6

7

8

For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
And Bethel shall come to nought.

Seek ye Jehovah, and ye shall live:

Lest he § rush like fire on the house of Joseph; And it devour the house of Israel, and there be none to quench it:

Ye that turn judgment into wormwood, and righteousness into hemlock,

That have forsaken him who made the Hyades and Arcturus;

Hebr. shall be for vanity. § Or, advance.

--to nought] See Isai. xli. 29.

Or, the seven stars.

6. ---rush] Advance, come. See 1 Sam. x. 6. "Notat hy irruere. sed cum by vel : sed pertransire cum accusativo, 2 Sam. xix. 18: ut non opus sit rescribere n' w nhu, i. 4, 7, 10." Secker.

66 15, ut ---like fire] A strong and natural image. Thus Hector is said to be φλογι ικελος αλκην.

II. 2. 154.

And Horace describes Hannibal as passing through the cities of Italy ceu flamma per tædas."

---the house of Israel] So ó. Ar. Houbigant: as the parallelism of the clauses requires. One MS. reads. Perhaps the word was written contractedly. And the best way of accounting for the rendering of 6. ayyhov, Deut. xxxii. 8, is the supposition that the word ', in an abbreviated form of writing it, resembled, God.

7. ---into hemlock] . This conjecture is supported by the parallelism, and by c. vi. 12. Observe too how the verses are divided in Syr: which translation furnishes authority for removing to the next verse. Doctor Durell.

8. ---have forsaken] See the original word Jer. xiv. 9. ---the Hyades] So Vulg. Job ix. 9: where the reader may see at large Schulten's remarks on these astronomical terms. He thinks that Castel's derivation of n from calefacere is a judicious one: but prefers the Ar. NP, conscendit femellam; as thus the word will import " Sidus calidum genitale." Hyde, on Ulugh Beigh's tables, thinks that the Pleiades are meant. There may be a reference to the spring, when the warmth of the sun promotes vegetation:

Candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum Virg. Georg. i. 217. ---Arcturus So Vulg. Job xxxviii. 31. As the Arab. root

Taurus.

9

10

11

And who turneth the shadow of death into morning,
And darkeneth the day into night;

Who calleth the waters of the sea,

And poureth them over the face of the earth:
Jehovah [the God of hosts] is his name:
Who scattereth desolation over the strong,
And bringeth desolation over the fortress:
Ye that hate him who reproveth in the Gate,
And abhor him who speaketh uprightly.

Forasmuch therefore as your treading is on the

poor,

And ye receive from him a gift of wheat;
Though ye have built houses of hewn stone,
Yet ye shall not dwell in them;

Though ye have planted pleasant ‡ vineyards,

Hebr. vineyards of desire.

denotes segnities, torpor, this idea suits very well the cold and slow car of Boötes. See

Frigida circumagunt pigri sarraca Bootæ. Juv. v. 23.

---into night] Several MSS. read. And V. ó. Syr, Chald. Houbigant. But I must repeat that in Hebrew the preposition is very often omitted.

---calleth the waters] Either at the creation: or, to punish men by inundations, which often attend earthquakes.

Jehovah---] ó. MS. A. Pachom. ed. Ald. and Arab. add • Deos o navṛongatwg, and read in the original way. Thus the passage closes more grandly:

See ix. 6.

Jehovah, God of hosts, is his name. Two MSS. read my min'. with ó. MS. A." Mr. Woide.

9. scattereth] I read with 6. bon.

"MS. Copt. reads

---bringeth] The versions read : and many MSS. have These two verses are very sublime.

10. ---the Gate] The usual place of administering justice, and of reproving and passing judgment on iniquity. Selden, i. 1312, has this quotation from Maimonides: In urbe qualibet Israelitica constituebant Synedrium minus, cujus sedes in porta urbis. See also Bishop Lowth on Isai. p. 156. Isai. xxix. 21." Secker.

מוכיח בשער <<

Calcare vestrum.

11. ---treading] Read.
-a gift] See Esth. ii. 18. Jer. xl. 5.

---vineyards] These are the curses of the law. Deut. xxviii. 30, &c. See Mich. vi. 15. Zeph. i. 13.

L

12

13

14

15

16

Yet ye shall not drink the wine of them.
For I know your manifold transgressions,
And your mighty sins;

Ye who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe,
And turn aside the poor in the Gate.

Therefore the wise man shall be silent at that time;
For it shall be an evil time.

Seek ye good and not evil, that ye may live:
And so Jehovah, the God of hosts, shall be with you,
As ye have said.

Hate ye evil and love good,

And establish judgment in the Gate.

It may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious

Unto the residue of Joseph.

Because, thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts :
Wailing shall be in all the broad places;

And in all the streets they shall say, Alas Alas!
And they shall call the husbandman to mourning;
And those who are skilful of lamentation, to wailing:

12. ---turn aside] Sc. from his right: unjustly overthrow him in the place of judicature. c. ii. 7.

13. The wise man shall be silent] The wise and eloquent shall be struck dumb by the judgments of God.

14. ---have said.] By your false prophets. Mic. iii. 11. 15. God] Eight MSS. omit, which favours the rhyme. 16. Jehovah] The word in this verse is omitted by .ó Ar. Syr. and seven MSS. So c. iii. 8, 13, this word is likewise omitted in one MS. It is often a gloss on ', denoting how it ought to be read according to the Jewish superstition. C. vii. 7, 8. and c. ix. 1. many MSS. read Jehovah for Adonai. The reader will often have occasion to make this remark.

---husbandman] On account of the drought which shall prevail: c. i. 2.

--skilful of lamentation] See c. viii. 3. and Jer. ix. 17. "Mercede quæ conducta flent alieno in funere præficæ." Lucilius. Which Hor. imitates: Art. poet. 431. And Homer, speaking of Hector's dead body, says,

Παρα δ εισαν αοιδες

Θρηνων εξάρχους οίτε ςονόεσσαν αοιδην

Οι μεν αἱ εθρηνεον επι δε ςενάχοντο γυναικες,

Il. xxiv. 720.

17

And in all vineyards shall be wailing:

18

19

20

21

22

For I will pass through the midst of thee, saith
Jehovah.

Woe unto them who desire the day of Jehovah.
What is this day of Jehovah unto you?

It is darkness, and not light.

As if a man fled from a lion,

And a bear met him:

Or went into the house, and leaned his hand on a wall,

And a serpent bit him.

Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and
not light?

Even thick darkness, and no shining in it?
I hate, I § despise your feasts;
And I will not smell on your solemn days.
Although ye offer unto me burnt-offerings,

---to wailing] Read

§ Or. reject,

with. V. Syr. Houbigant, and

Bishop Lowth Hebr. præl. xxii. p. 293.

17. vineyards] The usual scenes of joy.

18. ---desire] Deriding the prophetical predictions. Jer. xvii. 15. Ezek, xii. 22.

19. As if, &c.] The calamities foretold are inevitable.

20. Shall not, &c.] A strong asseveration is beautifully conveyed in this question. The 18th, 19th, and 20th verses are very sublime. Darkness is naturally put for calamity, and light for gladness. So Hor. Od. iv. iv, 40.

Pulcher fugatis

Ille dies Latio tenebris.

"We use light to denote knowledge: the sacred writings, with no less propriety and elegance, apply it also to prosperity, honour, wealth, or any kind of happiness." Tayl. pref. to conc. §. iv. See on Mic. vi. 14,

21. feasts] The word may also be rendered sacrifices. See Ex. xxiii. 18 Mal. ii. 3. Ps. cxviii. 27. Spencer de leg. Hebr. 703. ---solemn days] Days when the people were restrained from the common business of life. Deut. xvi. 8. Taylor in voc. Bishop Lowth on Isai. i. 13. vid. Additions.

23

24

25

26

And your offerings of flour, I will not accept them:
And the peace-offerings of your fatlings I will not
regard.
Take thou away from me the sound of thy songs:
And the melody of thy viols I will not hear.
But let judgment roll down as waters,

And righteousness as a mighty stream.

Did ye offer unto Me sacrifices, and an offering
of flour,

In the desert during forty years, ye house of
Israel?

Nay, but ye bare the tabernacle of your Moloch, 22. ---accept them] ó. MS. Al. read × #goodižoμal auta. As if

ארצם the text had been

1

--fatlings] Some think that the buffalo is meant. See Boch. L. ii. xxviii. 282.

23. --songs---viols] The usual accompaniments of sacrifices among the Jews and Heathens.

Sacrifica dulces tibia effundat modos,

Et nivea magna victima ante aras cadat, Sen. Troad. See Spencer de leg. Hebr. 1105.

There is great authority and majesty in this passage, v. 21 ---24; and the grandeur of the image with which it closes must strike every reader.

24. ---let judgment] "Rather, judgment shall. See Isai.

xxviii. 27." Secker.

25. Did ye offer unto Me] Verborum emphasis in MIHI sita, Spencer, 744. Did ye offer such sacrifices as were acceptable to ME; such entire and undivided service as I enjoined?

Did ye offer---] offer---] "Peters on Job, p. 312, thinks that they are not here reproached with a neglect, which Moses would not have suffered, and that probably they had no cattle to sacrifice: and that therefore Jeremiah, when he saith, vii. 22, 23, God commanded not sacrifice when they came out of Egypt, means that he did not immediately expect it: and that this question is here asked to shew that sacrifice is not the chief thing he is pleased with; but that, notwithstanding their offering it, their injustice, v. 24, and their idolatry, v. 26. will provoke him to send them into captivity." Secker.

26. Nay but, &c.] God is introduced as replying: No: ye sometimes carried about Moloch in his sacellum, vai, shrine, or tabernacle. The true reading seems to be, See c. i. 15.