Commentary on the Holy Bible

Verse 7. Let them show unto them — "Let them declare unto us."] For raS lamo, unto them, the Chaldec reads vh laim, unto us. The Septuagint read DD'? lachern, unto you; which is preferable to the reading of the text. But nh lamo, and ub lanu, are frequently mistaken one for the other, see chap. x. 29; Psa. l.cxx. 7; Ixiv. 6.

Verse 8. Fear ye not] iriTI tirehu never occurs. Perhaps it should be INTn tireu,fear ye. Two MSS. read im"n tirehu, and one of mine nnn iaharu.

afraid: ^ have not I told thee from oiymp. xvii. i. that time, and have declared it? ^nmie Pompiui, ' ye are even my witnesses. Is R- Roman., 4 there a God beside me? yea '' there is no ' God; I know not any.

9 They ™ that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their " delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own ivitnesses; " they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.

10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image ^that is profitable for nothing?

1 1 Behold, all his fellows shall be '^ ashamed; and the workmen, they are of men: let them

Verses 9, 10. That they may he ashamed. Who hath formed a god — " That every one may be ashamed, that he hath formed a god"] The Bodleian MS., one of the first extant for its antiquity and authority, instead of 'O mi, at the beginning of the tenth verse, has '3 hi, which greatly clears up the construction of a very obscure passage. Doederlein approves of this reading. The Septuagint likewise closely connect in construction the end of ver. 9 with the beginning of ver. 10; and wholly omit the interrogative '3 mi, which embarrasses the sentence: Aio'^uv^rjo'ovTai oi I'Xaffo'ovTES ©Sov, xai ^XujpovTE; navrs^ avuspsXi]' " But they shall be confounded that make a god; and they who engrave unprofitable things;" agreeably to the reading of the MS. above mentioned.

Verse 11. His fellows] V\2r\ chaberaiv: hut riT^! abadaiv, his servants or worshippers, is the reading of one of De Rossi''s MSS., and of the Chaldee.

And the u'orkmen., they are of men — " Even the workmen themselves shall blush"] I do not know that any one has ever yet interpreted these words to any tolerably good sense: CDlf^O non □"iS'ini vecharashim hemmah meadam. The Vulgate and our translators, have rendered them very fairly, as they are written and pointed in the text: Fabri enim sunt ex hominibus. " And the workmen they are of men." Out of which the commentators have not been able to extract any thing worthy of the prophet. I have given another explanation of the place; agreeable enough to the context, if it can be deduced from tlie words themselves. I presume that OIN adam, rubuit, may signify erulmit, to be red through shame, as well as from any other cause; though I cannot produce any example of it in that particular sense; and the word in the text I would point aiXD menddam; or if any one should object to the irregularity of the number, I would read Q"31S0 meoddamim. But I rather think that the irregularity of the construction has been the cause of the obscurity, and has given occasion to the mistaken punctuation. The singular is sometimes put for the plural. See Psa. Ixviii. 31; and the participle for the future tense, see Isa. xl. 11. — L

12' The smith ' with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashionctli it with hammers, and worketh it witli tlie strength of his arms: yea, he is hmigry, and his strength faileth: he drinkcth no water, and is faint.

13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man: that it may remain in the house.

14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he ' strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.

1 5 Then shall it be for a man to biu-n: for he vf\\\ take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and faileth down thereto.

16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast,

Verse 12. The smith with the tongs, ^c. — "The smith cutteth off a portion of iron"] ^yJ'a meatslsed, Participium Pihel of IVJ' atsad, to cut; still used in that sense in the Arabic. See Simonis Lex. Heb. The Stptuagint and Syriac take the word in this form: but they render it sharpeneth the iron. See Castell. Lex. in voce.

The sacred \\Titers are generally large and eloquent upon the subject of idolatry; they treat it with great severity, and set forth the absurdity of it in the strongest light. But this passage of Isaiah, ver. 12-20, far exceeds any thing that ever was written upon the subject, in force of argument, energy of expression, and elegance of composition. One or two of the apocryphal wTiters have attempted to imitate the prophet, but with very ill success; Wisd. xiii. 11—19; xv. 7, &c.; Baruch vi., especially the latter, who, injudiciously dilating his matter, and introducing a number of minute circumstances, has very much weakened the force and effect of his invective. On the contrary a heathen author, in the ludicrous way, has, in a line or two, given idolatry one of the severest strokes it ever received: —

Glim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum.

Cum faber incertus, scanmum faceretne Priapum,

Maluit esse Deum. Deus inde ego.

makelh a god, even his graven image: he faileth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

IS "They have not known nor understood: for ■' he hath "■ shut their eyes, that they can not see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

1 9 And none ' considereth >■ in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire: yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to ^ the stock of a tree?

20 He feedeth on ashes: ^ a deceived lieart hath turned him aside, that he caimot deliver his soul,/ nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

21 Remember these, 0 Jacob and Israel; for '' thou art my servant: I have formed

" Formerly I was the stump of a fig tree, a useless log; when the carpenter, after hesitating whether to make me a god or a stool, at last determined to make me a god. Thus I became a god!"

From the tenth to the seventeenth verse, a most beautiful strain of irony is carried on against idolatry. And we may naturally think that every idolater, who either read or heard it, must have been for ever ashamed of his own devices. — L.

Verse 14. He heweth him down — "He heweth down"] For ^\'^J^) lichroth, the Sepluagint and Vulgate read mjj carath or mj' yichroth.

Verse 16. With part — " And with part"] Ticentythree MSS., the Sepluagint, and Vulgate add the conjunction 1 vau, and, 7i'l veal.

Verse 17. He faileth doivn unto it"] There were four forms of adoration used among the Hebrews: 1. ninnBTI Hishtachavah, The prostration of the whole body. 2. lip Kadad, The bowing of the head. 3. ^^^^2 Cara, The bending of the upper part of the body down to the knees. 4. "Jl^ Barach, Bowing tlie knee, or kneeling. See on chap. xlix. 23.

Averse 18. He hath shut their eyes— "Their eyes are closed up"] The Septuagint, Chatdce, and Vulgate, for na tacli, read ino tachu. See note on cliap. vi. 10.

Verse 20. He feedeth on ashes] He feedeth on that which affordcth no nourishment; a proverbial expres-

23 " Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord liath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.

24 Thus saith the Lord, 'thy Redeemer, and " he that formed thee from the womb, I a?n the Lord that maketh all things; ''that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that

sion for using ineffectual means, and bestowing labour to no purpose. In the same sense Hosea says, ■' Eptiraim feedeth on wind." Chap. xii. 1.

Verse 22. / have blotted out, as a thief: cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a eloud, thy sins — " I have made thy transgressions vanish away hke a cloud, and thy sins like a vapour"] Longinus admired the sublimity of the sentiment, as well as the harmony of the numbers, in the following sentence of Demosthenes:

vov ffapfX^Eiv Eironjo'sv uCirE^ vEipoj. " This decree made the danger then hanging over the city pass away like a cloud." Probably Isaiah alludes here to the smoke rising up from the sin-offering, dispersed speedily by the wind, and rendered invisible. He who offered his sacrifice aright was as sure that the sin for which he offered it was blotted out, as that the smoke of the sacrifice was dispersed by the wind, and was no longer discernible.

Verse 24. By myself ] TWr/ee^j MSS., six ancient, confirm the reading of the Xeri, \"\sa ineittai.

Verse 27. That saith to Ike deep. Be dry—^' Who saith to the deep, Be thou wasted"] Cyrus took Babylon by laying the bed of the Euphrates dry, and leading his army into the city by night through the empty channel of the river. This remarkable circumstance, in which the event so exactly corresponded with the prophecy, was also noted by Jeremiah, chap. 1. 38, li. 36.

" A drought shall be upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: — I will lay her sea dry; And I will scorch up her springs." It is proper here to give some account of the means and method by which the stratagem of Cyrus was effected

25 That ' frustrateth the tokens Numa; Pompihi, t- of the liars, and maketh diviners ^- ^°°"^"- *' mad; that turneth wise men backward, 'and maketh their knowledge foolish;

26 "■ That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shall be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the "decayed places thereof;

27 ° That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

28 That saith of Cjtus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, p Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

diminish the inundation, and to carry off the waters, two canals were made by Nebuchadnezzar a hundred mUes above the city; the first on the eastern side called Naharmalca, or the Royal River, by which the Euphrates was let into the Tigris; the other on the western side, called Pallacopas, or Naharaga, (iZIJN inj nahar agam. The river of the pool,) by which the redundant waters were carried into a vast lake, forty miles square, contrived, not only to lessen the inundation, but for a reservoir, with sluices, to water the barren country on the Arabian side. Cyrus, by turning the whole river into the lake by the Pallacopas, laid the channel, where it ran through the city, almost dry; so that his army entered it, both above and below, by the bed of the river, the water not reaching above the middle of the thigh. By the great quantity of water let into the lake, the sluices and dams were destroyed; and being never repaired afterwards, the waters spread over the whole country below, and reduced it to a morass, in which the river is lost. Ingens modo et navigabilis, inde tenuis rivus, despectus emoritur; et nusquam manifesto exitit efiluit, ut alii omnes, sed deficit. " And thus a navigable river has' been totally lost, it having no exit from this morass. No wonder then that the geographical face of this country is completely changed;" Mel.4. iii. 8; Herod, i. 185, 190; Xenophon, Cyrop. vii.; Arrian vii.

Verse 28. That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd — " Wlio saith to Cyrus, Thou art my shepherd"] Pastor metis es; Vulg. The true reading seems to be nns ■J'"l roi attak; the word HDN attah, has probably been dropped out of the text. The same word is lost out of the text, Psa. cxix. 57. It is supplied in the Septuagint by the word Ei, thou art.

Saymg to Jeriisalctn] For TOnSi velemor, the Septuagint and Vulgate read irDISH haomer.

the melting of the snows on the mountains of Armenia, lirushalayim, before; the preposition is necessary, and like the Nile, overflows the countrv. In order to I the Vulgate seems to read so. — Houhigant 178 " ( 13* ^

That sailh of Cyrus, He is, or thou art, my shepherd— Saying to Jerusalem, " Thou shalt be built;" and to the temple, " Thy foundation shall be laid." — There is a remarkable beauty and propriety in this

1. Cyrus is called God's shepherd. Shepherd was an epithet which Cyrus took to himself; and what he gave to all good kings.

3. This Cyrus should say to the temple: " Thy foundation shall be laid." Not — thou shalt be built. The fact is, only the foundation was laid in the days of Cvrus, the Aminomlcs having prevented the building; nor was it resumed till the second year of Darius, one of his successors. Tliere is often a precision in the expressions of the prophets which is as honourable ^ to truth, as it is unnoticed by careless readers.

Prophecy concerning Cyrus, the first king of the Persians. Every obstruction shall he removed out of his way, and the treasures taken from his enemies shall be immense, 1-3. To whom, and on what account, Cyrus was indebted for his wonderful success, 4-6. The prophet refutes the absurd opinion of the Persians, that there were two supreme beings, an evil and a good one, represented by light and darkness, here declared to be only the operation of the One true God, 7; and makes a transition to the still greater work of God displayed in the dispensation of the Gospel, 8. Great impiely of those who call in question the mysterious providence of God towards his children, 9-12. The remaining pari of this chapter, interspersed with strictures on the absurdity of idolatry and some allusions to the dark lying oracles of the heathens, may partly refer to the deliverance begun by Cyrus, but chiefly to the salvation by the Messiah, lohich, it is declared, shall he of universal extent and everlasting duration, 13-25.

I will loose the loins of kings, to open before hinm the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

Verse 1. Loose the loins of kings — " Ungird the loins of kings"] See the note on chap. v. 27. Xenophon gives the following list of the nations conquered by Cyrus: the Syrians, Ass3rrians, ^^abians, Cappadocians, both the Phrygians, Lydians, Carians, Phoenicians, Babylonians. He moreover reigned over the Bactrians, Indians, CUicians, the Sacs, Paphlagones, and Mariandyni. — Cyrop., lib. i. p. 4, Edit. Hutchinson, Quarto. All these kingdoms he acknowledges, in his decree for the restoration of the Jews, to have beeft given to him by Jehovah, the God of heaven. Ezra i. 2.

To open before him the two leaved gates, <^c. — " That I may open before him the valves; and the gates shall not be shut"] The gates of Babylon within the city leading from the.streets to the river, were providentially left open, when Cyrus's forces entered the city in the night through the channel of the river, in the general disorder occasioned by the great feast which was then celebrated; otherwise, says Herodotus, i. 191, the Persians would have been shut up in the bed of the river, and taken as in a net, and all destroyed. And the gates of the palace were opened imprudently by the king's orders, to inquire what was the cause of the tumult without; when the two parties under Gobrias and Gadatas rushed in, got possession of the palace, and slew the king. — Xenoph., Cyrop. vii., p. 528.

make the crooked places Oiymp. xvii. 1. straight: " I will break in pieces Num* plTm^iii, the gate^ of brass, and cut in R- Ruman., 4 sunder the bars of iron:

3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, '^that

Verse 2. The crooked places — "The mountains''] For Ll3'inn haduriin, crooked places, a word not easily accounted for in this place, the Septuagint read HD'Tin harartm, ra opr;, the mountains. Two MSS. have iZ3'"nn hadarim, without the 1 van, which is hardly distinguishable from the reading of the Septuagint. The Divine protection that attended Cyrus, and rendered his expedition against Babylon easy and prosperous, is finely expressed by God's going before him, and making the mountains level. The image is highly poetical: —

At vos, qua veniet, tumidi subsiditc montes, Et faciles curvis vallibus este via;.

Ovid, Amor. ii. 16. " Let the lofty mountains fall down, and make level paths in the crooked valleys."

The gates of brass — " The valves of brass"] Abydenus, npud, Eiiseh. Pr2ep. Evang. ix. 41, says, that the wall of Babylon had brazen gates. And Herodotus, i, 179, more particularly: "In the wall all round there are a hundred gates, all of brass; and so in like manner are the sides and the lintels." The gates likewise within the city, opening to the river from the several streets, were of brass; as were those also of the temple of Belus. — Herod, i., 180, 181.

Verse 3. I will give thee the treasures of darkness] Sardes and Babylon, when taken by Cjtus, were the wealthiest cities in the world. Crcesus, celebrated

A. M. cir. 3292. ^j^^y mayest know that I, the 0iymp.xvii."i. Lord, which f call thee by thy Numi~iii, name, am the God of Israel. R. Roman., 4. ^ Yox ^ Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast ' not known me.

5 l^am. the Lord, and ' there is none else, there is no God beside me: ™ I girded thee,

beyond all the kings of that age for his riches, gave up his treasures to Cyrus, with an exact account in writing of the whole, containing the particulars with \vhich°each wagon was loaded w^hen they were carried away; and they were delivered to Cyrus at the palace of Babylon. — Xenoph. Cyrop. lib.vii. p. 503,515,540. Pliny gives the following account of the wealth taken by Cyrus in Asia. Jam Cyrus, devicta Asia, pondo xxxiv. millia auri invenerat; pra;ter vasa aurea, aurumque factum, et in eo folia, ac platanum, vitemque. Qua victoria argenti quingenta millia talentorum reportavit; et craterem Semiraraidis, cujus pondus quindecim talents colligebat. Talentum autem ^gyptium pondo 1x_nx. patere 1. capere Varro tradit. — Nat. Hist, xxxiii. 15. " When Cyrus conquered Asia, he found thirty-four thousand pounds weight of gold, besides golden vessels and articles in gold; and leaves, {folia, perhaps soUa, bathing vessels. Hoi.,) a plane, and vine tree, (of gold.) By which victory he carried VLViaj fifty thousand talents of silver; and the cup of Semiramis, the weight of which was fifteen talents. The Egyptian talent, according to Varro, was eighty pounds." This cup was the crater, or large vessel, out of which they filled the drmking cups at great entertainments. Evidently it could not be a drinking vessel, which, according to what Varro and Pliny say, must have weighed 1,200 pounds!

The gold and silver estimated by weight in this account, being converted into pounds sterling, amount to one hundred and twenty-six millions two hundred and twenty-four thousand pounds. — Brerewood, De Ponderibus, cap. x.

Treasures of darkness may refer to the custom of burying their jewels and money under the ground in their house floors, fearing robbers.

Verse 7. I form the light, and create darkness] It w.as the great principle of the Magian religion, which prevailed in Persia in the time of Cyrus, and in which probably he was educated, that there are two supreme, co-eternal, and independent causes always acting in opposition one to the other; one the author of all good, the other of all evil. The good being they called LIGHT; the evil being, darkness. That when light had the ascendant, then good and happiness prevailed among men; when darkness had the superiority, then evil and misery abounded. An opinion that contradicts the clearest evidence of our reason, which plainly leads us to the acknowledgment of one only Supreme Being, infinitely good as well as powerful. With reference to this absurd opinion, held bv the person to

6 " Ihat the)' may know irom Numas PompiUi, the rising of the sun, and from ^ ^°°"" ' * the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.

7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and ° create evil: I the Lord do all these thino;s.

whom this prophecy is addressed, God, by his prophet, in the most significant terms, asserts his omnipotence and absolute supremacy: —

" I am Jehovah, and none else; Forming light, and creating darkness; Making peace, and creating evU: I Jehovah am the author of all these things." Declaring that those powers whom the Persians held to be the original authors of good and evd to mankind, representing them by light and darkness, as their proper emblems, are no other than creatures of God, the instruments which he employs in his government of the world, ordained or permitted by him in order to execute his wise and just decrees; and that there is no power, cither of good or evil, independent of the one supreme God, infinite in power and in goodness.

There were, however, some among the Persians whose sentiments were more moderate as to this matter; who held the evil principle to be in some measure subordinate to the good; and that the former would at length be wholly subdued by the latter. See Hyde, De Relig. Vet. Pers. cap. xxii.

That this opinion prevailed among the Persians as early as the time of Cyrus we may, I think, infer not only from this passage of Isaiah, which has a manifest reference to it, but likewise from a passage in Xenophon's Cyropsedia, where the same doctrine is applied to the human mind. Araspes, a noble young Persian, had fallen in love with the fair captive Panthea, committed to his charge by Cyrus. After all his boasting that he was superior to the assaults of that passion, he yielded so far to it as even to threaten violence if she would not comply with his desires. Awed by the reproof of CjTUS, fearing his displeasure, and having by cool reflection recovered his reason; in his discourse with him on this subject he says: " O Cyrus, I have certainly two souls; and this piece of phUosophy I have learned from that wicked sophist. Love. For if I had but one soul, it would not be at the same time good and evil; it would not at the same time approve of honourable and base actions; and at once desire to do, and refuse to do, the very same things. But it is plain that I am animated by two souls; and when the good soul prevails, I do what is virtuous; and when the evil one prevails, I attempt what is vicious. But now the good sou] prevails, having gotten you for her assistant, and has clearly gained the superiority." Lib. vi.

Nuraas Pompiiii, pour down nghteoiisness; let the ^- ^°°''"- *■ earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it.

9 Wo unto him that striveth with i his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. ' Shall the clay say to him that fashionelh it. What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

put for war and its attendant miseries. I will procure peace for the Israelites, and destroy Babylon by tvar. I form light, and create darkness. Now, as darkness is only the privation of light, so the evil of rvar is the privation o[ peace.

Verse 8. Dropdown, ye heavens] The eighty-fifth psalm is a very elegant ode on the same subject with this part of Isaiah's prophecies, the restoration of Judah from captivity; and is, in the most beautiful part of it, 4 manifest imitation of this passage of the prophet: —

Psa. l.xxxv. 10—14. See the notes on these verses.

These images of the dew and the rain descending from heaven and making the earth fruitful, employed by the prophet, and some of those nearly of the same kind which are used by the psahnist, may perhaps be primarily understood as designed to set forth in a splendid manner the happy state of God's people restored to their country, and flourishing in peace and plenty, in piety and virtue; but justice and salvation, mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, and glory dwelling in the land, cannot with any sort of propriety, in the one or the other, be interpreted as the consequences of that event; they must mean the blessings of the great redemption by Messiah.

Let the earth open, &c.] Jonathan, in his Targum, refers this to the resurrection of the dead; the earth shall be opened, N'jT'n JlITl veyechon mcileiya, and the dead shall revive. A plain proof that the ancient Jews believed in a future state, and acknowledged the resurrection of the dead.

Let them bring forth salvation — " Let salvation produce her fruit"'] For n3"l vaiyiphru, the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac read m3"l vaiyiphrah; and one MS. has a rasure close after the latter 1 vau, which probably was D he at first.

What begettest thou? or to the ^^ M. ^ir- 3292 woman. What hast thou brought oiymp. xVili

11 Thus saith the Lord, the ^ ^"'"''"- *■ Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning ^ my sons, and concerning ' the work of my hands command ye me.

1 2 " I have made the earth, and ' created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and ™ all their host have I commanded.

Verse 9. Wo unto him that striveth with his Maker " Wo unto him that contendeth with the power that formed him"] The prophet answers or prevents the objections and cavils of the unbelieving Jews, disposed to murmur against God, and to arraign the wisdom and justice of his dispensations in regard to them; in permitting them to be oppressed by their enemies, and in promising them deliverance instead of preventing their captivity. St. Paul has borrowed the image, and has applied it to the like purpose with equal force and elegance: " Kay, but, O man! who art thou that repliest against God! Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it. Why hast thou made me thus 1 Hath not the potter power over the clay, out of the same lump to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour T' Rom. i.\. 20, 21. This is spoken, says Kimchi, against the king of Babylon, who insulted the Most High, bringing forth the sacred vessels, drinking out of them, and magnifying himself against God.

Or thy work. He hath no hands — " And to the workman. Thou hast no hands"] The Si/riac renders, as if he had read, "["T' Sj>3 'nTI x'?! veto hayithi phcal yadeycha, "neither am I the work of thy hands;" the Septuagint, as if they had read, "J^ CZJ-T j'Nl rhi)3 nSi veto phaalta veeyn yadim lecha, " neither hast thou made me; and thou hast no hands." But the faidt seems to be in the transposition of the two pronouns; for "iVai uphoolcha, read lS;7i31 uphoolo: and for ^'l lo, read "jS techa. So Houbigant corrects it; reading also l'7j'3l uphoolo; which last correction seems not altogether necessary. The Septuagiiit, in M.SS. Pachom. and I. D. II. have it thus, xui to gpyov oux sj^cij ysipaj, which favours the reading here proposed.

Verse 1 1. Ask me of things to come — " And he that formeth the things which are to come"] I read liTl veyotser, without the 1 vau suffixed; from the Septuagint, who join it in construction with the following word, 0 •jroirja'as Ta svs^-^OjXEva..

"Do ye question me." — 'JlSxtl'n tishaluni, Chald. recte; prscedit D tati; et sic forte legerunt reliqui Intt. — Seeker. "The Chaldee has, more properly, 'jnNUTi tishaluni, with a n tau preceding; and thus the other interpreters probably read." The learned bishop therefore reads the passage thus: —

" Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel; And he that formeth the things which are to come;

oiymp. xvn.i. righteousness, and 1 will y direct Num^pTHUi, aU his ways: he shall ^ build

14 Thus saith the Lord, ^ The labour of Eg}'pt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; ° in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, ^ Surely God is in thee; and * there is none else, there is no God.

15 Verily thou art a God f that hidest thyself, 0 God of Israel, the Savioui-.

Do ye question me concerning my children? And do ye give me directions concerning the work of my hands V

Verse 13. / have raised him up] This evidently refers to Cyrus, and to what he did for the Jews; and informs us by whom he was excited to do it.

Verse 14. The labour of Egypt — " The wealth of Egypt."] This seems to relate to the future admission of the Gentiles into the Church of God. Compare Psa. Ixviii. 32; Ixxii. 10; chap. Ix. 6-9. And perhaps these particular nations may be named, by a metonymy common in all poetry, for powerful and wealthy nations in general. See note on chap. Ix. 1.

The Sabeans, men of stature — " The Sabeans, tall of stature"] That the Sabeans were of a more majestic appearance than common, is particularly remarked by Agatharchides, an ancient Greek historian quoted by Bochart, Phaleg, ii. 26, to. ffufjuxTa sdrt twv xaToixouv- T£jv a|ioXoywT£pa. So also the Septuagint understand it, rendering it mh^zg u^)yr)Xol, "tall men." And the same phra.se, mo "i'JX anshey middah, is used for persons of extraordinary stature. Num. xiii. 32, and 1 Chron. xx. 6.

They shall make supplicalion unto thee — " They shall in suppliant guise address thee"] The conjunction 1 vau is supplied by the ancient Aversions, and confirmed by fifteen MSS. of KennicotCs, {seven ancient,) thirteen oi De Rossi's, and six editions, ySxi veelayich. Three MSS. (two ancient) omit the 1 vau before T^N elayich at the beginning of the line.

Verse 15. Verily thou art a God that htdest thyself] At present, from the nations of the world.

0 God of Israel, the Saviour] WhWe thou revealest thyself to the Israelites and savest them.

ashamed"] The reader cannot but observe the sudden

transition from tlie solemn adoration of the secret and

mysterious nature of God's counsels in rea-ard to his

also confounded, all of them: they Oiymp. xvii. 1 shall go to confusion together Num^PompiUi, that are s makers of idols. ^ ^"""^ ■ ■*■

17 ^But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

18 For thus saith the Lord ' that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: •^ I am the Lord; and there is none else.

19 I have not spoken in ^ secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: ^ I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

people, to the spkited denunciation of the confusion of idolaters, and the final destruction of idolatry; contrasted with the salvation of Israel, not from temporal captivity, but the eternal salvation by the Messiah, strongly marked by the repetition and augmentation of the phrase, to the ages of eternity. But there is not only a sudden change in the sentiment, the change is equally observable in the construction of the sentences; which, from the usual short measure, runs out at once into two distichs of the longer sort of verse. See Prelim. Dissert, p. 66, &c. There is another instance of the same kind, and very like to this, of a sudden transition in regard both to the sentiment and construction in chap. xlii. 17.

" His adversaries"] This line, to the great diminution of the beauty of the distich, is imperfect in the present text: the subject of the proposition is not particularly expressed, as it is in the line following. The version of the Septuagint happily supplies the word that is lost; 01 avTixei(j,Evoi kutu, " his adversaries," the original word was riS tsaraiv. — L.

Verse 18. He formed it to be inhabited — " For he formed it to be inhabited"] An ancient MS. has '3 ki before r\2'Z^ lashebcth; and so the ancient Versions.

Verse 19. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth] In opposition to the maimer in which the heathen oracles gave their answers, which were generally delivered from some deep and obscure cavern. Such was the seat of the Cumean Sybil; —

Excismn Euboicae latus ingens rupis in antrum. ViRG. JEn. vi. 12. " A cave cut in the side of a huge rock." Such was that of the famous oracle at Delphi; of which, says Strabo, lib. ix., tpadt 5' sivai <ro fiavTSio* avrpov xoiXov (XST-a /SaSouj, ou (xaXa Jupuo'ro.aov. " The oracle is said to be a hollow cavern of con.siderable depth, with an opening not very wide." And Diodorus giving an account of the origin of this oracle, say*

Numa Pompiiii, that arc cscaped oi the nations: ^ "''""^"- ^- nhey have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: ° who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that lime? liave not I the Lord? ' and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour: there is none beside me.

" that there was in that plane a great chasm or cleft in the earth; in which very place is now situated what is called the Adytum of the temple." A5utov ff^iiXaiov, »] TO airoxpuspov (AHpos Tou lepou. Hesych. " Adytum means a cavern, or the hidden part of the temple."

/ the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right — •' I am Jehovah, who speak truth, who give direct answers."] This also is said in opposition to the false and ambiguous answers given by the heathen oracles, of which there are many noted examples; none more so than that of the answer given to Crcesus when he marched against Cyrus, which piece of history has some connexion with this part of Isaiah's prophecies. Let us hear Cicero's account of the Delphic answers in general, and of this in particular: Sed jam ad te venio,

O sancte Apollo, qui umbilicum certum terrarum obsides, Unde superstitiosa primuni seeva evasit vox fera. Tuis enim oraculis Chrysippus totum volumen implevit, partim falsis, ut ego opinor; partim casu veris, ut fit in omni oratione sa>pissinie; partim flexiloquis et obscuris, ut interpres egeat interprele, et sors ipsa ad sortes referenda sit; partim ambiguis, et qufe ad dialectieum deferenda sint. Nam cum sors ilia edita est opulenlissimo regi Asis,

Crcesus Hatym penetrans magnam pervertet opura vim: hostium vim sese perversurum putavit; pervertit autem suam. Utrum igitur eorum accidisset, verum oraculum fuisset. De Divinal. ii. 56. Mountainous countries, and those which abounded in chasms, caves, and grottos, were the places in which oracles «ere most frequent. The horror and gloom inspired by such places were useful to the lying priests in their system of deception. The terms in which those oracles were conceived, (tbey were always ambiguous, or equivocal, or false, or illusory,) sometimes the turn of a phrase, or a peculiarity in idiom or construction which might be turned pro or con, contained the essence of the oracular declaration. Sometimes, in the multitude of uuesses, one turned out to be true; at other times, so equivocal ^as the oracle, that, however the thing fell out, the deelaratton could be interpreted in that way; as in the

23 ^ I have sworn by myself, Nmna. PompiUi, the word is gone out of my mouth R- Roman., 4. in righteousness, and shall not retui-n, Tiiat unto me every ' knee shall bow, " every tongue shall swear.

24 ■' Sm-ely, shall one say, In the Lord have I ™ riglitcousness '^ and strength: even to him shall??ien come; and ^ all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.

25 ^ In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and " shall glory.

above to Crcesus, from the oracle at Delphi, which was: If Crcesus march against Cyrus, he shall orerthrow a great empire: he, supposing that this promised him success, fought, and lost his outi, while he expected to destroy that of his enemy. Here the quack demon took refuge in his designed ambiguity. He predicted the destruction of a great empire, but did not say which it was; and therefore he was safe, howsoever the case fell out. Not one of the predictions of God's prophets is conceived in this way.

Verse 21. Bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together] For li'i'V' yoatsu or yivvaatsu, let them consult, the Septuagint read li'T yedau, let them know: but an ancient MS. has M]!V yoedu, let them come together by appointment; which may probably be the true reading.

Verse 22. Look nnto me, and he ye saved, tfc] This verse and the following contain a plain prediction of the universal spread of the knowledge of God through Christ; and so the Targum appears to have understood it; see Rom. xiv. 11; Phil. ii. 10. The reading of the Targum is remarkable, viz., "ID'oS IJSriN ithpenu lemeymri, look to my Word, o Aoyoj, the Lord Jesus.

Verse 23. / have sivorn hy myself] "^D•"3 hemeymri, by my Word: and the ivnrd — DJn3 pithgam. or saying, to distinguish it from the personal substantial Word meymra, mentioned before. See the Targum.

The word is gone out ofm</ mouth — " Truth is gone forth from my mouth; the word"] So the Septuagint distinguish the members of the sentence, preserving the elegance of the construction and the clearness of the sense.

Verse 24. Surely, shall one say. In the Lord have I righteousness and strength — " Saying, Only to Jehovah belongeth salvation and power"] A M.S. omits ''7 li, unto me; and instead of ins 'h h amar, he said or shall say unto me, the Septuagint read, in the copy which they used, "lOxS lemor, sai/ing. For ND" yabo, HE shall come, in the singular, twelve MSS. (three ancient) read 1X3' yabeu, plural; and a letter is erased at the end of the word in two others: and so the Alex- andrine copy of the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read it. For mplX tsedakoth, plural, two MSS. read rpTi tsidkath, singiilar; and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Ctialdee.

[ knowledged that all his success came from Jehovah. And this sentiment is in effect contained in his decree or proclamation, Ezra i. 2; " Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth," &c.

The idols of Babylon represented as so far from being able to bear the burden of their votaries, that they themselves are borne by beasts of burden into captivity, 1, 2, This beautifully contrasted with the tender care of God, in hearing his people from first to last in his arms, and delivering them from their distress, 3, 4. The prophet then, ivith his tisual force and elegance, goes on to shoiv the folly of idolatry, and the utter inability of idols, 5-7. From which he passes with great ease to the contemplation of the attributes and perfections of the true God, 8—10. Particularly that prescience which foretold the deliverance of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, with all its leading circumstances; and also that very remote event of which it is the type in the days of the Messiah, 11—13.

NumiBPompiiii, upon tlie bcasts, and upon the R. Roman., 4. g^^jg; ygur Carriages were heavy loaden; '' they are a burden to the weary beast.

2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not dehver the burden, "= but '' themselves are gone into captivity.

3 Hearken unto me, 0 house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, ^ which are bome by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:

4 And even to your old age ^ I am he; and even to hoar hairs ^ \Vi\\ I carry you: I have

Verse 1. Their carriages were heavy loaden — " Their burdens are heavy"] For DJ'nXiv: nesuotheychem, your burdens, the Septuagint had in their copy Dn'HN'i'J nesuotheyhem, their burdens.

Verse 2. They could not deliver the burden — " They could not deliver their own charge"] That is, their worshippers, who ought to have been borne by thera. See the two next verses. The Chaldee and Syriac Versions render it in effect to the same purpose, those that bear them, meaning their worshippers; but how they can render Ntyo massa in an active sense, I do not understand.

For n'7 lo, not, n'?! veto, and they could not, is the reading of twenty-four of KennicotCs, sixteen of De Ros.^i's, and two of my own MSS. The added 1 van gives more elegance to the passage.

But themselves — " Even they themselves"] For avt3i^ vcnaphstiam, an ancient MS. has DBf2J O ki naphsham, with more force.

' Ye that have been borne by me from the birth"] The prophet very ingeniously, and with great force, contrasts the power of God, and his tender goodnos.s effectually exerted towanls his people, with the inalji-

5 ^To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and comjiare me, that we may be like?

6 ' They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.

7 ''They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove; yea, ' one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.

lity of the false gods of the heathen. He like an indulgent father had carried his people in his arms, " as a man carrieth his son," Dent. i. 31. He had protected them, and delivered them from their distresses: whereas the idols of the heathen are forced to be carried about themselves, and removed from place to place, with great labour and fatigue, by their worshippers; nor can they answer, or deliver their votaries, when they cry unto them.

Moses, expostulating with God on the weight of the charge laid upon him as leader of his people, expresses that charge under the same image of a parent s carrying his children, in very strong terms; " Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them I that thou shouldest say unto me. Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking chUd, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers;" Num.

Verse 7. They bear hin} upon the shoulder — and set him in his place.] This is the way in which the Hindoos carry their gods; and indeed so exact a picture is this of the idolatrous procession of this people, that the prophet might ahnost be supposed to have been sitting among the Hindoos when he delivered this pro phecy. — Ward's Customs

Numa Pompilu, to Doind, O ye transgressors. R. Roman., 4. g „ Remember tlie former things of old: for I am God, and ° there is none else; I a?)i God, and there is none like me,

10 p Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, i My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

Pindar has treated with a just and very elegant ridicule the work of the statuarj' even in comparison with his own poetry, from this circumstance of its being fixed to a certain station. " The friends of Pytheas," says the Scholiast, " came to the poet, desiring him to write an ode on his victory. Pindar demanded three drachms, {mince, I suppose it should be,) for the ode. No, say they, we can have a brazen statue for that money, which wiU be better than a poem. However, changing their minds afterwards, they came and offered him what he had demanded." This gave him the hint of the following ingenious exordium of his ode: —

Thus elegantly translated by Mr. Francis in a note to Hot. Carm. iv. 2. 19.

" It is not mine with forming hand To bid a lifeless image stand

For ever on its base: But fly, my verses, and proclaim To distant realms, with deathless fame.

Thai Pytheas conquered in the rapid race."

Jeremiah, chap. x. 3-5, seems to be indebted to) 'aiah for most of the following passage; —

•The practices of the people are altogether vanity: For they nut down a tree from the forest;

13 'I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation ^ shall not tarry: and I will place ^ salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

speak; They are carried about, for they caimot go: Fear them not, for they cannot do harm; Neither is it in them to do good."

Verse 8. Show yourselves men] IB'B'Nnn hiihoshashu. This word is rather of doubtful derivation and signification. It occurs oidy in this place: and some of the ancient interpreters seem to have had something different in their copies. The Vulgate read lE'li'^nn hithbosheshu, take shame to yourselves; the Syriac UJl^nn hithhonenu, consider with yourselves; the Septuaginl tfTcvagsTS' perhaps iSnNHn hithahbelu, groan or mount, within yourselves. Several MSS. read liyK/INnn hithosheshu, but without any help to the sense.

Verse 11. Calling a ravenous bird from the east — " Calling from the east the eagle"] A very proper emblem for Cyrus, as in other respects, so particularly because the ensign of Cyrus was a golden eagle, AET02 j^putfous, the very word □"!' ayit, which the prophet uses here, expressed as near as may be in Greek letters. Xenoph. Cyrop. lib. vii. sub. init. Kimchi says his father understood this, not of C3rrus, but of the Messiah.

From a far country — " From a land far distant"] Two MSS. add the conjunction 1 vati, VINDl umeerets; and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

Verse 12. Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted — This is an address to the Babylonians, stubbornly bent on the practice of injustice towards the Israelites.

The destruction of Babylon is denounced by a beautiful selection of circumstances, tn which her prosperous is contrasted with her adverse condition. She is represented as a tender and delicate female reduced to th« work and abject condition of a slave, and bereaved of every consolation, 1-4. And that on account of her cruelty, particularly to God's people, her pride, voluptuousness, sorceries, atid incantations, 5-11. The folly of these last practices elegantly exposed by the prophet, 12-15. It is worthy of observation that almost all the imagery of this chapter is applied in the book of the Revelation, (in nearly the same words,) to the antitype of the illustrious capital of the Chaldean empire, viz. Babylon the Great.

do\\Ti, and ''sit in the 0 virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground: there is no throne, 0 daughter of the Chaldeans: for tho\i shalt no more be called tender and delicate.

2 " Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.

3 ^ Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: « I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

4 As for four Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

5 Sit thou 8 silent, and get thee into darkness, 0 daughter of the Chaldeans: ''for thou

Verse I. Come down, and sit in the dust — " Descend, and sit on the dast"] See note on chap. iii. 26, and on chap. Iii. 2.

Verse 2. Take the millstones, and grind meal — " Take the mill, and grind corn"] It was the work of slaves to grind the corn. They used hand-mills: water-mills were not invented till a little before the time of Augustus, (see the Greek epigram of Antipater, which seems to celebrate it as a new invention, Anthol. Cephala, 653;) wind-mills, not until long after. It was not only the work of slaves, but the hardest work; and often inflicted upon them as a severe punishment; —

To grind in the mill, to be scourged, to he put in the stocks, were punishments for slaves. Hence a delinquent was said to be a man worthy of the mill. The tread-mill, now in use in England, is a revival of this ancient usage. But in the east grinding was the work of the female slaves. See Exod. xi. 5; xii. 29, (in the version of the Septuagint;) Matt. xxiv. 41; Homer, Odyss. xx. 105-108. And it is the same to this day. " Women alone are employed to grind their corn;" Shaw's Algiers and Tunis, p. 287. " They are the female slaves, that are generally employed in the east at those hand-mills for grinding corn; it is extremely laborious, and esteemed the lowest employment in the house;" Sir J. Chardin, Harmer's Observ. i., p. 153. The words denote that state of captivity to which the Babylonians should be reduced.

Make bare the leg, uncover the thi^h] This is repeatedly seen in Bengal, where there are few bridges, and both sexes, having neither shoes nor stockings, truss up their loose garments, and walk across, where the waters are not deep. In the deeper water they

shall no more be called. The lady of kingdoms.

6 ' I was wroth with my people, "^ I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst show them no mercy; ' upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.

7 And thou saidst, I sliall be " a lady lor ever: so tiiat thou didst not " lay tliese things to thy heart, ° neither didst remember the latter end of it.

8 Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, p I am, and none else beside me; i I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:

are obliged to truss very high, to which there seems a reference in the third verse: Thy nakedness shall be uncovered.

Verse 3. / will not meet thee as a man — " Neither will I suffer man to intercede with me."] The verb should be pointed, or written, J'^JSN aphgia, in Hiphil.

Verse 4. Our Redecmei — " Our Avenger"] Here a chorus breaks in upon the midst of the subject, with a change of construction, as well as sentiment, from the longer to the shorter kind of verse, for one distich only; after which the former subject and style are resumed. See note on chap. xlv. 16.

Verse 6. I was wroth with my people] God, in the course of his providence, makes use of great conquerors and tyrants as his instruments to execute his judgments in the earth; he employs one wicked nation to scourge another. The inflicter of the punishment may perhaps be as culpable as the sufferer; and may add to his guilt by indulging his cruelty in executing God's justice. AVhen he has fulfilled the work to which the Divine vengeance has ordained him, he wiU become himself the object of it; see chap. x. 5-12. God charges the Babylonians, though employed by himself to chastise his people, ■svith cruelty in regard to them. They exceeded the bounds of justice and humanity in oppressing and destroying them; and though they were really executing the righteous decree of God, yet, as far as it regarded themselves, they were only indulging their own ambition and violence. The Prophet Zechariah sets this matter in the same light: " I was but a little angry, and they helped forward the affliction;" chap. i. 15. — L.

Verse 7. So that thou didst not — " Because thou didst not"] For nj' ad, read Si' al; so two MSS., and one edition. And for nn'ins acharithah, " the latter end nfit." read liTinx acharithecha, " thy latter end;" so thirteen MSS., and two editions, and the Vulgate. Both the sixth and seventh verses are wanting in one of mv oldest MSS.

Numac PompTiii, One day, the loss of children and R. Roman., 4. -^yidowhood: they sliall come upon tiiee in their pefection ' for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine cncliantments.

1 0 For thou " hast trusted in thy wickedness: ^ thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath " perverted thee; ^ and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

1 1 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shall not know y from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to ^ put it off: and ^desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

Verse 9. These two things shall come to thee in a momcntl That is, suddenly. Belshazzar was slain; thus the city became metaphorically a widotv, the huslaiid — the governor of it, being slain. In the time in wliich the king was slain, the Medes and Persians took the city, and slew many of its inhabitants, see Dan. V. 30, 31. When Darius took the city, he is said to have crucified three thousand of its principal inhabitants.

In their perfection — " On a sudden"'] Instead of D"jro helhummam, " in their perfection,"' as our translation renders it, the Septuagint and St/riac read, in the copies from which they translated, DXniJ pilhom, suddenly; parallel to J?J1 rega, in a moment, in the preceding alternate member of the sentence. The concurrent testimony of the Septuagint and Si/riac, favoured by the context, may be safely opposed to the authority of the present text.

For the multitude — " Notvrithstanding the multitude"] 213 bcrob. For this sense of the particle 2 beth, see Num. xiv. 11.

Verse II. Thou shalt not hnow from whence it riseth — " Thou shalt not know how to deprecate"]

mni' shachrah; so the Chaldee renders it, which is approved by Jarchi on the place; and Michaelis Epim. in Pra;lect. xix.; see Psa. Ixxviii. 34.

Videtur in fine hujus commatis deese verbum, ut hoc membrum prioribus respondeat. " A word appears to be wanting at the end of this clause to comiect it properly with the two preceding." — Seckkb.

ceries, wherein thou hast labour- Oiymp. xvii.i. ed from thy youth: if so be thou NumfflPompiiii, shalt be able to profit, if so be ^ "°""'" " *■ thou mayest prevail.

13 ""Thou art wearied in the mullitude of thy counsels. Let now ■= the "" astrologers, the stargazers, " the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that.shall come upon thee.

14 Behold, they shall be ^as stubble; the fire shall biu-n them; they shall not deliver s themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.

15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, eve7i ''thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.

In order to set in a proper light this judicious remark, it is necessary to give the reader an exact verbal translation of the whole verse: — " And evil shall come upon thee, thou shalt not laiow how to deprecate it;

And mischief shall fall upon thee, thou shalt not be able to expiate it;

And destruction shall come suddenly upon thee,

thou shalt not know"

What ] how to escape, to avoid it, to be delivered from it 1 perhaps HJO'S HNi" tseth mimmcnnah, " they could not go out from it," Jer. xi. 11. I am persuaded that a phrase is here lost out of the text. But as the ancient versions retain no traces of it, and a wide field lies open to uncertain conjecture, I have not attempted to fill up the chasm, but have in the translation, as others have done before me, palliated and disguised the defect, which I cannot with any assurance pretend to supply. — L.

Verse 13. From these things — "What are the events"] For ■itJ'X:^ measher, read "it^X na mah asher, so the Septuagint, " what is to happen to thee."

Verse 15. To his quarter — " To his own business"] 113J7b leebro. Expositors give no very good account of this word in this place. In a MS. it was at first n3J'S leabdo, to his servant or icork, which is probably the true reading. The sense however is pretty much the same with the common interpretation. " Every one shall turn aside to his o^vn business; none shall deliver thee."

The Jews reproved for their obstinate attachment to idols, notwithstanding their experience of the Divine providence over them; and of the Divine prescience that revealed by the prophets the most remarkable events which concerned them, that they should not have the least pretext for ascribing any portion of their success to their idols, 1—8. The Almighty, after bringing them to the furnace for their perverseness, asserts his glorious sovereignty, and repeats his gracious promises of deliverance and consolation, 9-11. Prophecy concerning that individual (Cyrus) who shall be an instrument in the hand of God of executing his will on Babylon, and his poiver on the Chaldeans; and the idols of the people are again challenged to give a like proof of their foreknowledge, 12-16. Tender and passionate exclamation of Jehovah respecting the hardened condition of the Jewish nation, to which the very pathetic exclamation of the Divine Saviour when he wept over Jerusalem may be considered a striking parallel, 17—19. Notwithstanding the repeated provocations of the house of Israel, Jehovah will again be merciful to them. They are commanded to escape from Babylon; and God^s gracious favour towards them is beautifully represented by images borrowed frorn the exodus from Egypt, 20, 21. Certain perdition of the finally impenitent, 22. It will be proper here to remark that many passages in this chapter, and indeed the general strain of these prophecies, have a plain aspect to a restoration of the Church in the latter days upon a scale much greater than the world has yet witnessed, when the very violent fall of Babylon the Great, mentioned in the Revelation, of which the Chaldean capital teas an expressive type, shall introduce by a most tremendous political convulsion, (Rev. xvi. 17—21,) that glorious epoch of the Gospel, which forms so conspicuous a part of the prophecies of tlie Old Testament, and has been a subject of the prayers of all saints in all ages.

TTEAR ye this, 0 house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and ^ are come forth out of the waters of Judah, *■ wliich swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, " but not in truth, nor in righteousness.

2 For they call themselves ^ of the holy city, and "stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The Lord of hosts is his name.

3 f I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them; I did the7n suddenly, g and they came to pass.

4 Because I knew that thou art ^ obstinate, and ' thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

5 "^ I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I showed it

Verse 1. Are come forth out of the ivaters of Judah — " Ye tliat flow from the fountain of Judah""] '03 mimmry, " from the icaters." Perhaps ^rj-D mimmeey, " from the bowels," so many others have conjectured, or mm" ':a meni yehudah, or min'D meyhudah, " from Judah." — Seeker. But see Michaclis in Pislect, not. 22. And we have 2pi'' fi' eyn yaakob, "the fountain of Jacob," Deut. xxxiii. 28, and SkI!!?' "llpOD mimmekor yishrael, " from the fountain of Israel," Psa. Ixviii. 27. Twenty-seven MSS. of Kennicott's, six of De Rossi's and two of my own, with six editions, have '3-3 meymey, " from the days;" which makes no food sense

6 Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it 1 I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.

7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.

8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not: yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest ' deal very treacherously, and wast called ™ a transgressor from the womb.

9 " For my name's sake ° will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain

Verse 6. Thou hast heard, see all this — " Thou didst hear it beforehand; behold, the whole is accomplished"] For ntn chazeh, see, a MS. has nin hazzeh, this; thou hast heard the whole of this: the Syriac has iTtni vechazith, " thou hast heard, and thou hast seen, the whole." Perhaps it should be r\}T\ hinneh, behold. In order to express the full sense, I have rendered it somewhat paraphrastieally.

Verse 9. And for my praise — "And for the sake of my praise"] I read 'nbnn jj'^'^l ulemaan tehillathi. The word ii'3'7 lemaan, though not ab.?olutely necessary here, for it may be understood as supplied from the preceding member, yet seems to have been removed

11' For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how ' should my name be polluted: and " I will not give my glory unto another.

from hence to ver. 1 1; where it is redundant, and where it is not repeated in the Septiiagint, Si/riac, and a MS. I have therefore omitted it in the latter place, and added it here.

Verse 10. / have chosen thef — " I have tried thee"] For ymn^ bechartkha, " I have chosen thee," a MS. has I'njn^ hechanticha, " I have tried thee." And so perhaps read the Syriac and Chaldee interpreters; they retain the same word imn3 bechartach; but in those languages it signifies, I have tried thee. '^ODD kecheseph, quasi argentura, " as silver." Vulgate.

I cannot tliink ^DII3 becheseph, with silver, is the true reading. tlODD kecheseph, like silver, as the Vulgate evidently read it, I suppose to have been the original reading, though no MS. yet found supports this word; the similarity of the two letters, 3 beth and 2 caph, might have easily led to the mistake in the first instance; and it has been but too faithfully copied ever since. "lO cur, which we translate furnace, should be rendered crucible, the vessel in which the silver is melted. The meaning of the verse seems to be this: I have purified you, but not as silver is purified; for when it is purified, no dross of any kind is left behind. Had I done this with you, I should have consumed you altogether; but I have put you in the crucible of affliction, in captivity, that you may acknowledge your sins, and turn unto me.

Verse 11. For how should my name be polluted — "For how would my name be blasphemed"] The word "Dty shemi, my name, is dropped out of the text; it is supplied by a MS. which has •':dB' shemi; and by the Septiiagint, 6ti to Sfiov ovojak fBe^nXourai. The Syriac and Vulgate get over the difficulty, by making the verb in the first person; that / may not be blasphemed.

Verse 12.0 Jacob — " O Jacob, my servant"] After 2p;'" yaakoh, a MS. of Kennicotfs, two of De Rossi\i, and the two old editions of 1486 and 1488, add the word 'T3J' abdi, "my seriMnt," which is lost out of the pre.sent text; and there is a rasure in its place in another ancient MS. The Jerusalem Talmud has the fame word.

of the earth, and ^ my right hand *g -"^^ ''^[^ 3292. hath spanned the heavens: ivhen Olymp. xvii. i.

14 ^^ All ye, assemble yoiursclvcs, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? ^ The Lord hath loved him: " he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, ''I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

1 6 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; " I

aph ani, " even I," two ancient MSS. and the ancient Versions, read 'JNl veani, " and I;" more properly.

Verse 14. Which among them hath declared these things — " Who among you hath predicted these tilings"] For Dn3 bahem, " among them," twenfy-one MSS., nine ancient, and two editions, one of them that of the year 1488, fourteen of De Rossi''s, and one ancient of my own, hate D33 bachem, " among you;" and so the Syriac.

The Lord hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon — " He, whom Jehovah hath loved, will execute his will on Babylon"] That is, Cyrus; so Symmachus has well rendered it: "Ov o Kupios riya-grfis leiiiriisi TO &£Xr)(jia auTou, " He whom the Lord hath loved will perform his ivill."

On the Chaldeans.] The preposition is lost; it is supplied in the edition of 1486, which has □'nB'33 bechasdim, and so the Chaldee and Vulgate.

Verse 16. Come ye near unto me] After the word 131p kirbu, " draw near," a MS. adds □''U goyim, " O ye nations;" which, as this and the two preceding verses are plainly addressed to the idolatrous nations, reproaching their gods as unable to predict future events, is probably genuine.

Hear ye this — "And hear ye this"] A MS. adds the conjunction, lyo'i'l vashimu; and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

I have not spoken in secret] The AJexandrine copy of the Septuagint adds here, ovSs sv rotfu yr)s Cxotsiuu, " nor in a dark place of the earth," as in chap. xlv. 19. That it stands rightly, or at least stood very early, in this place of the Version of the Septuagint, is highly probable, because it is acknowledged by the Aral>ic Version, and by the Coptic MS. St. Germain de Prez, Paris, translated likewise from the Septuagint. But whether it should be inserted, as of right belonging to the Hebrew text, may be doubted; for a transcriber of the Greek Version might easily add it by memory from the parallel place; and it is not necessary to the sense.

From the time that it teas — " Before the time when it began to exist"] An ancient MS. has DOrn hcyotham, " they began to exist;" and so another had it at

Xuma; Pompiiii, that it was, there am. I: and now

17 Thus saith s the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which ^ leadeth thee by the way that tiiou shouldest go.

18 ' 0 that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! '' then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

1 9 ' Thy seed also had been as the sand.

first. From the time that the expedition of Cyrus was planned, there was God managing the whole by the economy of his providence.

Verse 16. There am / — "I had decreed it"] I take Di? sham for a \'erb, not an adverb.

And noto the Lord God, and his Spirit, halh sent me — " And now the Lord Jehov.ih hath sent me, and his Spirit"] Tis siTtiv o £v tw HtfaiM Xsyuv, Kai vuv Ku|ioj uxsdTSi'ke (AS xai to JlvsuyM ol-otou; £v u, a(j(,<pi6'oXou ovros Tou prjTou, iroTSpou 0 IlaTijp xai to 'Ayiov IIvEUjxa cMrstfrJiXav tov I-ziffouv, ■>) o IlaT-v)^ aKiirstXs rov ts X^igTov xai 70 'Ayiov TUvsujia- to SivTCpov su'riv aX'/j^ES. ' Who is it that saith in Isaiah, And now the Lord hath sent me and liis Spirit 1 in which, as the expression is ambiguous, is it the Father and the Holy Spirit who have sent Jesus; or the Father, who hath sent both Christ and the Holy. Spirit. The latter is the true interpretation."— Origen cont. Cels. lib. i. I have kept to the order of the words of the original, on purpose that the ambiguity, which Origen remarks in the Version of the Scpluagint, and which is the same in the Hebrew, might still remain; and the sense which he gives to it, be offered to the reader's judgment, which is wholly excluded in our translation.

Verse 19. Like the gravel thereof —^^ JAke that of the bowels thereof"] D'Jin Dm D'H 'J,"D 'NXXi'^ letseetsacij meet/ haiyam vehem haddagim; " As the issue of the bowels of the sea; that is, fishes." — Salom. ben Melee. And so likewise Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kiinchi, &c.

His name — "Thy name"] For IDjy shemo, '■'■his name," the Sepluagint had in the copy from which they translated "|'2ty shimcha, " thy name."

Verse 20. Tell this — "Make it heard"] Twenhjsevcn MSS. of KennieotCs, {ten ancient,) many of De Rossi's, and tivo ancient, of my own, with the Septuaginl, Syriac, Chaldce, and Arabic, and one edition, prefix to the verb the conjunction 1 vau, I^J^DBTII vehashmiu.

A'erse 21. They thirsted not — through the deserts] Kimchi has a surprising observation upon this place:

like the gravel thereof; his name Oiymp. xvii. i. should not have been cut off nor Numae Pompiiii, destroyed from before me. R. Roman., 4.

20 ™ Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath " redeemed his servant Jacob.

21 And they "thirsted not ivhen he led them tlirough the deserts: he p caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

22 1 There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.

" If the prophecy," says he, " relates to the return from the Babylonish captivity, as it seems to do, it is to be wondered how it comes to pass, that in the Book of Ezra, in which he gives an account of their return, no mention is made that such miracles were ^vrought for them; as, for instance, that God clave the rock for them in the desert." It is really much to be wondered, that one of the most learned and judicious of the Jewish expositors of the Old Testament, having advanced so far in a large Comment on Isaiah, should appear to be totally ignorant of the prophet's manner of ^vIiting; of the parabolic style, which prevails in the ■writings of all the prophets, and more particularly in the prophecy of Isaiah, which abounds throughout in parabolical images from the beginning to the end; from " Hear, 0 heavens, and give ear, 0 earth," to " the worm and the fire " in the last verse. And how came he to keep his wonderment to himself so long 1 '\^^^y did he not e.xpect that the historian shoidd have related how, as they passed through the desert, cedars, pines, and olive-trees shot up at once on the side of the way to shade them; and that instead of briers and brambles the acacia and the myrtle sprung up under theii- feet, according to God's promises, chap. xli. 19 and Iv. 13? These and a multitude of the like parabolical or poetical images, were never intended to be understood literally. All that the prophet designed in this place, and which he has executed in the most elegant manner, was an amplification and illustration of the gracious care and protection of God vouchsafed to his people in their return from Babylon, by an allusion to the miraculous exodus from Egypt. See De 8. Poesi, Hebr. Prsel. ix. Verse 22. There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.] See below, note on chap. Ivii. 21. As the destruction of Babylon was determined, God commands his people to hasten out of it; for, saith the Lord, there is no peace (prosperity) to the wicked; oux siTi ■)(a.\^in Toi; aSs^iiiv, Xsysi Kufioff. — Sept. " There is no rejoicing or prosperity to the wicked saith the Lord." 'Eljeit i^ not pe;3e to utttptou|S men ^titl) tlje Hotb,— Old MS. Bible.

In this chapter the Messiah is introduced, declaring the full extent of his commission, which is not only to be Saviour to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles. The power and efficacy of his word is represented by apt images; the ill success of his ministry among the Jews is intimated, and the great success of the Gospel among the Gentiles, 1-12. But the prophet, then casting his eye on the happy, though distant, period of Israel's restoration, makes a beautiful apostrophe to the whole creation to shout forth the praises of God on the prospect of this remarlcable favour, 13. The tender mercies of God to his people, with the prosperity of the Church in general, and the final overthrow of all its enemies, make the subject of the remaining verses, 14—26.

0 isles, unto me; Olymp. XVII. I. ' and hearken, ye people, from Numae Pompilii, far; '' The Lord hath called me R. Roman., 4. f^.^^^ jj^^ womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

2 And he hath made " my mouth like a sharp sword; '^ in the shadow of his hand hath he

Verse 1. Listen, O isles, unto me — " Hearken unto me, O ye distant lands"] Hitherto the subject of the prophecy has been chiefly confined to the redemption from the captivity of Babylon; with strong intimations of a more important deliverance sometimes thrown in, to the refutation of idolatry, and the demonstration of the infinite power, wisdom, and foreknowledge of God. The character and office of the Messiah was exhibited in general terras at the beginning of chap. xlii.; but here he is introduced in person, declaring the fuU extent of his commission, which is not ordy to restore the Israelites, and reconcile them to their Lord and Father, from whom they had so often revolted, but to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, to call them to the knowledge and obedience of the true God, and to bring them to be one Church together with the Israelites, and to partake with them of the same common salvation procured for all by the great Redeemer and Reconciler of man to God.

Verse 2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword — " And he hath made my mouth a sharp sword"] The servant of God, who speaks in the former part of this chapter, must be the Messiah. If any part of this character can in any sense belong to the prophet, yet in some parts it must belong exclusively to Christ; and in all parts to him in a much fuller and more proper sense. Isaiah's mission w-as to the Jews, not to the distant nations, to whom the speaker in this place addresses himself " He hath made my mouth a sharp sword;" " to reprove the wicked, and to denounce imto them puni-shment," says Jatchi, understandmg it of Isaiah. But how much better does it suit him who is represented as having " a sharp two-edged sword going out of his mouth," Rev. i. 16; who is himself the Word of God; which word is " quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts

art my servant, O Israel, ^ in whom I will be glorified.

4 ^ Then I said, I have laboured in vain, 1 have spent my strength for nought, and in vain:

and intents of the heart;" Heb. iv. 12. This mighty Agent and Instrument of God, " long laid up in store with him, and sealed up among his treasures," is at last revealed and produced by his power, and under his protection, to execute his great and holy purposes. He is compared to a polished shaft stored in his quiver for use in his due time. The polished shaft denotes the same efficacious word which is before represented by the sharp sword. The doctrine of the Gospel pierced the hearts of its hearers, " bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." The metaphor of the sword and the arrow, applied to powerful speech, is bold, yet just. It has been employed by the most ingenious heathen writers, if with equal elegance, not with equal force. It is said of Pericles by Aristophanes, (see Cicero, Epist. ad Atticum, xii. 6:) —

Apud. Diod. lib. xiL His powerful speech Pierced the hearer's soul, and left behind Deep in his bosom its keen point infixed.

Pindar is particularly fond of this metaphor, and frequently applies it to his own poetry: — Ecrs^s vuv ff/cocru to|ov. Ays, 5u|j,E. riva ^aXXofASV Ex (AaX^axas kute (ppsvos suxXsaf oitf-TQUff

" Come on! thy brightest shafts prepare, And bend, O Muse, thy sounding bow; Say, tlirough what paths of liquid air Our arrows shall we throw V West.

See also ver. 149 of the same ode, and Ohjmp. ix. 17, on the former of which places the Scholiast says, Tpo- Tixos 0 Xoyoff- ^sX-») Ss tous \oyws Eipjjxf, 5m to o|'J xai xftipiov Tuv Ej^wfjuojv. " He calls his verses shafts,

yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and ' my work with my God.

5 And now, saith the Lord '' that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, ' Though Israel ■" be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.

6 And he said, ° It is a light thing that tho'i shoiddest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the " preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a p light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

7 Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, i to ' him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhon-eth, to a servant of rulers, ^ kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.

by a metaphor, signifying the acuteness and the apposite applicatic/i of his panegyric."

Tliis person, who is (ver. 3) called Israel, cannot in any sense be Isaiah. That name, in its original design and full import, can only belong to him who contended powerfully with God in behalf of mankind, and prevaUed, Gen. xxxii. 28. After all that Vitringa, Bp. Lowth, and others have said in proof of this chapter speaking of the Messiah, and of him alone, I have my doubts whether sometimes Isaiah, sometimes Cyrus, and sometimes the Messiah, be not intended; the former shadowing out the latter, of whom, in certain respects, they may be considered the types. The literal sense should be sought oni first; this is of the utmost ijiiportance both in reading and interpreting the oracles of God.

Verse 5. And now, saith the Lord — " And now, thus saith Jehov.ih"] The word HD coh, before -i:3!< amar, is dropped out of the text: it is supplied by eight MSS. (t«'o ancient) of Dr. Kennicotfs, two of De Ro.i.^i\s, and the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

Though Israel he not gathered—" And that Israel unto him might be gathered"] Five MSS. (two ancient) confirm the Kcri, or marginal correction of the Masoretcs, 1*7 lo, unto him., instead of sS lo. not, in the text; and so read Aquila; and the Chaldee, Septuagmt, and Arahc omit the negative. But the Septuagint, MSS. Pachom, and i. D. n. express also the Keri l'? lo by iTfio; auTov, to him.

acceptable time have I heard Oiymp. xvii. i. thee, and in a day of salvation t;ull~>i., have I helped thee: and I will R- R°man., 4. preserve thee, " and give thee for a cove ■ nant of the people, to ' establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

9 That thou mayest say " to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness. Show yoiu-selves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.

10 They shall not ^^ hunger nor thirst; ^ neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them ^ shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide

11 " And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.

12 Behold, ''these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.

marginal reading. This word has been matter of great doubt with interpreters: the Syriac renders it the branch, taking it for the same with nSJ netser, chap, xi. 1. See Michaelis Epim. in Prajlect. xix.

Verse 7. The Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One — " The Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One"] " Perhaps we should read liynpS lihdosho," Secker. that is, to his Holy One. The preceding word ends with a S lamed, which might occasion that letter's being lost here. The Talmud of Babylon has Ijynpl ukedosho, and his Holy One.

To him whom man despiseth — " To him whose person is despised"] " Perhaps we should read n;:3J nibzeh,-'' Secker; or "113 bazui, Le Clerc; that is, in stead of the active, the passive form, which seems here to be required.

Verse 9. To them that are in darhness — " And to those that are in darkness"] Fifteen MSS. (five ancierit) of Dr. KennicotCs, eleven of De Rossi's, and one ancient of my own, and the two old editions of 1486 and 1488, and three others, add the conjunction 1 vau at the beginning of this member. Another M.S. had it so at first, and two others have a rasure at the place: and it is expressed by the Septuagint, Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate.

The land of Sinim.] Prof. Doederlein thought of Syene, the southern limit of Egypt, but does not abide by it. Michaelis thinks it is right, and promises to give his reasons for so thinking in the second part

Nums Pompiiii, into Singing, U mountains: for '^■"°°"^"'^- the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

14 ''But Zion said. The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.

15 " Can a woman forget her sucking child, ''that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, ^yet will I not forget thee.

1 6 Behold, '' I have graven thee upon the

I'D Sin signifies a bush, and WTO smim, bushes, woods, &c. Probably this means that the land where several of the lost Jews dwell is a woodland. The ten tribes are gone, no one knows whitl er. On the slave coast in Africa, some Jewish rites appear among the people, and all the males are circumcised. The whole of this land, as it appears from the coast, may be emphatically called D'2'D 'pN erets sinim, the land of bushes, as it is all covered with woods as far as the eye can reach. Many of the Indians in North America, which is also a woodland, have a great profusion of rites, apparently in their basis Jewish. Is it not possible that the descendants of the ten lost tribes are among those in America, or among those in Africa, whom European nations think they have a right to enslave? It is of those lost tribes that the twenty- first verse speaks: " And these, where had they been V

Verse 13. Break forth into singing, O mountains — " Ye mountains, burst forth into song"] Three ancient MSS. are without the ' yod or the conjunction 1 vau before the verb: and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

Verse 14. The Lord (nirr Yehovah) hath forsaken me, and my Lord ("nx Adonai) hath forgotten me.] But a multitude of MSS. and several ancient editions read nin' Yehovah in both places.

Verse 16. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands — " Behold, on the palms of my hands have I delineated thee"] This is certainly an allusion to some practice, common among the Jews at that time, of making marks on their hands or arms by punctures on the skin, with some sort of sign or representation of the city or temple, to show their affection and zeal for it. They had a method of making such punctures indelible by fire, or by staining. See note on chap. xliv. 5., It is well known, that the pilgrims at the holy sepulchre get themselves marked in this manner with what are called the ensigns of Jerusalem. See Maundrell, p. 75, where he tells us how it is performed: and this art is practised by travelling Jews all over the world at this day.