2

CHAPTER V.

*

1 AND thou, son of man, take thee a sharp tool, even a barber's rasor shalt thou take thee, and shalt cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard; and thou shalt take thee balances † to weigh, and shalt divide ‡ the hair. A third part shalt thou burn || with fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and thou shalt take a third part and smite about it with the § tool; and a third part shalt thou scatter in the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and shalt bind them in thy skirts. Then shalt thou take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire for thereof shall come forth a fire into all the house of Israel.

3

4

Or, instrument.

H. them.

+ H. of weight.

Or, in the fire.

$ Or, instrument.

1. -a sharp tool.-6. Ar. ready, præ novaculâ, and thus furnish a beautiful sense. "Take thee a sharp sword, sharper than a barber's rasor shalt thou take it unto thee." Syr. seems to read

66

as sharp as a barber's rasor &c." Thus 27 may be rendered a sword throughout.

cause it to pass.—, 1 MS. 2 edd. 6. Ar. Syr. and cause

it to pass.

2.

-balances to weigh.-" Weighing scales." Secker.

-with fire.-2, 1 MS.

of the city.-Which the prophet had pourtrayed, or engraven.

-the siege.-The typical siege.

66

and smite" V. Syr. Houbigant.

For the

and smite.meaning of this typical representation, see v. 12. How those who seceded into Egypt after the murder of Gedaliah were destroyed, see Jer. xlii. 16. xliii. 11. xliv. 12, 27.

3.

-skirts.—The extremities of thy garment. This denotes the few that were left in the land by Nebuzaradan. Jer. xl. 6. 2 Kings xxv. 22.

5

:

Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: This is Jerusalem: * in the midst of the nations have I set her, and countries are 6 round about her and she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations; and my statutes more than the countries which are round about her for they have refused my judgments; and as for my statutes, 7 they have not walked in them. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye are changed more than the nations which are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes nor kept my judgments, but have done according to the judgments of the nations which are 8 round about you; therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: lo, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments

9

in the midst of thee, in the sight of the nations. And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like; because of all thine

4. thereof shall come forth a fire.--In consequence of Ishmael's conspiracy against Gedaliah, destruction shall spread itself among the small residue of the Jews. See Jer. xlii, xliii, xliv. Houb. reads

.אש .sc

5. —Thus saith.—In ó. Ar. the translation is "And thou shalt say unto all the house of Israel: Thus saith, &c." The four last words of v. 4. seem to have been originally repeated, with 1 prefixed to them, at the beginning of v. 5.

6. —more than the nations.-More than the nations have changed their judgments. See Jer. ii. 11.

-they have refused.-The nations have adhered to the religious rites transmitted down to them by their ancestors.

:

7. -Because ye are changed.-The connection with the foregoing verse leads to the reading of 127 from 10 to change inf. Niphal. ye do violence."

,חמסכם Houbigant conjectures

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-but have done. is omitted by 22 MSS. 4 edd. and Syr. See also c. xi. 12. However, a good sense arises from retaining it. "Neither have done according to the judgments [or manners] of the nations that are round about you:" sc. by persevering in the religion of your forefathers.

9. ——the like.—The national punishment of the Jews, comprehending

10 abominations.

11

12

Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers: and I will execute judgments in thee; and I will scatter the whole remnant of thee towards * all the winds. Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, surely because thou hast polluted my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations; even I also will diminish, and mine eye shall not spare, even I also will not have pity. A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, or shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and a third part will I scatter towards all the 13 winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and will be comforted: and they shall know that I Jehovah have spoken it in my † zeal, 14 when I have accomplished my fury upon them. More

over I will make thee ‡ a desolation and || a reproachi among the nations which are round about thee, in the 15 sight of all that pass by. And thou shalt be a reproach and a reviling, an instruction and an astonishment, unto the nations which are round about thee, when I shall execute upon thee my judgments in anger and in fury 16 and in furious rebukes: I Jehovah have spoken it: When I shall send upon you the evil arrows of famine which are

*Or, every wind.
+ Or, jealousy.

H. for a desolation. || H. for a reproach.

what they suffered from Nebuchadnezzar, Titus and Adrian, has been remarkably signal.

11.

diminish.-Two or three MSS. Kenn. read IX,

cut off:" and 4 of De Rossi's MSS. and 5 originally.

12. A third part of thee.-Many MSS. read

15. And thou shalt be.

his translation.

❝ will

The ancients; and Houbigant in

17

for destruction, which I will send to destroy you; and
shall encrease the famine upon you, and shall break your
staff of bread; and when I shall send upon you famine,
and evil beasts which shall bereave thee, and pestilence
and blood shall pass through thee, and I shall bring the
sword upon thee.
thee. I Jehovah have spoken it.

1

2

3

CHAPTER VI.

ALSO the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying;
Son of man, set thy face towards the mountains of Israel,
and prophesy against them, and say; Ye mountains of
Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah. Thus saith
the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to
the streams and to the vallies: Lo, I, even I, will bring a

-evil arrows of famine.-This is poetical and sublime. Famine might be inflicted various ways; by locusts, hail, showers, blasts, drought, &c. See Grot.

for destruction.—nnwb 6. Syr.

17. which shall bereave thee.-71bw many MSS. 1 ed.

2. —of Israel.—“Israel being carried captive, Judah is called Israel: and perhaps possessed a great part of the country." Secker.

3.

-to the mountains and to the hills.-See Deut. xii. 2. Jer. ii. 20. iii. 6. c. xviii. 6. Philip II. king of Macedon, in his expedition against Sparta, sacrificed to the Gods on each of the hills, one of which was called Olympus and the other Eva. Polyb. 1. v. p. 372. ed. Casaub. Cyrus, just before his death, offered sacrifices to Jupiter, the sun, and the other Gods, πì Tv ❝кpwv. Cyrop. 1. viii. p. 647. ed. Hutchinson 4°. where Jupiter speaks of Hector as sacrificing to him Ιδης ἐν κορυφῆσι πολυπτύχου. 11. xxii. 177.

see Diss. ii. p. xliii.

-Lo I.-M. See MSS. and the ancients.
-high places.-Set apart for idolatrous worship.

4 sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places: and your altars shall be desolate, and your * images shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain before your idols: 5 and I will lay the carcases of the sons of Israel before your idols, and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

6

In all your habitations the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and destroyed, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your † images may be cut down, and your 7 works may be abolished: and that the slain may fall in the midst of you, and ye may know that I am Jehovah.

8

Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some who shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye 9 shall be scattered through the countries. And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, when I have broken their whorish heart which departed from me, and their

*

Or, sun-images. + Or, sun-images.

H. in that there shall be unto you
escapers from the sword.

|| H. the escapers.

4. —images.—Statuæ solis, imagines subdiales. Cast. lex. DDM

to be warm.

5.

-your idols.-V. 6. 10 MSS. read with the affix . But Syr. Ar. Chald. Theod. with : "the idols worshipped by them." Four of De Rossi's MSS. and 3 originally, read .

6. In all.—ó. MS. Al. prefix 1 and, or rather for. This verse seems addressed to the people of the land.

—shall be desolate.-: many MSS. 3 edd.

8. -that ye may have.-Houbigant says that the true reading is л, One of De Rossi's MSS. reads thus originally. "Putaret quis

.Secker בכם לחיות vel בכם להיות legendum potius

is the שברתי

when ye shall be scattered.- 2 MSS. when I shall have broken.-That is, subdued. reading of V. Syr. Chald. Houbigant. See us when Nold. §. 18. It

9.

.כאשר is equivalent to