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النشر الإلكتروني

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vengeance on mine enemies; and I will turn my hand upon thee, and purge away as with ley thy dross, and take away all thy mixed metal; and I will bring back thy judges as at first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning; afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, 27 the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and 28 those that are brought back to her by righteousness. But destruction shall be on the transgressors and the sinners together, and they that forsake Jehovah shall be con29 sumed. For they shall be ashamed of the trees which ye have desired, and ye shall blush for the gardens that ye have chosen. For ye shall be as a tree whose leaf 31 fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. And the strong man shall be as tow, and his work as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench -them.

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5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah.

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For thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob,

25 Will purge away as with ley thy dross.] Thus the use of alkali as a flux in melting the ore of silver was already understood.

Take away all thy mixed metal.] This, which in the Authorized Version is rendered tin, is here classed with dross, as of little value. Some mixture of lead and other refuse of the silver mines is, perhaps, meant. Tin, on the other hand, when first known, was nearly as valuable as silver.

5 O house of Jacob.] Since the separation of the nation into two kingdoms, the name of Israel had become of doubtful meaning, being sometimes used for the whole of the nation, and sometimes for the northern half only. Hence the name of Jacob was introduced for the people of the two kingdoms united. But it was soon found that this new name was open to the same doubt as the other.

For thou hast forsaken thy people.] Here Isaiah is addressing Jehovah. But throughout the writings of the prophets they very much leave us in doubt whether the writer is speaking for himself or for Jehovah.

because they are full of the East, and are observers of clouds like the Philistines, and they join hands with the children of foreigners. Their land is also full of silver 7 and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; and their land is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. And the sons of Adam will 9 bow down, and man be humbled; but thou wilt not forgive them.

Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, from 10 before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of the sons of Adam shall be 11

They are full of the East.] Ahaz was copying the customs of the Assyrians, even in matters relating to the temple and the form of the altar. See 2 Kings xvi.

Observers of clouds.] In this way they hoped to learn. the future. This mode of divination is forbidden in Lev. xix. 26, Deut. xviii, 10, and Micah v. 12. When the folly of this study was well understood, blame was even cast on the husbandman for looking to the weather:-"He that looketh into the clouds will never reap," says Ecclesiastes xi. 4.

They join hands with the children of foreigners.] They have made a treaty with the Assyrians for help.

7 Their land is full of horses.] The use of horses and chariots is blamed as a foreign luxury. The Jews never made much use of them in war, and consequently suffered for want of cavalry. Hence in battle they chose their ground accordingly; and the Syrians said that the God of Israel was a God of the hills (1 Kings xx. 23). 11 Of the sons of Adam... of men.] There are many passages in the Bible which make a clear distinction between the sons of Adam, namely, the Hebrew race, and the sons of men, namely, the foreigners. Psalms iv. 2; xxxvi. 7; lxii. 9; lxvi. 5; Deut. xxxii. 8. But whether Isaiah so uses the words, or only as a poetical amplification, is doubtful. The passages referred to are all more modern than Isaiah.

See

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humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone will be exalted in that day.

For Jehovah of hosts will have a day upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be humbled; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the 14 oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high 16 tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all ships of Tarshish, and upon all things pleasant to sight. And the loftiness of the sons of Adam shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled; and Jehovah alone will be exalted in that day.

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And the idols he will utterly abolish. And men shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves in the dust, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to terrify the earth.

20 In that day men shall cast their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which they made each for himself to 21 worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the cracks in the cliffs, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to terrify the earth.

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Cease ye from [trusting in] man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is such a one to be es-teemed?

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For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the

19 Men shall go into the holes of the rocks.] The natural caves near Adullam were such that David and his troop were able to live in them (1 Sam. xxii. 1). To the same caves king Hezekiah fled, or was said to have fled, from Sennacherib, during one of the several Assyrian invasions. Comp. Micah i. 15 and ii. 13.

22 Cease ye from man.] From trusting in man. verse is not in the Greek of the LXX. an addition, not by Isaiah.

1 From Jerusalem and from Judah.]

This

It is, perhaps,

They are both

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whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, warrior, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the elder, the captain of fifty, and the man of high station, and the counsellor, and the skilful workman, and him that understandeth enchantments. And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. And the people shall be 5 oppressed, every one by the other, and every one by his neighbour; the young man will be proud against the elder, and the base against the honourable. When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, [saying,] Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, ' and let this ruin be under thy hand;' in that day shall he swear, saying, 'I will not be a healer; for in my house 'is neither bread nor clothing; make me not a ruler of 'the people.' For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is 8 fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, in rebellion against the eyes of his glory.

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The strangeness of their countenance doth witness' against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have earned

threatened alike, as equally blameable, though usually opposed to one another in politics. The men of Judah wished for the Assyrian alliance, even at the cost of paying a tribute; the priestly rulers in Jerusalem were usually opposed to it. Ahaz was acting in disregard of the priests; and the historian says that Jotham had done what was right in the sight of Jehovah, but Ahaz did not do so so (2 Kings xv. 34; xvi. 2).

8 Jerusalem is ruined, Judah is fallen.] This is explained by 2 Kings xvi. and 2 Chron. xxviii., when Ahaz humbled himself before the king of Assyria, Tiglathpilezer, in order to be relieved from the attacks of Syria, Israel, and Edom.

9 The strangeness of their countenance doth witness against them.] Ahaz had been willing to adopt foreign customs to please Tiglath-pilezer, even in the temple service (2 Kings xvi.).

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10 evil to themselves. Say ye to the righteous man, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of 11 their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given him. 12 As for my people, babes are their taskmasters, and women rule over them. O my people, they that guide thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. 13 Jehovah standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the 14 peoples. Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and the princes thereof; for ye have wasted the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your 15 houses. What mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the faces of the poor? the Lord Jehovah of hosts hath said it.

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Moreover Jehovah saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and 17 wearing ankle-rings at their feet; therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will uncover their 18 nakedness. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their ankle-rings, and their little suns, and 19 their little moons, the ear-drops, and the bracelets, and 20 the veils, the head-dresses, and the ankle-chains, and

the girdles, and the scent boxes, and the amulets, the 21 rings, and nose jewels, the holiday clothes, and the

14 The plunder of the poor is in your houses.] One of the great misfortunes of the country was the inequality of wealth. The poor in their ignorance sold themselves to the rich. The poorer landowners in the same way mortgaged their estates and put themselves into a state of dependence by having to bear a high monthly interest for debts which could never be paid.

16 The daughters of Zion are haughty.] The luxury of the time showed itself particularly in the behaviour and dress of the women, as here described.

21 Nose jewels.] The nose-ring is mentioned in Gen. xxiv. 47, and figuratively in Prov. xi. 22. The modern nose-ring is worn by Arab and Egyptian women, usually

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