12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.

13 ¶ Behold, therefore I have "smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.

14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.

15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.

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16 And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

17 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.

21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.

22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.

23 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.

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25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

26 Her priests have "violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

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27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.

29 The people of the land have used **oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger "wrongfully.

30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it but I found none.

31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.

11 Levit. 18. 19. 16 Levit. 18. 9. 20 Heb. according to the gathering. 24 Or, deceit.

12 Or, every one. 17 Chap. 21. 17. 21 Matt. 23. 14. 25 Heb. without right.

CHAPTER XXIII.

1 The whoredoms of Aholah and Aholibah. 22 Aholibah is to be plagued by her lovers. 36 The prophet reproveth the adulteries of them both, 45 and sheweth their judgments.

THE word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:

3 And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. 4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.

5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,

6 Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.

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7 Thus she 'committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were 'the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted with all their idols she defiled herself. 8 Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.

9 Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the "Assyrians, upon whom she doted.

10 These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.

11 And when her sister Aholibah saw this, 'she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms 'more than her sister in her whoredoms.

12 She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.

13 Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,

14 And that she increased her whoredoms : for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,

1 Heb. bestowed her whoredoms upon them. 2 Heb. the choice 5 Heb. she corrupted her inordinate love more than, &c.

8 Heb. at the sight of her eyes. 9 Heb. children of Babel.

16 And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.

17 And the 'Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.

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18 So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.

19 Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

21 Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.

22 Therefore, Ó Aholibah, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;

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23 The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.

24 And they shall come against thee with chariots, waggons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments.

25 And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.

26 They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy "fair jewels.

27 Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from

and to have these blue is common among all classes of society. In Arabia also the dress of the women commonly consists of an ample shift and drawers of blue linen; and in Turkey and Syria the large wrapper in which the women envelop themselves is often of that colour. We know not therefore on what grounds Paxton affirms that blue has sunk in the estimation of the Orientals, particularly as blue is also employed very prominently in the interior decoration of houses and public buildings.

10. Famous.'-This word, in the time of our translator, signified notorious,' and was often used in a bad sense. We should say 'infamous.'

14. She saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans.'-This possibly alludes to similar chambers of imagery among the Chaldæans, to those of the Egyptians, noticed under ch. viii.; but probably with the difference that the representations were generally in the human figure, rather than of animals and creeping things which the zoolatry of the Egyptians occasioned to abound in their exhibitions. However, we may confine our attention to the simple fact, here announced, that the Babylonians had 'images' portrayed upon their walls. That the Chaldæans did exhibit various representations upon their walls is also intimated by Diodorus; but in such a manner as leaves it a matter of investigation how this was done. As Babylonia was not a country of stone, it is not likely that the inhabitants sculptured their walls. Yet perhaps the want of stone has been exaggerated. Blocks of marble obtained from the ruins of Babylon are used to some extent in the first-rate houses of Baghdad for steps, curb-stones, and pavements; and a few sculptured specimens have been found. However, as it must be allowed that probably even the best buildings of Babylon were of brick, it is likely that the representations in view were painted on a plane surface. Possibly, as in Egypt, the wall was coated with a fine plaster on which the representations were made; or it may be that, at least in some instances, the representations were formed on bricks, the outer surface of which was enamelled. The present inhabitants of the country have the art of enamelling bricks in great perfection, but are prevented by their religion from representing any objects upon them; and that the ancient Babylonians had the art of enamelling bricks, and that they did represent objects on bricks so enamelled, we are assured from actual specimens found among the ruins. Beauchamp found several varnished bricks, on one of which was the figure of a lion, and on the other of the sun and moon; and Mignan found a flat fragment of calcareous sandstone, glazed with brown enamel on the superior surface, and bearing a raised ornamental figure in good relief. After this statement we may as well see what Diodorus says (lib. ii. 1). Mentioning two palaces in the city built by Semiramis, he states that the one on the west bank of the Euphrates was enclosed by a high and extensive wall built with well-burnt bricks. Within was another wall-a circular one-upon which was portrayed, on the bricks before they were burnt, all sorts of living creatures, represented to the life, with great art, in admirable colours. We think this suggests that the bricks were enamelled, the enamel, with the colours of the painting, being fixed by fire. At least this appears the most obvious interpretation as illustrated by the bricks we have mentioned. But to proceed :-Within this wall was another, the innermost; and on this wall were also represented all sorts of living creatures, expressed in the most lively colours. Among these Diodorus particularly mentions one which represented a grand hunting-scene of various wild animals, on a scale of four cubits high and upwards, and in which was seen Semiramis transfixing a panther with her dart, and, near her, Ninus her husband piercing a savage lion with his spear. The other palace, on the eastern bank of the river, was smaller and less magnificent. The outer wall was however highly adorned with various statues of brass, and with paintings representing armies drawn up in battalia, and various scenes of hunting. This seems, taken altogether, a very adequate illustration of the images upon the wails to which the

prophet refers, particularly as it is probable that the decorations of the interior surfaces of walls were of the same description; and the subjects and general appearance of such representations, rather than the manner in which they were executed, form the illustration proper to the present text; and the statement of Diodorus is therefore satisfactory for our purpose, though by no means so for the other.

Of the representations which once adorned the walls of Babylon, none of course can now be expected to remain, unless perchance some fragments should be entombed under the vast mounds which mark the site of that desolated city. But perhaps some idea may be formed of the style and taste of such representations, and particularly of the dress and appearance of the ancient Chaldæans, to which the prophet more especially refers, by consulting the figures engraved upon the ancient cylinders which we have had former occasion to notice, and some specimens of which have been already given.

'Portrayed with vermilion.'-See also Wisdom xiii., where the author describes the process of making an idol. The carver, who had applied all the best wood to other purposes, such as the formation of cups or bowls, took, in a moment of idleness, one crooked piece, which served to no use,' and 'fashioned it to the image of a man, or made it like some vile beast, laying it over with vermilion, and with painting colouring it red,' etc. To these instances from the canonical and apocryphal Scriptures numerous examples might be added from various sources to shew that the custom of besmearing objects of religious worship with red paint was an ancient practice among various nations, and the red colour seems to be still esteemed sacred, in many instances, by the inhabitants of a great portion of Asia, from China to Caucasus, and from Tibet and Boutan to the extremity of India and to Ceylon. In Horace the Roman garden god is described as being, at least partially, painted red (Sat. lib. i. int. viii. 5). Of images at Corinth representing Bacchus, the faces were coloured with red paint (Pausan. Corinth. p. 115, ed. Kuhn, 1696); and one of the same deity in Achaia was so painted (Achaic. p. 593) and also of another, which he describes, in Arcadia, all the visible parts of which were reddened with cinnabar. The face even of Jupiter's image was, on festivals, coloured with minium, or red-lead, according to Verrius, quoted by Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxiii. 7), who observes that it was a colour once reckoned sacred among the Romans, applied to the bodies of those who triumphed, and used by the Ethiopians in colouring their idols. Servius (ad Virg. Ecl. vi. 22) informs us that those who triumphed painted their faces with minium, because red was supposed to be the colour of gods: he also informs us that Pan was painted red.

Examples of this ancient usage might be multiplied; but a few modern instances will better please the reader. The red columns in Chinese temples are noticed by Sir George Staunton (vol. i. 373; ii. 86); Klaproth (Travels in the Caucasus, p. 100) found that the altars and other parts of the Lama or Mongol temples were invariably painted on a ground of cinnabar red. Turner, in 1783, remarked red or deep garnet to be the distinguishing colour of the temples and other religious places in Boutan and Tibet (Embassy, 159, 294). The Indian deity Brahma is often represented red; and this colour is supposed peculiar to the creative power, denoting fire, and its type, the sun (Moor's Hindu Pantheon, p. 6). Many writers in the Asiatic Researches supply similar facts. Thus the mountaineers near Rajahmahall mark with red paint the sacred branch, the hen's egg, and the basket of rice used in their religious ceremonies; on which occasions they also employ strings of red silk (Asiatic Researches, iv. 48-52); an Indian image must be decked with garlands of red flowers, dressed in red garments, tied with red cords, and girt with a red girdle (Ibid. v. 390). We find in a building sacred to Bhyroe an enormous idol made of blue granite, rubbed over with red paint' (Ibid. vii. 104); a sacred stone, representing the divinity, at Chinchoor, is coloured red (ĺbid. vii. 305); and an image, worshipped in the temple of