his people [Judah], and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn back the battle at the city gate. But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink they wander about; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they wander about by strong drink; they err in their visions, they stumble in giving judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

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To whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will 9 he make to understand what he heareth? Them that are weaned from the milk, and taken away from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little. Truly by men of stammering 11 lips and by a foreign tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, 'This is the resting-place where ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing'place;' yet they would not hear. But the word of 13 Jehovah was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; so that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and ensnared, and taken. Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, 'We have made a covenant with Death,

Hezekiah and Sennacherib, which, of course, included the payment of a tribute.

The priest and the prophet have erred.] Thus the present state of affairs is not what it should be.

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By a foreign tongue_will he speak to this people.] Jehovah will correct the Jews by means of the Assyrian armies.

15 Covenant with Death agreement with Hell.] This is the treaty with Assyria, which Isaiah very much blames. He charges those who made it with selfishness. It was probably made by the landowners, in the hope to save their lands from plunder when the Assyrians passed through the country.

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' and with Hell we have made an agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not " come unto us. For we have made lies our refuge, and ' under falsehood have we hidden ourselves.'

Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a well-founded foundation; he that believeth shall not be made to flee.

17 Judgment also will I lay down by the line, And righteousness by the plummet;

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And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies;
And the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
And your covenant with Death shall be annulled,
And your agreement with Hell shall not stand;
When the overflowing scourge shall pass through,
Then ye shall be trodden down by it.

19 As often as it passeth through, it shall take you;
For day after day it shall pass, by day and by night;
And only to understand the report shall be a trouble.
20 For the bed is too short for a man to stretch himself;
And the covering too narrow for him to wrap himself.
21 For Jehovah will rise up as on Mount Perazim,
He will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon,
That he may work his work, his strange work;
And do his doings, his foreign doings.

16 In Zion for a foundation stone.] The people would do better to trust in Jerusalem. Thus we learn the two lines of politics which often divided the people. One party would treat with the invader, the other party would trust to the city walls.

18 Shall be annulled.] Will be broken. The Assyrians will not keep their promises.

The overflowing scourge.] This is the Assyrian army on its way, perhaps, to Egypt.

21 As on mount Perazim.] Jehovah will defeat the enemy in due time, as David defeated the Philistines (2 Sam v. 20).

As in the valley of Gibeon.] As David slew the followers of Ishbosheth (2 Sam. ii. 13).

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Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bonds be 22 made strong; for I have heard from the Lord Jehovah of hosts of destruction being determined even against the whole land. Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. Doth the plowman plow 24 to sow, or doth he open and break up his ground every day? When he hath made level the face thereof, doth 25 he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast the wheat in furrows, and the barley in its fit place, and the spelt on its boundary? For his God doth 26 instruct him unto discretion, and doth teach him. For 27 the fitches are not beaten with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but fitches are beaten out with a staff, and cummin with a rod. Bread corn is to be ground; because he will 28 not be continually threshing it, or breaking it with the wheel of his cart; nor will he grind it with his horsemen. This also cometh forth from Jehovah of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in purpose.

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WOE TO ARIEL, Ariel [or lion of God], the city where 1 David dwelt! Add ye year to year; let the solemn feasts go round. Yet I will distress the Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; and it shall be to me as an Ariel [or a hearth of God]. And I will encamp

22 Lest your bonds be made strong.] Probably at this time Hezekiah had submitted to the Assyrians, and the people were fretting under the oppression.

24 Doth he open his ground every day?] So Jehovah will wait for a due season when he will perform his promises, and relieve the people.

XXIX. Ariel, the city where David dwelt.] Ariel may be translated Lion of God.

2 It shall be to me as an Ariel.] Here the same word may be translated Hearth of God, or fire in which the people are to be burnt. The Ariel was the name of the upper portion of the great altar at Jerusalem, as described in Ezek. xliii. 15. We thus learn that the altar had already in Hezekiah's reign been raised to that height; and we may suppose that this had been done by his

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against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee 4 with a mound, and I will raise forts against thee. And thou shalt be brought down, and shait speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of a speaking bottle [or ventriloquist], out of the ground, and thy speech shall 5 chirp out of the dust. Then the rabble of the strangers among thee shall be like small dust, and the rabble of those that terrify shall be as chaff that passeth away; 6 yea, it shall come to pass at an instant suddenly. Thou shalt be visited by Jehovah of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tem7pest, and the flame of a devouring fire. And the rabble of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her fortress, and that distress her, 8 shall be as a dream of a vision in the night. It shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold,

father Ahaz, according to the pattern of that at Damascus (2 Kings xvi. 10, 11). The height of the altar had been raised at several times. David built an altar on the threshing-floor-the raised rock (2 Sam xxiv. 25). Solomon built on the same spot (1 Kings ix. 25), but not so high that the priests needed steps to mount by (Exod. xx. 26). Asa seems to have raised it higher (2 Chron. xv. 8), because steps were then needed, as we learn from Exod. xxviii. 42, 43. At that height it may have been called the Harel, or Mount of God, as in Ezek. xliii. 15, before it was again raised to be the Ariel, or Hearth of God.

3 I will raise forts against thee.] Jerusalem is to be again besieged by Sennacherib, as we shall see in chap. xxxvi.

5 The rabble of strangers.] The various nations which formed Sennacherib's army.

As chaff that passeth away.] Sennacherib was on that occasion hastily recalled from Judea, probably by news of a rising of some of his eastern provinces; for the Jews had no force that they could bring against him, or even harass his retreat.

he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul craveth; so shall the rabble of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

Remain idle and wonder; take your pleasure and be blind. They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For Jehovah hath 10 poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; and your heads, namely, the seers of visions hath he covered. And the 11 whole vision is become unto you as the words of a sealed book, which men deliver to one that understandeth books, saying, 'Read this, I pray thee;' and he saith, 'I cannot; for it is sealed.' And the book is 12 delivered to one that understandeth not books, saying, Read this, I pray thee;' and he saith, 'I understand not books.' Therefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips they do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men; therefore, behold, I will again 14 do a wonderful work among this people, even a wonderful work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their understanding men shall be hidden.

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Woe to them that stoop down to hide their counsel 15 from Jehovah, and their works are in the dark, and they

9 Remain idle, and wonder.] The Assyrians seemed to the Jews to have run away without a cause; and on that occasion probably was written Gen. xiv. 1–16, in which the allied kings of Asia, with forces equal to Sennacherib's wide kingdom, are said to have been defeated and pursued beyond Damascus by Abram's three hundred and eighteen men. This seems meant to laugh at Sennacherib when the danger was past.

11 I cannot, for it is sealed.] The Jews were wholly unable to understand what had happened, and how they were relieved.