the Israelitish stock; but it is difficult to see the pertinency of this meaning here. (3.) (literally "a saying," slightly different from 7, i. q., dictum) would give a very lively figure in the sense of watchword or battle-cry, if this could be sustained by any other passage; but the term rather applies to a prolonged communication by word of mouth than to a single exclamatory utterance. The natural import of the words themselves, their manner of collocation, the force of the parallelism, and the general drift of the context, seem best to suit this sentiment: Sworn are the inflictions threatened, that is, the vengeance thou dost propose to execute is sure as if vowed. The interlude follows, allowing the mind to dwell upon this emphatic idea.

The

Strophe VI resumes the description of the natural commo tions emblematic of the exode and its attendant marvels. word nin, "gullies," as the indirect object of the verb pa, "thou wouldst [didst] split," is without the instrumental prefix , as being likewise the immediate effect of the drenching tempest or flood here used as a symbol of the divine power. They referred to, although destitute of the article, is not the earth in general, but the region that became the theater of the theophanic displays.

Verse 10. In the term ", "mounts," likewise anarthrous, there seems to be a special allusion to the tremor figuratively ascribed in many similar passages to Sinai on occasion of the giving of the Law; indeed, that awful scene almost literally corresponded to the tersely emphatic language here employed, "Saw thee would writhe, mountains," as if it were said, At thy manifestation the very hills shook with fear. The thunder clap, whose divine tread quakes the hill-tops, is accompanied by the deluging shower, that pours adown their chasms to join the sea, whose bosom heaves responsive to the sounding surge, tossing up its waves as if at once in welcome and in praise.

Verse 11. The very heavens sympathize with the sublime enactment; the celestial orbs of day and night check their high career at the absorbing spectacle, like wondering peasants gazing from their doors at a passing procession. One can scarcely refrain from comparing this splendid imagery with the unexampled prodigy recorded of Joshua, itself apparently

an extract from some similar poetic account of "the wars of Jehovah," (Joshua x, 12-14; compare Numbers xxi, 14.) The D", "arrows," and ", "lance," are evidently the thunderbolts, that is, flashes of lightning, whose gleaming track the eclipsed luminaries are represented as watching with breathless awe. In "would stalk" or "go swiftly," there is an idiomatic suppression of the relative (see Nordheimer's Hebrew Grammar, § 907 sq.) not apprehended by most translators.

Strophe VII assumes a more majestic tone, or rather reverts to the personal vindication by Jehovah of his chosen people in these tokens of his power. Verse 12. The Gentiles (a) trodden under foot in the victorious progress of the great King are, first, the Egyptians, then the Amalekites of the desert, and finally, the Canaanitish inhabitants of the promised land, (7) whose heathenish practices and opposition were the cause of the divine resentment, (, N.)

Verse 13. The object of this onslaught of divine interposition was the rescue of the Israelites, here called in general by the royal epithet of the anointed ones (, used collectively in the singular in opposition with of the parallel clause,)

from the straits into which they were at various points brought. Its execution is described as a summary dashing out of the brains of the ringleaders (by a play upon the word z, which at once refers to breaking the skull, and signifies a chieftain) of the enemy, (n, “house [family] of the wicked man," as if it were said, apostate inhabitants,) alluding perhaps to the signal fate of such kings as (Pharoah) Og, Jabin, and others. The last clause of the verse is somewhat enigmatical from the continuation of the metaphor contained in the preceding , "head," (compare the phrase-a capital punishment,) and the blending with it of the previous figure of a sweeping torrent or freshet. The infinitive construction, Piel ning, "to raze,' is indicative of the manner in which the foregoing act is performed, like the Greek participle in connection with a finite verb, i. q., "by demolishing." It is thus equivalent to the participle, no connecting prefix being necessary, (for either would give a different sense.) It is in fact used like the infinitive absolute in continuation of a finite verb; and Maurer and Henderson have confounded it with that form, which however would be in (both in Kal and Piel,) the peculiarity of pointFOURTH SERIES, VOL. XIII.—6

or

ה

ing being due to the fact that is a verb both Lamed-He and Ayin-guttural (Ayin-Resh.) The explanation of ning as an anomalous infinitive absolute Kal with the final hardened into, can only be sustained by such rare instances as ning, Isaiah xxii, 13, and nix, Isaiah xlii, 20; but both these are peculiarities employed for the same of paronomasia with the associated verbs. The difference is, perhaps, not important, except that is often used in Piel but never in Kal, and this gives an intensive sense, utterly sweeping away, eminently appropriate here. The term ", "foundation," e. g., of a structure, as being carried away by the flood, introduces so incongruous a metaphor in connection with the following, "nape," that some interpreters are inclined to understand, "a rock," either pointing, (Henderson inaccurately adduces Dy for, Nehemiah iii, 5, as a case in point,) or adopting the slenderly supported reading into the text; while others render 7, as high as, extracting the not very apt sense, "razing the foundation [of the house] to the height of a man's neck;" that is, really leaving the foundation standing, and demolishing only the upper part of the building. On the contrary, we apprehend the force is represented as a stream undermining the basis of the edifice, and causing the whole to fall in ruins, (compare Matthew vii, 27.) The parallelism explains the "laying bare" as corresponding with the "crushing,” that is, a complete destruction; the "foundation" answers to the "house," that is, the blow is aimed at the homestead or seat of the guilty; and the "head" or "neck" indicates that the chief or arch offenders are to be reached: the head is to be clean severed from the shoulders on which it stands. The interlude lends emphasis to the climactic strain.

Strophe VIII continues the military figure: the victorious Deliverer thrusts through the prematurely exultant oppressors with the lance wrenched from their grasp, and rides in triumph over their routed phalanx, like the swell of the mighty deep.

Verse 14. The pronominal suffix in 1 and (Keri) refers to the enemy collectively as an army, the captains of which are individualized in the latter term; while, as in the preceding verse, indicated the despoiling of the very flower of their chivalry. The same idiomatic omission of the subject relative, noticed in verse 11, occurs in, which literally

denotes the whirlwind swoop of a tempest, that scatters (; where, in the singular suffix, the prophet puts himself in his nation's place) everything in its path. The ungodly character of the malicious but insidious foe is delineated in the next clause, where , "poor one," is used in the devout sense (compare Matthew v, 3-5) so characteristic in the Psalms. In the rendering "is but to devour," I have endeavored to hit the peculiar force of the prolonged particle of comparison in 5-in, “as (it were) to eat up.'

Verse 15. The verb has almost the transitive force of directing in a pathway," and hence (the divine cavalry of verse 8) is put directly as its object without any preposition. The , or "sea," here is the serried ranks of battle, with an allusion perhaps to the passage of the Red Sea, the foam () of whose tumbling vortex (7, huge billows) was all that was left to mark the track of Jehovah's exterminating car.

Strophe IX. As the cry of the slaughtered vanquished mingles with the surge-like roar of the field of strife, the seer listens with appalled senses; his faculties are palsied with a feeling of personal danger, while he "stands still and sees the deliverance of God." There are no marks of the abrupt transition which many commentators find here from a contemplation of the divine achievements in ancient times to the impending calamities of the present conjuncture; the rapt poet views the oncoming invasion of heathen Babylon as but another act in the grand drama of Jehovah's encounter with his people's adversaries, and he shudders in mute dismay as he finds that he is himself to be involved amid the spectacle. In this way there is a natural recurrence to the opening sentiments of the ode, (verse 2.)

Verse 16. The prophet as yet hears only the still distant rumbling of the approaching storm, but all his physical powers take instant alarm: his bowels (2) show their quick sympathy with his emotions, (referring to the spasmodic contraction of the abdominal muscles through sudden fright;) his blanched lips are nervously convulsed with fear; the firm, bony structure of his very body appears to break down with ricketty caries; his tottering limbs refuse their customary support to the fainting heart. He is struck dumb with terror and amazement at the omens that already present themselves, and in which he,

with inspired certainty, is enabled to read the fate of his nation-the direful invasion of the Chaldeans. The relative

with the subjunctive denotes simply the result. The prefix in 3 is 3 "auctoris."

Strophe X depicts the desolation that this hostile incursion (with the ensuing captivity) would occasion, singling out its most striking features to a rural people, under the figure of a general blight upon the most permanent and regular agricultural sources of prosperity, (the fig orchard, the vinery, and the olive-yard, as well as the annual crops,) and desolation of the pastoral means of wealth, (the sheepcote and the cattle-pen :) in short, absolute and universal famine should supervene. There is no occasion to render the introductory - of verse 17, "Although," as most interpreters do.

Strophe XI. The prophet consoles himself, (and so, representatively, every faithful soul,) amid this gloomy prospect of national affairs, with the fact that Jehovah is yet the protector of his true people, and that he will not give them over (eventually and fully) to the will of their enemies, but will support them in the severest trial and, at length, rescue them; in a word, he seeks relief from outward trouble in spiritual comforts. Lightened by this thought, his depressed spirit bounds over the tops of the mountains of sacred joy with the agility of the light-footed deer. Some taken in verse 19 to stand for

nin, (as in Psalm xviii, 34,) in the sense of securing one in the citadels of the country; but this is arbitrary and inconsistent with the context, which clearly indicates the utter subjugation of Judea, and is especially incongruent with the figure of the roving hind, (, the female being taken as the more delicate and fleet; not the caprea, or "wild goat," as some imagine, which, although appropriate to the mention of mountains, is designated by other terms, as is likewise the "gazelle.") These symbols of exuberant activity are meant as a contrast with the physical prostration expressed in verse 16.

The subscription contains the remainder of the musical notations which are elsewhere found only in the title of compositions like this. The force of the prefix in 3 is doubtful, whether it be dedicatory "to" or directory "for;" the latter sense seems preferable. We venture the suggestion that these directions may be added (either by the author or the first