And thou hast founded them as a rock, to chasten us. 13 Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, And canst not look on wickedness;

14

15

16

17

Why dost thou look on transgressors,

And art silent when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he?

And why makest thou men as the fishes of the sea,
As the moving * things which have no ruler over
them?

They take up all of them with the hook;
They collect them in their net, and gather them
together in their drag:

Therefore they rejoice and exult:

Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their drag:

Because by them their portion is fat, and their food plenteous.

Shall they therefore empty their net;

Hebr. thing which hath no ruler over it.

-as a rock] Houbigant renders, In hostem validum fecisti, ut eum coargueres.

"As a flint thou hast set him to reprove [chastise.] Ez. iii. 9. Thou hast given him firmness, and resolution, or hardness of heart, to punish." Dr. Forsayeth.

13. -more righteous] The just or good man mentioned c. ii. 4.

15. They take up-] Hebr. One taketh up: one collecteth them. The Chaldeans are meant.

-all of them] Houbigant prefers : and this is the reading of three MSS. and of a fourth in the margin.

16. sacrifice] They boast themselves in their strength and deify themselves for their valour.

כן

17. Shall they therefore] V 6. Ar. Syr. read by, therefore: Houbigant conjectures by and therefore. All omit the interrogation.

The meaning of the verse, if read interrogatively, is,

"Shall the wicked therefore be never stopped in their career?" which is agreeable to the expostulations v. 13, 14. Without the interrogation, the sense may be: Therefore, sc. because their portion is thus made fat, they are intent on filling and emptying their net.

And continually spare not to slay the nations?

CHAP. 11.

I Stood on my watchtower,

And set myself on the bulwark:

And I looked to see what he would speak by me;
t
And what I should reply to my arguing with him.
And Jehovah answered me, and said:

Write the vision, and make it plain upon the tablets;
That he may run that readeth it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time;

+ Or, watched.

And continually] This line explains the allegory. Syr. Ch. and Houbigant read T continually without the vau, and join the word to the former clause. Observe that vau precedes. -empty their net continually:

1. I stood-] Stabam. Houbigant.

-on my watchtower] I was earnestly looking for God's word: as a watchman intent on his office. Prophets are compared to watchmen: Ezek. iii. 17.

-I should reply] To my own satisfaction, and that of others, as to the difficulties raised c. i. 13-17, why the idolatrous and wicked Chaldeans, and their king, are to be prosperous and triumphant.

Syr. and Houbigant read, he would reply: and Chald. has respondebor, I should be answered.

"And will look attentively to see what he will say to me, "And what he will answer for my conviction." Dr. Wheeler. 2. the tablets] 6. here, and Vulg. ó. Isai. xxx. 8, render tablets of box: which were firm and durable.

-may run] Let the characters be so legible that one who hastily passes on may read them; which may have been a proverbial manner of expression. Houbigant renders, "ut, qui leget, expedite legat:" and several others understand the word run figuratively, of rapid reading.

that readeth it] Two MSS. read

readeth.

every one that

3. the vision] "Or prophecy; which follows v. 4—20” Secker.

4

But at the end it shall speak clearly, and shall not ‡ lie,
If it delay, wait for it:

For it shall surely come, it shall not tarry long.
Behold his soul is lifted up, it is not upright
in him:

Or, deceive.

Hebr. coming it shall come. it is lifted up, his soul is not, &c. --an appointed time] The destruction of the Chaldeans by Cyrus is at a somewhat distant period of years, determined in my counsels.

-speak clearly] The word is used in Hiphil, with a case And it is used in after it, for uttering. Prov. vi. 19. xiv. 3. Kal. for aspirare: Cantic. ii. 17: iv. 6: until the day break; or breath, as it is rendered in the margin.

--and shall not lie] Thirteen MSS. read & for ; as if the

לקצו לא true reading were

"But at the end thereof it shall speak clearly, it shall not lie. "It shall not be later than its season." Dr. Wheeler.

-it shall not tarry long] So Houbigant. All the versions, Chald. twenty-two MSS. and six editions read, "And it shall not" &c. . See also Hebrews x. 37: where the sacred writer follows, though not exactly, the mistaken Greek translation of this hemistich: for & is the infinitive used gerundively, not the participle; and is written in six MSS. The clause therefore is an apt accommodation, taken from a version in frequent use among the Hellenistic Jews; a remark which I extend to the former clause of v. 4.

4. Behold] Two MSS. read . And Arab. has Et si: and Hebr. x. 38, we read Katav. ó have 'E. Thus the Greek translator may have read N, or DN.

-lifted up] This rendering furnishes a good sense, if we understand the passage of the Chaldeans: who, as appears from c. i. 7, 12, 15-17, may be addressed in the singular number throughout this chapter: though I allow that Nebuchadnezzar, and Belshazzar, Dan. v. may be alluded to at the same time. But the idea of elation of mind does not occur in the ancient versions or paraphrase. On the contrary, o. have av VOGTLANTA, and Ar. Si tædio afficiatur; which suggests the reading of y his mind is cast down, or fainteth: and one MS. reads thus; and another had by originally, which may possibly be rendered, there is dejection; but not defectio, in the sense of falling off from the faith.

-his soul] 6. Ar. Hebr. x. 38, and at first MS. 17, read my soul.

5

But the just shall live by his faith.

Moreover, as a mighty man transgresseth thro' wine,

-is not upright in him] Capellus supposes that ó. translate from the Arabic sense of ; the word in the Arabic version being from lætus, hilaris, fuit. They may have read

תרצה or רצתה the participle, or רצה or

But the just] 6. MS. A. and ed. Ald. and the Arabic version, represent the reading of 'py my just one. And one MS. originally, and some versions, and Fathers, read so Heb. x. 38. Rom. i. 17. See Wetstein.

-by his faith] So Vulg. Aq. Symm. Theod. and ed. v. vi. vii. in Montfaucon. But 6. MS. V. and, Hebr. x. 38, one MS. Vulg. and some Fathers, represent no, by faith in me, as MS. 320 seems to read: and this reading Mill approves of. Proleg. §. 932. One Hebrew MS. reads IVAND.

There is an ambiguity in the Hebrew; as well as Rom. i 17. Gal. ii. 11. Hebr. x. 38.

But the just shall live by his faith.

by faith. by

faith in me.

I prefer the former sense. The meaning of the prophet is; The good, or righteous, man, who believes in my prophets, and obeys their directions, shall live at the time of the Babylonish invasion. See Jer. xxi. 9. xxxviii. 2, 17, 18. xlii. 7, &c. In the New Testament the words are accommodated.

"The English word faith is only used here and Deut. xxxii. 20 in all the Ö. T. And the Hebrew word no, which is here used with a suffix, denotes many times an attribute of God, but never a quality in man, except I Sam. xxvi. 23. where it means fidelity: a ON UN is a man of truth: Prov. xxviii. 20: and there is no N in them: Deut. xxxii. 20. With a suffix it denotes also a charge or office 1 Chron. ix. 22: 2 Chron. xxxi. 18. But with or without a suffix, it never means faith, or credit given to a testimony. But the verb N doth as in the noted place Gen. xv. 6. It may be translated here, by his faithfulness. Comp. i. 13. 6 have Ex. But Grabe sms. Syr. hath no pronoun. Пgs in 6. never, I think, signifies belief, but faithfulness; nor is believing, but faithful." Secker.

5. a mighty man] I read with Houbigant and Green, See Ps. lxxviii. 65. The cau may have been supplied by a point.

6

He is proud, and remaineth not at * rest:
† He enlargeth his desire, as the grave;
And he is as death, and cannot be satisfied;
And gathereth to himself all the nations,
And assembleth to himself all the people.
Shall not § all these

Take up a parable against him,

And a taunt and proverbs concerning him?
And they shall say:

Woe unto him who multiplieth that which belongeth not unto him!

How long will he laid himself with many pledges;

* Hebr. at home, † Who.

-through wine] I read

these all of them.

the peoples.
with Chald. See

pounded, 1 Sam. xiv. 14. Gen. xxxviii. 24.

thus com

I understand not this particle. There seems an ellipsis of w before ". See examples in Michaelis. A drunkard is a transgressor, a proud man. Or, He is a drunkard, a &c." Secker.

remaineth not at rest] Perhaps the true reading is m. Unseemly." Dr. Wheeler. From N in Niphal.

-and cannot be satisfied] This is the reading of Vulg. and Chald. But 6. Ar. Syr. one MS. and Green, Poetical parts &c. pref. p. xi. read & for 5.

"He enlargeth his desire, as the grave;

"And, as death, he cannot be satisfied."

Mr. Wintle also observed this reading in MS. 154; and approves of it.

This verse describes the Chaldeans, and their ambitious king. 6. -a taunt and proverbs] Syr. reads and proverbs, Perhaps the true reading is, ny, et irrisionem proverbiorum, or, as Vulg. et loquelam enigmatum. "A sentence of derision." D. Wheeler. "Omittunt vau, Syr. Ch. Recte, ut videtur." Secker.

And they shall say] Literally, And one shall say: that is, And it shall be said.

—will he lade himself] Syr. Chald. and one MS. read without the vau.

-many pledges] Kimchi derives the original word from Day to pledge; as, a heavy rain, from : and thinks that the repetition of the third radical intends the signification. There may be a reference to the frequent rapines of the Chal

N n