16

say, 'Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?' It is your perverseness if the potter is only esteemed as the clay; for shall the work say of him that made it, 'He 'made me not'? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, 'He had no understanding'?

17 Is it not yet less than a little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel [or a fruitful field], and Carmel shall be esteemed as the forest of [Lebanon]? 18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of a book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and 19 out of darkness. The lowly also shall increase their joy in Jehovah, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one [Sennacherib] is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and 21 all that watch for iniquity are cut off; that treat a man as guilty for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth at the city gate, and turn aside the righteous for a thing of nought.

20

22

23

Therefore thus saith Jehovah, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob; Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now grow pale. But when he seeth his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall dread the 24 God of Israel. They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that grumbled shall learn -good manners.

1 Woe to the rebellious children, Jehovah hath said it, that take counsel, but not of me, and that pour out drink offerings [or make treaties], but not of my spirit, so that

18 The deaf shall hear the words of a book.] They will then learn that the invasion is at an end.

20 The terrible one.] Sennacherib is no longer to be feared.

22 Jehovah who redeemed Abraham.] Alluding to Abram's victory in Gen. xiv., above spoken of. Thus that portion of Genesis was written shortly before these words of Isaiah.

1

XXX. Pour out drink offerings.] Or make treaties.

they may add sin to sin; that walk to go down into 2 Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to flee in haste to the strength of Pharaoh, and to seek refuge in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of 3 Pharaoh [Tirhakah] be your shame, and the seeking refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. For his princes were at Zoan [or Tanis], and his messengers came as far as Hanes [or Tahpanhes]. They were all 5 ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

THE BURDEN OF THE BEASTS OF THE SOUTH COUNTRY 6 [of Judea].

Into a land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the lion and panther, the horned serpent and the fiery

The treaty with Egypt to purchase help against the Assyrians is thus blamed.

3 Pharaoh.] Tirhakah the Ethiopian was king of Egypt.

His messengers came as far as Hanes.] Perhaps Tahpanhes, or Tape-hanes. This town is on the road to Zoan, or Tanis, where the Egyptian princes were, but about twenty miles distant. Hezekiah's messengers, it seems, turned back at Hanes; perhaps they were not allowed to go further.

• The beasts of the South country.] The people of the Negib, or country to the south of Hebron, were little friendly to the rulers in Jerusalem.

The lion and the panther.] There were four large animals of the cat kind which were known to the Jews -the lion, or felis leo, of Asia and Africa; the panther, or felis pardus; the leopard, or felis leopardus, both of Africa; and the small black lion, or felis melas, of Asia. For the lion they had two names, and x, the latter meaning at first the African or Libyan lion. The panther and leopard may at first have both been covered by the name of ', though afterwards the leopard had its own name, . The black lion was named In Job iv. 10, 11, the lion (78) is figurative of Assyria, the black lion (n) of Babylon, and the panther (v) of

n.

serpent with wings, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit 7 them. For Egypt is vanity, and shall help to no purpose; therefore have I named it, 'The Boaster that sitteth still.'

8

Now Go, WRITE IT before them on a tablet; and note it in a book, that it may be for a future day for a testi'mony for ever; that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of Jeho10 vah; who say to the seers, 'See not;' and to those who have visions, 'Tell not unto us right visions, speak 11' to us smooth things, tell deceitful visions; get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy 12 One of Israel to cease from before us.' Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye have refused this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and lean thereon; therefore this iniquity shall be

13

Egypt, to which country also the whelps of the lioness belong. Isaiah here gives to Egypt the a and the

, the lion and the panther, perhaps including the leopard under that latter name.

The horned serpent.] The Naia, or vipera cerastes of Egypt, has small fleshy horns on the eyelids. When its figure is cut on stone, among other hieroglyphics, these horns are made large. Its Hebrew name, yox, is from the Coptic HFO. Its form, with its two horns, after passing through the Egyptian enchorial character, the Phenician letter, and the Greek digamma, is still seen in our Roman F.

The fiery serpent.] This fabulous animal, the seraph, is well known on the Egyptian sculptured monuments.

On the bunches of cameis.] In the South country of Judah, on the borders of the desert, the camel was more known than either in other parts of Judea or in Egypt.

7 The Boaster.] This name Rahab, the boaster, which Isaiah here gives to Egypt on its refusal to help the Jews, is henceforth often used for that country, as in chap. li. 9; and Psalms lxxxvii. 4, and lxxxix. 10.

to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. And He will break it as the breaking of the potter's 14 vessel that is crushed in pieces. He will not spare; so that there shall not be found in the crushing of it a sherd to take fire with from the hearth, or to scoop up water with out of a cistern.

For thus said the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of 15 Israel; In returning and remaining shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.' But ye would not. And ye said, 'No; for we will flee 16 'upon horses;' therefore shall ye have to flee; and, 'We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand shall flee at the 17 rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee; till ye be left as a post upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.

For 19

And therefore will Jehovah wait, that he may be 18 gracious to you, and therefore will he rise up, that he may have mercy on you. For Jehovah is a God of justice; blessed are all they that wait for him. thou, O people that dwellest in Zion in Jerusalem, shalt not weep for ever. He will be very gracious to thee at the voice of thy cry. When he shall hear it, he will answer thee. And the Lord will give you bread of 20 adversity, and water of affliction, nor shall thy teachers be hidden any more. But thine eyes shall see thy teachers; and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee 21 saying, ‘This is the way; walk ye in it, when ye turn 'to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.' Ye 2

16 No; for we will flee.] of those of the Jews who some into Egypt, and some

There had been a great flight had the means of escaping, into the southern desert.

20 Bread of adversity.] The prosperity of the country did not return when Sennacherib withdrew his forces. The population had been very much reduced in number. The fields had been untilled for two, or perhaps three years. The country indeed never recovered from the blow.

22

shall treat as unclean also the silver plating of thy graven images, and the gold coating of thy molten images; thou shalt cast them away as any thing filthy; thou 23 shalt say to it, 'Get thee hence.' Then will He give rain for thy seed, wherewith thou sowest the ground; and bread, the increase of the earth; and it shall be fat and plenteous.

In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. 24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that plow the ground shall eat savoury provender, which hath been 25 winnowed with the fan and with the winnower. And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rills streaming with waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sunshine, and the light of the sunshine shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

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28

27 Behold the name of Jehovah cometh from far, burning with his anger, and grievous with a rising flame. His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire. And his breath is as an overflowing stream which reacheth up to the middle of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity. And there shall be a misleading bridle in the jaws of the peoples. 29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart as a walker [in procession] with a pipe to come unto the mountain of

23 In that day.] The words here following, to the end of the chapter, may be a later addition, though they are not wholly unsuitable for a promise of Sennacherib's overthrow.

28 A misleading bridle.] Possibly meaning the revolt of the provinces against Sennacherib.

30 As a walker with a pipe.] As a musician walking in a procession round the courts of the temple on an occasion of thanksgiving. These walkers are mentioned in Zech. iii. 7, and the processions are mentioned in

E