thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith Jehovah, from henceforth and for ever.

LX.

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2

ARISE [O JERUSALEM], SHINE; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Jehovah will arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Nations 3 shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see; they all gather themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall nurse [their babes] at thy side.

4

Then thou shalt see, and be gladdened, and thy heart 5 shall throb, and swell; because the riches of the West shall be turned to thee, the wealth of the Nations shall come to thee. The multitude of camels shall cover 6 thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense; and they shall shew forth the praises of Jehovah. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to thee, the rams of Nebaioth [or the Nabatæans] shall minister to thee; they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the House of my glory.

passages may both point to Ezra, who, like Moses, was of the family of Levi.

THE WALLS ARE TO BE REBUILT ; THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR.

Arise, shine.] As these verbs are feminine singular,

we understand them as addressed to Jerusalem.

4

Thy sons shall come from far.] This was probably written soon after Nehemiah's arrival from Susa, B.C. 445, fifty years later than the last passage.

5 The wealth of the nations shall come to thee.] The mild despotism of the Persians, so different from the cruel tyranny of the Babylonians, had allowed the agriculture and trade to prosper.

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Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves 9 to their windows? Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish among the first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of Jehovah thy God, and to the Holy One of 10 Israel, because he hath glorified thee. And the sons of foreigners shall build up thy walls [B.C. 444], and their kings shall minister unto thee; for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy city-gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that the wealth of the Nations may be brought to thee, and that their kings may be led captive. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

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The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my Sanctuary; and I will make the place of 14 my feet glorious. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of Jehovah, 15 The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an excellence for ever, a 16 joy for generations and generations. Thou hast also sucked the milk of the Nations, and thou shalt suck the breast of kings; and thou shalt know that I Jehovah am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob.

17 Instead of copper I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver, and instead of wood copper, and instead of stones iron. I will also make thine overseers peace, and thy tribute-gatherers righteous

10 Shall build up thy walls.] This fixes the time of our writer to when Nehemiah had permission from Artaxerxes Longimanus to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (Nehem. ii.).

17

Thy tribute-gatherers righteousness.] The Persian

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ness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, 18 wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy city gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for 19 brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but Jehovah will be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God will be thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for Jehovah will be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning are ended. Thy people also shall be all 21 righteous; they shall possess the land for ever, as an off-shoot of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. That which was little shall become a thousand, and that which was small, a strong nation I Jehovah will hasten it in its time.

;

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THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD JEHOVAH is upon me; because 1 Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the afflicted; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the year of acceptance by Jehovah, and the day

government was mild and meant to be just. The burdens laid upon the people were a land tax, a poll tax, and road service (Ezra. iv. 13). The road service, or duty of forwarding troops and public officers, had been made very much more light by Darius. In his reign hire was paid for man and beast when such service was claimed (Zech. viii. 10). But the overseer and the tribute-gatherer were still in the land; and when the proverb says that the Horseleach hath two daughters, who cry, 66 Give, give," we may understand the Horseleach as being the Persian Government, and the two daughters the land tax and the poll tax (Prov. xxx. 15).

1

LXI. The spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me.] The writer is unknown.

2 The year of acceptance.] As we place this portion of our Book in the time of Nehemiah, at the time when Lev. xxv. was written, and a Jubilee was ordered to be

2

of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3 to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give to them ornaments in place of ashes, the oil of joy in place of mourning, the garment of praise in place of the spirit of weakness; that they might be called Trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he might be glorified.

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6

And they shall build up the old waste places, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many genera5 tions. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowmen and your vine-dressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of Jehovah; men shall call you the Ministers of our God. Ye shall eat the riches of the Nations, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. In place of your shame ye shall have double [reward]; and in place of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion; therefore in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them.

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8

For I Jehovah love justice, I hate plundering with iniquity; and I will reward their work in truth, and I 'will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known to the Nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed blessed by Jehovah.

10 I WILL GREATLY REJOICE in Jehovah, my soul shall be

held every fiftieth year for the release of bond servants, we may suppose that the words above point to the year B.C. 438, the hundreth year after the return from Captivity. They confirm our conjecture in Note on chap. lviii. 6, that there we have a mention of the former Jubilee year of B.C. 488.

6 Ye shall be named Priests of Jehovah.] The whole nation were to be priests, as said in Exod. xix. 6. Thus our writer was no friend to a priestly class.

7 Ye shall have double.] Ye shall be fully repaid, as explained in Note on chap. xl. 2.

joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself like a priest with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth sendeth forth her " bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

2

3

For Zion's sake I will not keep silence, and for 1 Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until its righteousness go forth as brightness, and its salvation as a lamp that burneth. And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall declare. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal turban in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken;' neither shall 4 thy land any more be termed 'Desolate ;' but thou shalt be called 'My delight is in her,' and thy land ‘The married woman;' for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a maiden, so shall thy sons marry thee; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

Ye

I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, who shall never hold their peace day nor night. that should remind Jehovah, keep not silence, and give him no quiet, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise on the earth. Jehovah hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be food for thine enemies; and the sons of the foreigner shall not drink thy grape juice, for which thou hast laboured. But they that have reaped it shall eat it, and praise Jehovah ; and they that have gathered it in shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.

Pass ye on, pass ye on through the city gates; prepare ye the way of the people; build up, build up the

XLII. 10 The way of the people.] Probably a further

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