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Jehovah, to the rock of Israel. And Jehovah will cause the glory of his voice to be heard, and the coming down of his arm to be seen, with burning anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. For by the voice of Jehovah shall the Assyrian be terrified. He will smite him with a rod. And every passing by of the appointed staff which 32 Jehovah shall lay upon him, shall be with timbrels and harps; and with the shock of battles will he fight against him. For Tophet [or the place of burning] was ordained 33 of old; yea, for the king [Sennacherib] it is prepared. He hath made its pile deep and large. There is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, will kindle it.

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WOE TO THEM that go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not to the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Jehovah ! Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call 2 back his words; but will arise against the house of the evil-doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. Now the Egyptians are men, and not gods; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. And Jehovah will stretch out his hand, and he that helpeth shall stumble, and he that is helped shall fall down, and they all shall perish together. For thus hath Jehovah spoken to me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring over his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he is not afraid of their voice, nor dis

Psalm lxviii. 24, which was written on the occasion of a victory in Jehoshaphat's reign.

31 By the voice of Jehovah.] This is called a rumour in chap. xxxvii. 7. The news of the revolt at home.

He will smite him with a rod.] These are the words used in chap. x. 24, and they relate to the same overthrow of Sennacherib's army.

3 Tophet.] Literally, a Place of Burning or of burial, an unclean spot in the valley of Hinnom, on the outside of the walls of Jerusalem.

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heartened at their noise; so will Jehovah of hosts come 5 down to fight over mount Zion, and over its hill. As birds hovering about, so will Jehovah of hosts be a shield over Jerusalem; shielding also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.

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Return ye to him from whom ye have deeply revolted, 70 children of Israel. For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. Then shall the Assyrian fall by the sword of one not a man; and the sword of one not a son of Adam shall devour him. But he shall flee from the sword, and his young 9 men shall be put to tribute. And he shall pass by his rock for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign; Jehovah hath said it, whose fire is in Zion, and -his furnace in Jerusalem.

XVII.

12 WOE TO THE RABBLE OF MANY PEOPLES, who make a noise like the noise of the ocean; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty 13 waters! The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters. But [God] will rebuke them, and they shall

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XXXI. That go down to Egypt for help.] This is also blamed in chap. xxx. 2.

8 The Assyrian shall fall by the sword of one not a man.] This is the destruction of the Assyrian army, described in chap. xxxvii. 36.

9 He shall pass by this rock.] He will not attack Jerusalem in his hurried retreat from the siege of Pelusium.

No. 12. [Chap. xvii. 12-end.]

AGAINST THE INVADERS.

12 The rabble of many peoples.] The Assyrian armies were made up of many tribes. They are called a rabble in chap. xxix. 5.

13 The nations shall rush.] The word nations here used means the Assyrians and their allies, including Babylonians and Elamites.

flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like thistledown before the whirlwind. And behold, at eveningtide there are death- 14 terrors; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that plunder us, and the lot of them that rob us.

X.

For 8

WOE TO THE ASSYRIAN, the rod of mine anger; and 5 the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation [Judah], and over the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not 7 so, neither doth his heart so purpose; but it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off nations not a few. he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is 'not Samaria as Damascus ? hand hath had 10 to do with the kingdoms of idols, and of graven images worse than those of Jerusalem and Samaria; shall I11 ' not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to "Jerusalem and her images ?'

Since my

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Therefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord 12 hath performed his whole work on mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of

No. 13. [Chap. x. 5-27.]

AGAINST THE ASSYRIANS; THEY WILL BE OVERTHROWN.

5 The rod of mine anger.] The Assyrians are the rod by which Jehovah has already punished Israel, and is now punishing Judah.

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Against an ungodly nation.] The Jews.

7 He meaneth not so.] The invasion by Sennacherib had become far too serious for a punishment; the slaughter of the inhabitants of Judea was such as to threaten entire destruction.

9 Caino.] An unknown town. As the five other towns had all lately been conquered by the Assyrians, this town may probably have suffered the same cruel fate.

the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 13 For he said, 'By the strength of my hand I have done 'it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent. And I have 'removed the boundaries of peoples, and have robbed 'their treasures, and like a valiant man I have put down 14the inhabitants. And my hand hath found as a bird's 'nest the riches of the peoples. And as one gathereth 'up eggs that are left have I gathered up all the land; 'and there was none that moved the wing, or opened 'the mouth or chirped.'

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Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that moveth it? as if the rod moved them that lift it up, or as if the staff lifted itself up, and were not wood. Therefore will the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and in place of his glory he will 17 kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. And the Light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his 18 briers in one day; and the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body shall it consume; 19 and they shall be as when a sick man fainteth. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may take account of them.

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And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean upon him that smiteth

12 The king of Assyria.] Sennacherib. He probably invaded and ill-treated Judea several times in the course of Hezekiah's reign, though the history in the Book of Kings only gives the details of one attack upon Jerusalem, that mentioned in chap. xxxvi.

15 Shall the axe boast itself?] Shall Sennacherib, the instrument of Jehovah's punishment on the Jews, do more against them than Jehovah wished him to do ?

20 Shall no more lean upon him that smiteth them.] They shall not again make treaties with Assyrians as allies, and buy their help, as they had done in the reign of Ahaz. That unwise act seemed to have been the

them; but shall lean upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant shall return, even a remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy' people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, yet only a remnant of them shall return; the consumption that is decreed shall overwhelm the righteousness. For a consumption, even that which is decreed will the Lord Jehovah of hosts make in the midst of all the land.

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Therefore thus said the Lord Jehovah of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian; he will smite thee with a rod, and will lift up his staff against thee, on the way to Egypt. For yet a very 25 little while, and indignation shall be accomplished, and then mine anger shall be for their destruction. And 26 then Jehovah of hosts will stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His rod shall be upon the sea, and he will

cause of the later invasions, and of Judah's serious misfortunes.

21 A remnant shall return.] In Hebrew Shar-jashub, words borrowed for the name of an imaginary son in chap. vii. 3. The slaughter of the male population was such that, on the withdrawal of the Assyrians, the prophet speaks as if there were seven women to one man of those left in the land. See chap. iv. 1. This may be an exaggeration, but it is very possible that more than half of the men may have perished during the Assyrian occupation of Judea.

24 On the way to Egypt.] Sennacherib's chief aim was the conquest of Egypt to which country he was marching, and it was for supplies on his journey thither that he plundered Judea.

26 The slaughter of Midian at the rock Oreb.] This is a reference to Judges vii. 25, and Gideon's victory over Midian, rather than to Numb. xxxi. We have a like mention of Midian in chap. ix. 4.

His rod shall be upon the sea.] An Assyrian sculptured slab represents a number of ships, known to be of Tyre by the horse's head at the prow, bringing tim