4

And as for thy nativity, in the day when thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water * to supple thee; thou wast not salted † at all, nor swad5 dled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do unto thee any

6

of these things, to have compassion on thee: but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day when thou wast born. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee § wallowing in thy ** blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy †† blood, Live: [yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, 7 Live.] I caused thee to encrease as the || || bud of the field, and thou didst encrease and wax great, and camest to §§ excellent ornaments; thy breasts were fashioned,

*H. for a suppling.

H. in being salted.

H. in being swaddled.

H. on the face of the field.

SH. kicking thyself.

**H. bloods. tt H. bloods.

H. I made thee a great number.
Or, growth, or, branch.

§§ H. ornaments of ornaments.

suitable to such a descent. See Susan. 56. John viii. 44. It is the language of indignation and reproof, like

4.

Duris genuit te cautibus horrens Caucasus.

En. iv. 366.

-in the day when thou wast born.-See the same construction in the original; Gen. xl. 20.

-to supple thee.-In mollitiem. yyw in Chald. signifies lene, molle reddidit; and yw in Syr. is linivit, levit. So Kimchi, Capellus, Cast. lex. Houbigant. But Buxtorf, ad aspectum meum, that I might look on thee with favour: and Schultens, to cleanse thee: from yun Arab. removere inquinamentum. Vid. Gol. lex. & Dath. in loc.

-salted at all.—Sale modico insperso, cutis infantis densior solidiorque redditur. Galen. de san. i. 7. in Pol. Syn. Potius, ut fœtus a sorde partûs mundetur.

6. [yea I said unto thee &c.]-The four last words of this v. in the original are repeated by mistake. See 6. Ar. Syr. Houb.

17 auctam. Part. Pahul.

7. —to encrease.—Perhaps
—excellent ornaments.-Many MSS. and 4 edd. for "

read

,עדי is a second reading of עדים or עדיים It is probable that . עדים

introduced from the margin into the text.

For the two words Syr. reads

8

and thine hair grew, whereas thou wast * naked and bare. And I passed by thee and saw thee, and lo, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord Jeho9 vah, and thou becamest mine. Then I washed thee with

water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy † blood from 10 thee; and I anointed thee with oil; and clothed thee with

broidered work, and shod thee with badger's skin, and wrapped thee about with fine linen, and covered thee with 11 silk, and adorned thee with ‡ ornaments: and I put brace12 lets upon thine hands, and a chain upon thy neck. And

*H. nakedness and bareness.

† H. bloods.

H. ornament.

cities. One interpreter in Montf. Hex. has eis æpav kadλwñiσ μov,

as if the true reading were -thy breasts.—77

Houb.

-hair.-Pubes.

"yny, to the time of ornaments.

1 MS. and another originally. V. ó. Ar. Syr.

-naked.—“ Agreeably to the custom of the poorest Bedouines in the deserts." Michaelis.

8. skirt.-Ruth iii. 9.

Eurip. quoted by Grot.

Οταν δ ̓ ὑπ ̓ ἀνδρὸς χλαῖναν εὐγενοῦς πέσῃς.

Mr. Lowth thinks that v. 4, 5, 6 describe the deserted state of the Israelites in Egypt, and v. 7 their encrease there.

9. —thy blood.-" Sc. congressûs nuptialis." Secker.

10.

-

-badger's skin.-Josephus and Bochart understand wn as the name of a colour. See Hieroz. iii. xxx. p. 989. and Cast. lex. “ Shod thee with purple sandals." But see Exod. xxv. 5.

—silk.—From wn, because the threads are finely drawn. Tayl. conc. From Arab. to paint, Cast. lex. Houbigant: and therefore the learned French critic says that the word may be rendered pictis. “A veil composed of fine hair." See Michaelis.

11. ——a chain upon thy neck.-727 in Arab. sign. 15, Cast. lex. denotes " a variegated collar of wool hung for ornament about the neck of an animal."

It pectore summo

Flexilis obtorti per collum circulus auri.

Virg. Æn. v. 558.

I put a jewel in thy nostril, and ear-rings in thine ears, 13 and a goodly crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou adorned with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and of silk, and of broidered work; fine flour, and honey, and oil, didst thou eat; and thou wast † very exceedingly beautiful, and thou didst prosper into ‡ a queen. And || thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty: for it was perfect through § my comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord Jehovah.

14

15

12.

But thou hast trusted in thy beauty, and hast committed fornication because of thy renown, and hast poured out thy fornications on every one that passed by: the like to

* H. a crown of goodliness.
+ H. in much much.

iii. 21.

§ Or, the comeliness from me.

-in thy nostril.—See on Hos. ii. 13. and Bishop Lowth on Isai,

13. ——fine linen.-ww MSS. and edd.

didst thou eat.—, 12 MSS. 1 edd.

-into a queen.—I conjecture bb: which Chald. seems to favour: "and ye ruled over all kingdoms." See v. 30.

14.

-my comeliness.-In ó. two translations of the original word occur, ev evπpeñeią, èv tîj ¿paiótyti, for which Arab. has only one word, in gloria; both reading 7772, without the affix.

15. -because of thy renown.-Contra nomen tuum: Houb. a sense mentioned by the continuators of Pool's annotations: "against thy renown: to the blasting of thy honour." But this clause is best explained by the foregoing. "Thy beauty raised thy confidence; thy renown corrupted thy heart.”

-the like to which will not be again.-Chald here and v. 16: “But it was not right for thee to do thus." Which seems to be the true sense. Ô ovк σtal. 6. MS. A. п 2 MSS. I think that the genuine reading is ; "which should not have been done.” See the close of v.

the parallel phrase wy, Gen. xxxiv. 7.

16, and

After I had betrothed thee, or become thy God, v. 8, and adorned, or prospered, thee; and given thee abundance, and raised thee to high estate and reputation; v. 8-14; thou didst then commit spiritual fornication in revolting from me. v. 15.

16 which will not be again. And thou hast taken of thy garments, and made thee high places spread with diverse colours, and hast committed fornication thereupon: the like things to which have not come to pass, and will not be 17 again. Thou hast also taken thy goodly jewels of my gold and of my silver which I gave thee, and hast made thee images of men, and hast committed fornication 18 with them: and thou hast taken thy broidered garments

*

and covered them, and hast set mine oil and mine incense 19 before them. My food also which I gave thee, fine flour and oil and honey wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set 20 it before them for a sweet savour. And it hath come

21

16.

to pass, saith the Lord Jehovah, that thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them || to be devoured. Is this of thy fornications a small matter, that thou hast slain my sons; and hast delivered them up to cause them

*H. the jewels of thy goodliness.
† H. of a male.

H. a savour of rest.
H. to devour.

—high places.—Places of idolatrous worship, commonly built on

eminences.

-the like things &c.-This construction supposes the verb substan

יהיה with דבר and באות to be understood with הדברות tive, and

But I prefer reading with 6. ns

come, neither should it have been done.

: whither thou shouldest not have

That the preter and future have

this force, see Gen. xxxi. 42. Numb. xxii. 33. Judg. viii. 19. Gen. xliv. 8. Lev. x. 18, 19.

17.

-of n en.―Thus shewing thy flagitious and shameless spirit. See the note on Baal-peor. Hos. ix. 10.

19.

-thou hast even set it.-, all the ancients.

66

19, 20. -savour. And &c.-See this punctuation in ó. Ar. Houbigant and Michaelis approve of it. Perhaps, And it hath come to pass— that thou hast taken &c. For so ó. V. may be construed. Comp. v. 23, 24." Secker.

20.

21.

—thou hast borne.—, MSS. and edd.

of thy fornications.—1, MSS. and edd.

-my sons.-But 712, 4 MSS. 6. Ar. thy sons.

-to pass through.-Two MSS. supply us through the fire. As c.

to pass through the fire unto them? Also in all thine abominations, and thy fornications, thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast* naked and 23 bare, and † wast wallowing in thy blood. And it hath come to pass, after all thy wickedness, (woe woe unto 24 thee! saith the Lord Jehovah,) that thou hast also built unto thee an arched place, and hast made thee a raised 25 place in every street: at every head of the way thou hast built thy raised place, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that 26 passed by, and hast multiplied thy fornications. Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast multiplied thy forni27 cations, to provoke me to anger. Therefore, lo, I stretched +H. kicking thyself.

*H. nakedness and bareness.

H. the sons of Mizraim.

xx. 31. Here causing to pass through the fire seems equivalent to slaying, and to sacrificing to be devoured: v. 20. Compare v. 36: c. xxiii. 37. and ps. cvi. 37, 8. See Robertson, clavis Pentateuchi, Lev. xviii. 21. and Tayl. conc. voc. nn; whether the phrase imports a burning alive, or only a rite of lustration and consecration. There is a very remarkable passage in Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. L. 1. §. 88. p. 72, and marg. 75. ed. Hudson. Μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο πυρκαϊὰς πρὸ τῶν σκηνῶν γενέσθαι κελεύσας,ἐξάγει τὸν λεὼν τὰς φλόγας ὑπερθρώσκοντα, τῆς ὁσιώσεως τῶν μιασμάτων ἕνεκα. "And after this, having ordered that fires should be made before the tents, he brings out the people to leap over the flames, for the purifying of their pollutions."

22.

24.

-and wallowing.-nooranp1, "and wallowing," 6. MS. A. Syr. -in thy blood.-7072, "in thy bloods:" 9 MSS.

-a raised place.— answers to fornix; and 1 v. 16, and 7 here, may include the idea of lupanar; because impure practices were frequent in high places dedicated to the worship of idols.

25.

—at every head of the way. w 6. 1 MS. v. 31. " at the head of every way:" which seems right.

--thy fornications.—Here and v. 26, 29, MSS. and some edd. have

תזנותיך

26. —the Egyptians.-They were remarkable for many gross idolatries.