ofi Chap. iii.
26. and on chap. lii. 2.
2. Take themill, and grind the coHi] It Was ihe work
of slaves to grind the corn! They us6d bandfiiitls: water-
niills were not invented tift a little before ihe timfe of Augus
tus ; (see the Greek epigrara of Antipater, yt'hich seeras to
celebrate it as a new invention : Anthol. Cfephals^, 653.);
Avind-raiUs, long after. It was not only the work Off slaves,
but tho hardest work; aWd Often inflicted on therh as a se
vere punishraent.
" Molendum in pistrino; vapulahduiia: haberidaB compedes."
Terent. Pfeormio, li. 1. 19.
" Homitiem pistrino dighulii!" Id. Heaut. iii. 2. 19.
But in the East it was the \Vork of the feraelle slates. See
Exod. xi. 5. xii. 29. (in the version of the LXX), Matt.
xxiv. 41. Homer. Odyss. xx. 105 — 108, And it is the same
to this day : "Women ftlone are empteyefl to grittd liheir
corn;" Shaw, Algiers and Turiis; p. 297. "Tbey are the
female slaves that ^re generaft^^ e^Mjtoyed in the teasit at
tftfe" Uafid^mill^ [foi- grihtWhg' coi*t}: it is teftftHi^ 16,Bdi"16us.
ande^ggffied ffifi Iciest topltiytiieM in the HOiJsfe :" Sir .1.
Chardin, Harmer's Observ. i, p. 1^3.

CHAP. XLVII. Notes on isaiah. 343
2. I willnot suffer man to intercede} The verb should
be pointed, or wrftten, y^isa, in Hiphft.
4. Our avenger — ] Here a chorus breaks in upon the
midst of the subject ; with a change of construction, as well
as sentiraent, frora the longer to the shorter kind of verse,
for one distich Only ; after which the forriier subject and style
is resumed. See note on xlv. 16.
6. / was dngry with nhy people — -] God, in the course of
his providence, makes use of great conquerors and tyrants as
his instruments to execute his judgments in the earth : he
employs one wicked nation to scourge another, Tbe inflic-
tor of the punishment may perhaps be as culpable as the
sufferer : and may add to his guilt by indulging his cruelty
in executing God's justice. When he has fulfilled the work
to which the divine vengeance has ordained him, he wift be
come hiraself the object of it. See chap. x. 5 — 18. God
charges the Babylonians, though eraployed by himself to
chastise his people, with cruelty in regard to thera. They
exceeded the bounds of justice and humanity in Oppressing
and destroying thera ; and though they were reafty exeaiting
the righteous decree of God, yet, as far as it regarded them
selves, they were only indulging their own ambition and
violence. The Prophet Zechariah sets this raatter in the
sarae light : " I was but a Uttle angry, and they helped foi-
ward the aflSiction ; " chap. i. 15.
7. Because thou didst not — ] For -\y read by ; so two
MSS, and one edition. And for nn'inN, the latter end of it,
read in'inN. thy latter end : so thirteen MSS, and two edi
tions, arid 'vulg.
9. On a sudden — ] Instea,d of DDri3, in their perfection,
as our translation renderfe it, the LXX and Syr. read, in the
copies frora which they translated, DNna, suddenly ; parallel
t6;'Jl, in a moment, in the preceding alternate meraber of
the sentence. 'The concurrent testimony of LXX and Syr.,
fftVdured by tbe cbntext, may be safely Opposed to the author
ity of the present text.
Ibid. Nottoithstandirig the mitltiiude — ] 313, for this
Sense of the particle 3, see Numb. xiv. 11.
11. — how to deprecate] ninty : so the Chaldee renders
if ; \irhich is approved by Jarchi on the place, and MichaeUs
Epith, in Praelect, S:ix. ; see Psal. Ixivift. 34.
Ibid. " Videtur in fine [hujus coraraatis] deesse verbutti lit
hoc merhWurii prioribus respondeat : " Secker.

344 NOTES ON ISAIAH, CHAP. XLVII,
In order to set in a proper light this judicious remark, it is
necessary to give the reader an exact verbal translation of the
whole verse : —
" And evil shall come upon thee, thou shaft not know how to
deprecate it;
And mischief shall faft upon thee, thou shalt not be able to
expiate it;
And destruction shall come suddenly upon th'ee, thou shalt
not know " 
What ?. how to escape, to avoid it, to be delivered from it ;
(perhaps njDD nNX, Jer, xi. 11.) I am persuaded, that a
phrase is here lost out of the text. But as the ancient ver
sions retain no traces of it, and a wide field Ues open to un
certain conjecture, I have not atterapted to fiU up the chasra ;
but have in the translation, as others have done before me,
palliated and disguised the defect, which I cannot with any
assurance pretend to supply.
13. What are the events — ] For ib'ND, read itfN na ;
so the LXX.
15. — to his own business] ¦\'t2yb. Expositors give no
very good account of this word in this place. In a MS it was
at first n3;>b, which is probably the true reading. The sense
however is pretty much the sarae with the coraraon inter
pretation.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
1. Ye that flow from the fountain of Judah] »dd, from
the waters. " Perhaps yn'O, from the bowels , [so raany
others have conjectured], or [min'] '», or min'D./rwra Ju
dah : " Secker. But see Michaelis in Praelect. not. 22.
And we have ^py y^y, the fountain of Jacob, Deut. xxxiii. 28.
and '7N1E'' iipna, frora the mountain of Israel, Psal. Ixvift, 27.
Twenty-seven MSS, and three editions, have 'a'a, from the
days ; which makes no good sense.
6. — behold, the whole is accomplished] For ntn, see, a
MS has nin, this ; thou hast heard _the whole of this : the
Syriac has n'ini, thou hast heard, and thou hast seen, the
whole. Perhaps it' should be njn, behold. In order to ex
press the fuU sense, I have rendered it somewhat pharaphras-
tically. 9. And for the sake of my praise] I read 'n"?nn ]yob'i.
The word \yr:b, though not absolutely necessary here, for

CtiAl*. XLVtII. iJOTEfe 6N tSAtAM. M&
it may be understood as suppUed frora the preceding raem-
ber, yet seems to have been removed from hence to ver. 11. ;
where it is redundant, and where it is not repeated, in LXX;
Syr. and a MS. I have therefore oraitted it in the latter
place, and added it here.
10. Ihaiie tried thee^ For 'Tnin3j I have chosen thee,
a MS has "j'njnSj I have tried thee. And so perhaps read
the Syriac and Chaldee interpreters : they retain the sarae
word "jnins j but in those languages it signifies, I have tried
thee. ')D33t quasi argentura, Vulgi
11. for how would my name be blasphemed ?] The word
?aty, my name, is dropt ottt Of the text : it is supplied by a
MS which has <aiy j and by LXX, stj to £fMV ohftx ^eSti^^Hrxi;
The Syr. and Vulg. get over the difiiculty, by making the
verb in the first person, that I may not be blasphetned:
12. -^O Jacob, my servdrit] After 3f!it?'j a MS, arid the
two old editions of i486 and 1488, add the word 113^^ which
is lost out of the preseht text ; and there is a rasure in its
place in another ancieiit MS, The Jerusalem Talmftd has
the saroe w6rd.
Ibid. For 'JX t]N, even I, two ancient MSS, and the ancient
versions, read 'jni, and I ; more properly.
14. Who among you — ] For Dn3, ariiong them, twenty-
one MSS (nine ancient), and two editions (one of them
that of the year 1488), have dd3, araong you ; and so the
Syriac. Ihid. He, whom Ji;H0VAff hath loved, will execute] That
is, Cyrus : so Symraachus has well rendered it ; 'o» i Kv^io^^
vyXTtyiFe, voiijFei to ;J(Ai)f4o6 avTop.
Ibid. — oh the Chaldeans] The preposition is lost ; it is
supplied in the edition of I486, which has D'ik'33; and so,
Chald. and Vulg. ^ ,
16. Draw near unto me, and hear ye this ] After the
word i3lp, draw near, a MS adds d'U, O y& nations;
which, as this arid the two preceding verses are plainly ad
dressed to the idolatrous nations, reproaching their gods aa
unable to predict future events, is probably genuine.
Ibid. —and ^ear — ] A MS adds the conjunction, i,yDB'i;
and so LXX, Syr, Vulg.
Ibid. — / have not spoken in secret] The Alexandrine
copy of LXX adds here, OvSi ev to^<i> ym fkothvoj, nor in a dark
place of the earth, as in xlv. 19. That ft stands rightiy, or
at least stood very early, in this place of the version pf the

346 notes on ISAIAH. CHAP. XLVIII.
LXX, is highly probable;, because it is acknowledged by
the Arabic version, and by the Coptic, MS St Germain
de Prez,, Paris, translated likewise from the LXX. But
whether it should be inserted as of right belonging to the
Hebrew text, may be doubted ; for a transcriber of the Gi;eek
version might easily add it by memory from the paraUel '
place ; and it is not necessary to the sense.
Ibid. — when it began to exist] An ancient MS has onvn,
they began to exist : and so another had it at first.
Ibid, J had decreed it] I take Dty for a verb, not an ad
verb. Ibid. And now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his
Spirit} T({ £r(v 0 EV T4) Hfxix ?ieyav j xxv vvv K«f (05 «3-£r£(A£ pii xxi
up Hvevpix xvtov' ev (a xpu^iQoMv ovto^ tov 'pTjTov, tfote^ov 0 Hxtvi^ xxi to
Ayiov Tlvevpca xo'ereiXxv tov Ihifovv, j) 0 n«Tijf «;rE7£iA£ tov ti Xgi^ov xxi
TO 'Ayiov nvcvftx' TO SevTe^ov £«¦<» oeAjjSfs: " Who is it that saith
in Isaiah, And now the Lord hath sent me and his Spirit?
in which, as the expression is ambiguous, is it the Father
and the Holy Spirit who hath sent Jesus ; or the Father
who hath sent both Christ and the Holy Spirit? The latter
is the true interpretation : " Origen. cont. Cels. lib. i. I have
kept to tbe order of the words of the original, on purpose
that the ariibiguity, which Origen remarks in the version of
LXX, and which is the sarae in the Hebrew, raight still re
main, and the sense which he gives to it be offered to the
reader's judgraent ; which is wholly excluded in our vulgar
translation. 18. like the river] Tbat is, the Euphrates.
19. — like that ofthe bowels thereof] D'n 'jra 'nsnsd Dm
D'hn : " As the issue of the bowels of the sea ; that is, the
fishes;"' Salora. b. Melee. And so likewise Aben Ezra,
Jarchi, Kimchi, &c.
Ibid. Thy name] For laiy, his name, the LXX had in
the copy from which they translated laty, thy name.
20. — and make it heard — ] Twenty-seven MSS (ten
ancient), and one edition, prefix to the verb the conjunction i,
U"Bi»ni, 21, They thirsted not in the deserts — ] Kimchi has a
surprising observation upon this place : " If the prophecy,"
says he, " relates to the return frora the Babyloriish captivity,
as it seems to do, it is to be wondered how it comes to pass,
that in the book of Ezra, in which he gives an account of
their return, no mention is made that such miracles were

CHAI*, XLVllI, NOTES ON ISAIaH. 347
wrought for them ; as, for instance, that God clave the
rock for them in the. desert." It is really much to be won
dered, that one of the raost learned and judicious of the
Jewish expositors of the Old Testaraent, having advanced
so far in a large comment on Isaiah, should appear to be
totally ignorant of tbe Prophet's manner of writing ; ofthe
parabolic style which prevafts in the writings of all the
Prophets ; and more particularly in the Prophecy of Isaiah,
which abounds "throughout in parabolic images from the
beginning to the end; frora "Hear, O heavens, and give
ear, 0 earth," to " the worm and the fire " in the last verse.
And how carae he to keep his wonderraent to himself so
long ? Why did he not expect, that the historian should
have related, how, as they passed through the desert, cedars,
pines, and olive-trees, shot up at once on the side of the
way to shade them ; and that, instead of briers and brambles,
the accacia and the myrtle sprung up under their feet, ac
cording to God's proraises, chap. xli. 19. and lv. 13. ? Tbese,
and a raultitude of the Uke parabolical or poetical iraages,
were never intended to be understood literally : all that
the Prophet designed in this place, and wbich he has exe
cuted in the most elegant manner, was an amplification and
illustration of the gracious care and protection of God,
vouchsafed to his people in their return frora Babylon, by
an allusion to the rairaculous Exodus frora Egypt. See
De S. Poesi Hebr. Prael. ix.
22 There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the wicked.]
See below, note on chap. Ivft. 21.

CHAPTER XLIX,
1. Hearken unto me, O ye. distant lands — ¦] Hitherto
the subject of the prophecy has been chiefly confined to the
redemption from the captivity of Babylon ; wfth strong in
timations of a more iraportant deliverance sometimes thrown
in ; to the refutation of idolatry ; and the demonstration of
the infinite power, wisdom, and foreknowledge of God. The
character and office of the Messiah was exhibited in gene
ral terms at the beginning of chap. xUi. but here he is in
troduced in person, declaring the fuU extent of his coramis
sion ; which is not only to restore the Israelites, and recon-
jcile them to their Lord and Father, from whom they had

348 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XLIX.
sq often revolted ; but to be a light to lighten the Gentiles,
to call them to the knowledge and obedience of the true God,
a^d to bring them to be one church together wtih the Israel
ites, and to partake with thera of the same common salvation
procured for all by the great Redeemer and Reconcfter of nian
to God.
2. And he, hg,th made my m,oyih a sjiarp sword — } The
servant of God, who speaks in t^e former part of this chap-
tei", must be the Messiah. If any part of this character
caBj in any sense, belong to the Prophet, yet in some parts
it must belqng exclusively to Christ; and, in all parts, to
him, in a. mqch fuller and more proper sense. Isaiah'g
mission was to the Jews, not to the distant nations, to whom
the speaker in this place addresses himself. "He hath
made my mouth a sharp sword," " to reprove the wicked,,
and to denouncq unto tbem punishment," says Jarchi, un
derstanding it of Isaiah ; but liow much better does it suit
hira,, who ig represented as having "a sharp two-edged
sword going out of his mouth," Rev. i. 16. who is himself
the Word of God? which "Word is quick and powerfulj
and sharper than any two-edged swojrd, piercing even to
the dividing asunder of ?oul and spirit, and of the joints aiijl
marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart;" Heb- iv. 12. Tbisi npighty agent and instrument
of God, " long l^ijid pp in stote with him, and sealed up
araong his treasures," is at last revealed, and produced by
his power, and l^fB hi§ protection, to execute his great
and holy purposes : he is compared to a poUshied shaft
stored in his quiver for use in his due time. The polished
shaft denotes the same efficacious word, which is before
represented by the sharp sword. The doctrine of the gos
pel pierced the hearts of its hearers, " bringing into capti
vity: every thought to the obedience of Christ." The meta
phor of the swpr4 9nd the g^rrqw, applied to powerful speech,
is bold, yet just. It h^s been employed by the most inge
nious heathen writers, if with equal elegance, niot wft.h equal
force. It is $aid of Pericles by Aristophsmes, (see Cicero,
Epist. ad Atticum, xft. 6.) —
OvTot; £xigAf(, xxi juovo; Tav ptyrogo)
To xfVTjov eyKxre^me Ttif xK^oa/isvon, Apud -Diod. Ub. xjl.
His powerful speech
Pierced the hearer's soul, and left behind
Deep in his bosom its keen point infixt-

CHAP, XLIX, NOTES ON ISAIAH. 349
Pindar is particularly fond of this metaphor, and frequently
appUes it to his own poetry : —
Eo'sxe ^f" FxeTTif) to|ov,
Aye, .9t;«,£. Tivx /3«AAo|KfV
£» (amX&xxx^ xvTe ^Se-
voi eAxAea; oi^cvi
levTiij Olymp. ii. 160.
f' Come on! thy brightest shafts prepare.
And bend, O Muse, thy sounding bow;
Say, through what paths of liquid air
Our arrows shall we throw?" West.
See also ver. 149. of the same ode, and Olyrap, ix. 17.; on
the former of which places the Scholiast says, T^omxoi i Aoyo?-
/SeAij Se To«5 Aoyoti; tiqrtxe. Six, to o|u xxi xxigiov Tav eyxafiiav: " He
calls his verses shafts by a metaphor, signifying the acuteness
and the apposite application of his panegyric."
This person who is, ver. 3. caUed Israel, cannot in any sense
be Isaiah. That name, in its original design and fuU iraportj
can only belong to hira who contended powerfully with
God in behalf of mankind, and prevafted : Gen. xxxft.
28. ¦ 5. And now thus saith Jehovah] The word ns, before
laN, is dropt out ofthe text : itis supplied by eight MSS (two
ancient), and LXX, Syr. Vulg.
Ibid. And that Israel unto him may be gathered] Five MSS
(two ancient), confirm the Keri, or marginal correction of
the Masoretef, i'7, unto him, instead of n'7; nok in the text ; and
so read Aquila and Chald.: LXX and Arab, omft the nega
tive. But LXX, MSS Pachom. and i- D. ii. express also
the Keri )b by ^r^os auTov.
6. And to restore the branches of Israel} 'i?S3, or 'iisj,
as the Masoretes correct ft in the marginal reading. This
word has been matter of great doubt with interpreters : the
Syriac renders ft the branch, taking it for the same with isj,
chap. xi. I.: see Michaelis, Epim. in Praelect. xix.
7. The Redeemer ofls'^el, his Holy One] " Forte, la/np"? ;"
Secker : that is, to bis Holy One. The preceding word ends
with a '7J which might occasion that letter's being lost here.
The Talraud of Babylon has wilpl.
Ibid. To him, whose person is despised] " Forte, nt33.;" Sec
ker : or '113, Le Clerc : that is, instead of the active, the pas
sive form, which seems here to be required.
35

350 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. XLIX,
9. And to those that are in darkness — ] Fifteen MSS
(five ancient), and the two old editions of 1486 and 1488, add
the conjunction i at the beginning of this member : another
MS bald it so at first ;- and two others have a rasure at the
place : and it is expressed by LXX, Syr, Chald. Vulg.
12.' Lo! and these shall come from afar} ", Babylon was far,
and east, niraa; (non sic Vett.); Sinim, Pelusians, to the south:"
Secker.
Ibid.. — the land of Sinim} Prof. Deoderlein thought of
Syene, the southern limft of Egypt ; but does not abide by
it. Michaelis thinks it is right ; and promises to give his
reasons for so thinking in tbe second part of his Specilegium
Geographiae Hebraeorura Exterae. See Biblioth. Oriental.
Part XI. p. 176.
13, Ye mountains burst forth} Three ancient MSS are
without either the ', or the conjunction i, before the verb : and
so LXX, Syr. Vulg.
16. Behold, on the palms of my hands have I delineated tKee]
This is certainly an allusion to some practice, coramon among
the Jews at that time, of making marks on tbeir hands or arms
by punctures on the skin, with some sort of sign or representa
tion ofthe city or temple, to shew their affection and zeal for
it. They had a method of making such punctures indelible
by fire, or by stain,ing. , See note on chap. xUv. 5. It is well
known, that the pilgriras at tbe holy sepulchre get themselves
marked in this manner with what are called the ensigns of
Jerusalera ; Maundrell, p. 75.; where he tells us how it is
performed : and this art is practised by travelling Jews all over
the world at this day.
17. They that destroyed thee shall soon become thy builders]
" Auctor Vulgatae pro :X33 videtur legisse, ,1'313, unde vertit,
structores tuij cui et LXX fere consentiunt, qui verterunt
a,KoSoiMj6m, (zdificata e«, prout "m Plantiniana editione habetur;
in Vaticana sive Romana legUur, oiKoSo/t^iivF^, adificaberis.
Hisce etiam Targum Jonathanis aliquatenus consentit, ubi,
et cedificabunt. Confer infra Bsai. tqp. Uv. ver. 13. ad quem
locum Rabbini quoque notarunt ex traoatu Talmudico Bera-
chot. cap. ix. quod non legendum sft,yj3, id est, filii tui; sed
;^'33, cedijicatores tui. Confer not. ad librum Prec. Jud. Part.
11. p. 226. ut et p. Wagenseft Sot. p. 253. n. 9.:" Breith-
aupt. not. ad Jarchi in loc. See also note on this place in De
Sac. Poes. Hebr. Praelect. xxxi.

CHAP. XLIX. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 351
Ibid. — shall become thine .offspring] iNS' "jaa, shall
proceed, spring, issue, frora thee, — as thy chftdren. Tbe
phrase is frequently used in this sense: see chap. xi. 1.
Micah V. 2. Nahura i. 11. The accession of the Gentftes
to the church of God is considered as an addition raade to
tbe nuraber ofthe faraily and children of Sion : see ver. 21,
22. and chap. lx. 4. The coraraon rendering, "shall go
forth of thee, or depart frora thee," is very fiat, after their
zeal bad been expressed by " shall becorae thy builders ; "
and as the opposition is kept up in one part of the sentence,
one bas reason to expect it in tbe other, wbich should have
been paraftel to it,
18. And bind them about thee, as a bride — ] The end
ofthe sentence is manifestiy iraperfect. Does a bride bind
her children, or her new subjects, about her ? Sion clothes
herself with her children, as a bride clothes herself — with
what? sorae other thing certainly. The LXX help us out
in this difficufty, and supply tbe lost word : m xofi^v mf*ipti-
nVa n'to, or n'b3 n'733. The great similitude of the
two words has occasioned the omission of one of thera. See
chap. Ixi. 10.
21. — these theni where were they"?] The conjunction is
added before n'7N, that is, n^Ni, in above thirty MSS (nine
ancient) ; and so LXX, Chald. Vulg.
23. fVith their faces to the earth — ] It is weft known,
that expressions of subraission, homage, and reverence, al
ways have been, and are still, carried to a great degree of
extravagance in the eastern countries. "When Joseph's
brethren were introduced to him, " they bowed down them
selves before hira with tbeir faces to the earth ; " Gen. xiii, 6.
The kings of Persia never adnutted any one to their pre
sence without exacting this act of adoration ; for that was
the proper terra for it. " Necesse est," says the Persian
courtier to Conon, "si in conspectu ra veneris, veneiari te
regera ; quod Tr^oFxweiv illi vocant ; " Nepos in Conone. Alex
ander, intoxicated with success, aff'ected this piece of oriental
pride : " Itaque more Persarum Macedonas venerabundos
ipsura salutare, prosternentes hurai corpora : " Curtius, lib.
vift. The insolence of eastern raonarchs to conquered prin
ces, and the submission of the latter, is astonishing. Mr.
Harmer, Obs. ii. 43. gives the following instance of it from
D'Herbelot ; — " Tbis prince threw hiraself one day on the
ground, and kissed the prints tViat his victorious enemy's

352 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP, XLIX.
horse had made there ; reciting some verses in Persian,
which he had composed, to this effect : —
" The mark tbat the foot of your horse has left upon the
dust, serves me now for a crown.
" The ring, which I wear as the badge of my slavery, is
become my richest ornament.
" WhUe I shall have the happiness to kiss the dust of your
feet, I shall think that fortune favours me with its tenderest
caresses, and its sweetest kisses,"
These expressions, therefore, of the Prophet, are only
general poetical images, taken from tbe manners of the
country, to denote great respect and reverence : and such
splendid poetical images, which frequently occur in the pro
phetical writings, were intended only as general amplifica
tions of the subject, not as predictions to be understood and
fulfiUed precisely according to the letter.
24. Shall the prey seized by the terrible be rescued ?] For
p'lS read y\y. A palpable mistake, Uke that in chap.
xUi. 19. The correction is self-evident from the very terms
of the sentence ; from tbe necessity of the strict correspond^
ence in the expressions between the question and the ans.wer
made to it ; and it is apparent i;o the blindest and most pre
judiced eye. However, if authority is also necessary, there
is that of Syr. and Vulg. for it ; who plainly read piy in
the 24th as well as in the 25th verse, rendering it in the
former place by the sarae word as in the latter.

CHAPTER L.
1. Where is this bill — ] Husbands, through moroseness
or levity of temper, .often sent hftls of divorcement to their
wives on slight occasions, as they were permitted to do. by
the law of Moses, Deut. xxiv. 1. Arid fathers, being op
pressed with debt, often sold their , childj"en ; which they
might do," for a time, tift the year of release: Exod. xxi. 7.
That this was frequently practised, appears from many
passages of Scripture ; and that tbe persons and the liberty
of tbe chUdren were answerable for the debts of the father.
The widow, 2 Kings iv. 1. complains, " tbat the creditor is
come to take unto him her two sons to be bondmen." And
in the parable, Matt, xvift. 25. "The lord, forasmuch as
his servant had not to pay, commands him to be sold, and

CHAP. L. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 353
his wife and chftdren, and all that he had, and payment to
be raade." Sir John Chardin's MSS note on this place of
Isaiah is as follows : " En Orient, on paye ses dettes avec
ses esclaves, car iis sont des principaux nieubles ; et en plu-
sieurs lieux on les paye aussi de ses enfans." But this, saith
God, cannot be ray case : I ara not governed by any such
raotives ; neither ara I urged by any such necessity : your
captivity, therefore, and your afflictions, are to be imputed to
yourselves, and to your own foUy and wickedness.
2. Their fish is dried up} For E?N3n, stinketh, read ty3'n,
is dried up : so it stands in the Bodleian MS, and it is con
firmed by the LXX, ^^xvivFovTxi.
5. JVeither did I withdraw — ] Eleven MSS, and the
oldest edition, prefix the conjunction i ; and so also LXX
and Syr.
6. And my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair] The
greatest indignity that could possibly be offered. See note
on chap. vft. 20.
Ibid. My face I hid not from shame and spitting] Anoth
er instance of the utmost contempt and detestation. It was
ordered by tbe law of Moses, as a severe punishment, carry
ing with it a lasting disgrace : Deut. xxv. 9. Araong the
Medes, it was highly offensive to spit in any one's presence,
Herod, i. 99. ; and so likewise araong the Persians, Xeno
pbon. Cyrop. lib. i. p. 18.
" They abhor me; they flee far from me;
They forbear not to spit in my face." , Job. xxx. 10.
And Jehovah said unto Moses : " If her father had but spit
in her face, should she not he ashamed seven days ? " Numb.
xft. 14. ; on which place Sir John Chardin remarks, " that
spitting before any one, or spitting upon the ground in
speaking of any one's actions, is through the East an expres
sion of extreme detestation : " Harraer's Observ. ii. 509.
See also, of the sarae notions of the Arabs in this respect,
Niebuhr, Description de I'Arabie, p. 26. It so evidently
appears, that in those countries spitting has ever been an
expression of the utmost detestation, that the learned doubt
whether in the passages of Scripture above quoted, any thing
raore is meant than spitting (not in the face, which perhaps
the words do not necessarfty imply, but only) in the presence
of the person affronted. But in this place it certainly means
spitting in the face : so it is " understood in St Luke, where
our Lord plainly refers to this prophecy : — " All things that
35*

354 NOTE^s, ON isaiah. chap. l.
are written by the Prophets concerning the Son of Man, shall
be accorapiishe,d ; fqr he shaft be. delivered to, the Ge,nt;ftes,
and shaU be mocl^ed and spftefully entreated, and spitte,d, on,
enTrlvF^tiFelxi," xv'ui. 31, 32,.; which was. in facjt fulfilled,; Kaf
»)j|«vTo Tivei eif,yr1veiv xvlai, Mark xiv. 65^ x;v. 19. If spitting in
a person's presence "was such an indignity, bow muph moie
spitting in his face?
7. Therefore have I set my fac,e as a. flint — ] The Pro-,
phet Ezekiel has expressed this with great force, in his,,bpld
arii;! vehement raanner :
" Behold, I have made thy face strong against their face^,
And thy forehead strong against thpir,foreheads :
As an adamant, harde;f than a, rock, have, I.m^de thy fore
head.
Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks,
Though they be a.rebeftious house." ^ Ezek^ii^.. 8. 9.
8. who is he that will contend— r-} The Bodleian MS, and
another, add the word Nin ; 3'1' sin 'D, as in the'Uke phrase
in the next verpe : and in the very saine phrase;. Job xiii. 19.,
and so likewise in many other places, Job xvii. 3. xji, 1.
Soraetiraes, on tiie like occasions, it is.ni 'a,, and nJKin.»a;
The word, .has been prpbably, Ip^t out of the present text ;
and the reading of the MS aboverinei^tioned seenis to be
genuine. ' . ,
10. Let him hearken to the voice of his servant,} For
yats, pointed as the participle, the LXX and Sy/. read,.j;D,B'»,
future or i(nperative :' this^. gives a> rnupb;.mbj?^,'elsg|i^r.tui"n
arid distribution tc the seiiterice. '
11. — ye who kindle afire — ] The fire of their own kind-,
ling, by the light of which they walk with security and satis-'
faction, is an iraage designed to express, in general, human
devices, and mere worldly policy, excUisive of faith and trust
in God ; wbich, though they flatter therti for a whilp with
pleasing expectations and some appearance of success,, shall
in the end turn to the confusion of the authors. Or,, rqore
particularly, as Vitringa explains it, it may mean tbe designs
of the turbulent and factious Jews in tbe times succeeding
those of Christ; who, in pursuit of their own desperate
schemes, stirred up tbe war agaijust the Romajps, and kindled
a fire which consumed their cfty and nation.
Ibid. — who heap the fuel round about] "ibtMO, accen-.
dentes, Syr. forte legerurit [pro 'iind] 'I'nd; n^m sequitur
UN : "' Secker. Lud. Capellus, , in bis, criticaFnotes on this
place, thinks it should be '1[;;d, frora^ the LXX, xxtifxvovti?.

chap. li. notes on isaiah. 355

CHAPTER LI.
4. — 'O ye people ; O ye nations] For my, my people, the
Bodley MS, and another, re,ad Q'ny, ye peoples; and for
'aiN'7, my natiQn,.the Bodley MS, and eight others (two of them
ancient), read D'as"?, ye nations ; and so the Syriac in both
words. The difference is very material : for in this case the
address is raade, not to tbe Jews, but to tbe Gentftes, as
in all reason it ought to be ; for this and tbe two foftowing
verses express tbe call of the Gentiles, the islands, or the dis
tant lands on the coasts of the Mediterranean and other seas.
It is also to be. observed, that, God in no other place calls his
people 'aN'7. It has been before remarked, that transcribers
frequently omitted the final d of nouns plural, and supplied
it, for brevity-sake, and sometiraes for vyant of roora at the
end of a Une, by a small stroke thus, '^6y.; which mark, being
effaced or overlooked, has been tbe occasion of raany mistakes
of this kind.
5. My righteousness is at hand — } The word pis, right
eousness, is used in such a great latitude of signification, for
justice, truth, faithfulness, goodness, mercy, deliverance, sal
vation, dc-c., that.it is not easy sometiraes to give the precise
meaping of it without rauch circumlocution : it means here
the faithful completion of God's promises to deliver his peo
ple. 11. — shall they obtain, and sorrow and sighing shall flee
away} Nineteen MSS, and the, two oldest editions, have
'j'B"; and forty-six MSS, and the same two editions, and
agreeably to them Chald. and Syr. have lOJi: and so both
words are expressed, chap. xxxv. 10. of wbich place this is
a repetition. And from coraparing both together it appears,
that the 1 io tljis place is becorae by mista,ke in the present
text the final] of the preceding word.
13. — of the oppressor, as if he — ] " The 3 in IWND seeras
clearly to have changed its situation frora the end of the
preceding word to the beginning of this ; or rather, to have
been omitted by mistake there, because it was here. That it
was there, the LXX shew by rendering p'van, ^AifovTo? o-f,
of him that oppressed thee. And so they render this word
in both , its places in this verse., The Vulgate also has the
pronoun in the first •¦ instance : furoris ejus qui te tribulabat : "
Dr. Jubb. Tbe correction seems well founded. I have not

356

NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. LI,

conformed the translation to it, because it makes very littie
difference in the sense.
14. He marcheth on with speed — ] Cyrus, if understood
of the temporal redemption from the captivity of Babylon ;
in the spiritual sense, the Messiah.
16. To stretch out the heavens} In the present text it is
ya'hyto plant thehea.'venB. The phrase is certainly very ob
scure, and in aU probabiUty is a mistake for n'^Hib, This
latter is the word used.in ver. 13. just before, in the very same
sentence ; and this phrase occurs frequently in Isaiah, chap.
xl; 22. xiii. 5. xUv. 24. xlv. 12. ; the former in no other place.
It is also very reraarkable, that in the Samaritan text. Numb.
xxiv. 6. these two words are twice changed, by mistake,
one for the other, in the same verse.
19. These two thirigs — desolation and destruction, the fam
ine and the sword] "That is, desolation by famine, and de
struction , by the sword ; taking the terms alternately : of
which form of construction see other examples, De S. Poesi
Heb. Prael. xix. and PreUm. Dissert, p. xix. The Chaldee
paraphrast, not rightly understanding tbis, has had recourse
to the following expedient : " Two afflictions are corae upon
thee, — and when four shall corae upon thee, depredation and
destruction, and the /amme and the swort^ — " Five MSS
have 3;;in, without the conjunction i; and so LXX and Syr.
Ihid. —Who shall comfort thee?} A MS, LXX, Syr.
Chald. and Vulg. have it in the third person, lanr; which is
evidently right.
20. — in the toils, drenched to the full — ] " Forte niD3a
D'nVd: " Secker. 'The deraonstrative n, prefixed to D'N'7n,
seems improper in this place.
21. And thou drunken, but not with wine.} .Sschylus has
the same expression :
Aoivol; si^iAXVeii ^liaputFi. Eumen. 863.
Intoxicate with passion, riot with wine.
Schultens thinks, that this circumlocution, as he calls it,
" gradum adfert incoraparabftfter raajorem ; " and that it
means not simply without wine, but mudi more than with
wine : Gram. Hebr. p. 182. See his note on Job xxx. 28.
The bold image of the cup of God's wrath, often em
ployed by the sacred writers, (see note on chap. i. 22.), is no
where handled with greater force and subUmity than in this
passage of Isaiah, ver. 17 — 23. Jerusalem is represented in

CHAP. LI. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 357
person as staggering under the effects of ft, destitute of that
assistance which she raight expect from her children ; not
one of thera being able to support or to lead her. They,
abject and amazed, lie at the head of every stieet, over
whelmed wfth the greatness of their distress : like the oryx
entangled in a net, in vain struggUng to rend it, and extri
cate himself. This is poetry of the first order, sublimity of
the highest proof
Plato had an idea soraething like this : " Suppose, says he,
God had given to men a raedicating potion inducing fear ;
so that tbe more any one should drink of it, so rauch the
more miserable he should find himself at every draught, and
become fearful of every thing both present and future ; and
at last, though the raost courageous of men, should be totally
possessed by fear ; and afterward, having slept off the effects
of it, should become himself again : " De Leg. i. near the
end. He pursues at large this hypothesis, applying it to his
purpose, which has no relation to the present subject. Horaer
places two vessels at the threshold of Jupiter, one of good,
the other of evil : be gives to sorae a potion mixed of both, to
others from the evil vessel only : these are completely misera
ble : Iliad, xxvi. 527.
23. — who oppress thee} " Videntur, LXX, Chald. Syr.
Vulg. legisse yjia; ut xl. 26. : " Secker, And so it is in
edit, Gersom,
Ibid, That say to thee, Bow down thy body} A very
strong and most expressive description of the insolent pride
of eastern conquerors ; which, though it may seem greatly
exaggerated, yet hardly exceeds the strict truth. An ex
ample has already been given of it in note to chap. xUx. 23.
I will here add one or two more. "Joshua cafted for aft
the raen of Israel ; and said unto the captains of the raen of
war that went with hira : Corae near, put your feet upon
the necks of these kings ; " Josh. x. 24. " Adonibezek said,
Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their
great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table : as I
have done, so bath God requited me ; " Judg. i. 7. • The
Emperor Valerianus being through treachery taken prisoner
by Sapor king of Persia, was treated by him as the basest
and raost abject slave : for the Persian monarch coraraanded
the unhappy Roraan to, bow himself down, and offer hira
his back, on which he set his foot^ in order to mount his
chariot or his horse, whenever he had occasion : Lactan-^

358 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. LI.
tins, De Mort. Persec. cap. v. ; Aurel. Victor, Epitome, cap.
xxxii. CHAPTE^R LII.
2. — ascend thy lofty seat] The ftteral rendering here
is, according to pur EngUsh translation, " arise, sit : " on
which a very learned person remarks ; " So the old versions.
But sitting is an expression of mourning in Scripture and
the ancients ; and doth not well agree with the rising just
before." It doth not indeed agree according to our ideas;
but considered in an oriental light, it is perfectly consistent.
The comraon manner of sitting in the eastern countries is
upon the ground or floor, wfth the legs crossed. The
people of better condition have tbe floors of their chambers
or divans covered with carpets for this purpose ; and round
the charaber broad couches, raised a littie above the floor,
spread wfth mattresses handsomely covered, which are called
sophas. When sitting is spoken of as a posture of more
than ordinary state, it is quite of a different kind ; and means
sitting on high, on a chair of state or throne ; for which a
footstool was necessary, both in order that the person might
raise himself up to it, and for supporting the legs when he
was placed in it. " Chairs (saith Sir John Chardin) are
never used in Persia but at the coronation of their kings.
Tbe king is seated in a chair of gold set with jewels, three
feet high. — The chairs which are used by the people in the
East are always so high as to make a footstool necessary.
And this proves the propriety of the, style of Scripture, wbich
always joins the footstool to (he throne: " (Isa. lxvi. 1. Psal.
ex. I.) : Voyages, tom. ix. p. 85. 12""°, Beside the six steps
to Solomon's throne, there was a footstool of , gold fastened
to the seat, 2 Chron, ix, 18. whicb would otherwise have
been too high for the king to reach, or to sit on convenient!}-.'
When Thetis comes to wait on Vulcan to request armour
for her son, she is received with great respect, arid seated
on a silver-studded throne, a chair of ceremony, with a foot
stool : — T;)V fCEV iTireiTx xxieiFev itti 5-fovoii afyuf ojjAs,
K«As, SxiSxMH' iiTo Se 5-fDVUs ¦kofiv itev. Iliad, xvfti. 389.
" High on athrone, with stars of sftver graced.
And various artifice, the queen she placed;
A footstool at her feet," Pope.

chap. lii. notes on isaiah, 359
O yx^ S-fovos xuToi (uvov eXsvhpoi iri xaieS^x fvv oTroTCoSiai : Athenaeus,
V, 4. : "A throne is nothing raore than a handsorae sort of
chair, with a footstool."
5. And they that arc lords over them — ] For i'7tyD, sin
gular, in the text, raore than a hundred and twenty MSS
have vbwa, plural, according to the Masoretical correction
in the raargin : which shews, that the Masoretes often super-
stitiously retained apparent raistakes in the text, even when
they had sufficient evidence to authorize the introduction of
the true reading.
Ibid. — make their boast of it] For i'7''7n', " make them
to howl," five MSS (two ancient) have bbr^', " make their
boast ; " which is confirmed by the Chaldee paraphrast, who
renders it ]'n3nt?a.
6. Therefore shall my people—^ The word pb, occur
ring the second time in this verse, seeras to be repeated by
raistake. It has no force or eraphasis as a repetition ; it
only embarrasses the construction and the sense. It was
not in the copies from which the LXX, Syr. and Vulg.
were translated; it was not in the copy of LXX from
which the Arabic was translated : but in tbe Aldine and
Complutensian editions Six thto is repeated ; probably so
corrected, in order to raake it conforraable with the Hebrew
text. Ibid. For I am He that promised] For sin, the Bodley
MS, and another, have nin*; " for I ara Jehovah that prom
ised : " and another ancient MS adds nin» after Nin. The
addition of Jehovah seems to be right, in consequence of
what was said in the preceding line, " My people shall know
ray name"
7. Hoiv beautiful — ] The watchmen discover afar off,
on the mountains, the messenger bringing ijie expected and
muc\\ wished-for news of tbe deliverance frora tbe Babylonish
captivity. They imraediately spread the joyful tidings, ver.
8. and \tith a loud voice proclaim that Jehovah is returning
to Sion, to resume his residence on his holy mountain, which
for some time, he seeraed to have deserted. This is the literal
sense of the plc«:e.
"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the
joyful messenger," is an expression highly poetical ; for, how
welcome is his arrival ! how agreeable are the tidings which
he brings !
Nahum, who is generally supposed to have lived after

360 notes on isaiah. chap, lii,
Isaiah, has manifestly taken from him this very pleasing
image ; but the imitation [does not equal the beauty of the
original :
" Behold upon the mountains the feet ofthe joyful messenger.
Of him that announceth peace:
Celebrate, O Judah, thy festivals; perform thy vows:
For no more shall pass through thee the wicked one;
He is utterly cut off, Nah, i. 15,
But it must at the same time be observed, that Isaiah's sub
ject is infinitely more interesting, and more subUme, than
that of Nahum : The latter denounces the destruction of the
capital of the Assyrian empire, the most formidable eneiny
of Judah ; the ideas of the former are in their fuU extent
evangelical : and accordingly St Paul has, with the utmost
propriety, applied this passage to the preaching of the gos
pel, Rom, X. 15, The joyful tidings , here to be proclaimed,
" 'Thy God, O Sion, reigneth," are the same that John the
Baptist, the messenger of Christ, and that Christ himself
pubUshed, " The kingdom of heaven is at hand."
8, All thy watchmen — ] There is a diflSculty in the con
struction of this place, which, I think, none of the aricient
versions, or modern interpreters, have cleared up to satisfac
tion. Rendered word for word it stands thus : "The voice
of thy watchmen : they lift up their voice," The sense of
the first riiember, considered as elUptic&l, is variotisly sup
plied by various expositors ; by none, as it seems to me, in
any way that is easy and natural, I am persuaded there is
a mistake in the present text, and that the true reading is
"I'sx "73, " all thy Watchmeri ; " instead of yn'i bip. The
mistake was easy from the similitude in sound of the two let
ters 3 and p. And in one MS the p is upon a rasure. This
correction perfecily rectifies the sense and the construction
Ibid, —when JehovaH retlirneth to Sion.} So the C-hal-
dee : ]V)tb n'nBtv 3'n' 13, " when he shall bring l^ck his
presence to Sion." God is considered as having deserted
his people during the captivity ; and, at the les-'oration, as
returning hiraself with them to Sion his forrrier habitation :
See Psal. lx. 1. chap. xl. 9^ and note. ,
9. — he hath redeemed Israel] For the word D'?tyii',
which occurs the second time in this verse, MS Bodleyj and
another, read bxity. It is upon a rasure in a third; and
left unpointed at first, as suspected, in a fourth. It was an
easy raistake, by the transcriber's casting his eye on the line

chap. lii. notes on isaiah. 361
above ; and the propriety of the correction, both in regard to
sense and elegance, is evident.
11. Depart, depart ye; go ye out from thence] The
Prophet Jereraiah seeras to have had his eye on this passage
of Isaiah, and to have applied it to a subject directly oppo
site. It is here addressed by the Prophet in the way of en
couragement and exhortation to the Jews coraing out of
Babylon : Jereraiah has given it a different turn, and has
thrown it out as a reproach of the heathen upon the Jews,
when they were driven from Jerusalem into captivity :
" Depart; ye are polluted, depart; depart ye, forbear to touch:
Yea, they are fled, they are removed: they shall dwell here
no more." Lam. iv. 15.
Of the metrical distribution of these Unes, see the PreUra.
Dissertation, p. xxxvi. note.
13. The subject of Isaiah's prophecy, from the fortieth
chapter inclusive, has hitherto been, in general, the deliver
ance of the people of God. This includes in it three distinct
parts ; which, however, have a close connexion with one
another : that is, the deliverance of tbe Jews from the cap
tivity of Babylon ; the deUverance of the Gentiles from their
miserable state of ignorance and idolatry ; and the deliver
ance of mankind from the captivity of sin and death.
These three subjects are subordinate to one another ; and
the two latter are shadowed out under the image of the
former. They are covered by it as by a veil ; which how
ever is transparent, and suffers them to appear through it.
Cyrus is expressly naraed as the immediate agent of God in
effecting the first deliverance : A greater Person is spoken
of as the agent who is to effect the two latter deliverances ;
called the servant, the elect of God, in whom his soul de
Ughteth ; Israel, in whom God wftl be glorified. Now these
three subjects have a very near relation to one another ; for,
as tbe agent who was to effect the two latter deliverances,
that is, the Messiah, was to be born a Jew, with particular
limitations of time, family, and other circumstances : the
first deliverance was necessary in the order of Providence,
Euid according to the determinate counsel of God, to the
accompUshment of the two latter deUverances ; and the se
cond deUverance was necessary to the third, or rather, was
involved in it, and made an essential part of ft. This being
the case, Isaiah has not treated the three subjects as quite
distinct and separate in a methodical and orderly manner,
36

362 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. LII.
Uke a philosopher or a logician, but has taken them in their
connective view : he has handled theria as a prophet and a
poet; he hath allegorized the former, and under tbe iraage
of it has shadowed out the two latter ; he has thrown them
all together ; has mixed one with another, has passed from
this to that with rapid transitions, and has painted the whole
wfth the strongest and boldest imagery. The restoration of
the Jews frora captivity, the call of the Gentiles, the rederap
tion by Messiah, hdve hftherto been handled interchangeably
and alternately : Babylon has hitherto been kept pretty much
ift sight ; S;t the' same titoe thai strong iritim'dtions or sorrie-
thing rhuch greater have frequeritly beeri thrown in. But
here Babylon is at once dropped ; and I think hardly ever
coraes in sight again; unlessperhapsinchap.lv. 12. and lvii. 14.
The Prophet's views are alraost wholly engrossed by the su
perior part of his subject. He introduces the Messiah as ap
pearing at first in the lowest state of humiUation, which he
had just touched upon before, chap. 1. 5, 6. and obviates the
offence which would be occasioned by it, by declaring, the
iraportant and necessary cause of it, and foreshewing the
glory which should follow it.
This seeras to rae to be the nature and the true design of
this part of Isaiah's prophecies ; and this view of thera seems!
to afford the best method of resolving difficulties in which
expositors are frequently engaged, being much divided be
tween what is called the literal and tbe mystical sense — not
very properly ; for the mystical or spiritual sense is very often
the most literal sense of aU.
Abarbanel seeras to have had an idea of this kind, as he is
quoted by Vitringa on chap. xllk. 1. who thus represents UiB
sentiments: " Censet Abarbanel Prophetara hie transitum
facere a liberatibne ex exilio Bdbylonico ad liberationem ex
exilio Romano, (for this he takes to be the secondary sense)' ;
et, quod hie animadversu dignUra est, observtit Uberationem
eX exilib Babylonico esse n'sn nix, signum et argrimentum
Uberationis futurae ; atque adeo orationem Prophetae de duabus
hisce liberationibus in superioribus concionibus saepe inter se
pBrraisceri. Verba ejus : ' Et propterea verba, sive res, in
prophetia superiore inter se perraixtae occurrunt ; modbde lib-
eratione Bfelbyl'oriica, raodb de UberatiOne extrema accipiendae,
ut oralionis necessitas exigit' Nullum hie Vitiuiti, nisi quod
redemptionerti' verara et spiritualem a Messia vero Jesu ad-
ductath non agnristJaf "

OHAP. LII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 363
14. — were astonished at him} For yby read vby. so
Syr. Chald. and Vulg. in a MS ; and so Ukewise two ancient
MSS.
15. So shall he sprinkle many nations] I retain tbe cora
raon rendering, though I ara by no raeans satisfied with it.
" ni', frequent in the law, raeans only to sprinkle : but the
water sprinkled is the accusative case ; the thing, on which,
has by or '7N. &xvi*xfovtxi, o, raakes tbe best apodosis. xm'
would do. iinr is used ii. 2. Jer. xxxi. 12. U. 44. but is unlike.
Kings shall shut, &c. is good ; but seeras to want a first
part : " Secker. Munster translates it, " Faciet loqui (de
se) ; " and in his note thus explains it : " nr proprie signifi
cat spargere et gtillas disserainare : hie vero capitur pro loqui,
et verbum disserainare." This is pretty rauch as tbe Rab
bins, Kirachi, and Salorao ben Melee, explain it, referring to
tbe expression of '¦ dropping tbe word." But the sarae ob
jection Ues to this as to the coraraon rendering ; it ought to
be D'U by (i3i) nt'. Bishop Chandler, Defence, p. 148. says,
" that to sprinkle, is used for to surpi°ise and astonish, as peo
ple are that have rauch water thrown upon thera. And this
sense is followed by the LXX." This is ingenious, but rather
too refined. Dr Durell conjectures, that the true reading
raay be nn', they shall regard, which coraes near to the
&ccv/ia<SovTM of the LXX ; who seera to give the best sense of
any to the place.
" I find in ray papers the same conjecture which Dr
Durell made from ^xviucfovIxi in LXX. And it raay be
added, that mn is used to express " looking on any thing
with admiration ; " Psal. xi. 7. and xvii. 1 5. and xxvU .4. and
Ixfti. 2. Cant. vi. 13. It is particularly appUed to " looking
on God," Exod. xxiv. 11. and Job xix. 26. Gisbert Cuper,
in Observat. lib. ii. 1. though aliud agens, has some obser
vations which shew how nearly o^xa and ^xvfix^a are alUed,
which (with the pecuUar sense of the verb n?n above noted)
add to the probability of S-xvuxfovIxi being the version of nn'
in the text : « Se n a«o( n«v7£? £« xv^ov o^ufi. Hesiod. id est,
cum veneratione quadam adrairantur. Hinc i^xa et ^xvptx^a
junxit Theraistius Or. 1. Eilx txvfovIxi ii xvl^arroi vgoi fi fuvov
igatleq, XXI Fi ficvov S'xvptx^ovln. Theophrastus in Charact. cap.
iii. Evfoftjj aif ob-o^aeitso-iv eii Fe il xttgaTroi. Hence the rendering
of this verse seeras to be : —
So many nations shall look on him with admiration;
Kings shall stop their mouths — " Dr Jubb.

364

NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. LIII.

CHAPTER LIIL
2. He hath no form, nor any beauty — ] Ovk eiSa xvtu, uSe
a^iafiM, ivx eiSau.ev xvToV nSe ^sagix, ivx emivfiafnv xvtov: Symma
chus ; the only one of the ancients tbat has translated it
rightly. 3. — and acquainted with grief — ] For ;?n'i, eight MSS
and one edition have yyy, LXX, Syr. and Vulg. read it
,l>iri. Ibid. — as one that hideth his face] For inDD3l, four
MSS (two ancient) have I'noasi, one MS I'noai. For
D'ja, two MSS havei'JS; and so likewise. LXX and Vulg.
Mourners covered up the lower part of tbeir faces, and their
heads ; 2 Sam. xv. 30. Ezek. xxiv. 17. ; and lepers w^ere
coraraanded by the law. Lev. xiii. 45. to cover their upper
lip. From which circumstance it seems, that Vulg. Aquila,
Symmachus, and the Jewish commentators, have taken the
wordjujj, stricken, in the next verse, as meaning stricken
with the leprosy, ev xip^ avix, Sym ; a^»pcevov, Aq. ; leprosum,
Vulg. 4. Surely our infirmities — ] Seven MSS (two ancient),
and three editions, have u"'7n, in tbe plural number.
Ibid. — he hath carried them] Fifteen MSS (two ancient),
and two editions, have the word sin before obaD in the text :
four other MSS have it in the margin. This adds force to
the serise, and elegance to the construction.
- 5. — by which our peace is effected] Twenty-one MSS
aud six editions have the word fully and regularly expressed,
)Ti:bv>; " pacificationura nostrarum : " Ar. Montan.
6. — the iniquities of us , all] For. p_i,', the ancient inter
preters read nmy, plural ; and so Vulg. in MS Blanchini.
8. And his manner of life who would declare ?] My
learned friend Dr Kennicott has coraraunicated to me the
following passages frora the Mishna, and the Gemara of
Babylon, as leading to a satisfactory explication of this diffi
cult place. It is said in the former, that, before any one
was punished for a capital crime, proclamation was raade
before the prisoner by the public crier in these words :
rby idVi N3' ni3i 1*7 y^vtit 'a ^3, " quicunque noverit ali
quid de ejus innocentia, veniat et doceat de eo:" Tract.
Sanhedrim. Surenhus. Par. IV. p. 233. On which passage
the Gemara of Babylon adds, that, " before the death of

CHAP. LIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 365
Jesus, this proclamation was raade for forty days ; but no
defence could he found." On which words Lardner ob
serves," It is truly surprising to see such falsities, contrary
to well known facts :" Testiraonies, vol. i. p. 198. The
report is certainly false ; but this false report is founded on
the supposition that there was such a custora, and so far
confirras the account above given for the Mishna. The
Mishna was coraposed in the raiddle of the second century,
according to Prideaux; Lardner ascribes it to the year of
Christ 180.
Casaubon has a quotation frora Mairaonides, which fur
ther confirms this account : Exercitat. in Baronii Annales, Art.
Ixxxvi. Ann. 34. Num. 119. "Auctor est Mairaonides in
Perek xiii. ejus Libri ex opere Jad, softtura fieri, ut cura Reus,
sententiara mortis passus, a loco judicft exibat ducendus ad
suppUciura, praecederet ipsura iii3n, wf?"!, praeco ; et haec verba
diceret : Ille exit occidendus morte ilia, quia transgressus est
transgressione ilia, in loco illo, tempore illo, et sunt ejus rei
testes ille et ille. Q,ui noverit aliquid ad ejus innocentiam
probandara, veniat, et loquatur pro eo."
Now it is plain frora the history ofthe four EvangeUsts, that
in the trial and conderanation of Jesus no such nfte was ob
served, (though, according to the account of the Mishna, it
raust bave been in practice at that tirae); no proclaraation was
made for any person to bear witness to the innocence and
character of Jesus ; nor did any one voluntarUy step forth to
give his attestation to it. And our Saviour seems to refer to
such a custora, and to claim the benefit of it, by his answer
to tbe High Priest, when he asked him of his disciples and of
his doctrine : " I spake openly to the world ; I ever taught in
the synagogue and in the temple, whither the Jews always
resort ; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me?
ask thera which heard rae, what I have said unto thera : be
hold, they know what I said ;" John xvift. 20, 21. This there
fore was one reraarkable instance of hardship and injustice,
araong others, predicted by the prophet, which our Saviour un
derwent in his trial and sufferings.
St. Paul Ukewise, in siraftar circumstances, standing before
the judgment-seat of Festus, seems to complain of the same
unjust treatment ; that no one was called, or would appear
to vindicate his character : " My manner of life (ti,» ^lurn i^v,
'in), from my youth, which was at the first among my own
36*

366 NOTES ON ISAlAH. CHAP. LIII.
nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews ; which knew me from
the beginning, if they would testify ; that after the straitest
sect of our religion I Uved a Pharisee ;" Acts xxvi. 4, 5.
in signifies age, duration, the time which one man or many
-together pass in this world ; in this place, the course, t,enor, or
manner of life. The verb in signifies, according to Castell.
"ordinatam vitara sive aetatem egit, ordinavit, ordine constitu-
it." In Arabic, " curavit, administravit."
Ibid. — he was smitten to death} The LXX read tmb,
£(« 3-o8v«7«». And so the Coptic and Sahidic versions frotri LXX,
MSS St. Germain de Prez.
"Origen, (contra Celsum, Ub. i. p. 370, edft. 1733), after
having quoted at large this prophecy concerning the Messiah,
tells us, that having once made use of this passage in a dispute
against some that were accounted wise among the Jews ; one
of tbem replied, that the words did not mean one man, but
one people, the Jews ; who were smitten of Gbd, and dis
persed among the Gentftes for their conversion : that he then
urged many parts of this prophecy, to shew the absurdity of
this interpretation ; and that he seemed to press them the
hardest hy this sentence ; xt^o t«v xvoi^im th ^mh iah tix^v tu B^xvxlov.
Now as Origen, the author of the Hexapla, raust have un
derstood Hebrew, we cannot suppose that he would have urged
this last quotation as so decisive, if the Greek version had not
agreed here with the Hebrew text ; nor that these wise Jews
would have been at all distressed by this quotation, unless
their Hebrew text had read agreeably to eis ^avarov, on which
the argument principally depended : for, by quoting it imme
diately, they would have triumphed over him, and reprobated
his Greek version. This, whenever they could do it, was
their constant practice, in their dispute with the Christians-
.lerora, in his preface to the Psalms, says, "Nuper cum
Hebraso disputans, quaedam pro Domino saFvatore de
Psalmis ¦ testiraonia protulisti : volensque ille te iUudere,
per sermones fere singulos asserebat, non ita haberi
in Hebraeo, ut tu de LXX opponebas." And Origen
hiraself, who laboriously corapared the Hebrew text with the
LXX has recorded the necessity of arguing with the
/,ews frora such passages only as were in the LXX
agti^e^-W® to the Hebrew : hx trjo? ihSxioh SixT^eyonttei lai wjo-
ipt^aiM* xi'Toi? TX itm Keifiivx ev Toif xvriy^axpoif xvTav, xxi hx Fvyx^f/Fa-
titfa T^iff.yS'^fM"'^ ^»?' tneivoii. See Epist. ad Afirican. p. 15. 17.

CHAP. LIII. NOTES ON ISAlAtt. 367
Wherefore, as Origen had carefully corapared the Greek
version of LXX with tbe Hebrew- text, and speaks of the
conterapt with wbich the Jews treated all appeals to the
Greek version, where it differed fi"ora their Hebrew text ;
and as he puzzled and confounded the learned Jews, hy urg
ing upon thera the reading ets SdfavOv in this place ; it seems
almost impossible not to conclude, both from Origen's argu
ment and the silence bf his Jewish adversaries, that the He
brew text at that tirae actually had niaV, agreeably to the
version of the LXX : " Dr. Kennicott.
7. But with the rich man was his tomb] Araong th^
various opinions wbich have been given on this passage, I
have no doubt in giving ray assent to that whicb raakes the
3 in vniD3 radical, and renders it excelsa sua. This is raen
tioned by Aben Ezra, as received by sorae in bis time ; and
has been long since approved by Schindler, Drusius, and
raany other learned Christian interpreters.
The raost siraple tombs or monuraents of old consisted of
hillocks of earth heaped up over the grave : of which we
have nuraerous examples in our own country, generally
allowed to he of very high antiquityi The Romans called
a monument of this sort very properly tumulus ; and the
Hebrews as properly nia3, fordhat is the form ofthe noun in
the singular nuraber; and sixteen MSS, and the two oldest
editions, express the word fuHy in this place, i'niD3- " Tu-
raulus et collera et sepulchrura fuisse significat. Potest enim
tumulus sine sepulchro interpretatione colUs interdum accipi.
Nam et terrae congestio super ossa tumulus dicitur : " Servius,
in iEneid ift. 22. And to make the tumulus still raore ele
vated and conspicuous, a pillar or some other ornaraent was
often erected upon it: —
Tv/ihcv xefxvTei, xat evi sTjAijv e^vFxvTti,
tln^XIUV XX^OTXTa, TVflSco EW)f£5 EfETfMV. OttySS. Xil. 14.
" A rising tomb, the sftent dead to grace,
Fast by the roarings ofthe main we pla'ce:
The rising tomb a Iofl;y column bore.
And high above it rose the tapering oar." Pope.
The torab therefore raight with great propriety be cafted the
high place. The Hebrews might also call such a tottib niD3r
frora the situation ; for they generally chose to erect thera on
eminences. The sepulchre of Joseph of Ariraathea, in which
the body of Christ was laid, was upon a hill. Mount Calvary.
3ee chap. xxft. 1 6. and the note there.

368 notes on isaiah. chap. lii.
" It should be observed, that the word vniaa is not formed
frqra niaa, the plural of naa, the feminine noun, but from
D?niB3, the plural of a mascuUne noun, niD3. This is noted,
because these two nouns have been negligently confounded
with one another, and absurdly reduced to one, by, very
learned men. So Buxtorff, Lex. in v. naa, represents 'niaa,
though plainly without any pionoun suffixed, as it governs
the word pN following it, as only another form of niD3;
whereas the truth is, that nia3 and D'niaa are different words,
and have through the whole Bible very different significa
tions : nas, whether occurring in the singular or plural num
ber, always signifying " a place, or places, of worship ; " and
D'niaa always signifying " heights." Thus in Deut. xxxii.
13. Isa. Ivfti. 14. Amos iv. 13. and Mic. i. 3. ps 'man signifies
" l,he heights of the earth ; " Isa. xiv. 14. 3;; 'niD3, " the
heights, of the clouds;" and in Job ix. 8. D' 'niaa, "the
heights of tbe sea," i. e, the high waves of the sea, as Virgil
calls a wave " praeruptus aquae raons." These being all the
places where this wqfd occurs without a suflSx, the sense of
it seems clearly determined by them. It occurs in other
instances with a pronoun suffixed, which confirm this signi
fication. Unluckily our EngUsh Bible has not distinguished
the feminine noun na3 from the mascuUne singular noun
niaa; and has consequently always given the signifii^ation
of the latter to the former, always rendering ft " a high
place : " whereas the true sense of the word appears plainly
to be, in the very numerous passages in which it occurs, " a
place of worship," or "a sacred court," or "a sacred inclo
sure," whether appropriated to the worship of idols, or to
that of the true God : for it is used of both passim,. Now,
as the Jewish graves are shewn, from 2 Chron. xxxii. 33.
and Isa. xxii. 16. to haye been in high situations; to which
may be added tbe custom of another eastern nation from
Osbeck's Travels, who says, vol. i. p. 339. "The Chi
nese graves are made op the side qf hills ; " " his be^hts "
becomes a very easy metaphor to express his sepulehre : '^
Dr. Jubb.
The exact completion of this prophecy will be fully shewn,
by adding here tbe several circumstances of the burial of
Jesus, collected from the accounts of the Evangelists : —
"There was a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, a
member of the Sanhedrim, and of a respectable character,
who had not consented to their counsel and act : he went

chap. Llll. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 369
to Pftate, and begged the body of Jesus ; and he laid ft in
his own new tomb, which had been hewn out of the rock,
near to the place where Jesus was crucified; having first
wound it in fine linen with spices, as the raanner of the
Jews was to bury the rich and great." '
10. — with grief] For ''7nn, the verb, the construction
of which seeras to be hard and inelegant in this place, Vulg.
reads ibro, in infirraitate.
Ibid. If his soul shall make — ] For D'tyn, a MS has
Dsyn, which raay be taken passively, " If his soul shall be
made — ^," agreeably to some copies of LXX, which have
SwTat. So Ukewise Syr.
1 1. — and be satisfied — ] LXX, Vulg. Syr. and a MS,
add the conjunction tp tbe verb ; yiV)''^.
Ibid. — shall my servant justify] Three MSS (two of
them ancient), omit the word p'ls; it seems to be only an
imperfect repetition, by mistake, of the preceding word. It
makes a solecism in this place ; for, according to the con
stant usage of the Hebrew language, the adjective, in a
phrase of this kind, ought to follow- the substantive ; and
'I3;r p'ls in Hebrew would be as absurd as"shaU my ser
vant righteous justify," in EngUsh. Add to this, that it
makes the hemistich too long.
12. And made intercession — ] For yitr, in the future,
a MS has ;^'J3n, preterit; rather better, as agreeable with
the other verbs iramediately preceding in the sentence.

CHAPTER LIV.
1. Shout for joy, O thou barren — ] The church of God
under the Old Testament, confined within the narrow
bounds of the Jewish nation, and stftl raore so in respect of
the very small number of true beUevers, and which sorae
times seeraed to be deserted of God her husband ; is the
barren woraan, that did not bear, and was desolate. She is
exhorted to rejoice, and to express her joy in the strongest
manner, on the reconciliation of her husband, see ver. 6.
and on the accession of the- Gentiles to her faraily. The
converted Gentftes are all along considered by the Prophet
as a new accession of adopted children, adraitted into the
original church of God, and united with it. See chap. xlix.
20, 21.

3f0 notes on ISAlAtt. CHAP, LIV.
4. For thou shalt forget} "Shame of thy youth; i. e,
the bondage of Egypt : widowhoodj the captivity of Baby
lon : " Secker,
7. Ina little anger — ] So the Chald. and Syr. either
reading ni for yri, of understanding the latter word as
raeaning the sarae with the former, which they both make
use of See Psal. xxx. 6. xxxv. 20. in LXX, where they
render yi'y by ojyi).
8. I hid my face [for a moment} from thee] The wbfd
yi^ is omitted by LXX, Syr. and two MSS. It seems to
embarrass rather than to help the sentence. " Forte reponi
debet pro «)Siyi quod potest a f]Sp errore scribae originem
duxisse : " Seckek,.
9. — -a« in the days of Noah] 'a'3, in one Word, in a
MS, and sorae editions ; and so Syr. Chald. Vulg. Syra,
Theod, Abarbanel, Salomo b. Melee, and Kimchi, ac
knowledge that their copies vary in this plate,
11, 12, Behold, I lay thy stones^-^] These seem to be
general images to express beauty, magnificence, purity^
strength, and soUdity, 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 Ids 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 wafts, and towers,
and battlements, with pure gold. And the streets of Jeru
salem shall be paved with beryl, and carbuncle, and stones
of Ophir : " Tob, xift. 16, 17. Compare also Rev. xxi.
18—21.
15. — shall come over to thy side} For '713', twenty-
eight MSS feight ancient) have bij', in its more coramon
form. For the meaning of the word in this place, see Jer.
xxxvft. 13.
CHAPTER LV.
9. For as the heavens are higher—^ I am persuaded
that 3, the particle of coraparison, is lost in this place, from
the likeness of the particle '3 immediately preceding it. So.
Houbigant, and Secker. And their reraark is confirnied
by aU the ancient versions, which express it ; and by the

chap, lv, notes on ISAIAH, 371
follo%ving passage of Psalm, ciii. 11, which is ahnost the
same : — pNn by D'B» n3j3 '3
.VN1' by non i3j
" 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 sarae with that in the first : naj,
not laj: so Archbishop Secker conjectured ; referring how
ever to Psal. cxvft. 2.
12. The mountains and the hills — } These are highly
poetical iraages, to express a happy state attended with joy
and exultation. " Ipsi laetitia voces ad sidera jactant
Intonsi montes: ipsse jam carmina rupes,
Ipsa sonant arbusta.'' Virg. Eel. v.
13. Instead of the thorny bushes — r]' These Ukewise (see
note on the preceding verse, and on chap. Uv. 11.) are gen
eral poetical images, expressing a great and happy change
for the better. The wftderness turned into a paradise,
Lebanon into Carrael : tbe desert of tbe Gentftes watered
with the heavenly snow and rain, which feft not to have
their ^e' effect^ and beeomirig fruitful in piety and right
eousness ; dr, as the Chaldee giVes the moral sense of the
enjblem, " Instead of the wicked shall arise tbe just, a,nd
instead of sinners, such as fear to siri." Compare ch, x;xXv.
1, 2, x;U. 19.
Ibid. And instead of — ] The conjunction i is added,
nnni, in forty-five MSS, and fivo editions ; and it is acknowl
edged by all the ancient versions. The Masoretes therefore
might have safely received it into the text, and not have re-
fenred us for it to the margin.

CHAPTER LVI,
5, — will I give them] For b in the singular, it is evi
dent that we ought to read 10*7 in the plural : so read LXX,
Syr, Chald. and Vulg.
7. — shall be accepted] A word is here lost out of the
text : ft is supplied from the LXX, vn', sdovzat : Houbigant.
9. O all ye beasts of the field— -] Here manifestly begins

372 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. LVI.
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 Geqtijes ; here, on a sudden, makes
a transition to the more (Jjs^grqeable part of the prospect ;
and toa sharp reproof of the wicked and unbelievers, and
especially of the negUgent and faithless governors and teach
ers, of the idolaters and hypocrites, who would stftl draw
down his judgments upon the nation : probably having in
view the destruction of their city and polity by the Chal
deans, and perhaps by the Romans. "The same subject is
continued in the next chapter ; in which the charge of cor
ruption and apostasy becomes more general against the
whole Jewish church. Some expositors have made great
difiiculties in the 9th verse of this chapter, whbre there seems
to be none. It is perfectly weU 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 aw£^y to devour." Jer, xii. 7. 9.
Ibid. — beasts of the forest} Instead of ij>'a, three MSS
have iy, without the preposition : which seems to be right ;
and is confirmed by aU the ancient versions.
10. dumb dogs, they cannot bark] See below, note on
«hap. Ixu. 6.
Ibid. Dreamers] D'ln, etwrvix^tfuvaij 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 O'ln; and so Vulg. seems to
have read, videntes vana.
12. — let us provide wine} For nnpN, first person sin
gular, an ancient MS has nnpJ, first person plural; and
another ancient MS has px upon a rasure. So Syr. Chald.
and Vulg. render it.

CHAP. LVII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 373

CHAPTER LVII.
2. He shall go in peace] abm ni3' : the expression is
eUiptical, such as the Prophet frequently uses. The same
sense is expressed at large and in fiftl terras, Gen. xv. 15.
Di'7B'3 ynuN '7N Ni3n nnNi, " And thou shalt go to thy 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 DrDuBELL.
He reads Dn i33iyD by nu'. Two MSS (one of them ancient)
have nij', singular; and so Vulg. renders it, requiescat.
The verb was probably altered to make it plural, and so con
sistent with what follows, after the mistake had he en made
in the following words, by uniting i33tyD and Dn into one
word. See Merrick's Annotations on the Psalms, Addenda ;
where the reader wift find, that J. S. Moerlius, by the same
sort of correction, and by rescuing the adjective on, which '
had been swallowed up in another word in the sarae raanner,
has restored to a clear sense a passage before absolutely un
intelligible : — mb ni3sin j'n '3
:d'71N N'131 Dn
" For no distresses happen to them;
Perfect and firm is their strength." Psal. Ixxui. 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 an
cients. They were called BcsituAoi and BootuAwj probably
from the stone which Jacob erected at Bethel, pouring oil
upon the top of ft. The practice was very coramon in dif
ferent ages and places. Arnobius, lib. i. gives an account
of his own practice in this respect, before he became a Chris
tian : " Si quando conspexeram lubricatuni lapideni, et ex
oUvi unguine sordidatum ; tanquam inesset vis praesens,
adulabar, affabar, et beneficia poscebam nihil sentiente de
trunco." Clemens Alex. Strom, lib. vii. speaks of a wor
shipper of every smooth stone in a proverbial way, to denote
one given up to superstition. And accordingly Theophras
tus has marked this as one strong feature in the character
37

374 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. ILVII.
of the superstitious man : Km rav AlTotjav Mitn rav ev Txii Tfio-
Seli irxqim, i» Ttn >aixv6ov eAouov kxtxx»'>, kxi tiri yovxra irtFav «xi
v^oFKvviiFxs x'!rx>AaTleF0xi: "Passing by the anointed stones
in the streets, he takes out his phial of oil, and pours it on
thera ; and having fallen on his knees, and made his adora
tions, 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 coraraanded thera 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 tbey chose for them such a
situation as raore private, it was in defiance of a particular
curse denounced in the law against the man who should
make a graven or a raolten iraage, and put it in a secret place ;
Deut. xxvft. 15. An ancient MS, with another, has inx,
without the conjunction i.
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 : —
" They make a covenant with Assyria,
And oil is carried to Egypt." Hosea xii. 1.
It is well known, that in all parts of the East, whoever visits
a great person must carry him a present. " It is counted
uncivft," 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 aud authority ; and look upon
themselves as affronted, and indeed defrauded, when tbe
corapliraent is' oraitted." Hence iity, to visit a person, is
equivalent to making him a present : and niwn signifies
a present made on such occasions ; as our translators have
rightly rendered it, 1 Sam. ix. 7. : on which Jarchi says,
"Menachem exponit niliyn quod significet oblationem sive
niunus, qt aliquis aspiciat faciem regis, aut alicujus magnatis."
10. Thou hast said, There is no hope] In one of the
MSS at Koningsberg, collated by LUienthal, the words
ni::N Nb are left in the text unpointed, as suspected ; and in
the margin the corrector has written 'laxni- Now, if we com
pare .Ter. ii. 25. and xvfti. 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 tbeir idolatrous practices ; the very thing that
jU aft reason we raight expect here. Probably therefore the
atter is the true reading in this place.

CIJAP. LVII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 375
11. — nor revolved it — ] Eight MSS (four ancient),
¦p.od the two oldest editions, with another, add the conjunc-
•liori 1, xbi: which is confirmed by all the ancient versions.
Ibid. — and winked] For dSi;7D1, which makes no good
sense or construction in this place, twenty-three MSS
(seven ancient), and tbree editions, have D'7;-'a, (to be thus
pointed tbyu); ¦ra^o^a, LXX; quasi non videns, Vulg. : see
Psal. X. 1. The truth of this reading so confirraed adraits
of no doubt.
12. — my righteousness] For inpiv, thy righteousness,
Syr. LXX, MSS Alex, and Pachora. and i. D. ii., and
Marchal. and « r, and Arab, read 'npis, my righteousness.
13. — let thine associates deliver thee] Thirty-nine MSS
(ten ancient), and the two oldest editions, have "jib'S', plural.
14. then will I say] ibni, to be pointed as the flrst per
son future : they are the words of God, as it is plain frora
the conclusion of the verse ; my people, my.
15. For thus saith Jehovah] A MS adds nin' after
-io.-,, and edition Prag. 1518. So LXX, Alex, and Arab.
An ancient MS adds n'.
Ibid. And with ihe contrite — ] Twelve MSS have nx,
without the conjunction i. " Pro nNi, forte legendum
nsoNi : confer Psal. cxiii. 5. et cxxxviii. 6. : " Secker.
16. For I will not alway — ] The learned have taken a
great deal of pains to Uttle purpose on the latter part of this
verse, which they suppose to be very obscure. After all their
labours upon it, I think the best and easiest explication of it
is given in the two following elegant passages of the Psaftras,
which I presurae are exactly parallel to it, and very clearly
express the sarae sentiment.
" But He in his tender mercy will forgive their sin,
And will not destroy them;
Yea oftentimes will he turn away his wrath.
And will not rouse up all his indignation :
For he remembereth that they are but flesh,
A breath that passeth, and returneth not." Ixxvift. 38. 39,
" He will not always contend.
Neither wftl he forever hold his wrath:
As a father yearneth towards his children.
So is Jehovah tenderly compassionate towards them that fear
him:
For he knoweth our frame ;
He remembereth that we are but dust." cift. 9. 13, 14.

376 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. LVII.
In the former of tbese two passages, the second line seems
to be defective both in measure and sense : I suppose the
word oniN, them, is lost at the end ; which seems to be ac
knowledged by Chald. and Vulg. who render as if they had
read, DniN n'nts" n'71. , ^ ,
17. Because of his iniquity for a short time Iwas wroth]
For i;fs3, 1 read ;?V3, paululum, a y'i'2, abscidit ; as LXX
read and render it, ^^xxv n. " Propter iniquitatem at^ariiite
ejus" the rendering of Vulg., which our translators, and I
believe all others follow, is surely quite beside the purpose.
19. / create the fruit of the lips ; — ] "The sacrifice of
praise," saith St Paul, Heb. xfti.. 15. "is tbe fruit ofthe lips."
God creates this fruit of the lips, by giving new subject and
cause of thanksgiving, by his mercies conferred on those
among his people who acknowledge and bewail tbeir trans
gressions, and return to him. The great subject of thanks
giving is peace ; reconciftation and pardon offered to them
that are nigh, and to them that are afar off ; not only to the
Jew, but also to the Gentile, as St Paul more than once
applies these terms, Eph, ii. 13. 17. : see also Acts ft, 39.
21. There is no peace, saith m,y God — ] For 'n'7N,
twenty-two MSS (five ancient) read mn'. Vulg. LXX
Alex. Arab, and three MSS, have both. This verse has
reference to the 19tb. The wicked and impenitent are ex
cluded from all share in that peace above-mentioned, that
reconcileraent and pardon, which is proraised to the penitent
only. The xlviftth chapter ends with the sarae declaration";
to express the exclusion of the unbelievers and irapenitent
from the benefit of the foregoing proraises.
CHAPTER LVHI.
3. — afllicied our souls — ] Twenty-seven MSS (six an
cient), and the old edition of 1488, have the noun in the
plural nuraber, ij'B'SJ : and so LXX, Chald. Vulg.
4. And to smite ivith the fist the poor. Wherefore fast ye
mito me — ] I follow the version of the LXX, which gives
a much better sense than the present reading of the Hebrew.
Instead of n'7 yw% they seem to have read in their copy
'b Tm by m : the four first letters are the same, but other
wise divided in regard to the words ; the four last are lost,
and N added in their place, in order to raake some sort of
sense with byay The version of the LXX is xxi rv^lere
wyf*xii TxveivoV hx ti fioi vn^evere  .

CHAP. LVIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 377
7. — the wandering poor — ] ^ax^i xi-eyovf, LXX ; ege-
nos vagosque, Vulg. ; and j''7t3'7[3D, Chald. They read, in
stead of D'liia, D'lun. id is upon a rasure in the Bodleian
MS. The sarae MS reads nn'3, in domum.
8. And thy wounds shall speedily he healed] " Et cica
trix vulneris tui cito obducetur," Aquila's version, as reported
by Jerom ; with which agrees that of the Chaldee,
Ibid, And the glory — ] Sixteen MSS (five ancient), and
LXX, Syr. Vulg. add the conjunction i, ii33i.
10. If thou bring forth thy bread — ] " To draw out thy
soul to the hungry," as our translators rightly enough express
the present Hebrew text, is an obscure phrase, and without
example in any other place. But instead of "jtyaj, thy soul,
eight MSS (three ancient) read iDn'7, thy bread ; and so the
Syriac renders it. The LXX express both words, tov agrov
fx T'Tjg ipvxrjg 6ov, thy bread from thy soul.
11. And he shall renew thy strength] " Chaldaeus forte
legft i]nn)ty tj'bn'. Confer cap. xl. 29. 31. et xU. 1. : " Secker.
Chald. has anby "n3 "n» f)3iJi, " et corpus tuum vivificabit in
vita aeterna." The rest of the ancients seera not to know what
to raake of )"'7n' ; and the rendering of the Vulgate, which
seems to be the only proper one, ossa tua liberabit, makes no
sense. I follow this exceUent emendation ; to favour which,
it is stftl further to he observed, that three MSS, instead of
f naxi', have inas;?, singular.
12. — to be frequented by inhabitants] To this purpose
it is rendered by Syr, Sym. and Theod.
13. From doing thy pleasure] The LXX, Syr. and
Chald. for rmy manifestly express niB';;D. So likewise a MS
has it ; but with the omission of the words "Ybvy n3ty.
Ibid. And the holy feast] Twenty-eight MSS (seven
ancient) add the conjunction i, miybv- and so Syr. and Chald.
Ibid. — and from, speaking vain words] It is necessary
to add sorae epithet to make out the sense : the LXX say
angry words ; Chald. words of violence. If any such epithet
is lost here, the safest way is to supply it by the Prophet's own
expression, ver. 9. pN I3ii, vain words ; that is, profane, im
pious, injurious, &:c.
"'^The additional epithet seems unnecessary. The Vulg.
and Syr. have it not. And the sense is good without it ; two
ways, first by taking i3ii for a noun, and iai for the participle
pahul, and rendering,
" From pursuing thy pleasure, and the thing resolved on: "
37*

378 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. LVIII.
Or, secondly, by supposing the force ofthe preposition a to be
continued frora the verb Nisaa to the verb ian irarnediately fol
lowing, and rendering.
" From executing thy pleasure, and from speaking words
concerning it."
But the first seeras the easier rendering.'' Dr. Jubb.
CHAPTER LIX.
The foregoing elegant chapter contained a severe reproof
of the Jews, in particular for their hypocrisy in pretending to
raake themselves accepted with God hy fasting and outward
humiliation without true repentance, whfte they still continued
to oppress the poor, and to indulge tbeir own passions and
vices ; with great promises, however, of God's favour on con
dition of their reformation. This chapter contains a more gen
eral reproof of their wickedness ; bloodshed, violence, falsehood,
injustice. At ver. 9. they are introduced as raaking thera
selves an araple confession of their sins, and deploring their
wretched state in consequence of thera. On this act of humi
liation a promise is given, that God, in his mercy and zeal for
his people, wftl rescue tbem from this miserable condition ;
that the Redeemer wftl corae like a mighty hero to deliver
them : he will destroy his enemies, convert both Jews and
Gentiles to himself, and give them a new covenant, and a
law, which shall never be abolished.
As this chapter is remarkable for the beauty, strength, and
variety of the images with which it abounds ; so is it pecuUar
ly distinguished hy the elegance of the composition, and the
exact construction of the sentences : from the first verse to the
two last, it falls regularly into stanzas of four lines, (see Prel,
Dissert, p. xiii.), which I have endeavoured to express as near
ly as possible in the form of the original.
2, His face — ] For D»J3, /ace*, I read v}2, his face. So
Syr, LXX, Alex. Arab. Vulg. 'J3, MS, " Forte legendum
'13 ; nara a sequitur, et loquitur Deus : confer Ivift. 14. : "
Secker. I rather think that the speech of God was closed
wfth tbe last chapter ; and that this chapter is delivered in the
person of the Prophet.
3. And your tongue^ An ancient MS, and LXX and
Vulg. add the conjunction.
8, Whoever goeth in them — j For na singular, read D3
plural, with LXX, Syr. Vulg. Chald. The n is upon a rasure
in MS. Or for on'na'nj plural, we must read Dna'n: singular,

CHAP. LIX. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 379
as it is in an ancient MS, to preserve the grammatical
concord. 10. And we loander — ] I adopt here an emendation of
Houbigant, r\iim:, instead of the second mytyjj, the repetition
of which has a poverty and inelegance extremely unworthy
of the Prophet, and unlike his raanner. The raistake is of
long standing, being prior to all the ancient versions : it was
a very easy and obvious raistake ; and I have little doubt of
cot having recovered the true reading in this ingenious cor
rection. 11. — and it is far distant from us.] The conjunction i
must necessarily be prefixed to tbe verb, as Syr. Chald. Vulg.
found it in their copies, ni^nii-
15. And Jehovah saw it,  ] This third line
of the stanza appears manifestly to me to be imperfect by the
loss of a phrase. The reader will perhaps more perfectly con
ceive my idea of the raatter, if I endeavour to supply the sup
posed defect. I imagine it raight have stood originally in this
manner : [1*7 in'i] mn' nti
:D3tya ya '3 vyy2 ;;i'i
" And Jehovah saw it, [and he was wroth]:
And it displeased him, that there was no judgment,"
We have bad already raany examples of raistakes of omis
sion : this, if it be such, is very ancient, being prior to all the
versions. 17. — for his clothing] ntffabn- " I cannot but think
that n!73'7n is an interpolation, 1. It is in no one ancient
version, 2. It is redundant in the sense, as it is before ex
pressed in '1J3. 3. It raakes the heraistich just so rauch
longer than it ought to be, if it is compared with tbe others
adjoining, 4. It makes a forra of construction in this clause
less elegant than that in tbe others. 5. It might probably
be in sorae margin a various reading for nja, and thence
taken into the text. This is the raore probable, as its forra is
such as it would be if it were in regimine. as it raust be be
fore Dpj : " Dr. Jubb.
18. He is mighty — ] The forraer part of this verse, as
it stands at present in the Hebrew text, seeras to rae to be
very iraperfect, and absolutely uninteftigible. The learned
Vitringa has taken a great deal of pains upon it, after
Cocceius ; who, he says, is the only one of all the interpre
ters, ancient or modern, who has at all understood it, and
bas opened the way for him. He thinks, tbat both of them

380 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. LIX.
together have clearly made out the sense : I do not expect
that any third person wiU ever be of that opinion. He
says, " Videtur sententia ad verbum sonare : quasi propter
facta [adversariorum] quasi propter rependet; excaindescen-
tiara, &c. et sic reddidit Pagninus." This he converts, by
a process which wftl not much edify my reader, into " Se
cundum summe merita, secundum summe [merita] repen
det ; " which is his translation. They that hold the present
Hebrew text to be absolutely infaUible, raust make their way
through it as they can ; but they ought surely to give us some
what 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 thus :
d'7»' abm Nin S'Saj 'in, " Dominus retributionum ipse retribu-
tionem reddet." He manifestly read by2, instead of "7^3.
^8•'7aJ 'ia is nbm by2 ; as snna'iD 'ia, is tjN '7,i?3, Prov. xxft.
24, And so in the same Chaldee paraphrase on Isaiah
xxxv. 4. »'7jn' Nin " n'Vdj 'ia, " Dominus retributionum Je
hovah ipse revelabitur." Words very near to those of
the Prophet in this place. The second byD, which the
Chaldee has omitted, must be read byi Ukewise. With
this only addition to the Chaldee, which the Hebrew text
justifies, we are suppUed with the following clear reading of
the passage : — Nin mbmi Va
.D'7ii'' ni'7iDJ by2
The 3 in '7;r3 twice seems to have been at first 3 in MS.
This verse in LXX is very imperfect. In the first part of it
ihey give us no assistance ; the last part is whoUy omitted in
the printed copies ; but it is thus supplied in MSS Pachom.
and I. D. 11. — roig vnevavziots avrov a/ivv«v rots tx^goig
avrov rate vrjdmg aTiodofia a.Tvni6u,
19. — which a strong wind driveth along] " Q,uam spi
ritus Domini cogit ; " Vulg. noDM, pihel a DU fugit. Kimchi
says, his father thus explained this word : " noDU interpreta-
tur in significatione fugae ; et ait, Spiritus Domini fugabit
hostem ; — ^nara secundum eum nDDiJ est ex conjugatione
quadrata, ejusque radix est dw." The object of this action I
explain otherwise. The conjunction 1 prefixed to nn seems
necessary to the sense : it is added by the corrector in one of
the Koningsberg MSS collated by Lilienthal.
20. And shall turn away iniquity from Jacob] So LXX,
and St. Paul, Rom. xi, 26. ; reading, instead of »3U>'? and

¦chap. lix. notes on isaiah. 381
3pj'3, 3'syni and 3p;?'D. Syr. Ukewise reads 3'tyni; and
Chald. to the sarae sense, ytorb^. Our translators have
expressed the sense of the present reading of the Hebrew text :
" And unto them that turn frora transgression in Jacob."
21. — which I make with them] For DniN, them twenty-
four MSS (four ancient) and nine editions have onN, tcith
ihe-rfi.
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 ; wbich is set forth in
such araple and exalted terms as plainly shew, that the full
completion of this prophecy is reserved for future times.
This subject is displayed in the raost 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 tbe latter
times ; when the fulness of the Gentftes shall come in, and
the Jews shall be converted and gathered from their disper
sions ; 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 aud things, and were never intended to be
minutely explained. 1 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 frora the real
intention of tbe spirit of prophecy, by following uncertain
appUcations of the parts of it : " Lowraan on the Revelation.
note on chap. xix. 21.
4. — shall be carried at the side] For niDNn, shall be
nursed, LXX and Chald. read nJNtyjn, shall be carried.
.A. MS has nJNC'jn ^ro by, instead of nwNn is '7,1' ; shall

382 NOTES on isaiah. chap, lx
be carried on the shoulder, instead of shall be nursed on the
side. Another MS bas both '\m and is. Another MS
has it thus: nj'7Nn: nJNtyjn, with a Une drawn over tbe
first word. Sir John Chardin says, that'it is the general
custora in the East to carry their children astride upon the
hip, with the arra round their body. His MS note on this
place is as follows : " Couturae en Orient de porter les en-
fans sur le coste a califourchon sur la hanche : cette fa9on
est generale aux Indes ; les enfans se tiennent comrae cela,
et la personne qui les porte les ernbrasse et serre par le
corps ; parceque sont [ni] emmaillottes, ni en robes qui les
embrassent." " Non brachiis occidentalium more, sed huraeris, diva-
ricatis tibfts, impositos circumferunt : " Cotovic. Iter Syr.
cap. xiv. This last quotation seems to favour the reading
f^na by; as the LXX likewise do : but upon the whole 1
think that nJNtyjn is by is the true reading, which the
Chaldee favours ; and I have accordingly followed it. See
chap. lxvi. 12. '
5. Then shalt thou fear — ] For 'Nin, thou shalt ^ee, as
ours, and rauch the greater number of the translators, an
cient and modern, render it ; forty MSS (ten ancient), and
the old edition of 1488, have 'Ni'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 Jereraiah (chap, xxxift. 9.) has the same natural and
elegant sentiraent : —
" 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 good
ness,
And at all the prosperity, that I procure unto her."
And David, (Psal. cxxxix. 14.)
" I wift praise thee, for I am fearfufty and wonderfully made.''
" His tibi me rebus quaedam divina voluptas
Percipit atque horror." Lucret. iii. 28.
" Recenti mens trepidat metu,
Plenoque Bacchi pectore turbidum
LsBtatur." Hoi;. Carm. ii. 19.
6. And the praise of Jehovah — ] Thirty-three MSS
and tbree editions bave nbnni, in the singular number ; and
eo read the ancient versions.

CHAP. LX. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 383
7. Unto thee shall the rams of Nebaioth minister] Vi
tringa (on the place) understands their ministering, and
ascending, or going up on the altar, as offering theraselves
voluntarily : " Ipsi se, non expectato sacerdote alio, gloriae
et sarictificationi Divini norainis ultro ac Ubenter 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 aftar was a good omen ; aud the contrary a bad
one. " Sabinos petit aliquanto tristior ; quod sacrificanti
hostia aufugerat : " Sueton. Titus, cap. x. " Accessit dirum
omen, profugus altaribus taurus : " Tacft. Hist. iii. 56.
8. And like doves upon the wing} Instead of '7N, to, for
ty-two MSS have by, upon. For Dn'naiN, their windows,
read Dn'niaN, their wings, transposing a letter : Houbi
gant. The LXX render it Ovv vsodOmg, with iheir young :
they read Dn'niSN; nearer to tbe latter, than to the present
reading. 9. — among the first — ] For nJtyNi3, twenty-five MSS
and Syr. read n3t!'Nl33, 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 oT 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 ap
pendage of a throne, (see note on chap. Ui. 2.), the ark is con -
sidered as the footstool of God ; and is so called, Psal. xcix. 5.
I Chron. xxvift. 2.
Ibid, fhe glory of Lebanon] That is,', the cedar.
19. Nor by night shall the brightness of the rrtoon en
lighten thee] This line, as it stands in the present text,
seems to be defective. The LXX and Chald. both express
the night, which is alraost necessary to ans-^'er to day in the
preceding line, as well as to perfect the sense here. I there
fore think that we ought, upon the authority of LXX and
Chald. to read either rbb-s, and hy night, instead of -nitih
and for brightness : or n^'^a njjSi, adding the word n'7''73,
by night.
21. — of my planting] '^-bd, so with the Keri read forty-
four MSS (seven ancient) and si:c editions ; with which agree
Syr. Chald. Vulg.

384 notes on isaiah. chap. LXt.
CHAPTER LXI.
1. The Spirit of Jehovah — ] The LXX, Vulg. and
St Luke iv. 18. and MS, and two old editions, omit the word
"¦JIN, the Lord; which was probably added to the text through
the superstition of the Jews, to prevent the pronunciation of
the word nin' following. See Kennicott on the State of the
Printed Heb. Text, i. p. 510.
Ibid. — perfect liberty] Ten MSS and one edition have
nipnp3 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 jubftee by sound of trumpet :
see Lev. xxv. 9. &c. This was a year of general release —
of debts and obligations ; of bond men 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 ne
cessary to the sense is certainly lost in this place ; of which
the ancient versions have preserved no traces. Houbigant,
by conjecture, inserts the word psyiy, gladness, taken from the
Une next but one below, where it stands opposed to b^ti, sor
row, or mourning ; as the word lost here was to ''7as, mmirn-
ers ; I follow him.
Ibid. — a beautiful crown, instead of ashes] In limes 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 mourn
er," says Joab to the woraan of Tekoah, " and put on now
raourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oft ; " 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 garments of her widowhood, and washed ber
body all over with water, and anointed herself with precious
ointment, and braided tbe hair of her head, and put on a tire
{raitre, marg.] upon it ; and put on her garments of glad
ness ; " chap, X. 3.
Phear, instead of apher ; a paronomasia, which the Pro-

chap. LXI. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 385
phet often uses : a chaplet, crown, or other ornament of the
head, (for so the Vulgate renders the word here, and in the
10th verse ; in which last place the LXX agree in the same
rendering), instead of dust and ashes, which before covered
it ; and the costly ointments used on occasion of festivity, in
stead of the ensigns of sorrow.
Ibid. — trees approved] Heb. oaks of righteousness, or
truth ; that is, such as by their flourishing condition should
shew that they were indeed " the cion of God's planting, and
the work of his hands : " under which images, in the preced
ing chap. ver. 21. the true servants of God, in a highly im
proved state of the church, were represented ; that is, says Vi
tringa on that place, " comraendable for the strength of their
faith, their durabiUty, and firmness."
4. And they that spring from, thee] A word is lost here
Ukewise. After uai, they shall build, add pa, they that
spring from thee. Four MSS have it so, (two of them an
cient), and it is confirmed by chap. Ivift. 12. where the sen
tence is the very sarae, this word being here added. Kimchi
makes the same remark : " the word laa is omitted here ; but
is found in chap. Ivift. 12."
7. Instead of your shame — ] The translation of this
verse, which is very confused, and probably corrupted in the
Hebrew, is taken from the Syriac version ; except that tbe
latter has not expressed the word njtya, double, in the first
place. Five MSS add the conjunction i to nnaty. Syr. reads
um and it»l'n in the second person, " ye shall rejoice, ye shaU
inherit." And for Dn'7, to them, two MSS (one of them
ancient), and Syr. read 03'?, to you, in the second person
likewise. The version of the LXX is imperfect in this place : the
first half of the verse is entirely omitted in aU the printed
copies. It is suppUed by MSS Pachom. and i. D. ii. in the
following manner :
AvTi nif xiFxvtiK ipuiiv nn SlwXm,
Keu xvTi TOS eVTq»,inii a/yxMaxFerxi i ftegif avTuV
Aix TtvTo TOV ytft xvTav tx StvTegav
In which the two MSS agree, except that i. D. ii. has by
mistake rifugag for ij psgtg. And Cod. Marchal. in the mar
gin, has pretty nearly the same supplement as from Theodotion,
8, — and iniquity] Syr, and Chald, prefix the conjunc
tion 1, instead of the preposition 3, to n'71;? ; which they render
iniquity or oppression ; and so the LXX, afftxias.
38

386 NOTES ON ISAIAH, CHAP, LXI,
10. As the bridegroom decketh himself with a priestly^
crown] An allusion to the magnificent dress of the High
Priest, when performing his functions ; and particularly to
the raitre, and crown, or plate of gold on the front of it;
Exod. xxix. 6. The bonnet or raitre of the priests also was
made, as Moses expresses it, " for glory and for beauty ; "
Exod. xxvift. 40. It is difiicult to give its full force to the
Prophet's raetaphor in another language ; the version of
Aquila and Syraraachus comes nearest to it : ws wfupiov
Isgatsvo/itvov (Szecpavw.
11. The Lord Jehovah— ] " na, the Lord, makes the
line longer than the preceding and following : and LXX,
Alex, [and MSS Pachom. and i. D. ii.] and Arab, do not
render it. Hence it seems to be interpolated : " Dr. Jubb.
Three MSS have it not : See note on ver. 1. of this chapter.
CHAPTER LXII.
5. For as a young man — so — ] Tbe particles of com
parison are not at present in the Hebrew text ; but the LXX,
Syr. and Chald. «eem to bave read in their copies 3 prefixed
to the verb byy^ '3, which seeras to have been oraftted
by mistake of a transcriber, occasioned by the repetition of
the sarae two letters. And before the verb in the second
line a MS adds p, so; which the LXX, Syr. and Chald.
seera also to bave had in their copies. In the third Une of
this verse tbe sarae MS has in Uke raanner iyityD3i, and two
MSS and tbe Babylonish Talraud m^izD, adding the 3: and
in the fourth line, the Babylonish Talraud likewise adds p, so,
before the verb.
Sir John Chardin, in his note on this place, tells us, " that
itj is the custom in tbe East for youths, that were never mar
ried, always to marry virgins ; and widowers, however young,
to marry widows :" Harraer, Observ. ii. p. 482.
Ibid. — thy restorer — ] :"]'»; see note on chap. xlix. 17.
6. O ye that proclaim — ] The fafthful, and in particu
lar the priests and Levites, are exhorted by the Prophet to
beseech God, with unreraitted iraportunity, (corapare Luke
xviii.' 1. &c.), to hasten the rederaption of Sion. Tha iraage
in this place is taken from the temple service : in which there
was appointed a constant watch, day and night, by the Le
vites : and araong them this service seeras to have belonged
particularly to the singers ; see 1 Chron. ix. 33, Now the
watches in the East, even to this day, are perforraed by a loud
cry from tirae to tirae of the watchraen, to raark the tirae, and

CHAP. LXII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 387
that very frequentiy, and in order to show that they them
selves are constantiy attentive to their duty. Hence the
watchmen are said by the Prophet, chap. Ui. 8. to lift up
their voice ; and here they are coraraanded, not to keep
silence ; and the greatest reproach to thera is, that they are
dumb dogs ; they cannot bark ; dreamers, sluggards, lov
ing to slumber : chap. lvi. 10. " The watchraen in the
carap ofthe caravans go their rounds, crying one after another,
' God is One, He is merciful ; ' and often add, ' Take heed to
yourselves : ' " Tavernier, Voyage de Perse, liv. i. chap. x.
Tbe cxxxivth Psalm gives us an example of the teraple
watch. The whole Psalra is nothing raore than the alternate
cry of two different divisions of the watch. The first watch
addresses the second, rerainding thera of tbeir duty ; the
second answers by a soleran blessing : the address and the
answer seem both to be a set forra, which each division pro-
clairaed, or sung aloud, at stated intervals, to notify the tirae
of the night : —
First Chorus.
" Come on now, bless ye Jehovah, all ye servants of Jehovah;
Ye that stand in the house of Jehovah in the nights:
Lift; up your hands towards the sanctuary,
And bless ye Jehovah."
Second Chorus.
" Jehovah bless thee out of Sion;
He that made heaven and earth."
" Q,ui statis in loco custodice domus sanctuarii Jehova,
et laudatis per noctes ; " says the Chaldee paraphrase on the
second line. And tbis explains what is here particularly
meant by proclaiming, or making remerahrance of, the narae
of Jehovah. The form which the watch made use of on
these occasions was always a short sentence, expressing some
pious sentiraent, of which Jehovah was the subject : and it
is remarkable, tbat the custom in the East in this respect also
still continues the very sarae ; as it appears by the example
above given from Tavernier.
And this observation leads to the explanation of an obscure
passage in the Propbet Malachi, ft. 12.
" Jehovah will cut off the man that doeth this ;
The watchman and the answerer, from the tabernacles of
Jacob;
And him that presenteth an offering to Jehovah God of
Hosts,"

388 notes on isaiah. chap. lxii.
n:jn iy, the master and the scholar, says our translation after
Vulg. ; the son and the grandson, says Syr. and Chald. as
Uttle to the purpose : Arias Montanus has given it, vigilante'm
et respondentem, the watchman and the answerer ; that is,
the Levite : and him that presenteth an offering to Jehovah ;
that is, the priest.
9. But they that reap the harvest shall eat it, and praise
Jehovah — ] This and the following Une have reference to
the law of Moses : " Thou mayest not eat within thy gates
the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil ; — but thou
must eat them before the Lord tby God, in the place which
the Lord thy God shall choose ; " Deut. xft. 17, 18. " And
when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all
manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit there
of as uncircumcised : three years it shall be as uncircumcised
unto you ; it sbaU not be eaten of But in the fourth year
aU the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal.
And in the fifth year ye shall eat the fruit thereof: " Lev. xix.
23 — 25. This clearly explains the force of the expressions,
" shall praise Jehovah," and " shaft drink it in my sacred
courts." Five MSS (one ancient) have ini'73K', fully expressed :
and so likewise ininty* is found in nineteen MSS, three of
them ancient.
10— for the people] Before the word oyn, the people,
two MSS insert nin', Jehovah ; one MS adds the sarae word
after it ; and eight MSS (three ancient), instead of D;;n have
mm, and so likewise one edition. But though it raakes a
good sense either way, I believe it to be an interpolation, as
the ancient versions do not favour it. Tbe LXX indeed read
'a;;, m.y people.
11. — Lo I thy Saviour — ] So all the ancient versions
render the word ']ytii'.
Ibid. Lo ! his reward—] See note on chap. xl. 10.
CHAPTER LXIII.
The very reraarkable passage with which this chapter be
gins, seeras to rae to be in a manner detached from the rest,
and to stand singly by itself ; having no immediate connec
tion with what goes before, or with what follows ; otherwise
than as ft may pursue the general design, and stand in its
proper place in the order of prophecy. It is by many learned

CHAP. LXIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 389
interpreters supposed, that Judas Maccabeus and his victories
make the subject of it. What claim Judas can have to so
great an honour, wiU, I think, be very difiicult to make
out ; or how the attributes of the great person introduced
can possibly suit hira. Could Judas call hiraself the an
nouncer of righteousness, mighty to save ? Could he talk of
the day of vengeance being in his heart, and the year of his
redeemed being come ? or that his own arm wrought salva
tion for him ? Besides, what were tbe great exploits of Judas
in regard to the Idumeans ? he overcame thera in battie, and
slew twenty thousand nf thera : and John Hyrcanus, his
brother Simon's son and successor, who is called in to help
out the accomplishraent of the prophecy, gave thera another
defeat sorae tirae afterward, and compeUed thera by force to
become proselytes to the Jewish religion, and to submit to
circumcision ; after which they were incorporated with the
Jews, and became one people with thera. Are these events
adequate to tbe Prophet's lofty prediction ? Was it so great
an action to win a battle with considerable slaughter of the
enemy ; or to force a whole nation by dint of the sword into
Judaism ? or was the conversion of the Idumeans, however
effected, and their admission into the church of God, equi-
valerit to a most grievous judgment and destruction threat
ened in the severest terms ? — But here is another very ma
terial circumstance to be considered, which, I presume, en
tirely excludes Judas Maccabeus, and even the Idumeans
properly so caUed : The Idumea of tbe Prophet's tirae was
quite a different country frora that which Judas conquered ;
for, during the Babylonish captivity, the Nabatheans had
driven the Edomites out of their country, who upon tbat took
possession of the southern parts of Judea, and settled them
selves there; that is,' in the country of the whole tribe of
Simeon, and in half of tbat of Judah : See Prideaux, ad An.
740 et 165. : And the metropolis of the Edomites, and of tbe
country thence called Idumea, which Judas took, was Hebron,
1 Mace. V. 65. not Botsra.
I conclude therefore, that this prophecy has, not the least
relation to Judas Maccabeus. It raay be asked. To whom,
and to what event does it relate ? I can only answer, that
I know of no event in history to which, from its importance
and circumstances, it can be applied ; unless perhaps to the
destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish polity, which in
the gospel is called the coming of Christ, and the days of
38*

390 notes on ISAIAH. CHAP. LXIII,
vengeance; Matt, xvi, 28, Luke xxi, 22, But, though this
prophecy must have its accomplishment, there is no necessity
of supposing that it has been already accomplished. There
are prophecies, which intiraate a great slaughter of the
eneraies of God and his people, which remain to be fulfiUed.
Those in Ezekiel, chap, xxxviii. and in the Revelation of St,
John, chap, XX. are called Gog and Magog, This prophecy
of Isaiah may possibly refer to tbe same or the Uke event.
We need not be at a loss to determine the person who is
here introduced as stained with treading the wine-press, if
we consider how St. John in the Revelation has applied this
image of tbe Piophet ; Rev. xix. 13. 15, 16. : compare chap.
xxxiv. 1. / who announce righteousness, and — ] A MS has
*i3iDn, wfth the deraonstrative article added, wfth greater force
and eraphasis. The an7iouncer of righteousness, A MS has
npix, without a prefixed; and so LXX and Vulg, And
thirty -eight MSS (seven ancient) add the conjunction i to ai;
which the LXX Syr, and Vulg, confirm.
2. Wherefore is thine apparel red — ] For •jtyia'?'?, twen
ty-nine MSS (nine ancient), and one edition, have ysi)2bb in
the plural : so LXX and Syr. And all the ancient versions
read it with o instead of the first '7. But the true reading ia
probably iBfia'TD in the singular, aa in ver. 3.
3. And I have stained—] For n'7KJN, a verb of very
irregular formation, compounded, as they say, of the two forms
of the preterite and future, a MS has inSxjN, the regular
future wfth a pleonastic pronoun added to it, according to the
Hebrew idiom : "And aft my raiment, I have stained it."
The necessity of the verb's being in the past time, seems to
have given occasion to the alteration made in the end of the
word. The conversive 1 at the beginning of the sentence
aflfects the verb, though not joined to it ; of which there are
many examples : — 'jn'V B'ni 'JipBi
"And thou wftt hear me, (or hear thou me), from among
the horns ofthe unicorns." Psal. xxii. 22.
7. And mine indignation — ] For 'nam, nineteen MSS
(three ancient), and four editions, have 'npisi, and my right
eousness ; from chap. Ux, 16. which, I suppose, the trans
criber retained in hi? memory.
6. And I crushed them] For Diaiysi, "and I made
them drunken,"' twenty-seven MSS (three ancient), and

CHAP. LXIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 391
the old edition of 1488, have Di3tffNi, " and I crushed them :"
and so Syr. and Chald. The LXX have omitted this whole
line. 7. The remaining part of this chapter, with the whole
chapter following, contains a penitential confession and sup
plication of the Israelites in their present state of dispersion,
in which they have so long marvellously subsisted, and still
continue to subsist, as a people ; cast out of tbeir country ;
without any proper form of civil polity, or religious worship ;
their temple destroyed, their city desolated and lost to them ;
and their whole nation scattered over the face of the earth ;
apparently deserted and cast off by the God of their fathers,
as no longer his peculiar people.
They begin with acknowledging God's great mercies and
favours to their nation, and the ungrateful returns made
to thera on their part ; that by their disobedience they had
forfeited the protection of God, and had caused him to be
come their adversary. And now the Prophet represents
them, induced by the memory of the great things that God
had done for them, as addressing their humble supplication
for the renewal of his raercies : "They beseech hira to regard
them in consideration of his former loving-kindness ; they
acknowledge him for their Father and Creator ; tbey confess
their wickedness and hardness of heart ; they entreat his
forgiveness ; and deplore their present miserable condition
under which they have so long suffered. It seems designed
as a formulary of humftiation for the Israelites, in order to
their conversion.
The whole passage is in the elegiac form, pathetic and ele
gant ; but it has suffered much in our present copy by the
mistakes of transcribers.
Ibid, — the praise of Jehovmh] For ()i'7nn, plural,
twenty-nine MSS (three ancient), and two edUions, have
n'7nn, in the singular number : and so the Vulgate renders
it ; and one of the Greek versions,, in the margin of Cod,
llarchal. and in the text of MSS Pachom, and i, D, ii, t^^v
aivadt.v zvgiov.
8, 9, And he became their saviour in all their distress-^
I have followed the translation of the LXX in the latter
part o£ the 8th and the fornaer part of the 9th verse ; which
a^ees with the present text, a Ifttle differentiy divided, as
to the meBabeJs of the sentence. They read '73D, out of all,
instead of "733, in all, which makes no difference in the
sense ; and ix they understand as ys, Kai, tysvsro auxots eis

392 notes on isaiah. chap, lxiii,
Sazrigiav £x 7iadr;g ^Xiifjeag avrav ov JigedSvg, ovSe ayytXog —
An angel of his presence means an angel of superior order, in
iraraediate attendance upon God. So the angel of the Lord
says to Zacharias, " I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence
of God ; " Luke i. 19. The presence of Jehovah, Exod.
xxxift. 14, 15. and the aagd, Exod. xxift. 20, 81. is Jehovah
himself : here, an angel of his presence is opposed to Jehovah
himself; as an angel is in the following passages ofthe sarae
book of Exodus. After their idolatrous worshipping of the
golden calf, " when God had said to Moses, I wftl send an an
gel before thee — ^I will not go up in the midst of thee — the
people mourned," Exod. xxxiii. 2 — 4. God afterwards com
forts Moses by saying, " My presence (tbat is, I myself in
person, and not by an angel) wift go with thee," ver. 14. avTog
Ttgojiogavdo/iai dav, as the LXX render it.
The MSS and editions are rauch divided between the two
readings of the text and margin in the comraon copies, n'7 and
1*7. All the ancient versions express the chetib N'7.
Ibid. And he took them up, and he bare them] See the
note on chap. xlvi. 3.
10. And he fought against them] Twenty-six MSS
(ten ancient), and the first edition, with another, add the con
junction 1, Nim.
11. How he brought them, up from the sea with the shep
herd of his flock ; How — ] For rva, how, interrogative,
twice, the Syriac version reads "ya, how, without interrogation ;
as that particle is used in the Syriac language, and sometimes
in the Hebrew. See Ruth in. 18. Eccles. ft. 16.
Ibid. Moses his servant — ] For my, his people, two
MSS (one of them ancient), and the old edition of 1488,
and Syr. read 113;?, his servant. These two words have been
mistaken one for the other in other places : Psal. Ixxvift.
71. and Ixxx. 5. for la^ and ipy, the LXX read na;> and
113;?. Ibid. — the shepherd of his flock] That is, Moses. The
MSS and editions vary in this word : some have it 'ny^ in
the singular nuraber ; so LXX, Syr. Chald. ; others »jrn,
plural. 14. The spirit of Jehmah conducted them] For un'Jn,
caused him to rest, the LXX have mSi^yridev avrovg, conduct
ed them. They read onjn : Syr. Chald. Vulg. read unin,
conducted him. Two MSS have the word without tbe ' in
the raiddle,
15, — and thy mighty power] For yniiaj, plural, thirty-

CH.\P, LXIII. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 393
two MSS (seven ancient), and seven editions, have -jniiaj, sin
gular. Ibid. — are they restrained from us] For 'ba, from (or
in regard to) me, LXX and Syr. read •\rba,from us,
16. O deliver us for the sake of thy name] The present
text reads, as our translation has rendered it, " Our Re
deemer, thy narae is frora everlasting," But instead of
'ob\ya, from everlasting, an ancient MS has ]ynb,for the
sake of, which gives a much better sense, 'To shew the
impropriety of the present reading, it is suflicient to observe,
that the LXX and Syriac translators thought it necessary
to add )yby, upon us, to make out the sense ; that is, " Thy
narae is upon us, or we are called by thy narae, frora of old."
And the LXX have rendered i3'7nj in the imperative mood,
^vdat rjixag.
13. It is little that they have taken possession of thy holy
mountain] The difficulty of the construction in this place
is acknowledged on all hands. Vitringa prefers that sense
as the least exceptionable, which our translation has ex
pressed ; in which however there seems to me to be a great
defect ; that is, the want of what in the speaker's view must
have been the principal part of the proposition, the object
of the verb, the land, or it, as our translators supply it ; which
surely ought to have been expressed, and not to have been
left to be supplied by the reader. In a word, I believe, there
is sorae raistake in the text. And here the LXX help us out :
they had in their copy in, mmintain, instead of ny, people ;
Tov ogovg rov dyiov dov. " Not only our enemies have taken
possession of Mount Sion, and trodden down thy sanctuary ;
even far worse than this has befallen us: Thou hast long
since utterly cast us off; and dost not consider us as tby pe
culiar people."
CHAPTER LXIV.
2. — the dry fuel — ] D'oan. " It means dry stubble,
and the root is Dan, " says Rabbi Jonah, apud Sal. ben Melecb
in loc. Which is approved by Schultens, Orig. Hebr. p. 30.
" The fire kindUng the stubble does not seem Uke enough
to the melting of the mountains to be brought as a simile to it.
Q,uid si sic?
That the mountains might flow down at thj presence !
As the fire of things smelted burneth,
As the fire causeth the waters to boil —

394 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. LXIV.
There is no doubt of the Hebrew words of the second line
bearing that version : " Dr Jubb.
I submit these different interpretations to the reader's judg
ment. For my own part, I ara incUned to think that the
text is much corrupted in this place. The ancient versions
have not the least traces of either of the above interpretations.
The LXX and Syr. agree exactly together in rendering this
line by, " As the wax melted before the fire," which can by
no raeans be reconcfted with the present text. Vulg. for
D'Dan reads idd'.
Ibid. That the nations — ] For d'U, the nations, four
MSS (one of thera ancient) have D»in, the m,ountains.
4. For never have men heard — ] St. Paul is generally
supposed to have quoted this passage of Isaiah, 1 Cor. ii. 9. ;
and Clemens Romanus, in his first epistie, has made the
same quotation, very nearly in the same words with the
apostle. But the citation is so very different both frora the
Hebrew text and the version of LXX, that it seeras very
difficult, if not impossible, to reconcUe them by any literal
emendation, without going beyond the bounds of temperate
criticism. One clause, " neither hath it entered into the
heart of man," ("tvhich, by the way, is a phrase purely He
brew, a'7 by nby, and should seem to belong to the Pro
phet), is wholly left out ; and another is repeated without
force or propriety, viz. " nor perceived by the ear," after
" never bave heard : " and the sense and expression of the
apostle is far preferable to tbat of the Hebrew text. Under
these difficulties, I ara at a loss what to do better than to
offer to the reader this, perhaps disagreeable, alternative ;
Either to consider the Hebrew text and LXX in this place
as wftfully disguised and corrupted by the Jews ; of wbich
practice, in regard to other quotations in tbe New Testa
ment from the Old, they lie under strong suspicions ; (see
Dr. Owen on the Version of the Seventy, sect. vi. — ix.) ; or
to look upon St. Paul's quotation as not raade frora Isaiah,
but frora one 6r other of tbe two apocryphal books en
titied, The Ascension of Esaiah, and The Apocalyps of
Eftas, in both of which this passage was found ; and the
apostie is hy sorae supposed in other places to have quoted
such apocryphal writings. As tbe first of tbese conclusions
wift perhaps not easily he adraitted by raany ; so I must
fairiy warn my readers, that the second is treated by Jerom
as littie better than heresy. See his coraraent on this place
of Isaiah.

CHAP. LXIV. NOTES ON ISAI.4H. 395
The variations on this place are as follows : for ij^aty, they
have heard, a MS and LXX read lajraty, we bave heard :
for the second n'7, sixty-nine MSS and four editions have nSi ;
and Syr. Chald. Vulg. ; and so ]';!;i, LXX Syr. nNis added be
fore D'n'7N in MS Bodl. 'ana*?, plural, two MSS, and all the
ancient versions.
5. Thou meetest with joy those — ] Syr. reads — nnN ;?)13
'tyjrs tssy.
Ibid. Because of our deeds, for we have been rebellious.}
ymy\ D'71;? Dn3. I ara fully persuaded, that these words,
as they stand in the present Hebrew text, are utterly unin
telligible : tbere is no doubt of the raeaning of each word
separately, but put together they raake no sense at all. I
conclude, therefore, that the copy has suffered by raistakes
of transcribers in this place. "The corruption is of long
standing; for the ancient interpreters were as much at a
loss for tbe meaning as the moderns, and give nothing satis
factory. Tbe LXX render tbese words by Sia tovto aicXav?]-
Ori/iev : they seem to have read yw3i or^by, wfthout helping
the sense. In this difiiculty, what remains but to have re
course to conjecture ? Archbishop Secker was dissatisfied
with the present reading : he proposes, ywM: Mby I33n ; " look
upon us, and we shaft, or that we may, be saved ; " whicb
gives a very good sense, but seeras to have no sufficient foun
dation. Besides; the word yaii), which is attended with great
difficulties, seeras to be corrupted, as well as the two pre
ceding ; and the true reading of it is, I think, given by the
LXX, ytas:y, sjtXavridriiitv, (so they render the verb;ns'3, chap.
xlvi. 8. and Ezek. xxxiii. 12), parallel to NtariJi, ¦n/^ccgTO/xsv.
For D'71;; Dn3, which mean nothing, I would propose iJ»'7'7;?Dn ;
which I presume was first altered to O'nbbym, an easy and
coraraon raistake of the third person plural of the pronoun
for the first, (see note on chap, xxxift. 2.), and then with
some further alteration to ub)y Dn3. The anby, which the
LXX probably found in theircopy, seems to be a remnant of
,Dn''7'7;>D3. Tbis, it may be said, is imposing your sense upon the
Prophet. It may be so ; for perhaps these may not be the
very words of the Prophet : hut however it is better than to
impose upon hira what makes no sense at all ; as they gene
rally do who pretend to render such corrupted passages.
For instance, our own translators: "In those is continu
ance, and we shaU be saved : " In those — in whom, or what ?

396 notes on isaiah. chap. lxiv.
There is no antecedent to the relative. In the ways of God,
say some : with our fathers, says Vitringa, joining it in con
struction with tbe verb nssp, thou hast been angry with
them, our fathers ; and putting NtanJl, for we have sinned,
in a parenthesis. But there has not been any mention of
our fathers: and the whole sentence, thus disposed, is
utterly discordant from the Hebrew idiom and construction.
In those is continuance : &):y means a destined, but hidden
and unknown, portion of tirae ; but cannot mean continua
tion of time, or continuance, as it is here rendered. Such
forced interpretations are equaUy conjectural with the boldest
critical emendation ; and generally have this further disad
vantage, ¦ tbat they are altogether unworthy of the sacred
writers. 6. There is no one — ] Twelve MSS have J'n, without the
conjunction i prefixed : and so read Chald. and Vulg.
Ibid. And hast delivered vs up — ] For UJiani, hast dissolved
us, LXX, Syr. Chald. had in their copies ujjan, hast delivered
us up: Houbigant; Secker.
7. But Thoy,, O Jeho vah, Thou — ] For r\r\y), and now,
five MSS (one of them ancient), and the two oldest editions
of 1486 and 1488, have nnNi, and thou ; and so Chald. seeras
to have read. Tbe repetition has great fiirce. The other
word may be weU spared.
Ibid. We are all of us the work of thy hands.] Three
MSS (two of them ancient), and LXX, read Twyn, with
out the conjunction i prefixed. And for pi, the Bodl. and
two other MSS, LXX,Syr.Vulg. read -yy, in the plural nuraber.
CHAPTER LXV.
This chapter contains a defence of God's proceedings in
regard to the Jews, with reference to theft: complaint in the
chapter preceding. God is introduced declaring, that he
had called the Gentiles, though they had not sought him ;
and had rejected his own people, for their refusal to attend
to his repeated call ; for their obstinate disobedience, their
idolatrous practices, and detestable hypocrisy. That never
theless he would not destroy thera aU ; but would preserve a
remnant, to whom he would make good his ancient promises.
Severe punishments are threatened to the apostates ; and
great rewards are promised to the obedient in a future flour
ishing state of the church.
1. lam made knovm to those that asked not for me] 'ntsnj,

CHAP. LXV. notes ON ISAIAH. 397
£ft^«»o5 Ey£»0|K.E», LXX, Alex, and St Paul, Rom. x. 20. ; who
has however inverted the order of the phrases, ei^/fixvtii tyeioiAiv,
and £i;f£ft;», from that which they have in LXX. 'nenj
means, "quaesitus sum cum effectu— I ara sought, so as to
be found : " Vitring. If this be the true meaning of the
word, then i'7Nty, that asked, which foUows, should seem to
be defective, the verb wanting its object ; but two MSS (one
of them ancient) have iJi'7Nt5', asked me ; and another MS
i'7 l'7SB', asked for m,c ; one or other of which seeras to be
right. But Cocceius in Lex. and Vitringa in his translation,
render 'niffiiJ by " I have answered ; " and so the word s
rendered by all the ancient versions in Ezek. xx. 3.31. If
this be right, the translation wiU be, " I have answered those
that asked not." I leave this to the reader's judgment ; but
have followed in my translation the LXX, and St Paul, and
the MSS above mentioned. ':typ3 is written regularly and fully
in above a hundred MSS, and in the oldest edition, 'JicpS-
3, 4. Sacrificing in the gardens, and — } These are in
stances of heathenish superstition, and idolatrous practices;
to which the Jews were imraoderately addicted before the
Babylonish captivfty. The heathen worshipped theft" idols
in groves ; whereas God, in opposition to this species of
idolatry, commanded his people, when they should come
into the promised land, to destroy all the places wherein the
Canaanites had served tbeir gods, and in particular to burn
their groves with fire ; Deut. xii. 2, 3. These apostate Jews
sacrificed upon altars built of bricks, in opposition to the
coraraand of God in regard to his altar, which was to be of
unhewn stone ; Exod. xx. 25. " — et pro uno altari, quod
irapolitis lapidihus Dei erat lege constructura, coctos la-
teres et agrorura cespftes hostiarura sanguine cruentabant : "
Hieron. in loc. Or it means, perhaps, that they sacrificed
upon the roofs of their houses, which were always flat, and
paved wfth brick, or tile, or plaster of terrace. An instance
of this idolatrous practice we find in 2 Kings xxift. 12. where
it is said, that Josiah " beat down the altars that were on
the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of
Judah had made." See also Zeph. i. 5. Sir John Chardin's
MS note on this place of Isaiah is as foUows : " Ainsi font
tous les Gentiles, sur les lieux eleves, et sur les terrasses,
appeUez lateres, parceque sont faits de briq." — " Who dwell
in the sepulchres, and lodge in the caverns," for the pur
poses of necromancy and divination ; to obtafti dreams and
39

398 notes on ISAIAH. CHAP. LXV.
revelations. Another instance of heathenish superstition : —
" Hue dona sacerdos
Cum tulit, et caesarum ovium sub nocte sileuti
Pellibus incubuit stratis, feomnosque petivit;
Multa modis simulacra videt volitantia miris,
Et varias audit voces, fruiturque deorum
CoUoquio, atque imis Acheronta affatur Avernis." Virg. Mn. vii. 86.
" Here ia distress the Italian nations come.
Anxious to clear their doubts, and learn their doom:
First, on the fleeces ofthe slaughtered sheep.
By night the sacred priest dissolves in sleep;
When, in a train, before his slumbering eye.
Thin airy forms and wondrous visions fly:
He calls the Powers who guard the infernal floods-.
And talks, inspired, famftiar with the gods." Pitt.
— " Who eat swine's flesh," which was expressly forbidden
by the law. Lev. xi. 7. ; but araong the heathen was in
principal request in their sacrifices and feasts. Antiochus
Epiphanes compelled the Jews to eat swine's flesh, as a full
proof of their renouncing their reUgion, 2 Mace. vi. 18. and
vii. 1. — " And the broth of abominable meats," for lustra
tions, magical arts, and other superstitious and abominable
practices. Ibid. — in the caverns,] DniXJ3, a word of doubtful sig
nification. An ancient MS has D»iix3, another D'isa, in
the rocks ; and Le Clerc thinks the LXX had it so in their
copy. They rerider it by ev toi? FTmXxioii.
Ibid. — in their vessels,] For Dn''73, a MS had at first
Dn''7aa : so Vulg. and Chald. ; and the preposition seems
necessary to the sense.
5. — For I am holier than thou] So the Chaldee renders
it. I'ntSflp is the sarae with "pn 'ntnp. In the sarae
manner 'Jnptn, Jer. xx. 7. is used for '3Da npin, ihou art
stronger than I.
7. — into their bosom] For by, ten MSS and five edi
tions have '7N. So again, at the end of this verse, seventeen
MSS and four editions have '7N.
6, 7. — their iniquities and the iniquities of their fathers]
For the pronoun affixed of the second person oa, your, twice,
read Dn, their, in the third person ; with LXX, and Houbigant.
8. —for the sake of my servants] It is to be observed,
that one of the Koningsberg MSS collated by Lilienthal
points the word naj?, singular ; that is, my servant, meaning

«HHAP. LXV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 399
the Messiah ; and so read the LXX ; which gives a very good
sense. 9. — inheritor of my m,ountain] nn, in the singular
number ; so LXX and Syr.; that is, of Mount Sion. See ver.
11. and chap. lvi. 7.; to which Sion, the pronoun feminine
singular, added to the verb in the next line, refers; niisi',
shall inherit her.
10. —Sharon, and the valley of Achor — ] Two of the
most fertile parts of Judea, famous for tbeir rich pastures : the
former to the west, not far from Joppa ; the latter north of
Jericho, near Gftgal.
11. Who set in order a table for Gad — ] The disquisi
tions and conjectures of the learned concerning Gad and
Meni are infinite and uncertain : perhaps the most probable
may be, that Gad means good fortune, and Meni the moon.
" But why should we be solicitous about it '/" says Schmi
dius. " It appears sufficiently, from the circumstance, that
they were false gods, either stars or some other natural ob
ject, or a mere fiction. The Holy Scriptures did not deign
to explain more clearly what these objects of idolatrous wor
ship were ; but chose rather that the memoi"y of the knowl
iedge of them should be utterly abolished. And God be
praised that they are so totally abolished, that we are now
quite at a loss to know what and what sort of things they
were :" Schmidius on the place, and on Judg. ii. 13. Bibl.
Hallensia. Jerom, on the place, gives an account of this idolatrous prac
tice of the apostate Jews, of making a feast, or a lectisterni-
um, as the Romans called it, for these pretended deities.
" Est in cunctis urbibus, et maxime in ^Egypto, et in Alex
andria, idololatriae vetus consuetudo, ut ultimo die anni, et
mensis ejus qui extremus est, ponant mensam refertam varii
generis epulis, etpoculum mulso mixtum; vel praeteriti anni
velfuturi fertUitatem auspicantes. Hoc autem faciebant et
Israelitae, omnium simulacrorura portenta venerantes ; et
nequaquam altari victimas, sed bujusmodi raensae liba fun-
debant." See also Le Clerc on the place ; and on lxvi. 17. and
Dav. Mftlii Dissert, v.
The allusion to Meni, which signifies number, is obvious.
If there had been the Uke allusion to Gad, which might
have been expected, it might perhaps have helped to let us
into the raeaning of that word. It appears from Jerom's ver
sion of this place, that the words tu SxiiMvup, (or Sxifuvi, as
some copies have it), and t»i tvxv stood in his time in the

400 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. LXV,
Greek version in an inverted order frora that which they
have in the present copies ; the latter then answering to u,
the forraer to ija: by which sorae difficulty would be avoid
ed ; for it is coraraonly supposed that u signifies tvxi- See
Gen. xxx. 11. apud LXX. This raatter is so far weft cleared
up by MSS Pachora. and i. D. ii.; which agree in placing
these two words in that order -which Jerora's version sup
poses. 15. — shall slay you.} For in'am, shall slay thee, LXX
and Chald. read Dan'ani, shall slay you, plural.
17. — / create new heavens, and a new earth} Concern
ing this iraage and the application of it, see De S. Poes. Hebr.
Prael. ix.
18. — in the age to come, which I create] So in chap.
ix. '5. i;; '3N, Jtarrig tov fieXXovTog aimvog, LXX. See Bishop
Chandler, Defence of Christianity, p. 136.
20. For Dtya, thence, LXX, Syr. Vulg. read uio, there.
21. They shall not build, and another inhabit] The re
verse of the curse denounced on the disobedient, Deut. xxviii.
30. " Thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dweU
therein ; thou shaft plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the
grapes thereof"
22. For as the days of a tree — ] It is coraraonly sup
posed, that the oak, one of the raost long-lived of the trees,
lasts about a thousand years ; being five hundred j'ears
growing to full perfection, and as raany decaying ; which
seeras to be a moderate and probable computation: See
Evelyn, Sylva, B. ift. ch. 3. The present Emperor of
China, in his very ingenious and sensible poera, entituled,
Eloge de Moukden, a translation of which in French was
published at Paris, 1770, speaks of a tree in his country
which Uves more than a hundred ages ; and of another,
which after fomscore ages is only in its prime, p. 37, 38.
But his imperial majesty's coraraentators, in tbeir note on
the place, carry tbe raatter much further ; and quote au
thority wbich affirms, that tbe tree last mentioned by the
Emperor, the imraortal tree, after having lived ten thousand
years, is stftl only in its prime. I suspect that the Chinese
enlarge soraewhat in tbeir national chronology, as well as in
that of their trees : See Chou King, Preface, by Mons. De
Guignes. Tbe Prophet's idea seeras to be, that they shaU
live to the age ofthe antedftuvians ; which seeras to be very
justly expressed by the days of a tree, according to our no
tions.

CHAP. LXV. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 401
23. My chosen shall not labour in vain] I remove 'I'na
from the end of the 22d to the beginning of the 23d verse,
on the authority of LXX, Syr. Vulg. and a MS ; contrary
to the division in the Masoretic text.
Ibid. Neither shall they generate a short-lived race]
n'7na'7, in festinationem, what shall soon hasten away.
Eisxaragav^for a curse, LXX. They seem to have read
rhtb ; Grotius. But Psal. Ixxvift. 33. both justifies and ex
plains the word here. Dn'D' '7ana '73'i
:n'7naa Dni3t»i
" And he consumed their days in vanity;
And their years in haste."
Msra djcovSTjg, say the LXX. Jerom on this place of Isaiah,
explains it to the same purpose : " tig anvrrx^^ixv, hoc est, ut
esse desistant."
25. — shall feed together] For inxa, as one, an ancient
MS has nn', together ; the usual word, to the sarae sense,
but very different in the letters. LXX, Syr. and Vulg. seem
to agree with the MS.
CHAPTER LXVI.
This chapter is a continuation of the subject of the fore
going. The Jews valued themselves much upon their tem
ple, and the pompous system of services performed in it,
which they supposed were to be of perpetual duration ; and
they assumed great confidence and merit to themselves for
their strict observance of aU the externals of their religion.
And at the very time when the judgments, denounced in
ver. Oth and 12th of the preceding chapter, were hanging
over their heads, they were rebuilding, by Herod's munifi
cence, the temple in a most magnificent manner. God ad
monishes them, that the Most High dweUeth not in temples
made with hands ; and that a mere external worship, how
diUgently soever attended, when accompanied with wicked
and idolatrous practices in the worshippers, would never be
accepted by him. This their hypocrisy is set forth in strong
colours ; which brings the Prophet again to the subject of
the former chapter ; and he pursues it in a different manner,
with more express declaration of the new economy, and of
the flourishing state of the choroh under it. The increase
of the church is to be sudden and astonishing. They that
39*

402 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. LXVI.
escape of the Jews, that is, that become converts to the
Christian faith, are to be employed in the divine mission to
the Gentftes, and are to act as priests in presenting the Gen
tiles as an offering to God : see Rom. xv. 16. : And both,
now collected into one body, shall be witnesses of the final
perdition of the obstinate and irreclaimable.
These two chapters manifestly relate to tbe caUing of the
Gentiles, the estabUshment of the Christian dispensation, and
the reprobation of the apostate Jews, and their destruction
executed by the Romans.
2. — all these things are mine] A word, absolutely ne
cessary to the sense, is here lost out of the text ; ''7, m,ine ;
it is preserved by LXX, and Syr.
3. He that slayeth an ox, killeth a m,an ; — ] Tbese are
instances of extreme wickedness joined with hypocrisy , of tbe
most flagitious crimes, comraitted by those who at tbe same
tirae affected great strictness in the perforraance of all the ex
ternal services of religion. God, by tbe Propbet Ezekiel, up
braids the Jews with the sarae practices: "When they had
slain their children to tbeir idols, then they came the same
day into my sanctuary to profane it ; " chap, xxift. 39. Of
the sarae kind was the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in our Sa
viour's tirae ; " who devoured widows' houses, and for a pre
tence made long prayers ; " Matt, xxiii. 14.
The generality of interpreters, by departing from the literal
rendering of the text, have totally lost the true sense of if,
and have substituted in its place what makes no good sense
at all ; for it is not easy to shew, how in any circumstances
sacrifice and murder, the presenting of legal offerings and
idolatrous worship, can possibly be of the sarae account in the
sight of God.
Ibid. — that maketh an oblation [offereth] swine's blood]
A word here likewise, necessary to coraplete tbe sense, is
perhaps irrecoverably lost out of the text. The Vulg. and
Chald. add the word offereth, to raake out the sense ; not,
as I imagine, frora any different reading, (for the word wanted
seeras to have been lost before the tirae ofthe oldest of thera,
as the LXX had it not in their copy), hut frora raere necessity.
Le Clerc thinks, that n;;'7D is to be repeated frora the
beginning of this raeraber ; but that is not the case in the
parallel members, wbich have another and a different verb
in the second place. " di, sic versiones : putarera taraen
legendura participiurn aliquod, et quidem n3i, cum sequatur

CHAP. LXVI. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 403
n, nisi jam praecesserat : " Secker. Houbigant suppUes '73N,
eateth. After aU, I think the raost probable word is that
which Chald. and Vulg. seem to have designed to represent ;
that is, a'ipa.
5. Say ye to your brethren — ] Tbe Syr. reads naN
DD'nN*? ; and so the LXX, edit. Comp. M.?raT£ aStX(poig vfiav -.^
and MS Marchal. has aSt'k(f)OLg ; and so Cyril and Proco
pius read and explain it. It is not easy to make sense of the
reading of LXX in the other editions : eijiazs aSel^ot rifim-v
TOIS judovdtv vjiag — hut for nuiov, MS i. D. 11. also has vfjuav.
8. — and who hath seen] Twenty MSS (four ancient),
and the two oldest editions, with two others, have 'ai, adding
the conjunction 1 : and so read all the ancient versions.
11. — fronn, her abundant stores] For I'la, two MSS,
and the old edition of 1488, have via; and the latter t
is upon a rasure in three other MSS, It is remarkable, that
Kimchi and Sal. ben Melee, not being able to make any
thing of the word as it stands in the text, says it means the
same with vm '¦ that is, in effect, they admit of a various
reading, or an error, in the text. But, as Vitringa observes,
what sense is there in sucking nourishment from the splen
dour of her glory 7 He therefore endeavours to deduce ano
ther sense frora the word r? ; but, as far as it appears to rae,
without any authority. I am more incUned to accede to the
opinion of those learned Rabbins, and to think that there is
some mistake in the word ; for tbat in truth is their opinion,
though they disguise it by saying, that the corrupted word
means the very same with that which they beUeve to be
genuine. So in chap. xli. 24. they say, that ;;3n, a viper,
means the same with D3N, nothing ; instead of acknowledg
ing tbat one is written by mistake instead of the other. I
would propose to read in this place ym, or pa, (instead of
vm}, from the stores ; from pf, to nourish, to feed : see
Gen. xlv. 23. 2 Chron, xi. 23. Psal. cxliv. 13. And this
perhaps may be raeant by Aquila, who renders the word by
aTio jittvdamas : with which that of tbe Vulgate, " ab omni-
moda gloria," and of Symraachus and Theodotion, nearly
agree. The Chaldee follows a different reading, witbout ira-
proving the sense ; ym.from the wine.
12. — like the great river, and like the overflowing
¦stream — ] Tbat is, the Euphrates, (it ought to have been
pointed mja, utfluvius ille, as The River), and the Nile.
Ibid. And ye shall suck at the breast] These two words
I!!? by, at the breast, seem to have been omitted in the pre-

404 NOTES ON ISAIAH. CHAP. LXVI.
sent text, from their likeness to the two words following ;
IS by, at the side. A very probable conjecture of Houbi
gant. Chald. and Vulg. have omitted the two latter words
instead of the two former. See note on chap. lx. 4.
15. — shall come as a fire] For cM, in fire, the LXX
had in their copy tsxa, as afire ; »f a-af.
Ibid. To h-eathe forth his anger] Instead ofye/nb,^
pointed by the Masoretes, to render, I understand it as a'B'n'?,
to breathe, from Dm.
17. after the rites of Achad — ] The Syrians worshipped
a god caUed Adad : Plin. Nat. Hist, xxxvn. 11. Macrob.
Sat. i. 23. They held him to be the highest and greatest of
the gods, and to be the same with Jupiter and the Sun :
and the name Adad, says Macrobius, signifies One ; as like
wise does the word Achad in Isaiah. Many learned men
therefore have supposed, and with some probabUity, that the
Prophet means the same pretended deity. inN, in the
Syrian and Chaldean dialects is in; and perhaps by redu
plication of the last letter, to express perfect unity, it may
have become nn, not improperly expressed in Latin by
Macrobius Adad, without the aspirate. It was also pro
nounced by the Syrians themselves, with a weaker aspirate
nn ; as in Benhaded, Hadadezer, names of their kings,
which were certainly taken from their chief object of worship.
This seems to me to be a probable account of this name.
But the Masoretes correct the text in this place : their
marginal reading is nnx, which is the same word, only in
the feminine form ; and so read thirty MSS (six ancient)
and the two oldest editions. This Le Clerc approves, and
supposes it to mean Hecate, or the Moon ; and he supports
his hypothesis by arguments not at aU improbable. See his
note on the place.
Whatever the particular mode of idolatry which the Pro
phet refers to. might be, the general sense of the place is
perfectly clear. But Chald. and S3n-. and after them Sym
machus and Theodotion, cut off at once all tbese difl5:culties,
by taking the word inN in its common meaning, not as a
proper name ; the two latter rendering the sentence thus :
omFa otMoAw* ev ft£o-^ cFtwrm to *f tots to x'*?^"*) One after another,
in the midst of those that eat swine's flesh, I suppose, they
aU read in their copies inx inN, one hy one, or perhaps nriN,
inN inx, one after another. See a large Dissertation on this
subject in Davidis MilUi Dissertationes Selectae, Dissert, vi.

CHAP. LXVI. NOTES ON ISAIAH. 405
18. For I know their deeds — ] A word is here lost out
of the present text, leaving the sense quite iraperfect. The
word is;;ii', knowing, supplied from the Syriac. The Chald.
had the same word in the copy before him, which he para
phrases by \bi 'Dip, their deeds are manifest before me : and
the Aldine and Coraplutensian editions of LXX acknowledge
the sarae word, eTrn-xpcxii which is verified by MS Pachora. aud
the Arabic version. I think there can be Uttle doubt of its
being genuine.
Ibid. And I come — ] FornN3, wbich wftl not accord with
any thing in tbe sentence, I read n3, with a MS ; the parti
ciple answering to y^v ; with which agree LXX, Syr. Vulg.
Perhaps it ought to be Nai, Syr. quando veniam : and so LXX,
according to edit. Aid. and Complut. and Cod. Marchal.
19. — who draiD the bov>] I much suspect, that the words
narp 'asya, who draw the bow, are a corruption of the word
"^t^D, Moschi, the name of a nation situated between the
Euxine and Caspian Seas ; and properly joined with '73n,
the Tibareni : see Bochart, Phaleg. iii. 12. The LXX
have fi'OFox, without any thing of the drawers ofthe bow: the
word being once taken for a participle, ihe bow was added
to raake sense of it. nts'p, the bow, is omitted in a MS.
Ibid. — who never heard m,yname] For ';?Dty, my fame,
I read with LXX and Syr. 'at?, my name.
20. — and in counes] There is a sort of vehicle, much
used in the East, consisting of a pair of hampers, or cradles,
thrown across a camel's back, one on each side ; in each of
wbich a person is carried. They have a covering to defend
them from tbe rain and the sun. Thevenot calls them
Counes, i. p. 356. Maftlet describes tbem as covered cages
hanging on both sides of a camel. "At Aleppo," says Dr
Russell, "women of inferior condition, in longer journies,
are coraraonly stowed, one on each side ot a raule, in a sort
of covered cradles : " Nat. Hist, of Aleppo, p. 89. These
seem to be what the Prophet means by the word D'3S : See
Harmer, Observ. i. p. 445.
21. — and for Levites] For D'i'7'7, fifty-nine MSS (eight
ancient) have D'i'7'71, adding the conjunction 1, as the sense
seems necessarily to require ; and so read all the ancient
versions. See Josh. ift. 3. and the various readings on that
place in Kennicott's Bible.
24. For their worm shall not die — ] These words of tbe
Prophet are applied by our blessed Saviour, Mark ix. 44.

406 notes on isaiah. chap. lxvi.
to express the everlasting punishment of the wicked in Ge
henna, or in Hell. Gehenna, or the VaUey of Hinnom,
was very near to Jerusalem, to the south-east : it was the
place where the idolatrous Jews celebrated that hdrrible rite
of making their children pass through the fire — that is, of
burning them in sacrifice — to Moloch. To put a stop to
this abominable practice, Josiah defiled, or desecrated, the
place, by filUng it with human bones ; 2 Kings xxiii. 10.
14. ; and probably it was the custom afterwards to throw out
the carcasses of animals there ; and it becarae the coramon
burying-place for the poorer people of Jerusalern. Our
Saviour expressed the state of the blessed by sensible images ;
such as Paradise, Abraham's bosom, or, which is the same
thing, a place to recline next to Abraham at table in the king
dom of heaven: see Matt. vift. 11. ("Caenabat Nerva cum
paucis. Yeieato proximus, atque etiam in sinu recumbebat;"
PUn. Epist. iv. 22. : compare John xift. 23.) ; for we could
not possibly have any conception of it, but by analogy from
worldly objects. In like manner, he expressed the place of
torment under the image of Gehenna ; and the punishment
of the wicked, by the worm which there preyed on the car
casses, and the fire which consumed the wretched victims : —
marking however, in the strongest manner, the difference
between Gehenna and the invisible place of torment ; namely,
that in the former the suffering is transient — ^the worm it
self, that preys on the body, dies ; and the fire, which totaUy
consumes it, is soon extinguished ; — whereas in the figurative
Gehenna the instruraents of punishment shall be everlasting,
and the suffering without end ; for there " the worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched."
These emblematical iraages, expressing heaven and heft,
were in use among the Jews before our Saviour's tirae ; and
in using thera he corapUed with their notions. " Blessed is
he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God," says the
Jew to our Saviour, Luke xiv. 15. And in regard to Ge
henna, the Chaldee paraphrast, as I observed before on
chap. xxx. 33. renders everlasting, or continual, burnings,
by " tbe Gehenna of everlasting fire." And before his time
tbe Son of Sirach, vft. 17. had said, " the vengeance of the
ungodly is fire and worms." So likewise the author of the
book of Judith : " Wo to the nations rising up against my
kindred : the Lord Almighty wiU take vengeance of them in
the day of judgment, in putting fire and worms in their flesh,"
chap. xvi. 17. ; manifestly referring to the same erablem.

INDEX OF TEXTS

OCCASIONALLY ILLUSTRATED.

The small Numeral Letters refer to the pages of the Dissertation ; the
Figures, to the pages of the Notes.

ii. 10.
xiii. 10.
xxiv. 47.
xxyi. 20.
xxx, 11.
xxxi. 34.
 43, 53.
xxxiii. 13.
xl. 11.
xiii. 6.
»liX. 11,
iv. 10.

Genesis.

EXODDS.

xxviii. 40.

386

145

xxix. 6.

386

145

 42, 43.

324

163

xxxiii. 3 — 4. 14.

392

307

 14, 15.

392

400

xxxviii. 8,

195

15S

xl. 34—38,

158

198

— 38.

169

318

173

Leviticus.

351
iv.
138
172
vi. 12, 13.
184
ix.24.
184
184
xi. 7.
398
204
xiii, 45.
364
184'
xiv. 42.
184
201
xix. 23-35,
388
343
xxi. 18.
177
371
xxu. 23. •
177
389
xxiii. 36.
139
342
xxv. 9, &c.
384
169
xxvi. 8.
385
271'
213
NUMBEES.
190
vi. 4.
174
169,170
xi.5.
137,240
i, 183,317
— 12.
341
158
xii, 14,
353
:.' 397
xiii. 22, 23.
171
352
xiv. 34.
244
167
xvi. 41, 42.
138
393
xxi. 17, 18.
xxxv
1179
xxii. 4.
178
257
xxiii. 7—10.
324
334
.  31, 22.
310
408

INDEX OP TEXTS.

Page

xxiv. 6.

356

1 Samuel.

xxix. 35.
139
ii. 37.
ui. 21.
252
352
Deuteroromy.
ix. 7.
374
i. 31.
340
— 15.
176
-44.
179
— 25.
3510
iii. 25.
171
xiu. 6.
156
vii. 25.
385
xiv. 4, 5.
310
viii. 15.
283
XV. 27.
157
xii. 3, 3.
397
xvii. 52.
375
— 17, 18.
388
xviii. 6, 7.
xli
317
xvi. 8.
139
xix. 13.
152
xvii. 16.
384
xxiv.
155
 16, 17.
151
xxi. 33.
225
2 Samuel.
xxii. 15.
282
vi. 14. 16.
xli
— 8.
250
X.4, 5.
193
xxiii. 4.
249
xi. 23.
375
xxiv. 1.
352
xiv. 3.
384
xxv. 4.
879
XV. 30.
364
 7-
283
xxii. 41.
xii
 9.
353
xxiv. 7,
358
xxvii. 15.
374
xxviii. 30.
400
1 Kings.
xxx. 19.
133
iv. 33, 23.
158
xxxi, 21.
132
vii. 2, 3.
251
xxxii.
XXXV,
xxxix
X. 16, 17, 21
257
 1.
132
—36—39.
151
 13.
368
— 37.
204
 15.
329
xviii. 26.
288
-,-—16.
xxxix
 38.
178
 31.
259
XX. 11.
179
 30.
285
xxii. 48.
154
 33, 33.
175
 49.
154
xxxiii. 5. 36.
329
6,
258
2 Kings.
 38.
Joshua.
344
iv. 1.
— 39—41.
V. 23.
352 174196
iii. 3.
405
ix, 30,
160
V.6.
190
XV. 3, 4. 34,
35.
153
X. 24.
357
29.
196, 301
xi. 6.
202
— 37.
136
,186
xv. 2. 5.
214
xvi, 9.
196, 332, 251
xviii. 19.
214
xvii. 6.
251
xix, 29.
358
—^ 6. 24,
260
xxii. 14.
157
xviii, xix, xx.
303
Judges.
xviii. 8.
2^6
,243
i. 7.
357
 14—16
293
vi. 3.
156
 17.
244
xi'. 31,
325
 18.
802
— 34.
317
xviii. 20.
303
xvi, 3, 4.
171
 23.
302
XX. 38. 40.
Roth.
285
 32.
 34.
302 302
ii. 14,
190
xix. 9.
303
iii. 18.
392
— 15.
303
INDEX OF TEXTS.

409

xix 17.

P^e

Nehemiah.

Page

— 19,

m

v. 17, 18.

158

— ao.

304

xii. 24.

xli

— 23.

304

— 35,

304

Esther.

— 35.

305

ii. 12.

165

Xi. 4, 5.

306

vi. 12. and vii. 8.

254

— 6.

306

— 7,8.
306
Job.
-9.11.
306
i.l.
iUG
— 13. '
308
-17.
257
— 17.
303
-19.
246
— 20.
'252
iii. 4. 6. 9.
xiii
xxi. 13.
275
-24,
307
xxiii. 10. 14.
406
V.23.
S76
13.
397
viii. 5, 6.
.xiv
 19, 20.
187
ix. 8.
368
xxiv. 14.
157
xu. 13—16.
xviii
xxv. 4, 5."
350
xiu. 19.
354
12. 33,
185
xvii. 3.
354
XX. 24.
220
1 Chronicles.
xxi. 18.
320
v. 36.
196, 301
xxvi. 2, 3.
207
ix. 33
386
xxvi, 5.
xii
"xiii. 5,
.258
xxvii— xxxi.
234
xxviii. 3.
383
xxvii. 18.
137
xxx. 7.
151
2 Chronicles.
^10.
-353
i. 15.
15^
: — 30.
199
vii. i.
184
xxxiii. 18.
308
viii. 17, 18.
154
xxxvii, 9,
246
358
jl
238
ix. 18.
^31.
154
xxxviii. 6.
135
XI. 20,
189
xliii.
354
^36.
154
xlu. 10.
313
¦xxvi, 6, 7.
• 226
33.
181
Psalms.
xxix. 19.
xxxii. 2 — 5.
340350
i. 3.
-4,
146
145, 320
—-2,3.5.30. 10.
35S
ii.7.
308
135
X. 1.
375
— -33.
236, 23&
xviii. 35.
220
35,26.30,31. 27.
309
xix. 7—10.
xxiv
396
 14.
267
30.
25S
3?X.].
395
32.
131
 7,8.
xvi
33.
253, 86S
xxi. 1, 2.
X
Mxiii. 11.
17.
18^153
xxii. 2. S2.
307 390
xxxiv. 6, 7. 33.
187
 39.
149
xxxv. 18.
18'/
xxv.xxx. 5.
xvi, 370
Ezra.
xxxi, 19, 20.
xxiv
i.2.
334
xxxii. 3.
307
iii." 11.
xU,18S
xxxiv.
iv, T.
iv. 2.
'l86
1 3.
xl
ix. 8.
356
40
410

INDEX OF TEXTS.

XXXVU.

Ixxx. 5.
Ixxxv. 10 — 14.
Ixxxvi. 14.
Ixxxvii. 6.
xcix. 5.
ci. cii. G.
ciii: 3.
— 5.
 9. 13, 14.
 : 11.
 11,12.
ciii. 16.
cv. 33.
cviii. 4, 5,
ex. ].
cxi.
— 4.
cxii.  1.
 10.
cxiv. 1-

-4.

 1,3,
cxvi. 1. 9. 12. 14, 15.

Page

320

cxvii. 3.

370

cxviii. 12.

v

cxix.

xiii

 57.

xvii

cxx. 1. 6.

307

cxxvii. 4.

xxxii.

cxxxiv.

xxi

cxxxv. 6, 7,

xxv

cxxxvii. 1.

170
202

o

cxxxix. 14.

132

cxliv. 5, 6.

205

 13—14,

300

cxlv.

284

cxlvi, 2, 3, 10.

210, 331

cxlviii. 7—13,

310

317

Proverbs.

344

i. 24—32,

331

iii. 8.

338

 8.

xxxii

vi. 16—19.

168

— 20.

338

vii. 2.

373

— 22, 23.

143

X. 1. 7.

237

xi. 22.

401

— 24.

342

xvi. 33.

375

xviii. 10.

172

xxi. 1.

292

xxiii. 30.

392

xxv. 26.

210, 331

xxix. 26.

337

xxx.

267

 3.

168

xxxi. 10—31.

383

xxvi

Ecclesiastks

265

ii. 5, 5.

295

— 8.

319

— 16.

375

xi. 2.

371

Canticles,

XV

i, 5.

316

ii 15.

172

iv. 4.

xxxviii

— 10, 11.

358

viii, 2.

iv, V

xxix
' Isaiah.
iv, V
i. 3.
X
-8.
xiii
iii. 1 .
xxviii
iv. 1.
310
-5,
xxi
-22.
Page 371
179. 205
iVi V
333 xxi
xxix 387
xviii 167
XI
xxiv
iv, V
xxix xvii
136 xi
xix
199199
162 XV
164 XV
xvi
295
147 141135 xvi xix
258 iv
147 157392 xix
XIX
137
257 165141
xm
173
157
157 175 141
INDEX OF TEXTS.

411

Page 264

Page

vi.l3.

xlvi. 3.

xi

viii. 10.

xxxii

 9.

xiv

 22.

181

xlvii. 5.

257

ix. 10.

xvii, 204

xlviii. 20, 21.

311

— 20,

xiii

xlix. 4.

xiv

X. 5—12.

334

— 20, 21.

369

— 32.

287

1. 5, 6.

xix

xiii. 4, 5.

xxiv

-10.

XV

 6.

175

11,7,8.

xi

 10.

xxi

" 17.

142

xiv. 4—27,

xxvi

-19.

xix

— 14.

308

-20.

xiii

— 28.

181

lii. 7, 8. 12.

311

XV. 3.

xix

-8.

317

xvi. 10.

173

liii. 4.

149, 296

xvii. 9.

xxi

liv. 4.

X

 13.

320

— 4,5.

167

XX.

327

-r-m.

xvii

xxii.6 .

220

lv. 2.

307

 14

175

— 3.

xi

 16.

367, 368

-6,7.

X

xxiv. 17.

175

- 13.

347

xxvi. 5, 6.

xii

lvii. 6.

175

xxvii. 7.

175

--- 13, 14.

311

xxviii. 14, 15. 18.

xxx

lviii. 5-8.

xviii

xxix, 5.

320

..... 14.

368

21.

283

lx.4.

351

xxx. 16.

XV

— 6-9.

338

 26.

218

— 11.

331

 30—33.

281

Ixi. 3.

175

xxxi. 8.

207

— 7.

313

-:— 9.

279

lxv. 11, 12..

175

xxxii. 11.

347

-—21,22.'

xi

xxxiii. 1.

175

lxvi. 1.

358

 12.

205

 31.
xxi
Jeremiah.
xxxiv.
390
i.6. *
184
xxxv. 1, 3,
xxxvi, xxxvii, xxxviii,
371
-10.
184
xxxix 302
ii. 18.
258
xxxvi. 17.
260
ii. 21.
174
xxxvii. 9,
327
-25.
374
 22, &c.
xxvi
-27.
135
 25,
244
iv. 30.
160
 26,
252
vi. 1.
285
 39.
286
vii. 22, 23.
329
xl.2.
xxi
— 24.
135
xli. 19.
347, 371
— 29.
228
— 24.
403
viii. 7.
133
— 28.
xii
X. 3—5.
342
xliii. 17.
xxiv, 338
-9.
154
xliii. 18, 19.
311
xii. 7. 9.
372
xliv. 7.
210
xvii, 8
145,146
 18.
184
 12.
182
 26.
xiv
Xviii, 12.
374
xlv. 1.
179
xix, 9.
206
-8,
168
XX. 7.
398
 16, 17.
xxiv
xxiii. .31,
250
41^

INDEX OF TEXT!!.

x?v. 11,

261

xxii. 18—22.

xxKiii. 9.

382

xxiii. 30.

xxxvii. 13;.

370

 40.

xl.12.

185

xxiv, 17.

xti. 9.

156

xxvi. 14.

xlviii.

227

 15»-18.

^-5.

328

xxvii. 12.

 11.

268

xxix. 3,

 12.

257

 18—20.

 29.

230

xxxii. 27.

— 31.

230

xxxvii, 11—13.

 32.

231

xxxviii.

 33.

232

xxxix. 4.

— -34.

228

 8—10.

 36.
 37.

228, 230
237, 228

ICi IT

 ID, li..
xliii. 3,

^ 43, 44.

265

 5, a

xlix. 35.

220

 7,

1.9":

,218

-38.

332

I

li. 27, 28.

218

vii. 17.

-36.

332

viii. 20.

Lamentations

]

i.

V

L 7.

- 1, 2: '

xxiii

ii.6.

ii.

V

-,-18.

-4.

xxv

iv. 13.

-10.

166", 358

V.7.

- 15.

xxxvi

vi. 4.

iii.

iv, V

-^B.

— 1-6,

xxiii

ix. 10.

— 14.

169

X. 8.

— 31.

xxv

xi. 4.

— 39.

313

— §.

— 60.

169

xiL 1.

iv.

iv, V

xiii. 4.

iv. 2.

257

xiv. 9.

— 8.

199.

— 15.

xJtxvi, 361

— 17.
307
i. 14.
— 21.
346
ii.e.
— 7.
Ez^KIEt."
-7 10.
i. 14.
247
— 15.
iii. 8, &.
354
— 80.22.
iv. 6.
244
— 25., '
v. 13.
142
iii. 10,
xiii. 9.
168
— 13.
--16.
223
-15,16.
XV. 3.
255
-16.
-3,4,
273
xvi. 11, 12.
163
xvii, 22—24.
150
i.l.
XX. 3. 31.
.397
-2,
— 38.
144
iv, 11.
— 47.
305,308
— as.
Dakiee.
Hosea.
Joel-
168
402 160
364ses261
154 325
193217271 390
226203299 184
182
183
261261
276 144 151
Amos.
274, 133
207
332, 374
139 1.98 xi
ai929A 1339
150
xiii, 173219 siv
178
INDEX OP TEXTS.

413

V. 10.

Page 283

TOBIT.

Page

-19.

264

xiii. 16, 17.

370
- 21—34.
139
-25,36.
339
Judith.
vi. 3— 6.
176
iv.7.
,
210
— 13.
180
X.3.
384
— 13.
307
xvi. 16.
318
viii. 9.
Micah:
319
 17.
Wisdom.
406
i. 3.
368
ii.7,8.
274
iii. 1—3.
159
xiii. 11—19.
332
iv. 1—4.
149
XV. 7.
332
— 8.
293
V. 3.
351
ECCLKSIASTICUS.
— 3.
193
vii. 15.
278
vi. 1, 3.
133
— 17.
406
— 15.
xix
xiv. 24.
256
— 16.
169
xxiv. 30, 31.
147
vii. 4.
Nahum,
373
xlviii. 17.
252
i. 11.
351
Baruch.
-15.
360
V. 7.-
314
ii. 13.
202
— 8,
321
iii. 5, 6.
162
vi.
332
-14.
322
1
Maccabees.
Habaeeue,
V.65.
389
ii. 5.
177
2 Maccabees.
•
vi. 18.
398
Zefhaniah.
vii. 1.
398
i. 5. -
397
ii. 8—11.
230
Matthew.
iii. 17.
320
iii. 3.
vi. 28—30.
314
273
Haggai.
viii. 11.
367, 406
ii. 17.
173
 17.
X. 27.
296251
ZECaARIAH.
xi. 4, 5.
297
i. 15.
343
xii. 18.
333
ii. 5.
169
itiii. 14.
183, 185
Tui. 23.
157
XV. 9.
382
ix. 13.
313
xvi. 19,
255
— 14.
246
 38.
390
x.4.
256
xviii. 25.
352
xiii, 4.
343
xxi. 33.
173
xiv. 5.
1,78
-43.
282
 10.
173
xxiii. 14.
403
 19.
313
xxiv. 28.
 29.
264 319
Malachi.
 41.
343
i. 1,
333
u. 11.
233
Mare.
— 12.
387
i. 3.
316
iii. 2, 3.
168
ii. 9.
99',i
— 15.
267
vii. 7.
285
iv. 1.
267
ix. 44
40
40*
IN.D«^ QF TifJS^^r

xii. 1,
a^vi 65.
XV. 19,

i.d9. ii. I.
m-i, iv.18, 19.
X. 34.
i^^iiy. 15.
 16,
XV. 22.
xviii. 1.
 31, 32,
xmi. 22,
XKii. 29, 30.

vii, 37. 39,
xii. 40.
— 41.
xiii. 23.
XV. 6.
xviii. 20, 21.

ii. 3.
— 30.
x.'9. xi 28.
xii. 8.
xxi. 4.
¦sxvi. 4, 5,
jwviii. 26.
 27.

¦i. 20.
vi. 1.7.
.ix. S0,"21.

Luke.

John.

ACT&.

Romans.

Page

173

ix. 28.

20S

m

X. 15.

360

354

-r20.
xi. 8,

§97

¦-r-26.
380
39^2
— 30, 31.
283
131^
*v.4,5.
138
219
- 12.
138
384
— 12, 13.
136,214
406.
1 Corinthians.
;?67!
4i.9.
W
386'
isi. 15.
2p8
354
Galatians.
3901
iii. 3.
316
267
- 13.
Ephesians.
^5
mi
ii. 13. 17.
37G
2151
182,1851
Hebrews.
182
iv. 12.
348
406 2:?3
xiii. 15.
37fJ
365'
] Peter.
i. 24.
315
- 24, 35.
316
178:
376
Revelatios.
350
i. 16.
348
219i
;iii. 7.
^55
202:
iv. 73.
1^
262
y, 5.
^13
M
vi. 15, 16.
xiv, 10,
156 142
'185
xiK. 13, 15
,16.
39p
-- 17, 18.
399
XX,
390
337
— 4.
330
M5
Kxi. 18—21
,
zip
337
-xxii. 16.
INDEX OF PERSONS.

Abarbanel, 362, 370
Abendana, 135, 137
Aben-Ezra, 129, 137, 163, 209, 346,
367
Aben Tybbon, xxxv
Abraham, 3^0'
Abydenus, 246, 334
.4ddi6oii, 167, 202', 235
.^Escbylus, 354j 356
.^tius, 330
Agatharchides, 338
Ahaz, 130, 136
Alexander, 340,'362
Ambrose, 319
Ammianus, 328
Antiochus Epiph. liii.
Antipater, 343
Aquila, xliii, lvi, 134, 144, 177, 377
Aratus, 254, 278
Art)uthnot,i292
Arias Montanus, 364,388
Aristophanes, 161 , 348
Aristotle, his Treatise on Poetrv, xlviii.
¦  Hist. Animal. 228
Arnobius, 373
ArriaUj 221j 328, 333
Athen«BUs, -359
Aurelius "Victor, 358
Azarias, Rab. xxxiii, &c.
Bagot, 208
Balkis, Clueen of Sheba, 148
Barry, 268
Baumgarten, 255
Benjamin of Tudela, 222
Berosus, 332, 312
Beryte, I'Eveque de, 39;i
Blanchini, 364
Bochart, 140, 154, 171, 228, 235, 280,
294, 319, 338, 405
Breithaupt, 350
Brentius, 151
Brerewood, 335
Bruns, lvii.
Bryant, 243
Buxtorff, 335, 366
Buxtorff, junior, xxxiii.

Cselios Antipater, 154
Callimachus, 191, 254
Calmet, 227
Cambyses, 240
Camden, 170
Capellus, 267, 323, 354
Casaubon, 365
Castell, 331 , 366
CasteUio, xxviii, xlix.
Cellarius, 229
Celsius, 144
Celsus, 308
Chandler, Bp, 199, 363, 400
Chappelow, 142, 157, 308
Chardin, 136, 158, 172, 173, X83, 204,
317, 251, 353, 255, 261, 268, 984,
292, 318, 330, 342, 353, 3&8, 382,
386, 397
Chrysostom, 176
Cicero, iii, 339, 348
Claudian, 304
Clemens Alexand. 161, 254, 378
Rom. 394

Cocceius, 346, 388, 379, 397
Columella, 171
Cotovious, -383
Grcesus, 334, 339
Cuper, 363
Curtius, 300, 351
Cyril, 178, 403
Cyrus, 214, 220, 346, 247, 820, 332,
333, 334, 335, 336, 361
Darius Hystaspis, '321
D'Arvieux, 'igS.eTS
De Guignes, 400
De Lisle, 171
Demosthenes, iii, 332
Deschamps, 200
D'5Hei!belot,^05, 294, 351
Dicsearchus, 260
Diodorus, 236, 240, 353, 314, 339
Doederlein, 284, 350
Donatus, 261
iDru^ius, 367
Dorell,lvi, 143, 153, 166, 177, 189,
363, 373

416

INDEX OP PERSONS.

Egmont and Heyman, 171, 236, 240
Ephrffim Syr. 145, 247, 292
Esarhaddon, 187
Eudoxus, 154
Evelyn, 400
Eugene Roger, 163, 171
Euripides, 135, 390, 395
Eusebius, 310, 334
Eustathius, 254
Festus, 365
Furer, 274
Gibson, 170
Glassius, 135
Grabe, ii, lv.
Gratius, 231
Gregory Naz. 183
Grotius, 241, 295, 313, 401
Hadrian, 185
Hammond, 386
Hanno, 154
Hare, viii, xxxii.
Harmer, 136, 137, 156, 158, 173, 174,
184, 190, 305, 355, 273, 279, 293,
304, 305, 318, 330, 343, 351, 353,
386, 405
Hasselquist, 137, 173,175
Herman von der Hardt, li.
Herodotus, 154, 173, 314, 320, 221,
226, 338, 336, 244, 247, 260, 328,
330, 333, 334, 353
Hesiod, 290, 363
Hesychius, 339
Hezekiah, 130, 230, 251. 252, 393,
396, 303, 309
Homer, 141, 180, 191, 323, 228, 238,
254, 280, 281, 287, 389, 343, 343
357, 358, 367
Horace, 212, 361, 380, 332, 382
Houbigant, xxxi, 139, 151, 157, 175,
177, 192, 204, 211, 215, 233, 251,
263, 269, 374, 277, 284, 285, 286,
295, 300, 303, 306, 308, 309, 321,
335, 326, 329, 337, 370, 371, 379,
383, 384, 396, 398, 403, 404 ¦
Huet, 154, 179, 254, 328
Hunt, 163
Hyde, 300, 336
Jarchi, xxxi, 159, 181, 191, 229, 257,
276, 305, 307, 335, 343, 346, 348,
374
Jephthah, his vow, 335
Jerom, ii, lvi. 173, 183, 204, 210, 321,
339, 344, 357, 269, 376, 278, 387,
305, 307, 320, 366, 3T7, 394, 397,
399, 400.

Ihenius, 242
John the Baptist, 313— 315
John Hyrcanus, 389
Jonathan Ben Uziel, lv.
Jones, 213
Josephus, 155, 210, 223
Jotham, 139
Isaiah, 139
Jubb, 140, 151, 154, 159, 166, 187,
188, 355, 363, 368, 378, 379, 386,
394
Judas Maccabeus, 389
Julius Pollux, 161
Justin, 358
Juvenal, 160, 165, 197
Kalinski, 235
Kempfer, 141, 146, 173, 183, 353,
378
Kennicott, 1, lvii. 203, 215, 300, 301,
364, 367, 384, 405
Kimchi, 135, 137, 143, 149, 170, 177,
180, 188, 197, 206, 307, 309, 313,
233, 238, 241, 246, 248, 386, 306,
320, 325, 346, 364, 370, 380, 385,
403
Labid, 200
Lactantius, 357
Lardner, 365
La Roque, 273
Le Clerc, 143, 229, 233, 286, 390, 322,
326, 349, 398, 399, 403, 404
Lilienthal, 374, 380, 398
Livy, 249
Locke, 138
Longinus, 135, 333
Lowman, 381
Lovfth, 140, 313, 226, 233, 242, 306
Lucan, 167, 170, 214, 236, 376
Lucretius, 278, 282, 382,
Ludolphus, 315
Macrobius, 404
Maillet, 405
Maimonides, 225, 365
Martial, 150
Maundrell, 145, 146, 147, 155, 171,
204, 217, 222, 274, 350, 374
Megasthenes, 346
Meir, Rabbi, 348, 323
Mela, 333
Merrick 37S
Michaelis, 148, 151, 168, 170, 171,
175, 200, 229, 243, 270, 343, 344,
349, 350
Miller, 140, 292
Millius, Dav. 399, 304
Milton, 223

INDEX OP PERSONS.

417

Moerlius, 208, 373
Mohammed, 148, 155, 200, 356
Montagu, L. Mary, 305
Mosheim, 313
Montfaucon, lvi,
Muller, 200, 242
Munster, 363
Nau, 171
Nebuchadnezzar, 227, 240, 246, 257,
261,262, 297,333
Nepos, 351
Newton, Sir I, 187, 266
 Bp. 240, 262
Niebuhr, 148. 193, 278, 353
Ninus, 259
Nonnus, 174
Onkelos, xxxv,
Origen, viii, 346, 360, 377
Osbeck, 368
Ovid, 135, 150, 219, 334
Owen, 243, 394
Pachomius, liv.
Palladius, 171
Paul Lucas, 156, 164
Pausanias, 179
Pekah, 130
Perizonius, 259
Persius, 171
Phile, 319
Philo, xli. 240
Pietro della Valle, 160, 164, 222, 253,
324
Pindar. 341, 349
Plato, 357
Pliny, 140, 146, 154, 160, 176, 23U,
308, 335, 404, 406
Pococke, 236, 240, 305
Prideaux, 229, 243, 365, 389
Procopius, xliii. 199, 280, 403
Prodiucs, 165
Psainmitichus,239, 244
Psfellus, 280
Ptolemy Philometer, 242
 Soter, 240
Publius, Syr, 165
Randolph, 325
Rauwolf, 272
Reland, 171, 233
Retsin, 130, 185, 194
Russell, 161, 405
Sal, ben Melee, 134, 137, 169, 178,
184, 207, 209, 250, 307, 322, 325,
346, 363, 370, 393, 403

Sale, 148, 256, 300
Salmasius, 140, 161
Salvian, 219
Sanctius, 161, 166
Sandys, 160, 172, 262
Sardanapalus, 215
Scaliger, ii.
Schindler, 187, 201, 270, 367
Schmidius, 387
Schroeder, 161, 195, 299
Schultens, 137, 157, 200, 231, 237,
338, 356, 393
Seeker, xxxi, lvi, 143, 159. 169, 177,
189, 192, 197, 198, 204, 206, 207,
209, 213, 232, 241, 242, 263, 265,
277, 283, 286, 291, 292, 294, 398,
303, 322, 324, 326, 337, 331, 338.
343, 344, 349, 354, 356, 357, 303,
370,371,375, 377, 378, 395, .396,
403
Semiramis, 246, 313. 328
Senacherib, 131, 206, 209, 210, 234,
237, 244, 379, 293, 294. 301, 327
Seneca, 237,264
Servius, 258, 367
Shalmaneser, 131, 187, 206, 227, 232,
262, 275, 327
Shaw, 160, 204, 256, 274, 282, 300,
319, 342
Shebna, 252, 253
Sherlock, 152
Simonis, 205, 211, 237, 240, 331
Solinus, 170
Solomon, 147, 148, 151,158, 204, 251,
256
Spencer, 330
Strabo, 146, 155, 170, 221, 226, 236,
328, 339
Suetonius, 383
Surenhusius, 364
Symmachus, xliii, lvi, 144, 177, 246,
326, 330, 345, 364
Tacitus, 883
Tavernier, 136, 138, 155, 222, 387
Tavlor, Concord. 137, 256
Terence, 262, 342
Tharthan, 243
Themistius, 363
Theocritus, 212
Theodoret, xiii, 176, 168, 225
Theodotion, xliii, lvi, 134, 144, 177,
385
Theophrastus, 363, 373
Thevenot, 141, 171, 193, 353, 255, 268,
284, 405
Tiglath Pileser, 130, 187, 196, 201,
204, 232

418

INDEX OP PERSONS.

Tirhakah, 244, 327
Trallian, 171
Valesius, 221
Vasco de Gama, 155
Vegetius, 330
Virgil, 1. 147, 150, 170, 178, 180,
197, 202, 212, 220, 226, 258, 280,
281, 290, 339, 368, 371, 398
Vitringa, ii, xxxi, 130, 213, 215, 218,
227, 250, 252, 259, 262, 288, 313,
321, 327, 354, 362, 379, 383, 385,
393. 396, 397, 403

Ulloa, 140
Vossius, 145
Usher, 187
Uzziah, 129, 226
"Wetstein, xlix, 296
"Woide, lv, 269
"Wolfius, ii, xxxiii, 215
Xenophon, 160, 165, 180,214, 218,
220, 225, 333, 334, 335, 336, 342,
353
Xerxes, 221

INDEX OF THINGS.

Acrostic ; see Alphabetical.
Abraham, 320
 his bosom, 406
Additions, Hebrew text, xxxv, 192,
218, 286, 306, 344, 345, 369, 379,
384
.Slneid, xlviii.
Africa, 154
Agriculture, 277
Alcahol, 160
Alexandria, Jewish church there, hii.
 many Jews there, 240,
263
Allegory, mystical, 313
Alphabetical, twelve Hebrew poems,
iv.
 their cause and
use, iv.
Alternate membjrs, xix.
— '¦  sipging ; see Responsive.
Anomalies, probably corruptions, 145,
170, 355, 390
Anthropopathia, 142, 287
Ancient versions, lii, 343
 confirmed by He
brew MSS, lii, liii.
 some examples of it,
145, 153, 157, 223, 239, 280, 282,
283,291, 320, 321, 325, 326, 331,
343,345, 349,353, 355, 356, 364,
370, 372, 375, 377, 382, 386, 390,
396, 403
Apocalyps of Elias, 394
(Arabic version, liv, 230
Arabs, different sorts of them, 324
Armotir. burning of, emblem of peace,
202
Ascensiou of Esaiah, 394
Assyrians and Babylonians the same,
236
Azotus, 244
Babylon, 245, 259
 its naval power, 327
 greatness and ruin, 220,
221

Babylon, ,the total annihilation of its
walls accounted for, 221
 how taken, 245, 332, 334
Prophecy on it, beautiful,
deliverance from it, a sha-

215

dow of deliverance by Christ, 315
316
Balaam's prophecies, xxii.
Beard, highly honoured in the East,
193
Botsra, 297, 389
Buildings, eastern, 204, 221, 284
Cape of Good Hope passed, 154
Cassiterides, 154
Caverns large, for refuge, 155
Chaldee Paraphrase, xxxi, xxxv, lv,
148, 204, 207* 231, 282, 298, 320,
321, 325, 345, 380
Chambers, eastern, 305
Chapters, not in order of time, 181
 not rightly divided, 167, 203,
215, 227, 272
Chasdim, Chaldeans, 259
Chinese chronology, 400
Chittim, 257
Chorus, 216, 293, 343, 387
Collation of MSS necessary, xlix.
Heb. MSS, how far useful.

1, h, Uv, lvii,
 ¦  requires long
examination, lvii. ¦ MSS of LXX very

desirable, lv.
Comparison, particles of, omitted, 386
Conjectures, concurrent 284
 in correcting, xxxi.
 in translating, lii.
the latter as hazardous aa

the former, lii, 396
Construct state for absolute, probably
a mistake, 169, 307.
Construction of sentences, suddenly
changed, 388, 343.
 ,  alternate, xix.

420

INDEX OP THINGS.

Coptic version, lv, 181, 269, 346 366
Copyists, Jevfish, fallible, xlvii, lii.
 their customs in wri
ting, xlvii, 170
Corner, the place of honour in the
East, 305,
Corruptions, perhaps wilful, Uii, 395
Counes, an eastern vehicle, 405
Cymbal, 235
Cup of God's wrath, 142, 356
Damascus, 145, 232
Delphi, oracle there, 339
Dream, similitude from, 281
Eagle, 319
 Cyrus's ensign, 342
Edomites, 297
 settled in Judea, 389
Egypt, 234—236, 239, 243
Eluth, port, 129
Elegiac verses, iu Hebrgw, xxV.
Ellipsis, 138, 209, 253, 330, 325,
373
English vetsidn, vulgar, xxix, xli,
lviii. . revision of it expedient.

lvi, lix.

versions old, sometimes

better, 302
Eshcol, 171
Euphrates, 328, 333
Eziongeber, 154
Exjddition of eastern monarchs, the
Manlier of it, 313
Fathers, Christian, generally bad com
mentators on the prophecies, xliii.
Figs, 274
Flocks, great care in driving them
necessary, 318
Footstool, 357, 383
Fuel, 273
Gardens in the East, 145
Garments, traneiparent, 165
Gate, the place'of judicature, 282
Gehenna^ 286, 406
Gemara of Babylon, 364
Gentiles called by Christ, 355, 369,
381, 396, 402
Girdle, 179, 212
Glosses, from margin into text, 192,
285
Gog and Magog, 390
GoTd6n age, 212
Gourd-kind, fruilfe of the, much in re
quest in the East, 137

Greek New Test, its non-integrity,
xlv, xlvi. version of the Old Testament,

its importance, liii, 139, 185, 192,
213, 233, 282, 284, 291, 300, 304,
308, 315, 330, 392
 s-interpolated, 181
- altered, perhaps wilful

ly, liii, 243
 MSS of LXX very
useful, 166, 230, 232, 244, 264, 284,
289, 329, 330, 380, 385, 392
¦ collation of them

now necessary, liv.
• MS Pachom, and MS

I. D. II. Br. Mus. liv, 166, 181, 209,
219, 231, 232, 248, 284, 289, 324,
329, 337, 349, 380, 385
Groves, sacred, 143
Hades, image of, 177, 216
Halle Bible, lvi.
Half-pause, in long verses, xX v, xxvii ,
Hahds, marks on, 330, 350
Harbinger of eastern monarchs, 313
Harian metre confuted, viii.
Hebraisms, 274, 316
Heb, alphabet, only Consonants, vii,
 — Bible, left ¦ complete by Ezra,
 mistakes in it early, xxxiii,
315, 395
 now incorrect, xlvii.
— '¦  its integrity strangely be
lieved, xlv.
 — its true readings how recov
erable, liii. .
-^ — ¦ — letters similar, the sources of
error, xlvi, xlvii.
¦ MSS, now extant, how old, 1,

lviii.

- the present collatioh bf them,

l,li,lv.
 poetry, its characteristic, xl.
 verses not in rhyme, vii, viii.
 longer and shorter, xxii — xxvii.
 words single, require many En
glish, xxxvi.
Homage, eastern modes of, 351,
357
Horites, '155
Hosts, for God of Hosts, 138
Houses in the East, ^0
Hunting, ancient, 264
Jackal, 137
Idolatry exposed, 331
Idolatrous practices among the Jews,
397,399 .

INDEX OF THINGS.

421

Idumea, 389
Jerusalem, the Valley of Vision, 250
Jeshurun, 329
Jewels ofthe feet, nostrils, &c. 162
Jews, great destructions of them, 185
 present dispersion, with a confes
sion for them, 391
Iliad, xlviii.
Images poetical, from nature, &c. 153,
337 ^
 emblematical of heaven and
hell, 406
Infinitives absolute, for tenses past,
247
 ' signify imperatively, 291
Intercalary stanza, xxvi.
Interpolation ; see Additions.
Job, book, already allowed poetical, ii,
xxii.
Isaiah, book, lii.
 history of its time, 129
 Notes here, their design,
lx.
Israel som.-times means the Messiah,
349 people, carried away, in 6th

Hezekiah, l3l

-finally, 22d

Manasseh, 187
Judea called the Mountain, 170
 wilderness of, 314
Keys, ancient, 254
 mark of office, 254
Kingdom of Christ, under the image
of a feast, 267, 406
Koran, 155, 200, 256, 300
Lake, below the wine-press, 173
Latter days, 149
Lebanon, House of the Forest of, 257
 and Carmel, 282
Leviathan, the crocodile, and the ser
pent, 272
Libation, 283
Literal sense, the necessary founda
tion of all interpretations, xli, xiii,
lx.
 may be the mystical, or
spiritual, 362 ¦ is so ; see

London Polyglott, lii
Magian religion, 335
Marks on the hands, 330, 350
Mashal, its nature, xxx, 184, 223,377,
282
Masoretes, their pauses sind punctua
tion, viii, XX, xhii. 41

Masoretes, wretched critics, 32G
Medicean MS of Virgil, li.
Medicine and surgery, 136
Messiah himself, 168, 182, 186, 192,
195, 211, 291, 310, 323, 337, 347,
348, 349, 353, 361, 365, 368, 369,
378, 389
¦  his kingdom, 148, 182, 186,
195, 201, 211, 214, 266, 267, 291
310 312, 316, 338, 355, 369, 378,
381, 389, 396, 401
Metre of things ; see Bhythmns.
Mills, grinding at, the work of fe
males, 342
Mirrors of metal, 195
Mishna, 364
Moukden, present l^Imperor of China's
poem, 400
Mizmor, its nature, xl.
Naharaga, 333
Naharmalca, 328, 333
Nails, ancient, 255
Necromancy, 280
Negative, understood as if repeated,
258, 320
Nile, 237, 240, 258
 Shichor, 258
Nose-jewels, 163
Ode on K. Babylon, most excellent,
216—218
Old Testament, defective method of
studying it, xliii.
Omissions, Heb. Text, xxv, lii, 134,
151,153, 157, 166, 175,180, 181,
198,213, 219,223, 228, 211, S52,
253,282, 283, 285,291, 299, 301,
303, 308, 321, 323, 325, 330, 333,
344, 345, 349, 351, 354, 364, 370,
371, 374, 376, 377, 379, 384, 385,
402, 403, 405.
Onias's temple, 243.
Ophel, 291.
Ophir, 154.
PaUacopas, 333.
Palm-wine, 176, 263.
Parabolic style, 153, 218, 265, 272,
320, 323, 347, 353, 370, 371, 381.
Parallelism of verses or lines, ix, xxxii.
attention to, useful in in

terpreting poetical parts of Scrip
ture, xxx.
Parallel lines, synonymous, ix.
 antithetic, ix, xv.
 synthetic, ix, xvii.
 places, useful in correcting,

422

INDEX OP THINGS,

237, 228, 2iJ0"— 232, 303, 306, 309,
315,
Paronomasia, 175, 265, 290, 308, 384,
Participle, for future tense, 331.
Passover, the manner of that deliver
ance, 288,
Perfumes, eastern, 165.
Personification, iv.
Port, the, whence the name, 383.
Presents to the great in the East ne
cessary, 374,
Propiiecies of Isaiah, not prose, ii.
 • not now in order
of time, 136, 181.
Prosopopoeia, 217.
Proverbs of Solomon, xvi, xxii.
 . allowed poetical, ii.
Psalms, already allowed poetical, ii,
xxii.
 ill-divided, xxvi.
Rabbinical evasion, 403.
Responsive song, xli, 183, 273, 316,
317.
Resurrection, a common doctrine, 271.
Rhythmus of things, xxxiii— xli.
Rice, how planted, 292.
Romans, destruction of Jerusalem by,
363.
Saba, reservoir of, 148.
Sahidic version, 366.
Samaria, 373.
Scoffers, 375.
Seder Olam, 187.
Separation of Psalms, xxvi.
 words, 284, 373.
Sepulchres, 253, 367, 368.
Sickness and sin considered as equi
valent, 295.
Sidon, mother-city of Tyre, 358.
Siloah, 196, 253.
Singulars sometimes for plurals, 331.
SittiniT in the East, common manner
of, 358,
 in state, 358.
Sistrum, 235.
Sorek, in Judah, vines of, 171.
Spanisti version, 139, 161.
Speech of ghosts supposed feeble, 280.
Spitting, an expression of detestation,
353.
Standard copy, none infallible, liii.
Strongdrink, 176, 263.
Supreme Beings, two, Persian, 335.
Syriac version, lv, 213,347, 355, 392,

Tabor, Mount, 171.
Talmud, Babylonish, 158, 349,
Tarshish, where. 154, 257.
-ships, 154,257.

Teraphim consulted, 153.
Threshing, 247, 269, 278.
Tophet, 286,
Transcribers ; see Copyists.
Translations, modem, whether in L '-
tin, or for the use of the j^otestant
Churches, all from the pointed He
brew text, xliii.
Translator's duty, xxviii, xxix, xiii.
Transpositions, Hebrew text, 186, 198.
307.
Treasures of Cyrus, 335.
Trees, long-lived, 400.
Troglodytes, 155.
Tyre, 357—262.
Van, ancient, 285.
Various readings, Hebrew, publication
of commended, xlix.
Veil, to shade the court, 318.
Ventriloqui, 280.
Verse, its characteristics, iv — viii, xx.
xli.
Verses, ill-divided, 139, 218, 299, 401.
long or shori, xxii.

Versions of versions useful, lv, 180,
330.
Vineyard-tower, 173.
Vines, large trunks of, 173.
poisonous fruit of, 174.

Vowel points, not original, nor by
Ezra, xliv.
Vulgate, xxviii, hi, 135, 175,. 185,
198, 218, 333, 385, 301, 321, 323,
325,
 authentic, by Council of
Trent, xlv.
Wardrobes, Eastern, 158,
Watchmen in the Temple, 387.
"Water, in gardens, 145.
"Wine mixed, 141.
Wine-press, 173.
"Wines, 267.
Women celebrate great events, 317.
"Words, many now lost in the text of
Isaiah, lii,
 wrongly divided, 153, 273.
"World, sometimes for land or country,
219, 263,

INDEX OF THINGS.

423

'na for run', 183, 203, 205, 207,
213, 285, 307.
n'K and JN, 392.
D"N and D"S, 259, 262, 325.
3 and D mistaken, 1 77, 189, 209,
228, 380, 404.
3xiTvXt>i, 373.
r,lD3, 368.
1 and 1 mistaken, 197, 198,204,
228, 251, 267, 281, 285, 326.
ll'bj, 195.
1 omitted at the half-pause, xxv.
1 for Nbi, 258.
Dnt and D'II changed, 266, 267.
1 necessary, 1st person preterite,
270, 325.

n.'on, punishment for sin, 313.
n'7 and 1*7 changed, 285, 290.
id'? and u'? changed, 210, 270,
330.
D, plural termination, frequent
ly omitted, 170, 355.
iiara, xl.
'7ipD, as D, 265.
bm, XXX, 223, 277, 282.
DStyn, 323.
DNJ, solemn delivery of prophe
cy, 250.
nos, 288.
npns, 323, 355.
2ys, the glowing sand in the
East, 300.

Remarkable 'Variations i

tie Simih

Text.

Variations.

¦\yy)'.JD

inaj'i
'71pD

;rDK"i

2tyii

nisisnI'laj? "ii;?i

D'UT'DN'ja n'ini

Dnn3

Dxra

pnsbbmy, 2do.

Y'-^y

nman ya

Kyay

113,1?
in

D'-J

D'ln

nn'

inio

Variations in tlce Text of Isaiah, where there is lit-

Chapter.
ix. 8. Chald.
xxiv. 18. MS, Chald Vulg.
xxxvii.Q.LXX and parallel place.
xxxvii. 18. ten MSS.
xxxvii. 24. LXX, Syr.
xiii. 19. MS, Sym.
xlvii. 9. LXX, Syr.
xlix. 24, Syr, Vulg.
lii. 9. two MSS.
Iviii. 10. eight MSS, Syr.
lx. 4. MS.
Ixiii. 11. two MSS, vet. edit. Syr.
Ixiii. 16. MS.
Ixiii. 18. LXX.
xliv. 2, four MSS.
lxv. 25. MS, LXX, Syr. Vulg.

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