Jeremiah 22:14

That saith, I will build me a wide house,.... Or, "a house of measures", or, "dimensions" i; a very large house, whose length and breadth measure much consisting of many spacious rooms, upper as well as lower; as follows:

and large chambers; or, "widened ones"; very spacious and roomy; or "aired", or "airy k ones"; through which the wind blows, or into which much air comes; so that they were good summer chambers, for which they might be built:

and cutteth him out windows; to let in light and air, as well as for ornament. Some render it, "and teareth my windows" l; as if he had taken some of the windows of the temple, and placed them in his palace, and so was guilty of sacrilege; but this is not very likely:

and [it is] ceiled with cedar; wainscotted with it; or the roof of it was covered with cedar, as Jarchi; or its beams and rafters were made of cedar, as Kimchi; it might be lined throughout with cedar:

and painted with vermilion. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "sinopis"; so called from Sinope, a city in Pontus, where it is found; of which Pliny says m there are three sorts, one red, another reddish, and a third between them both: this is the same with "minium" or vermilion. Strabo n says, in Cappadocia the best Sinopic minium or vermilion is produced, and which vies with that of Spain; and he says it is called sinopic, because the merchants used to bring it to that place (Sinope) before the commerce of the Ephesians reached the men of this country, Cappadocia; other versions o, besides the Vulgate Latin, so render it here. Schindler p renders the Hebrew word by this; and also by "cinnabar", which is a red mineral stone, and chiefly found in quicksilver mines; and may be thought to be quicksilver petrified, and fixed by means of sulphur, and a subterraneous heat; for artificial cinnabar is made of a mixture of mercury and sulphur sublimed, and reduced into a kind of fine red glebe; and this is called by the painters vermilion; and is made more beautiful by grinding it with gum water, and a little saffron; which two drugs prevent its growing black: and there are two kinds of vermilion; the one natural, which is found in some silver mines, in form of a ruddy sand, of a bright beautiful red colour; the other is made of artificial cinnabar, ground up with white wine, and afterwards with the whites of eggs. There are two sorts of it that we have; the one of a deep red; the other pale; but are the same; the difference of colour only proceeding from the cinnabar's being more or less ground; when fine ground, the vermilion is pale, and is preferred to the coarser and redder. It is of considerable use among painters in oil and miniature q; and here it may be rendered, "anointed with minium" or "vermilion" r; but it is questionable whether this vermilion was known so early. Kimchi here says, it is the same which the Arabians call "zingapher", or cinnabar. The Hebrew word is "shashar", which Junius and Tremellius translate "indico" s; and observe from Pliny t, that there is a people in India called Sasuri, from whence it is brought; but this is of a different colour from minium or vermilion; the one is blue, the other red; but, be it which it will, the painting was for ornament; and either colours look beautiful.

i בית מדות "domum mensurarum", Vatablus, Montanus, Calvin, Schmidt. k מרוחים "perflabilia", Piscator; "vento exposita", Vatablus, Montanus. l וקרע לו חלוני "et lacerat sibi fenestras meas", Junius Tremellius. m Nat. Hist. l. 35. c. 6. n Geograph. l. 12. p. 373. o Pagninus, Tigurine version, Castalio. p Lexic. Pentaglott. col. 1179. So Castel Lex. Polyglott. col. 3664. q Chambers's Cyclopaedia, in the words "Cinnabar" and "Vermilion". r משוח בששר "ungendo in minio", Montanus "uncta est minio", Vatablus, Calvin; "ungit minio", Cocceius. s So Buxtorf, Gussetius, Stockius. t Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 9.