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Before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come. But it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered: For in mount Sion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance,

As Jehovah hath said;

Even among the remnant whom Jehovah shall call.

CHAP. III.

|| FOR Behold in those days, and at that time, When I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and of Jerusalem,

That I will assemble all the nations,

And will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat;

And there will I execute judgment upon them for my people;

And for mine heritage Israel, whom they scattered

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32. —shall be delivered] This refers to the safety of the Christians during the Jewish and Roman war. among the inhabitants of Mount Sion and of Jerusalem, that is, by a synecdoche of the part for the whole, among the Jewish people, shall be deliverance: as Jehovah hath spoken by me and by other prophets,"

CHAP. III.

1. For-] As an earnest of this, my people shall be restored to their land, and their enemies shall be humbled.

2. all the nations] This must be restrained to the neighbouring nations. See v. 12.

-the valley of Jehoshaphat] A valley in which a battle was to be won, most probably by Nebuchadnezzar, which would utterly discomfit the ancient enemies of the Jews, and resemble the victory which Jehoshaphat obtained over the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites: 2 Chron. xx. 22-26.

-execute judgment] See 2 Chron. xxii. 8. Ps. ix. 19. I will discomfit them before their enemies. There is an allusion to the word Jehoshaphat; which signifies Jehovah judgeth.

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And what have ye also to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon,

And all the borders of Palestine?

Do ye requite me with retaliation?
Now, if ye retaliate on me,

Soon and swiftly will I bring again your retaliation
on your own head.

Because ye have taken my silver and my gold,
And have brought into your palaces my desirable
and goodly things;

The sons also of Judah, and the sons of Jerusalem,
Ye have sold to the sons of the Grecians,

That ye might remove them far from their border;
Behold, I will raise them out of the place

Whither ye have sold them;

And I will bring again your retaliation on your own head:

*Or, bartered.

3. for wine] "In Mingrelia they sell captive children for provisions and for wine." Sir John Chardin, in Harmer ii. 374.

4. O Tyre and Sidon] When the Babylonians, the appointed instruments of my vengeance, afflict my land, why do you also, and the bordering nations, assist them? Do you take this occa sion of avenging the former victorics of my people over you? If so, this your act of revenge shall be speedily punished.

Soon and swiftly] See Isai. v. 26. Pocock understands both the words adverbially.

6. Grecians] Descendents of Javan. Gen. x. 2, 5. They trafficked with Tyre, and traded in slaves. Ezek. xxvii. 13. "Homerus passim, s Axawy." Bahrdt.

7. I will raise them] Grotius in loc. mentions that Alexander and his successors set at liberty many Jews who were slaves in Greece. Many also, on occasion of Cyrus's decree, might return to their country from such parts of Asia Minor and the Jonian islands as were subject to that monarch.

-on your own head] Ezek. xxv, xxvi, will furnish a comment on this passage. Nebuchadnezzar conquered the several countries there enumerated. See Jer. xxv. 15-29. The seacoasts of Palestine were also invaded by Alexander the Great,

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And I will sell your sons and your daughters
Into the hands of the sons of Judah;

And they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a na-
tion afar off:

For Jehovah hath spoken it.

Proclaim ye this among the nations:

Declare ye war, raise up the mighty ones;
Let all the warlike men draw near, let them come up:
Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your
pruninghooks into spears:

Let the weak say, I am strong.

Collect yourselves and come, All ye nations round
about;

And assemble yourselves together; yet there doth
Jehovah bring low thy mighty ones.

Let the nations rise and come up

To the valley of Jehoshaphat;

For there will I sit

To judge all the nations round about.

Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe:
Come get ye down, for the wine press is full, the
vats overflow:

+ Hebr. sanctify,

8. -sons of Judah] This might happen on occasion of Judas Maccabeus's victories. 1 Macc. v. 3, 7, 15, 21.

-afar off] See Jer. vi. 20. Matth. xii. 42. So Babylon is called a far country. Isai. xxxix. 3.

10. -the weak] Let even the unwarlike arm themselves on this occasion.

11. doth Jehovah bring low] Literally, "hath Jehovah brought low." What he will do, is spoken of as done. descendere fecit: in Chald. and Syr. dejecit, humiliavit.

-thy mighty ones] Syr. renders, "your mighty ones:" and Chald. their mighty ones."

12. To judge] To punish by a signal overthrow.

13. Put ye in] b immittite. So for To Simarov σ, Apoc. xiv. 15. Bahrdt.

get ye down] Houbigant observes that 6. render zataōt, 1977 "tread the grapes." This beautiful reading is confirmed by Ar. Syr. Chald.

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For their wickedness is great.

Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of excision:
For the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of excision.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
And the stars withdraw their shining.

Jehovah also will roar from Sion,
And from Jerusalem will he utter his voice;
And the heavens and the earth shall shake:
But Jehovah will be a refuge to his people,
And a strong hold to the sons of Israel.
And ye shall know that I am Jehovah your
Dwelling in Sion mine holy mountain:
And Jerusalem shall be § holy,

God,

And strangers shall no longer pass through her.
And it shall come to pass, in that day,

That the mountains shall drop down sweet wine,

Hebr. the mountain of mine holiness.

§ holiness.

Spumat plenis vindemia labris.
Huc, pater O Lenæe veni, nudataque musto
Tinge novo mecum direptis crura cothurnis.

Virg. Georg. ii. 6. "ПTTE 6. Chald. 177. Recte. Vide Thren. i. 15. Sed vid. Pocock." Secker.

-their wickedness is great] This explains the figurative 'language which precedes. They are ripe for excision. Let the wine press of my wrath be trodden. is the calcatorium; p the lake, voor. See Bishop Lowth on Isai. v. 2

14. Multitudes, multitudes] That is, very great multitudes. -of excision] I attribute to the sense of to cut, to cut off. Sce Lev. xxii. 22. Job xiv. 5. The word may mean decided vengeance: or, it may refer to the threshing-instrument which forced out the grain and at the same time cut the straw.

15. The sun-] That is, great revolutions shall happen in the vanquished nations.

16. will roar] See on Amos i. 2.

from Sion] This may refer to the conquests under the Maccabees.

17. no longer] But my people shall return from Babylon. If we render, no more, we must suppose a reference to Jerusalem on its establishment.

18. in that day] After the return from Babylon.

-sweet wine] Incultisque rubens pendebit scntibus uva. Virg. Sec Amos ix, 13.

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And the hills shall flow with milk;

And all the torrents of Judah shall flow with water: And a fountain shall come forth from the House of Jehovah,

And shall water the valley of Shittim.

Egypt shall be || a desolation,

And Edom shall be a* desolate wilderness:
For their violence against the sons of Judah;
Because they shed innocent blood in their land:
But Judah shall dwell for ever,

And Jerusalem shall remain † from generation to
generation:

And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged;

And Jehovah will dwell in Sion.

Hebr. for a desolation. * for a wilderness of desolation. † to generation and generation. -milk] Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant. Ovid. -Shittim] In the plains of Moab, near Jordan. Numb. xxxiii. 49. Josh. iii. 1. In this v. either the times of the Messiah are described; or we have a description of Jerusalem after its final restoration, when a golden age shall commence among its inhabitants, and when the knowledge of God and of his Christ shall a second time be widely diffused from it. See Ezek. xlvii. 8. Zech. xiv. 8.

19. Egypt-] There shall be a signal difference between Egypt and Idumea, whose people shall be lost in the mass of other nations, and whose sovereignty shall not be restored; and Judah and Jerusalem, whose inhabitants shall be reinstated after their captivity, and on their future return, shall dwell for ever in their land; Jehovah displaying his glory among them.

21. avenge] I will, as it were, declare it pure and innocent; by punishing their unjust and cruel adversaries. "ó. Syr. videntur legisse np." Secker.

It is uncertain whether we have the key to this difficult chapter; which may not be fully understood till Jerusalem is rebuilt, and till the prophecies, Ezek. xxxix. 5, 11, Rev. xx. 8, 9, are accomplished.

For the valley of Jehoshaphat may be rightly explained v. 2, and may be used in an inferior sense; as Tyre, Sidon and Palestine are mentioned v. 4. and the Grecians and Sabeans v. 6, 8; and yet it may take its primary and proper sense v. 12, and refer to a great event still future: and such an event as will give due emphasis to v. 13-18.

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