I will abundantly bless&c. Or, I will surely bless. The Divine blessing will rest upon people, priests (16), and rulers (17f.). Even the poor shall not want. Cp. Deuteronomy 15:4. Palestine was liable to famines, and in the early days of the Restoration the community had suffered severely from scarcity (Haggai 1:6 ff.), but this was not God's Will [83].

[83] The word for provision(צידה) means also prey, and was rendered literally by the LXX, θήραν (א a T); but in some MSS (e.g. א AR) this was changed to χήραν widow(s)either through a scribe's mistake, or because prey seemed unintelligible and widowsmight naturally be classed with the poor. Cp. Deuteronomy 14:29. Hence the Vulg. viduam, Douay, her widow.

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