thereof shall be discovered; and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof and ye shall know that 15 I am Jehovah. Thus will I accomplish my fury upon the wall, and upon those that daubed it with untempered mortar; and will say unto them, The wall is 16 and they that daubed it are † no more even the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see for her a vision of peace, and there is no peace, saith the Lord Jehovah.

17

*

no more,

Likewise, Son of man, set thou thy face against the daughters of thy people who prophesy out of their own 18 heart; and prophesy against them, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe to the women that ‡ sew pillows to all arm-holes, and make coverings upon the head of every + H. not.

14.

* H. not.

Or, apply cushions.

—and it shall fall.— one MS. which I think right; and that

בתוכו we should read

15. · no more.—“78, ubi? Syr. Confer v. 12." Secker. 16. Even the prophets.-This verse explains the whole from v. 10. Jerusalem is the wall, which is to be destroyed, according to the sublime prophecy in v. 13; and those who daubed it with mortar unduly prepared are the false prophets.

18.

-that few.-Gussetius approves of this sense; and observes that the original word is twice opposed to placerare, here v. 20, and Eccl. iii. 7. The general sense of applying suits Job xvi. 15.

texit,

- pillows.—So the ancients, and most expositors: and no has this sense in Chaldee. Symmachus renders by vжaукóvia. See and in Syr. Ar. induit.

(written

to all arm-holes.-See Jer. xxxviii. 12: and read contractedly") with Syr. Chald. 4 MSS. one of which is ancient, and a 3d in the margin. But V. 6. Symm. read 7.

This may be figurative language, designed to express that men were taught to recline at ease on their couches, and to partake of banquets. See what Harmer says concerning the eastern mode of sitting supported by pillows. ii. 98. Carpets, matrasses, and cushions are the furniture of divans. Russel's hist. of Aleppo. 4o. 101. Sir John Chardin also men

stature, to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my 19 people, and will ye save your own souls alive? And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley,

tions a matrass with large cushions placed at the back and sides of the person who uses it as a bed. Harmer. ii. 123. See also Shaw's travels: 209: 4°. who says that several velvet or damask bolsters were placed on the carpets or matrasses in Barbary.

—coverings.—See ó. and Cast. lex.

-upon the head of every stature.-Upon every head, web, of every stature. 6. 2 MSS. The false prophetesses did this without distinction of stature, or age.

-to hunt souls.-To destroy men, to expose them to God's vengeance by lulling them into security. See Prov. vi. 26. w signifies a person,

or life.

This may be a strong eastern manner of expressing that these women hoodwinked their votaries, and kept them in spiritual darkness.

Or the covering of the head may have been of the ornamental or triumphal kind, to denote prosperity or victory; as pillows denoted tranquillity and plenty and both may have been significantly applied to the heads and arms of those who consulted the prophetesses. "The prophetesses may be represented as covering the head of those they by their prophesyings destined to death; as the head of Haman was covered when he was really in those circumstances.

I am nevertheless disposed to understand the clause in a different sense. These prophetesses did the same thing by their flattering words as would have been best expressed if they had thought fit to signify the same thing by actions only, (as the prophets sometimes did) by making bolsters for the arms, and presenting them to the Israelitish women whom they wanted to assure of the continuance of their prosperity; and embroidering handkerchiefs proper to bind over the ornaments of females in a state of honour, and afterwards putting them on their heads.” Harmer. ii. 98.

Perhaps incantations were used. See Chald. on v. 20: and we learn from 1 Sam. xxviii. 7, and from the Greek and Roman writers, that women employed themselves in magical rites. It is not impossible that every stature may refer to images of different sizes. Lanca & effigies erat, altera cerea. Hor. Sat. 1. 1. viii. 30.

Effigiem duco.

Terque hæc altaria circum

Virg. Ecl. viii. 74.

—and will ye save your own souls alive?-See Syr. Houbigant, and

and for * pieces of bread; to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by 20 your lying to my people that hearken to a lie? Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am against your + pillows wherewith ye there hunt the souls, that they may escape; and I will rend them from your arms, and will let the souls go whose soul ye hunt, that they may

Dathius. "Ye shall not save your own souls alive: ye shall die." Therefore to save souls alive is opposed to hunting souls: and, v. 19, this latter phrase is equivalent to slaying souls. Perhaps we should read

אתנה,11,20 .But see v .לכן התחיינה

"This verse should seem to mean that these women made every body easy to their ruin, for their own profit." Secker.

"The easterns had, and still have, frequent amulets and ribands of charms, which they put principally at their hands and heads. Such charms these female prophets fabricated; and, as appears, attributed to them the power of preserving the life of those who wore them, and of bringing death on their enemies." Michaelis.

19.

-pollute me.—Profane my name by making use of it as a sanction to your lies: v. 7. Mr. Lowth.

-handfuls of barley.-For the humblest presents. It is well known how customary gifts were, and are to this day, in the east. MSS. read

.שערים

-to slay the souls &c.—By pronouncing the sentence of death on the righteous, and by assuring the wicked that they should live. See v. 22. -a lie.-15, lying words. 6. Ar. 1 MS.

20.

there.-In Jerusalem. But is wanting in V. Syr. 2 MSS. -that they may escape.-Sc. from your snares.

signifies volare פרח

in Ch. Syr. See V. "Pro avolantibus:" " ut sint avolantes." Gussetius, voc. o, proposes another sense, "ut efflorescant ;" and considers the word as expressive of prosperity. 6. have eis diaoкоржσμòν, and Chald. "ut pereant:" either of which senses would suit the place, though I cannot form any plausible conjecture how they read.

-from your arms.-From the arms of you my people, who are lulled into security by the false prophetesses.

——whose soul.—Read Dw with Houb. 4 MSS. 1 originally, ó. and Syrus Hexaplaris Ambrosianus. See De Rossi.

21

escape. I will also rend your coverings, and deliver my people out of your hand; and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am 22 Jehovah. Because ye have grieved the heart of the righteous by falsehood, whom I have not grieved; and set yourselves to strengthen the hands of the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way, that I should save his 23 life; therefore ye shall no more see vanity, neither divine divinations: but I will deliver my people out of your hand, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.

1

2

3

22.

CHAPTER XIV.

Now certain men of the elders of Israel came unto me, and sat before me. And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying:

Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and have put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face: shall I be enquired of at all by them?

ye hunt.-Forte n. 1 MS.

-that I should save his life.— 1 MS." that he might live:" a reading favoured by the ancients. This and the following verse illustrate the general sense of the foregoing obscure ones, v. 17-20. 23. ye shall no more see &c.-Ye shall soon perish.

1. Now-came.—Seven MSS. read 18121 or 1871: which reading is represented by the ancients.

3. have set up their idols in their heart.-Have a strong inward disposition to idolatry.

-and have put the stumbling-block &c.—And have actually placed before them idols which they worship. See on c. vii. 19.

-shall I be enquired of at all.-Houbigant rightly reads 7777, inf. Niphal : and Mr. Dimock proposes the same reading. See c. xvi. 4.

4 Therefore speak * unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: † Every one of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet, I Jehovah will answer him that 5 cometh according to the multitude of his idols: that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart; because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

6

Therefore say unto the house of Israel :

Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Turn ye, even turn yourselves, from your idols, and turn your faces from all your 7 abominations. For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, who separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and † H. man man.

* H. with.

H. man man.

4. unto them.-ns MSS. edd. See c. iii. 27. -in his heart.—Eight MSS. ready, as in v. 3.

-him that cometh.-See the authority in Bibl. Kenn. for reading 1. But, says Houbigant, this is barbarism; and he ingeniously proposes by myself, as at v. 7: which one MS. seems to read, and which is favoured by Chald. Compare Chald. here, and at v. 7: and observe that at v. 7 the punctuation of Chald. should be, "et venerit ad prophetam ut interroget eum in verbo meo ego Dominus respondebo ei, in verbo meo." is wanting in 2 MSS. " is entirely Syriac, and so strange to a Hebrew, that the Masoretes wanted to correct it to N2, and thus corrupted the text." Eichhorn. See the Syriac version. Perhaps 2 is

.לו a gloss on

5. -that I may take &c.—Catch, surprise them, in their own consciences; when they perceive that I am acquainted with their secret idolatries.

6. —even turn yourselves.-See on c. xviii. 30: and Houbigant, who in both places reads 111, in Hophal; that the verb in Hiphil may not be without a case. Can yourselves be understood?

7. —every one.—The declaration is general, and affects the captive Israelites, those who still remained in their own land, and the proselytes who dwelt there.