_Thus saith the Lord unto the land of Israel_ Unto the inhabitants of the land. Israel is often put for Judah, after the captivity of the ten tribes; those that were left of these tribes joining themselves to the tribe of Judah. The whole country of Judea is here comprehended. _An end _ An end of Go... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith the Lord, An evil, an only evil_ A sore affliction, a singular and uncommon one. _An end is come_ A destruction, which shall be fatal to a great part of those that go into captivity, as well as to those who are consumed in their own country. It is quite prepared to rush upon thee. Observ... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold the day_ Which has lingered so long! it is come at last. _The morning is gone forth_ The day of destruction is already begun. _The rod hath blossomed_ As the same word which signifies a _tribe_, signifies also a _rod_, the meaning of this sentence may be, the tribe of Judah hath flourished,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let not the buyer rejoice_, &c. The buyer will have no reason to rejoice, because he will not enjoy what he hath bought; nor the seller have cause to mourn for having been obliged to part with his possessions, of which the approaching desolation of the country and the captivity would otherwise have... [ Continue Reading ]
_They that escape of them shall escape_ This might be more intelligibly rendered, _There are of them who shall escape;_ that is, “Some few shall have the favour of escaping the common calamity, called elsewhere the _escaped_, or the _remnant_, from whence is derived the phrase οι Σωζομενοι, in the N... [ Continue Reading ]
_As for the beauty of his ornament_ The temple and all that pertained to it, which was the beauty and glory of the Jewish nation, and accounted so by them; _he set it in majesty_ God commanded that it should be a stately, beautiful, and magnificent structure; _but they made the images of their abomi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Make a chain_ To foreshow the approaching captivity, when both king and people should be carried in chains to Babylon. _For the land is full of bloody crimes_ The innocent blood that has been shed in it cries aloud for vengeance. See the margin. _Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen_ The... [ Continue Reading ]
_Destruction cometh_ Such as a provoked power makes when it cuts off all, root and branch. _And they shall seek peace_ By inquiring of the prophets; or rather, by suing to Nebuchadnezzar, whom, after so many affronts, they will attempt to pacify. _And there shall be none _ No such thing can be obtai... [ Continue Reading ]