cations of the subject, not as predictions to be understood and fulfilled precisely according to the letter. 24. Shall the prey seized by the terrible be rescued?] For py, read y. A palpable mistake, like that in chap. xlii. 19. The correction is self-evident from the very terms of the sentence; from the necessity of the strict correspondence in the expressions between the question and the answer made to it; and it is apparent to the blindest and most prejudiced eye. However, if authority is also necessary, there is that of Syr. and Vulg. for it; who plainly ready, in the 24th as well as in the 25th verse, rendering it in the former place by the same word as in the latter. CHAP. L. 1. Where is this bill—] Husbands, through moroseness or levity of temper, often sent bills of divorcement to their wives on slight occasions, as they were permitted to do by the law of Moses, Deut. xxiv. 1. And fathers, being oppressed with debt, often sold their children; which they might do, for a time, till the year of release. Exod. xxi. 7. That this was frequently practised, appears from many passages of Scripture; and that the persons and the liberty of the children were answerable for the debts of the father. The widow, 2 Kings iv. 1. complains, "that the creditor is come to take unto him her two sons to be bondmen." And in the parable, Matt. xviii. 25. “ the lord, forasmuch as his servant had not to pay, commands him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made." Sir John Chardin's MS. note on this place of Isaiah is as follows: "En orient on paye ses dettes avec ses esclaves, car ils sont des principaux meubles; et en plusieurs lieux on les paye aussi de ses enfans." But this, saith God, cannot be my case: I am not governed by any such motives; neither am 1 urged by any such necessity: your captivity, therefore, and your afflictions, are to be imputed to yourselves, and to your own folly and wickedness. 2. Their fish is dried up] For Na♫, stinketh, read vn, is dried up: so it stands in the Bodleian MS., and it is confirmed by the LXX, Engavθήσονται. 5. Neither did I withdraw-] Eleven MSS., and the oldest edition, prefix the conjunction ; and so also LXX, and Syr. 6. And my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair] The greatest indignity that could possibly be offered. See note on chap. vii. 20. Ibid. My face I hid not from shame and spitting] Another instance of the utmost contempt and detestation. It was ordered by the law of Moses, as a severe punishment, carrying with it a lasting disgrace. Deut. xxv. 9. Among the Medes it was highly offensive to spit in any one's presence, Herod. i. 99.; and so likewise among the Persians, Xenophon, Cyrop. lib. i. p. 18. They abhor me; they flee far from me; They forbear not to spit in my face.". Job xxx. 10. "And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?" Num. xii. 14. On which place Sir John Chardin remarks, that "spitting before any one, or spitting upon the ground in speaking of any one's actions, is through the east an ex pression of extreme detestation." Harmer's Observ. ii. 509. See also of the same notions of the Arabs in this respect, Niebuhr, Description de l'Arabie, p. 26. It so evidently appears, that in those countries spitting has ever been an expression of the utmost detestation, that the learned doubt, whether in the passages of Scripture above quoted any thing more is meant than spitting (not in the face, which perhaps the words do not necessarily imply, but only) in the presence of the person affronted. But in this place it certainly means spitting in the face: so it is understood in St. Luke, where our Lord plainly refers to this prophecy: "All things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished; for he shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated, and spitted on, ɛværvodnoɛtai,” xviii. 31, 32. which was in fact fulfilled; και ηρξαντο τινες εμπτυειν αυτῳ. Mark xiv. 65. xv. 19. If spitting in a person's presence was such an indignity, how much more spitting in his face? 7. Therefore have I set my face as a flint-] The prophet Ezekiel has expressed this with great force, în his bold and vehement manner: " Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, And thy forehead strong against their foreheads : As an adamant, harder than a rock, have I made thy forehead; Ezek. iii. 8, 9. 8. Who is he that will contend-] The Bodleian MS., and another, add as in the like phrase in the next verse: and מי הוא יריב הוא the word in the very same phrase, Job xiii. 19. and so likewise in many other places, Job xvii. 3. xli. 1. Sometimes, on the like occasions, it is, and. The word has been probably lost out of the present text; and the reading of the MS. above-mentioned seems to be genuine. 10. Let him hearken to the voice of his servant.] For you, pointed as the participle, the LXX and Syr. read y, future or imperative: this gives a much more elegant turn and distribution to the sentence. 11. -ye who kindle a fire-] The fire of their own kindling, by the light of which they walk with security and satisfaction, is an image designed to express, in general, human devices, and mere worldly policy, exclusive of faith and trust in God; which, though they flatter them for a while with pleasing expectations and some appearance of success, shall in the end turn to the confusion of the authors. Or, more particularly, as Vitringa explains it, it may mean the designs of the turbulent and factious Jews in the times succeeding tliose of Christ; who, in pursuit of their own desperate schemes, stirred up the war against the Romans, and kindled a fire which consumed their city and nation. Ibid. who heap the fuel round about]", accendentes, Syr. forte legerunt [pro "ND] "ND; nam sequitur ." SECKER. Lud. Capellus, in his critical notes on this place, thinks it should be, from the LXX, κατισχύοντες, CHAP. LI. 4. O ye peoples;-O ye nations] For y, my people, the Bodley MS. and another ready, ye peoples; and for ", my nation, the Bodley MS., and eight others (two of them ancient), read 'DNS, ye na tions: and so the Syriac in both words. The difference is very material: for in this case the address is made, not to the Jews, but to the Gentiles; as in all reason it ought to be: for this and the two following verses express the call of the Gentiles, the islands, or the distant lands on the coasts of the Mediterranean and other seas. It is also to be observed, that God in no other place calls his people. It has been before remarked, that transcribers frequently omitted the final of nouns plural, and supplied it, for brevity sake, and sometimes for want of room at the end of a line, by a small stroke thus'py; which mark, being effaced or overlooked, has been the occasion of many mistakes of this kind. 5. My righteousness is at hand—] The word py, righteousness, is used in such a great latitude of signification, for justice, truth, faithfulness, goodness, mercy, deliverance, salvation, &c. that it is not easy sometimes to give the precise meaning of it without much circumlocution; it means here the faithful completion of God's promises to deliver his people. 11. shall they obtain, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away] Nineteen MSS., and the two oldest editions, have ""; and forty-six MSS., and the same two editions, and agreeably to them Chald. and Syr. have D) and so both words are expressed chap. xxxv. 10. of which place this is a repetition. And from comparing both together it appears, that the in this place is become by mistake in the present text the final) of the preceding word. 13. of the oppressor, as if he~] "The in seems clearly to have changed its situation from the end of the preceding word to the beginning of this; or rather, to have been omitted by mistake there, because it was here. That it was there, the LXX shew by rendering, θλίβοντος σε, of him that oppressed thee. And so they render this word in both its place in this verse. The Vulgate also has the pronoun in the first instance: furoris ejus qui te tribulabat." Dr. JUBB. The correction seems well founded: I have not conformed the translation to it, because it makes very little difference in the sense. 14. He marcheth on with speed-] Cyrus, if understood of the temporal redemption from the captivity of Babylon; in the spiritual sense, the Messiah. 16. To stretch out the heavens] In the present text it is y, to plant the heavens: the phrase is certainly very obscure; and in all probability is a mistake for . This latter is the word used in ver. 13. just before, in the very same sentence; and this phrase occurs frequently in Isaiah, chap. xl. 22. xlii. 5. xliv. 24. xlv. 12. the former in no other place. It is also very remarkable, that in the Samaritan text, Num. xxiv. 6. these two words are twice changed, by mistake, one for the other, in the same verse. 19. These two things-desolation and destruction, the fumine and the sword] That is, desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword; taking the terms alternately: of which form of construction see other examples, De S. Poesi Heb. Præl. xix. and Prelim. Dissert. p. xxx. The Chaldee paraphrast, not rightly understanding this, bas had recourse to the following expedient: "Two afflictions are come upon thee,—and when four shall come upon thee, depredation and destruction, and the fa mine, and the sword-" ; and so LXX and Syr. Five MSS. have without the conjunction Ibid. —who shall comfort thee?] A MS., LXX, Syr. Chald. and Vulg. have it in the third person, ; which is evidently right. 20. —in the toils, drenched to the full-] "Forte 5 mpɔp.” SECKER. The demonstrative, prefixed to, seems improper in this place. 21. And thou drunken, but not with wine.] Eschylus has the same expression: Αοίνοις εμμανεις θυμωμασι. Intoxicate with passion, not with wine. Eumen. 863. Schultens thinks, that this circumlocution, as he calls it, "gradum adfert incomparabiliter majorem ;" and that it means not simply without wine, but much more than with wine. Gram. Hebr. p. 182. See his note on Job xxx. 28. The bold image of the cup of God's wrath, often employed by the sacred writers, (see note on chap. i. 22.) is nowhere handled with greater force and sublimity than in this passage of Isaiah, ver. 17—23. Jerusalem is represented in person as staggering under the effects of it, destitute of that assistance which she might expect from her children; not one of them being able to support or to lead her. They, abject and amazed, lie at the head of every street, overwhelmed with the greatness of their distress; like the oryx entangled in a net, in vain struggling to rend it, and extricate himself. This is poetry of the first order, sublimity of the highest proof. Plato had an idea something like this: "Suppose," says he, "God had given to men a medicating potion inducing fear; so that the more any one should drink of it, so much the more miserable he should find himself at every draught, and become fearful of every thing both present and future; and at last, though the most courageous of men, should be totally possessed by fear: and afterward, having slept off the effects of it, should become himself again." De Leg. i. 'near the end. He pursues at large this hypothesis, applying it to his own purpose, which has no relation to the present subject. Homer places two vessels at the threshold of Jupiter, one of good, the other of evil: he gives to some a potion mixed of both, to others from the evil vessel only: these are completely miserable, Iliad, xxvi. 527. 23. —who oppress thee] "Videntur, LXX, Chald. Syr. Vulg. legisse , ut xl. 26." SECKER. And so it is in edit. Gersom. Ibid. That say to thee, Bow down thy body] A very strong and most expressive description of the insolent pride of eastern conquerors, which, though it may seem greatly exaggerated, yet hardly exceeds the strict truth. An example has already been given of it in note to chap. xlix. 23. I will here add one or two more. "Joshua called for all the men of Israel; and said unto the captains of the men of war that went with him: Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings." Josh. x. 24. "Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so hath God requited me." Jud. i. 7. The emperor Valerianus being through treachery taken prisoner by Sapor king of Persia, was treated by him as the basest and most abject slave; for the Persian monarch commanded the unhappy Roman to bow himself down, and offer him his back, on which he set his foot, in order to mount his chariot or his horse, whenever he had occasion. Lactantius, de Mort. Persec. cap. v. Aurel. Victor. Epitome, cap. xxxii. CHAP. LII. 2.-ascend thy lofty seat] The literal rendering here is, according to our English translation, "arise, sit:" on which a very learned person remarks: "So the old versions. But sitting is an expression of mourning in Scripture and the ancients; and doth not well agree with the rising just before." It doth not indeed agree, according to our ideas; but considered in an oriental light, it is perfectly consistent. The common manner of sitting in the eastern countries is upon the ground, or floor, with the legs crossed. The people of better condition have the floors of their chambers, or divans, covered with carpets for this purpose; and round the chamber broad couches, raised a little above the floor, spread with mattresses handsomely covered, which are called sofas. When sitting is spoken of as a posture of more than ordinary state, it is quite of a different kind, and means sitting on high, on a chair of state or throne; for which a footstool was necessary, both in order that the person might raise himself up to it, and for supporting the legs when he was placed in it. "Chairs," saith, Sir John Chardin," are never used in Persia, but at the coronation of their kings. The king is seated in a chair of gold set with jewels, three feet high.-The chairs which are used by the people in the east are always so high, as to make a footstool necessary. And this proves the propriety of the style of Scripture, which always joins the footstool to the throne." (Isa. lxvi. 1. Psal. cx. 1.) Voyages, tom. ix. p. 85. 12mo. Beside the six steps to Solomon's throne, there was as a footstool of gold fastened to the seat, 2 Chron. ix. 18. which would otherwise have been too high for the king to reach, or to sit on conveniently. When Thetis comes to wait on Vulcan to requset armour for her son, she is received with great respect, and seated on a silver-studded throne, a chair of ceremony, with a footstool: Την μεν έπειτα καθεισεν επί θρόνου αργυροηλού, "High on a throne, with stars of silver graced, Iliad. xviii. 389. Pope. Ο γαρ θρονος αυτος μόνον ελευθεριος εστι καθέδρα συν υποποδιῳ. Athenaeus, v. 4. "A throne is nothing more than a handsome sort of chair, with a footstool." ; singular, in the text, , plural, according to 5. And they that are lords over them—] For more than a hundred and twenty MSS. have the Masoretical correction in the margin: which shews, that the Masoretes often superstitiously retained apparent mistakes in the text, even when |