Isaiah 47 commentary

Babylon is represented under the emblem of a female in deep distress. She was to be degraded and endure sufferings; and is represented sitting on the ground, grinding at the handmill, the lowest and most laborious service. God was righteous in his vengeance, and none should interpose. The prophet exults in the Lord of hosts, as the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel. God often permits wicked men to prevail against his people; but those who cruelly oppress them will be punished.

Let us beware of acting and speaking as Babylon did; of trusting in tyranny and oppression; of boasting as to our abilities, relying on ourselves, and ascribing success to our own prudence and wisdom; lest we partake of her plagues. Those in the height of prosperity, are apt to fancy themselves out of the reach of adversity. It is also common for sinners to think they shall be safe, because they think to be secret in wicked ways. But their security shall be their ruin. Let us draw from such passages as the foregoing, those lessons of humility and trust in God which they convey. If we believe the word of God, we may know how it will be with the righteous and the wicked to all eternity. We may learn how to escape the wrath to come, to glorify God, to have peace through life, hope in death, and everlasting happiness. Let us then stand aloof from all delusions.

1. Come down, and sit in the dust. Isaiah now explains more fully what he had briefly noticed concerning the counsel of God, and the execution of it. He openly describes the destruction of Babylon; because no hope whatever of the return of the people could be entertained, so long as the Babylonian monarchy flourished. Accordingly, he has connected these two things, namely, the overthrow of that monarchy, and the deliverance of the people which followed it; for the elevated rank of that city was like a deep grave in which the Jews were buried, and, when it had been opened, the Lord brought back his people to their former life.

The use of the imperative mood, “Come down,” is more forcible than if he had expressed the same thing in plain words and simple narrative; for he addresses her authoritatively, and as if he were speaking from the judgment-seat; because he proclaims the commands of God, and therefore, with the boldness which his authority entitles him to use, he publishes what shall happen, as we know that God granted this authority to the prophets. “Behold, I have this day set thee over nations and kingdoms, to root out and pull down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:10.) There is no power that is not added to the authority of the word. In a word, he intended to place the event immediately before the eye of the Jews; for that change could scarcely be imagined, if God did not thunder from heaven.

Virgin daughter of Babylon. It was a figure of speech frequently employed by Hebrew writers, to call any nation by the title of “Daughter.” He calls her “Virgin,” not because she was modest or chaste, but because she had been brought up softly and delicately like “virgins,” and had never been forced by enemies, as we formerly said when speaking of Sidon. Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 2, p. 155. And at the present day the same thing might be said of Venice and some other towns, which have a great abundance of wealth and luxuries, and, in the estimation of men, are accounted very happy; for they have as good reason as the Babylonians had to dread such a revolution of affairs, even when they appear to be far removed from danger.

For it shall no longer be. That is, “Thou shalt no longer be caressed by men who thought that thou wast happy.”

2. Take millstones. The whole of this description tends to shew that there shall be a great change among the Babylonians, so that this city, which was formerly held in the highest honor, shall be sunk in the lowest disgrace, and subjected to outrages of every kind, and thus shall exhibit a striking display of the wrath of God. These are marks of the most degrading slavery, as the meanest slaves were formerly shut up in a mill. The condition of the captives who were reduced to it must therefore have been very miserable; for, in other cases, captives sometimes received from their conquerors mild and gentle treatment. But here he describes a very wretched condition, that believers may not doubt that they shall be permitted freely to depart, when the Babylonians, who had held them prisoners, shall themselves be imprisoned. Now, though we do not read that the nobles of the kingdom were subjected to such contemptuous treatment, it was enough for the fulfillment of this prophecy, that Cyrus, by assigning to them the operations of slaves, degraded them, and compelled them to abstain from honorable employments.

Unbind thy curled locks. On account of their excessive indulgence in magnificence of dress, he again alludes to the attire of young women, by mentioning “curled locks.” We know that girls are more eager than they ought to be about cuffing their hair, and other parts of dress. Here, on the contrary, the Prophet describes a totally different condition and attire; that is, that ignominy, and blackness, and filth shall cover from head to foot those who formerly dazzled all eyes by gaudy finery.

Uncover the limbs. “Virgins” hardly ever are accustomed to walk in public, and, at least, seldom travel on the public roads; but the Prophet says that the Babylonian virgins will be laid under the necessity of crossing the rivers, and with their limbs uncovered.

3. Thy baseness shall be discovered. This is the conclusion of the former statement. So long as Babylon was in a flourishing condition, she preserved her reputation, and was highly honored; for wealth and power, like veils, often conceal a great number of sores, which, when the veils have been removed, become visible, and are beheld with the greatest disgrace. And, as Demosthenes says, when, speaking of Philip’s condition, — ὥσπερ γὰρ τοῖς σώμασιν ἡμῶν ἕως μὲν ἂν ἐρρωμένος ᾖ τις οὐδὲν ἐπαισθάνεται τῶν καθ ἕκαστα σαθρῶν ἐπ᾿ ἂν δὲ ἀρρώστημα συμβὣ πάντα κινεῖται κἂν ῥη̑γμα κἂν στρέμμα κἂν αλλό τι τῶν ὑπαρχόντων σαθρῶν ᾖ οὕτω καὶ τῶν πόλεων καὶ τῶν τυράννων. “For as, in our bodies, so long as any person is in full vigor, no malady is perceived in any of the members, but if he fall into debility, produced either by a wound or by a strain, or by any other of the diseases to which the body is subject, the whole is affected; so is it with cities and governments.” (Dem., Olynth. 2.) When commotions arise, and when their wealth and troops are taken from them, disgraceful transactions which lay concealed are exposed to view; for cruelty, and fraud, and extortions, and perjury, and unjust oppressions, and other crimes, which were honored during prosperity, being to fall into disgrace.

I will take vengeance, and will not meet (thee) a man. Some think that כ (caph) ought here to be supplied, “As a man;” as if he had said, “Do not think that ye have to deal with man, whose attack ye may be able to resist.” And, indeed, in other passages, when he speaks of the hand of man, it denotes some abatement; but here he means that no remedy is left, because God will reduce them to nothing. Others translate it, “I will not meet a man;” that is, “I will not allow a man to meet me; whoever shall meet me, or intercede in their behalf, I will not spare them, or remit or abate their punishment.” This meaning is highly appropriate, but the construction is somewhat forced; for אפגע (ephgang) must thus be understood to have a passive sense, which could scarcely be admitted. Besides, the Prophet does not absolutely say that no petition shall be presented to God, but that he cannot be appeased. The former exposition, therefore, flows more smoothly, so far as relates to the context; but let every one choose that which he prefers; for, whatever exposition you adopt, the words amount to this, “that the Lord will destroy the Babylonians, and that there will be no room for mercy.” Only, I say, that I prefer the former, because it is more agreeable to the original text.

4. Our Redeemer. The Prophet shews for what purpose the Lord will inflict punishment on the Babylonians; that is, for the salvation of his people, as he had formerly declared. (Isaiah 45:4.) But this statement is much more forcible, because he speaks in what may be called an abrupt manner, and like a person awakened out of sleep, when he sees Babylon ruined, which formerly was wont to subdue other nations and trample them under her feet; and he shews that this happens for no other reason than that the Lord shews himself to be the “Redeemer” and defender of his people.

The Holy One of Israel. As if he had said, that not in vain hath he chosen this people, and separated it from other nations. In this transaction he intended to give a display of his power, and. on that account added to the title descriptive of his power, Jehovah of Hosts, the designation “Holy.”

5. Sit silent. He continues the same subject, and shews that the end of the Babylonian monarchy is at hand. As this appeared to be incredible, he therefore repeats the same thing by a variety of expressions, and repeats what might have been said in a few words; and thus he brings forward those lively descriptions, in order to place the event, as it were, before their eyes. When he bids her “sit” and be “silent,” it is an indication of shame or disgrace. Yet this silence may be contrasted with her former condition, while she reigned; for at that time not only did she speak loudly and authoritatively, but she cried with a loud voice, and by her commands terrified the whole of the East. But now, in consequence of the change of her condition, he bids her “sit silent;” because not only will she not venture to utter terrific words, but she will not even venture to make a gentle sound. “Tant s’en faut qu’elle ose tonner si haut que de coustume, que mesmes elle n’osera desserrer les dents.” “So far as she is from venturing to sound as loudly as she was wont to do, that she will not even venture to open her teeth.” But, since he adds, enter into darkness, I willingly adopt the former view, that it denotes shame; for they whose condition has been changed for the worse shut their mouth through shame, and scarcely venture to whisper.

For it shall no longer be. We know that the Babylonian monarchy was very widely extended, and exercised dominion over large and numerous countries; for it was the chief of many kingdoms. On this account the captive people needed to be fortified by these promises, and to be forewarned of her fall, that they might entertain assured hope of deliverance

6. I was angry with my people. This is an anticipation, by which he forewarns the Jews, as he has often done formerly, that the distressing condition of captivity was a scourge which God had inflicted; because, if it had proceeded from any other, there was no remedy in the hand of God. In order, therefore, that they might be convinced that he who had struck them would heal their wounds, he bids them attribute it to their sins that they were so terribly oppressed. Yet he exhorts them to cherish favorable expectation, because God intends to set a limit to the chastisement; and he even mentions this as the reason why the Babylonians shall be destroyed, that God, who is the just avenger of savageness and cruelty, will much more avenge the injuries done to his people.

Thou didst not shew compassion to them. In the former clause he calls the Jews to repentance, because by their own crimes they drew down upon themselves so many calamities. Next, he accuses the Babylonians of having seized this occasion for exercising cruelty, just as if one were to become the executioner of a child whom a father had put into his hands to be chastised. Hence it follows that the Babylonians have no right to be proud, as if by their own power they had subdued the Jews and carried them into captivity; but, on the contrary, because they have wickedly abused the victory and cruelly treated the captives, he will justly punish them.

I profaned my heritage. When he says that he “was angry,” and that this was the reason why he “profaned his heritage,” let us not imagine that he had changed his purpose, and was offended so far as to cast away the care of his people and the remembrance of his covenant. This is evident both from the event itself and from his deigning still to call them “his people,” though the greater part of them were estranged from him, and though he had the best reasons for “profaning” them. But he has respect to his covenant when he speaks in this manner; for he looks at their source and foundation, that they who were the descendants of Abraham may be accounted the people of God, though very few of them actually belonged to him, and almost all boasted of an empty title.

Thus the word amger, in Scripture, must not be supposed to refer to any emotion in God, who desires the salvation of his people, but to ourselves, who provoke him by our transgressions; for he has just cause to be angry, though he does not cease to love us. Accordingly, while he “profanes” his Church, that is, abandons her, and gives her up as a prey to her enemies, still the elect do not perish, and his eternal covenant is not broken. And yet, in the midst of anger, the Lord remembers his mercy, and mitigates the strokes by which he punishes his people, and at length even inflicts punishment on those by whom his people have been cruelly treated. Consequently, if for a time the Lord “profanes” his Church, if she is cruelly oppressed by tyrants, let us not lose courage, but betake ourselves to this promise, “He who avenged this barbarous cruelty of the Babylonians will not less avenge the savageness of those tyrants.”

It ought also to be carefully observed that no one should abuse victory so as to be cruel to captives, which we know is often done; for men, when they see that they are stronger, lay aside all humanity, and are changed into wild beasts, and spare neither age nor sex, and altogether forget their condition. After having abused their power, they shall not at length pass unpunished; for

“judgment without mercy shall be experienced by those who shewed no mercy.” (James 2:13.)

But it is asked, “How could the Babylonians go beyond the limit which God had assigned to them, as if their lawless passions were laid under no restraint?” And what will become of that promise,

“Not a hair shall fall from your head without the appointment of your Father?” (Luke 21:18.)

The answer is easy. Though it was not in their power actually to go beyond the limit, yet he looked at their cruelty, because they endearvored utterly to ruin unhappy persons who had surrendered at discretion. Thus Zechariah complains of the unbridled rage of the Gentiles, because, when “he was angry with his people for a little,” they rushed forward with violent fury to destroy them. (Zechariah 1:15.)

On the old man. He states an aggravation of their guilt, that they did not spare even “the old men,” for whom age naturally procures reverence; and hence he draws an inference, how savage was their cruelty towards armed foes.

7. And thou saidst, I shall for ever “He chastises the pride and exeessive confidence of Babylon, by which she promised to herself an eternal reign. Thus Rome is ealled eternal in the constitutions of the emperors, and in inscriptions and coins, and also ‘The mistress of the whole world, the queen and mistress of the world.’” — Rosenmuller. be a mistress. Here he censures the haughtiness of the Babylonians, in promising to themselves perpetual dominion, and in thinking that they could not fall from their elevation through any adverse event. Thus the children of this world are intoxicated by prosperity, and despise all men as compared with themselves; but Isaiah mocks at this confidence, and shews that God regards it with the greatest abhorrence. To say, means here to conclude in one’s own mind, as will be more clearly evident from what the Prophet says shortly afterwards; for proud men do not publicly speak in this manner, but entertain this conviction, though they pretend the contrary. It is intolerable madness when men, forgetting their frailty, look upon themselves as not sharing in the common lot; for in this way they forget that they are men. Believers, too, have their conviction of being safe, because, under the protecting hand of God, they are prepared boldly to encounter every danger. And yet they do not cease to consider that they are liable to many distresses, because nothing in this world is lasting. Irreligious men, therefore, mock God whenever, through a foolish imagination, they promise to themselves lasting peace amidst the constant changes of the world.

Hitherto thou hast not applied thy mind to it. “It will not be inelegant to view עד (gnad) as meaning until, or so that; and it is so rendered by Jarchi, who explains this verse thus, — “Thou thoughtest with thyself that thou wouldest perpetually be mistress, and that punishment would not be inflicted on thee; and this thought led thee astray until thou didst not recall to mind those afflictions which shall befall thee.’” — Rosenmuller. For the purpose of heightening the description of their madness, he adds that even a long course of time did not render them more moderate. To become elated immediately after having obtained a victory, is not so wonderful; but to become more fierce from day to day, and to throw out taunts against their captives, was altogether savage and intolerable. This arose, as we have said, from pride; because they did not consider that a revolution of affairs would afterwards take place, or that a condition so magnificent could be changed. Consequently, this is the second reason why the Lord overtumed the monarchy of the Babylonians.

And didst not remember her end. “The apparent solecism of remembering the future may be solved by observing that the thing forgotten was the knowledge of the future once possessed, just as in common parlance we use the word hope in reference to the past, because we hope to find it so, or hope that something now questionable will prove hereafter to be thus and thus.” — Alexander. Some think that there is a change of the person here, but I consider that to be too forced; and indeed I have no doubt that he speaks of the “end” of Jerusalem, which is the opinion most commonly received. The Lord often speaks of the Church, by way of eminence, κατ᾿ ἐξοχὴν without mentioning the name, as we do when our feelings are powerfully affected towards any person. Now, wicked men do not know the “end” of the Church, and the reason why the Lord chastises her. They mock at the calamities of good men, because they would wish them to be utterly destroyed and ruined, and do not consider that God takes care of them.

If it be objected that the Babylonians could not know this, that is nothing to the purpose; for they could not be ignorant that he was the God whom the Israelites worshipped. Consequently, when they treated the Jews with haughtiness and cruelty, they insulted God himself, as if he and the covenant which he had made with his people had been intentionally trampled under their feet.

8. And now hear this, thou delicate woman. The Prophet again threatens the destruction of Babylon, and employs appropriate words for strengthening the hearts of believers, that the prosperity of the Babylonians may not stupify and lead them to despondency; and yet he does not address Babylon in order to produce an impression upon her, but to comfort believers. He adds, that she was intoxicated with pleasures; for prosperity, being the gift of God, ought not in itself to be condemned, but it is well known how prone the children of the world are, to pass from luxury to insolence.

Who saith in her heart. He now explains what is meant by the word to say, of which we spoke in the exposition of the preceding verse, namely, that one convinces himself and believes that it will be thus and thus, as proud and insolent men commonly do, although they often conceal it through pretended modesty, and do not wish it to be publicly known.

I am, and there is none besides me. This arrogance, by which she prefers herself to the whole world, is intolerable. First, she thinks that she is; secondly, she imagines that the rest of the world does not deserve to be compared to her; thirdly, she promises to herself everlasting repose, for she says, I shall not sit as a widow. As to the first, there is none of whom it can be said with truth that he is, but God alone, who has a right to say, “I am what I am,” (Exodus 3:14;) for by this mark he is distinguished from the creatures. Thus, he who thinks that he subsists by his own power robs God of the honor due to him, and so Babylon, by exalting herself, made war with God. Secondly, she treated the whole world with contempt, when she preferred herself to it. In this manner proud men begin with God, by representing him to be their enemy, and they end by making all men, without exception, their enemies, through their haughtiness. The third clause, which may be regarded as the copestone of her pride, is, that she considers her condition to be eternal, and does not take into account the liability of the affairs of men to undergo change; for the higher men have been exalted, they sometimes on that account sink the lower.

9. But those two things shall suddenly come to thee. Because Babylon supposed that she was beyond the reach of all danger, the Prophet threatens against her very sore distress. When she said that she would neither be “a widow” nor “childless,” he declares on the other hand, that both calamities shall come upon her, so that her miserable destitution shall expose her to the utmost contempt.

In their perfection. That is, “completely,” so that in all points, without any exception, she shall be childless. There is also an implied contrast between moderate punishment, some alleviation of which may be expected, and the dreadful vengeance of God, which has no other end than ruin; for, the greater the confidence with which wicked men are elated, the more severely are they punished.

For the multitude of thy divinations. Some render this term diviners; but I think that it denotes the act or the vice rather than the persons. Some explain ב (beth) to mean “on account of,” and understand it to express a cause; and in this sense it frequently occurs in Scripture. Yet it might be suitably interpreted, that the Babylonians shall derive no aid or relief from the deceitful skill in divinations of which they boasted so much; and so it might be translated notwithstanding; “Ewald agrees with the English Version and the Vulgate in explaining it to mean propter, ‘on account of,’ and supposing it to be a new specific charge against the Babylonians, by assigning a new cause for their destruction, namely, their cultivation of the occult arts. Gesenius and the other recent writers follow Calvin and Vitringa in making it mean notwithstanding, as in Isaiah 5:25, and Numbers 14:11. There is then no new charge or reason assigned, but a simple declaration of the insufficiency of superstitious arts to save them. But a better course than either is to give the particle in its proper sense of in or in the, midst of, which suggests both the other ideas, but expresses more, namely, that they should perish in the very act of using these unlawful and unprofitable means of preservation.” — Alexander. as if he had said, “The abundance of divinations or auguries shall not prevent these things from happening to Babylon.” “Nonobstant la multitude des derins et augures.” “Notwithstanding the multitude of divinations and auguries.” He ridicules the confidence which they placed in their useless auguries, by which they thought that they foresaw future events; but, as we shall shortly afterwards dwell more largely on this point, I readily admit that it is here reckoned to be one of the causes of the vengeance inflicted on them, that, in consequence of trusting to such delusions, they dreaded nothing. “Ils ont defie tous dangers.” “They defied all dangers.”

10. For thou trustedst. He explains what he said in the preceding verse, though it may be extended further, so as to be a censure of the fraud and oppression and violence and unjust practices by which the Babylonians raised themselves to so great power. Almost all large kingdoms are, what a distinguished robber pronounced them to be, great robberies; for there is no other way in which they enlarge their dominions than by extorting them from others by violence and oppression, and by driving out the lawful owners from their dwellings, that they alone may reign at large.

In thy malice. He gives the name of “malice” to that which he will afterwards adorn with more plausible names, namely, wisdom and knowledge. In this manner do tyrants usually disguise their tricks, when they lay aside all regard to justice and equity, and cunningly deceive the people; but the Lord detests and exposes them; so that it becomes manifest that it served no purpose to cover their wickedness by useless veils. Thus Job, after having said that “wise men are taken in their own wisdom,” explains this by calling it “craftiness.” (Job 5:13.)

Thou saidst, No one seeth me. When he adds that Babylon thought that her iniquities were not seen, this refers to free indulgence in sinning; for while men are kept in the discharge of duty by fear or shame, he who neither dreads God as a witness, nor thinks that men will know what he does, breaks out into every kind of licentiousness. It is true, indeed, that even the worst of men are often tormented by the stings of conscience; but, by shutting their eyes, they plunge themselves in: stupidity as in a lurking-place, and, in short, harden all their senses. Above all, we see that they have the hardihood to mock God, as if by their craftiness they could dazzle his eyes; for whenever they wish to defraud simpletons, they think it enough that they are not detected, as if they could impose on God. But to no purpose do they flatter themselves in their cunning, for the Lord will speedily take off the mask from them. All men ought therefore to abhor this wisdom, by which men deceive themselves, and accomplish their own ruin.

I, and there is none beside me. He again repeats those blasphemies, that all may plainly understand how greatly God abhors them, and how near to destruction are all who raise themselves higher than they ought.

11. Therefore shall evil come upon thee. Continuing the subject which he had formerly introduced, he ridicules the foolish confidence of the Babylonians, who thought that by the position of the stars they foresaw all events. He therefore says that they shall soon be overtaken by that which Scripture threatens generally against all despisers of God, (1 Thessalonians 5:3,) that, “when they shall say, Peace and safety, sudden destruction shall overwhelm them,” and that at the dawning of the day they shall not know what shall be accomplished in the evening; and it, is very clear from the book of Daniel that this happened. (Daniel 5:30.)

12. Stand now amidst thy divinations. The Prophet speaks as we are accustomed to speak to desperate men, on whom no warnings produce any good effect; “Do as thou art wont to do; in the end thou shalt be instructed by the event; thou shalt know what good the augurs and soothsayers do thee.” By the word “stand” he alludes to the custom of the augurs, who remain unmoved in one place till some sign is seen. “Jusqu’ a ce que quelque oiseau soit apparu.” “Till some bird is seen.” In like manner, the astrologers mark out their divisions in the heavens, even to the minutest points. If it shall be thought preferable to translate חברים (chabarim) diviners instead of divinations, I shall not greatly object; for the meaning of the word is ambiguous.

If perhaps thou shalt prevail. As if he had said, “Thou shalt not be able, by the aid of thy augurs, to mitigate the calamity which is about to overtake thee.” He taunts their perverse confidence on this ground, that when they shall have made every attempt, no advantage will follow.

13. Thou hast wearied thyself. He now declares still more plainly what he had formerly expressed in somewhat obscure language; that all the schemes which Babylon had previously adopted would lead to her ruin; for she nourished within herself a vain confidence arising from a belief of her power and wisdom, as if nothing could do her injury.

In the multitude of thy counsels. He calls them not only “counsels,” but “a multitude of counsels,” in order to declare that there is no good reason for being puffed up or exalting themselves, whatever may be the ingenuity or skill of their efforts to deceive; because their crafty counsels, the more numerous and the more plausible they are, will give them the greater annoyance. This is a general statement against those who, trusting to their own ability, contrive and form counsels of every sort, and, relying on their prudence, collect all the stratagems and annoyances that can be invented for oppressing others; for God scatters all their contrivances, and overtums their fraudulent designs, as he threatened that all unlawful means would be unsuccessful. “They dare,” says he, “to take counsel, but not from me; they weave a web, but not from my Spirit.” (Isaiah 30:1.)

Thus do the consultations of many persons altogether fail of success, because they do not ask counsel of God, from whom (James 1:5) all wisdom should be sought; for, the more they toil, the greater annoyance do they suffer, and they can obtain no advantage. Well does David In the Latin original the word is “Solomon,” and not “David;” but this oversight has been corrected in the French Version. — Ed. say, (Psalm 127:2,) that “in vain do they toil who rise early in the morning, and go late to rest, and eat the bread of sorrow;” for he speaks of unbelievers, who do not cast their cares on the Lord, but, trusting to their industry, make many daring efforts. The Lord ridicules this confidence, and causes them to be at length disappointed, and to feel how worthless are all their wicked labors and efforts, and how in this way they are punished for their rashness; while at the same time “the beloved of God sleep pleasantly,” as is said in that passage. Not that they are freed from all annoyances, but that they do not weary themselves with useless labor, and they commit to God the result of all their affairs.

Let them stand now. Here we perceive what counsellors are chiefly meant by the Prophet, that is, those diviners who boasted to the people of the empty name of science; as if they understood, all future events by looking at the stars. But we have formerly spoken of that judicial astrology, and of its uselessness. If it be objected, that it was not in the power of those men to mitigate the dangers which were hanging over them, I reply, the Babylonians would have done it at their suggestion, if they had foreseen the calamity; and, since they did not foresee it, the conclusion is, that their art had no foundation whatever. It is idle to pretend, as some do, that the Prophet reproves unskilfulness in the art, and not the art itself; for he addresses the Babylonians, who were the authors of this science.

The binders of the heavens. He says wittily that they “bind the heavens;” because they utter their decisions as boldly as if, by binding and tying the stars, they held mankind in chains. Yet, if any one choose to render the term “inchanters,” the meaning will not be inapplicable, and both are denoted by the verb חבר (chabar). Although to observe the position of the stars is not in itself sinful, the Prophet says that it is carried farther than is proper by those who draw from it conclusions as to doubtful events, and appears indirectly to contrast those observers with the prophets, in order to make them more detested, because they extinguish all divine predictions; for, when men attach to the stars a fatal necessity, all the judgments of God must fall to the ground.

14. Behold, they shall be as stubble. With still greater eagerness he attacks those astrologers who strengthened the pride of Babylon by their empty boasting; for impostors of this sort are wont to take away all fear of God out of the hearts of men, by ascribing everything to the stars, so that nothing is left to the providence of God. Hence arises contempt of God and of all his threatenings; for punishments are not ascribed to the judgment of God, but to some fate and relation of things which they foolishly imagine. For this reason he kindles into such indignation against the Babylonians, and says that they shall be buming “stubble,” which is quickly consumed; for he does not compare them to wood, which is of some use for giving heat, but to “stubble,” in order to shew that nothing is so light or useless.

15. So shal they be to thee. After having threatened destruction to those astronomers, he again retums to the Babylonians, and threatens that they must not look for assistance from that quarter from which they expected it, and that they ought not to rely on those vain counsels, with which they had long and eagerly vexed themselves in vain.

He calls them dealers, or, as we commonly say, traffickers; a metaphor taken from merchants, who are skilled in innumerable arts of deceiving, and in impostures of every kind; for the princes do not consult in a manner suitable to their rank, but traffic in disgraceful transactions. “It becomes a question whether these are called traders in the literal and ordinary sense, or at least in that of national allies and negotiators; or whether the epithet is given in contempt to the astrologers and wise men of the foregoing context, as trafficking or dealing in imposture. J. D. Michaelis supposes them to be described as travelling dealers, that is, pedlars and hawkers, who removed from place to place, lest their frauds should be discovered. He even compares them with the gipsy fortune-tellers of our own day, but admits that the astrologers of Babylonia held a very different position in society.” — Alexander. Though we may extend this to all the allies by whom the Babylonians were aided, yet the Prophet has his eye chiefly on the diviners. When he adds, from thy youth, he aggravates the guilt of Babylon, in having been infected with this foolish belief from an ancient date, and in having held this error as if it had been born with her.

Every one to his own quarter. “That is, wherever each person can depart, they disperse and wander, so that every person pursues his own road, for rescuing himself from danger, by fleeing to the farthest boundaries of the kingdom of Babylon. — Rosenmuller. It is supposed that the Prophet here speaks of the flight of the astrologers, that every one shall provide for his own safety; and I fully agree with this, but think that, there is also an allusion to the “quarters” of the heavens, which astrologers divide and measure, so as to deduce their prognostications from them. He therefore ridicules their vain boasting. “They shall withdraw into their quarters, but they shall go astray, and there shall be no means of protection. If any one choose to apply it to the revolt of those whose assistance Babylon thought that at any time she could easily obtain, I have no objection.

CHAPTER 48

Isaiah 48:1-22

1. Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.

1. Audite hoc, domus Iacob, qui vocamini nomine Israelis, qui de aquis Iuda exierunt, qui jurant in nomine Iehovae, et Dei Israel recordantur, non in veritate, neque injustitia.

2. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.

2. Quoniam ab urbe sancta denominantur, et innituntur Deo Israel, eujus nomen Iehova exercituum.

3. I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

3. Priora jam olim annuntiavi, ex ore meo egressa sunt; publicavi ea, repente feci, et venerunt.

4. Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

4. Quia cognovi qubd durus sis, et nervus ferreus cervix tua, et frons tuae aenea.

5. I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

5. Annuntiavi tibi jam olim; antequam venirent indicavi tibi, ne forte diceres, Idolum meum fecit haec, sculptile meum et conflatile meum praecepit ea.

6. Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.

6. Audisti, vide omnia; et vos nonne annuntiabitis? Feci to jam nunc audire nova et abscondita, quae nesciebas.

7. They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.

7. Nunc primum creata sunt, non jam olim, neque successu temporis; non audieras ea; ne dicas, Ecce noveram.

8. Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.

8. Certe non audieras; cert, non noveras; certe non fuit pridem aperta auris tun; quia sciebam quod transgrediendo transgressurus esses. Ideo rebellem ab utero vocavi to.

9. For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.

9. Propter nomen meum differam furorera meum, et in laudera meam moderabor mihi erga to, ut to non succidam.

10. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

10. Ecce examinavi to, et non instar argenti; elegi to in fornace afflictionis.

11. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

11. Propter me, propter me faciam; nam quomodo profanabitur nomen meum? Et gloriam meam alteri non dabo.

12. Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he: I am the first, I also am the last.

12. Audi me, Iacob, et Israel, vocate mi. Ego ipse, ego primus; adhuc ego novissimis.

13. Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.

13. Utique manus mea fundavit terram, et dextera mea palmo mensa est (vel, sustinuit) coelos. Vocate me eos, adstant (vel, adstabunt) pariter.

14. All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

14. Congregamini vos omnes, et audite. Quis in eis annuntians ista? Iehova dilexit eum, et voluntatem ejus exequetur in Babylone, et brachium (vel, opus) ejus in Chaldaeis.

15. I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

15. Ego, ego locutus sum, utique vocavi eum, adduxi eum; ideo prospere habebit in via sua.

16. Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

16. Accedite ad me, audite hoc. Non ab initio in abscondito locutus sum. Ex quo res facta est, ibi fui. Et nunc Dominus Iehova misit me, et Spiritus ejus.

17. Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

17. Sic dixit Iehova redemptor tuus, Sanctus Israelis. Ego Iehova Deus tuus, docens to utiliter; dirigens to per viam qua incedis.

18. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

18. O si attendisses ad mandata mea! Tunc fuisset uti fluvius pax tua, et justitia tua ut fluctus maris.

19. Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

19. Fuisset ut arena semen tuum, et filii uteri ut lapilli ejus. Non succideretur, neque aboleretur nomen ejus a conspectu meo.

20. Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

20. Exite e Babel, fugite a Chaldaeis. Voce exultationis annuntiate hoc, divulgate, efferte usque ad extremum terrae. Dicite, Redemit Iehova servum suum Iacob.

21. And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

21. Itaque non sitierunt eum per solitudines duxit eos; aquam fecit illis fluere e petra, scidit petram, et fluxerunt aquae.

22. There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.

22. Non est pax, dixit Iehova impiis.

CHAPTER 47

Is 47:1-15. The Destruction of Babylon Is Represented under the Image of a Royal Virgin Brought Down in a Moment from Her Magnificent Throne to the Extreme of Degradation.

1. in the dust--(See on Is 3:26; Job 2:13; La 2:10).

virgin--that is, heretofore uncaptured [Herodotus, 1.191].

daughter of Babylon--Babylon and its inhabitants (see on Is 1:8; Is 37:22).

no throne--The seat of empire was transferred to Shushan. Alexander intended to have made Babylon his seat of empire, but Providence defeated his design. He soon died; and Seleucia, being built near, robbed it of its inhabitants, and even of its name, which was applied to Seleucia.

delicate--alluding to the effeminate debauchery and prostitution of all classes at banquets and religious rites [Curtius, 5.1; Herodotus, 1.199; Baruch, 6.43].

2. millstones--like the querns or hand-mills, found in this country, before the invention of water mills and windmills: a convex stone, made by the hand to turn in a concave stone, fitted to receive it, the corn being ground between them: the office of a female slave in the East; most degrading (Job 31:10; Mt 24:41).

uncover thy locks--rather, "take off thy veil" [Horsley]: perhaps the removal of the plaited hair worn round the women's temples is included; it, too, is a covering (1Co 11:15); to remove it and the veil is the badge of the lowest female degradation; in the East the head is the seat of female modesty; the face of a woman is seldom, the whole head almost never, seen bare (see on Is 22:8).

make bare the leg--rather "lift up (literally, 'uncover'; as in lifting up the train the leg is uncovered) thy flowing train." In Mesopotamia, women of low rank, as occasion requires, wade across the rivers with stript legs, or else entirely put off their garments and swim across. "Exchange thy rich, loose, queenly robe, for the most abject condition, that of one going to and fro through rivers as a slave, to draw water," &c.

uncover ... thigh--gather up the robe, so as to wade across.

3. not meet ... as a man--rather, "I will not meet a man," that is, suffer man to intercede with me--give man an audience [Horsley]. Or, "I will not make peace with any man," before all are destroyed. Literally, "strike a league with"; a phrase arising from the custom of striking hands together in making a compact [Maurer], (see on Pr 17:18; Pr 22:26; 11:15, Margin). Or else from striking the victims sacrificed in making treaties.

4. As for--rather supply, "Thus saith our Redeemer" [Maurer]. Lowth supposes this verse to be the exclamation of a chorus breaking in with praises, "Our Redeemer! Jehovah of hosts," &c. (Jr 50:34).

5. Sit--the posture of mourning (Ezr 9:4; Job 2:13; La 2:10).

darkness--mourning and misery (La 3:2; Mi 7:8).

lady of kingdoms--mistress of the world (Is 13:19).

6. reason for God's vengeance on Babylon: in executing God's will against His people, she had done so with wanton cruelty (Is 10:5, &c.; Jr 50:17; 51:33; Zec 1:15).

polluted my inheritance--(Is 43:28).

the ancient--Even old age was disregarded by the Chaldeans, who treated all alike with cruelty (La 4:16; 5:12) [Rosenmuller]. Or, "the ancient" means Israel, worn out with calamities in the latter period of its history (Is 46:4), as its earlier stage of history is called its "youth" (Is 54:6; Eze 16:60).

7. so that--Through thy vain expectation of being a queen for ever, thou didst advance to such a pitch of insolence as not to believe "these things" (namely, as to thy overthrow, Is 47:1-5) possible.

end of it--namely, of thy insolence, implied in her words, "I shall be a lady for ever."

8. given to pleasures--(See on Is 47:1). In no city were there so many incentives to licentiousness.

I am ... none ... beside me--(Is 47:10). Language of arrogance in man's mouth; fitting for God alone (Is 45:6). See Is 5:8, latter part.

widow ... loss of children--A state, represented as a female, when it has fallen is called a widow, because its king is no more; and childless, because it has no inhabitants; they having been carried off as captives (Is 23:4; 54:1, 4, 5; Re 18:7, 8).

9. in a moment--It should not decay slowly, but be suddenly and unexpectedly destroyed; in a single night it was taken by Cyrus. The prophecy was again literally fulfilled when Babylon revolted against Darius; and, in order to hold out to the last, each man chose one woman of his family, and strangled the rest, to save provisions. Darius impaled three thousand of the revolters.

in ... perfection--that is, "in full measure."

for ... for--rather, "notwithstanding the ... notwithstanding"; "in spite of" [Lowth]. So "for" (Nu 14:11). Babylon was famous for "expiations or sacrifices, and other incantations, whereby they tried to avert evil and obtain good" [Diodorus Siculus].

10. wickedness--as in Is 13:11, the cruelty with which Babylon treated its subject states.

None seeth me--(Psa 10:11; 94:7). "There is none to exact punishment from me." Sinners are not safe, though seeming secret.

Thy wisdom--astrological and political (Is 19:11, &c., as to Egypt).

perverted--turns thee aside from the right and safe path.

11. from whence it riseth--Hebrew, "the dawn thereof," that is, its first rising. Evil shall come on thee without the least previous intimation [Rosenmuller]. But dawn is not applied to "evil," but to prosperity shining out after misery (Is 21:12). Translate, "Thou shall not see any dawn" (of alleviation) [Maurer].

put ... off--rather, as Margin, "remove by expiation"; it shall be never ending.

not know--unawares: which thou dost not apprehend. Proving the fallacy of thy divinations and astrology (Job 9:5; Psa 35:8).

12. Stand--forth: a scornful challenge to Babylon's magicians to show whether they can defend their city.

laboured--The devil's service is a laborious yet fruitless one (Is 55:2).

13. wearied--(compare Is 57:10; Eze 24:12).

astrologers--literally, those who form combinations of the heavens; who watch conjunctions and oppositions of the stars. "Casters of the configurations of the sky" [Horsley]. Gesenius explains it: the dividers of the heavens. In casting a nativity they observed four signs:--the horoscope, or sign which arose at the time one was born; the mid-heaven; the sign opposite the horoscope towards the west; and the hypogee.

monthly prognosticators--those who at each new moon profess to tell thereby what is about to happen. Join, not as English Version, "save ... from those things," &c.; but, "They that at new moons make known from (by means of) them the things that shall come upon thee" [Maurer].

14. (Is 29:6; 30:30).

not ... a coal--Like stubble, they shall burn to a dead ash, without leaving a live coal or cinder (compare Is 30:14), so utterly shall they be destroyed.

15. Thus, &c.--Such shall be the fate of those astrologers who cost thee such an amount of trouble and money.

thy merchants, from thy youth--that is, with whom thou hast trafficked from thy earliest history, the foreigners sojourning in Babylon for the sake of commerce (Is 13:14; Jr 51:6, 9; Na 3:16, 17) [Barnes]. Rather, the astrologers, with whom Babylon had so many dealings (Is 47:12-14) [Horsley].

to his quarter--literally, "straight before him" (Eze 1:9, 12). The foreigners, whether soothsayers or merchants, shall flee home out of Babylon (Jr 50:16).

Come down, and set in the dust "Descend, and sit on the dust" - See note on Isa 3:26, and on Isa 52:2 (note).

Take the millstones, and grind meal "Take the mill, and grind corn" - It was the work of slaves to grind the corn. They used hand-mills: water-mills were not invented till a little before the time of Augustus, (see the Greek epigram of Antipater, which seems to celebrate it as a new invention, Anthol. Cephalae, 653); wind-mills, not until long after. It was not only the work of slaves, but the hardest work; and often inflicted upon them as a severe punishment: -

Molendum in pistrino; vapulandum; habendae compedes.

Terent. Phorm. 2:1. 19.

Hominem pistrino dignum.

Id. Heaut. 3:2. 19.

To grind in the mill, to be scourged, to be put in the stocks, were punishments for slaves. Hence a delinquent was said to be a man worthy of the mill. The tread-mill, now in use in England, is a revival of this ancient usage. But in the east grinding was the work of the female slaves. See Exo 11:5; Exo 12:29, (in the version of the Septuagint;) Mat 24:41; Homer, Odyss. 20:105-108. And it is the same to this day. "Women alone are employed to grind their corn;" Shaw's Algiers and Tunis, p. 287. "They are the female slaves, that are generally employed in the east at those hand-mills for grinding corn; it is extremely laborious, and esteemed the lowest employment in the house;" Sir J. Chardin, Harmer's Observ. i., p. 153. The words denote that state of captivity to which the Babylonians should be reduced.

Make bare the leg, uncover the thigh - This is repeatedly seen in Bengal, where there are few bridges, and both sexes, having neither shoes nor stockings, truss up their loose garments, and walk across, where the waters are not deep. In the deeper water they are obliged to truss very high, to which there seems a reference in the third verse: Thy nakedness shall be uncovered.

I will not meet thee as a man "Neither will I suffer man to intercede with me" - The verb should be pointed, or written, אפגיע aphgia, in Hiphil.

Our Redeemer "Our Avenger" - Here a chorus breaks in upon the midst of the subject, with a change of construction, as well as sentiment, from the longer to the shorter kind of verse, for one distich only; after which the former subject and style are resumed. See note on Isa 45:16 (note).

I was wroth with my people - God, in the course of his providence, makes use of great conquerors and tyrants as his instruments to execute his judgments in the earth; he employs one wicked nation to scourge another. The inflicter of the punishment may perhaps be as culpable as the sufferer; and may add to his guilt by indulging his cruelty in executing God's justice. When he has fulfilled the work to which the Divine vengeance has ordained him, he will become himself the object of it; see Isa 10:5-12. God charges the Babylonians, though employed by himself to chastise his people, with cruelty in regard to them. They exceeded the bounds of justice and humanity in oppressing and destroying them; and though they were really executing the righteous decree of God, yet, as far as it regarded themselves, they were only indulging their own ambition and violence. The Prophet Zechariah sets this matter in the same light: "I was but a little angry and they helped forward the affliction;" Isa 1:15. - L.

So that thou didst not "Because thou didst not" - For עד ad, read על al; so two MSS., and one edition. And for, אחריתה acharithah, "the latter end of it, "read אחריתך acharithecha, "thy latter end;" so thirteen MSS., and two editions, and the Vulgate. Both the sixth and seventh verses are wanting in one of my oldest MSS.

These two things shall come to thee in a moment - That is, suddenly. Belshazzar was slain; thus the city became metaphorically a widow, the husband - the governor of it, being slain. In the time in which the king was slain, the Medes and Persians took the city, and slew many of its inhabitants, see Dan 5:30, Dan 5:31. When Darius took the city, he is said to have crucified three thousand of its principal inhabitants.

In their perfection "On a sudden" - Instead of בתמם bethummam, "in their perfection," as our translation renders it, the Septuagint and Syriac read, in the copies from which they translated, פתאם pithom, suddenly; parallel to רגע rega, in a moment, in the preceding alternate member of the sentence. The concurrent testimony of the Septuagint and Syriac, favored by the context, may be safely opposed to the authority of the present text.

For the multitude "Notwithstanding the multitude" - ברב berob. For this sense of the particle ב beth, see Num 14:11.

Thou shalt not know from whence it riseth "Thou shalt not know how to deprecate" - שחרה shachrah; so the Chaldee renders it, which is approved by Jarchi on the place; and Michaelis Epim. in Praelect. xix.; see Psa 78:34.

Videtur in fine hujus commatis deese verbum, ut hoc membrum prioribus respondeat. "A word appears to be wanting at the end of this clause to connect it properly with the two preceding." - Secker.

In order to set in a proper light this judicious remark, it is necessary to give the reader an exact verbal translation of the whole verse: - "And evil shall come upon thee, thou shalt not know how to deprecate it;

And mischief shall fall upon thee, thou shalt not be able to expiate it;

And destruction shall come suddenly upon thee, thou shalt not know" -

What? how to escape, to avoid it, to be delivered from it? perhaps צאת ממנה tseth mimmennah, "they could not go out from it, "Jer 11:11. I am persuaded that a phrase is here lost out of the text. But as the ancient versions retain no traces of it, and a wide field lies open to uncertain conjecture, I have not attempted to fill up the chasm, but have in the translation, as others have done before me, palliated and disguised the defect, which I cannot with any assurance pretend to supply. - L.

From these things "What are the events" - For מאשר measher, read מה אשר mah asher, so the Septuagint, "what is to happen to thee."

To his quarter "To his own business" - לעברו leebro. Expositors give no very good account of this word in this place. In a MS. it was at first לעבדו leabdo, to his servant or work, which is probably the true reading. The sense however is pretty much the same with the common interpretation: "Every one shall turn aside to his own business; none shall deliver thee."

Down - From thy throne. Virgin - So, called, because she was tender and delicate. No throne - For thee. The empire is taken from thee, and translated to the Persians. Called - Be so.

Millstones - Thou shalt be brought to the basest slavery, which grinding at the mill was esteemed. For this work was not performed by horses, as now it is, but by the labour of slaves and captives. Grind - Grind bread - corn into meal for thy master's use. Uncover - Take off the ornaments wherewith such women as were of good quality, used to cover and dress their heads. These are predictions of what they should be forced to do or suffer. Thigh - Gird up thy garments close and short about thee, that thou mayest be fit for travelling on foot, and for passing over those rivers, through which thou wilt be constrained to wade, in the way to the land of thy captivity.

Uncovered - Either for want of raiment to cover it; or rather, by thine enemies in way of scorn and contumely. As a man - With moderation and gentleness, as those men who have not quite put off humanity use to do.

Silent - Thro' grief and shame, as mourners use to do. The lady - The chief and glory of all kingdoms.

Polluted - I cast them away as an unclean thing. Into thine hand - To punish them. No mercy - Thou hast exceeded the bounds of thy commission. The ancient - Who besides their common calamity were afflicted with the miseries of old age, and therefore did require both pity and reverence.

These things - Thy cruel usages of my people, and the heavy judgments which thou hadst reason to expect for them. Nor remember - Thou didst not consider what might and was likely to befal thee afterward.

I am - Independent, and self - sufficient. None - Which is not either subject to me, or far inferior to me in power and glory. Shall not sit - I shall never want either a king or people to defend me.

Perfection - In the highest degree.

Trusted - Confidently expecting to preserve thyself by these and other wicked arts. None seeth - My counsels are so deeply laid. Perverted - Hath misled thee into the way of perdition. None seeth - Which is repeated, to denote their intolerable self - confidence.

Therefore - This agrees with the history. Babylon being surprized by Cyrus, when they were in deep security.

Stand - Persist in these practices. Laboured - From the beginning of thy kingdom. For the Chaldeans in all ages were famous for the practice of these arts.

Wearied - Thou hast spent thy time and strength in going from one to another, and all to no purpose.

Thus - Such comfortless and helpless creatures. They - Merchants who came from several countries to trade with Babylon. And the verse may be thus rendered; Thus (vain and unprofitable) shall they (thy sorcerers) with whom thou hast laboured be unto thee: (So here is only a transposition of words, than which nothing is more usual in scripture. Then follows another matter:) also thy merchants, or they with whom thou hast traded from thy youth, shall wander every one to his own quarter.

1. COme down and sit in the dust : O virgin daughter of Babylon , sit on the ground: there is no throne , O daughter of the Caldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.

From thy Throne, as it follows.

Either necessarily, because thou shalt have no higher seat: Or, voluntarily, as mourners do, bewailing thine approaching calamities.

So called either, 1. because she had not y[illegible: 1+ letters]t been humbled and conquered: Or rather, 2. Because she was tender and delicate, as the next clause informeth us.

To wit, for thee. The empire is taken away from thee, and translated to the Persians.

Either be reputed so: Or rather be so: for to be called is frequently put for to be, as hath been divers times noted. Thou shalt be reduced to great hardships and miseries.

2. Take the Milstones and grind meal , uncover thy locks : make bare the leg: uncover the thigh , pass over the Rivers.

Betake thy self to the Milstones; as we commonly say, take thy bed, or, betake thy self to thy bed. The meaning is, Thou shalt be brought down to the basest kind of slavery, which grinding at the Mill was esteemed; of which see on Exod. 11. 5. Iudg. 16. 21. Iob. 31, 10. Lament. 5. 13. For this work was not performed by horses, as now it is, but by the labour of Slaves and Captives.

Grind breadcorn into meal for thy Masters use. Such metonymical expressions, we find Isa. 28. 28. Hose. 8. 7. and elsewhere

Or, thine hair. Take off the Ornaments wherewith such women as were free, and of good quality, used to cover and dress their heads. This and the following passages, though delivered in the form of a Command, are onely Predictions of what they should be forted to do or suffer, as appears from the next verse.

Gird up thy garments close and short about thee, that thou mayest be fit for service, and for travelling on foot, and as it follows, for passing over those Rivers, through which thou wilt be constrained to wade, in the way to the Land of thy Captivity.

3. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered ▪ yea thy shame shall be seen : I will take vengeance , and I will not meet thee as a man .

Either, 1. for want of raiment to cover it: Or, rather, 2. by thine enemies in way of scorn and contumely, by comparing this place with Ezek. 16. 37. & 23. 29.

Upon thee for thy many and great injuries done to my people.

As a man meets his enemy in the field, to contend with thee.

With moderation and gentleness, as those men who have not quite put off Humanity use to do, but like a Lyon tearing thee to pieces, to which God in such case compareth himself, as Hose. 5. 14. & 13. 7, 8. Compare Hose. 11. 4.

4. As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his Name, the Holy one of Israel .

According to this version, the Prophet inserteth this passage in the midst of this Prophecy against Babylon, as Iacob inserteth a like passage in the midst of his Bledings and Prophecies concerning his Children, Gen. 49. 18. And this may be here interposed, either 1. As the reason why the Judgment here denounced should be certainly inflicted, because he who had undertaken it was the Lord of hosts, and therefore able to effect it, and the Holy One, and the Redeemer of Israel, whom the Babylonians had cruelly oppressed, whose quarrel God would avenge upon them, and whom he had determined and promised to deliver out of their hands: Or, 2. As a pathetical exclamation or acclamation of Gods People, for this wonderful work of breaking the staff of their oppressors, which they here ascribe to God, as he is their God and Redeemer, whom here they make their boast of, and whom they celebrate for this glorious deliverance. But because these words, as for, are not in the Hebrew Text, and therefore another word may be as conveniently supplied, this verse may be, and is by some learned Interpreters, otherwise rendred, and joyned with the foregoing words thus, I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man, saith our Redeemer, whose Name is the Lord of Hosts, the Holy One of Israel. For the word, saith or saying is frequently understood, and therefore supplied by Translators, as 1 King. 20. 34. Psal. 27. 8. & 105. 15. and in this very Prophecy, as Isa. 5. 9. & 45. 14. and elsewhere.

5. Sit thou silent , and get thee into darkness , O daughter of the Caldeans: for thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdoms .

Through grief and shame, and as mourners use to do, Iob. 2. 13. Cease thy vaunting, and insolent speeches: thou canst say nothing for thine own justification.

Thou shalt go into an obscure, disconsolate, and calamitous condition.

The chief and glory of all Kingdomes, as Isa. 13. 19. the most large and potent and glorious Empire of the World, as thou hast been.

6. I was wroth with my people: I have polluted mine inheritance , and given them into thine hand : thou didst shew them no mercy , upon the ancient hast thou very heavily layd the yoke .

I cast them away as an unclean thing; I stained their glory; I removed them from the Holy Land, and from the place of my presence and worship, which alone made them an Holy and peculiar people; I banished them into a polluted Land, amongst uncircumcised and unclean persons, by whom they were many ways defiled; I rejected them from being my people, and so they were in my sight no better than the rest of the Heathen Nations.

To punish them, and deal with them as thou sawest fit.

Thou hast exceeded the bounds of thy Commission, and instead of that compassion, which humanity teacheth men to shew to such as are in misery, thou didst add to their afflictions.

Who besides their common calamity were afflicted with the miseries of old age, and therefore did require both pity and reverence.

7. And thou sayest , I shall be a Lady for ever: so that thou diddest not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it .

Thy cruel usages of my People, and the heavy Judgments which thou hadst reason to expect for them.

Of that Lady, or of Babylon, and her Glory and Empire, or of thy self; here being a sudden change of the person, of which I have noted many examples in this Prophet. The sence is: Thou wast besotted with the sense of thy present felicity, and didst not consider, as thy duty and common discretion obliged thee, what might and was likely to [illegible: 1+ letters]efall thee afterward; thou didst neither expect a change nor prepare for it.

Marginal references: Rev. 18. 7.

8. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am , and none else besides me , I shall not sit as a widdow, neither shall I know the loss of children .

I am independent, and self-sufficient and unchangeable, as that phrase implies, which therefore is appropriated to God, Isa. 41. 4. and 43. 10. and elsewhere. The Prophet doth not here use the very Phrase which the Babylonians used, but expresseth their sence in a Scripture Phrase.

Which is not either subject to me, or far inferiour to me in Power and Glory, so that in comparison of me it may be said not to be, because it disappeares like Stars at the presence of the sun.

I shall never want either a King or People to defend me from all dangers.

9. But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day; the loss of children, and widowhood; they shall come upon thee in their perfection , for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine inchantments .

In the highest degree. Thy King and Kingdome shall be utterly and eternally destroyed.

For thy superstitious and magical Practices, which were very frequent there, as we see below, ver. 12, 13. and as was observed before. Or, as it is in the Hebrew, In the multitude of thy Sorceries, &c. in the midst of, and notwithstanding all thy diabolical Artifices, whereby thou thinkest to foresee any dangers, and to secure thy self from them.

Marginal references: Chap. 51. 19.

10. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness : thou hast said, None seeth me , Thy wisedom and thy knowledge , it hath perverted thee , and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else besides me .

Confidently expecting to preserve thy self by these and other wicked Arts and Policies.

My Counsels are so deeply and cunningly laid, that God himself can neither discover nor prevent the Execution of them.

In State-Policy, and the Arts mentioned above and below.

Hath misled thee into the way of Transgression and Perdition.

Which was said, ver. 8. and is here repeated, to note their intolerable Arrogancy and Self-confidence.

Marginal references: Or, caused thee to turn away.

11. Therefore shall evil come upon thee , thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee, thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly , which thou shalt not know.

Or rather, when it shall come: Heb. the morning of it, the day or time of its approach: And they are justly upbraided and derided for this ignorance, because the Astrologers, the Star-gazers, and the monthly Prognosticators, mentioned here, ver. 13. pretended punctually to foretell the particular time of all future events. And this Explication agrees with the History, Babylon being surprized by Cyrus, when they were in deep Security, as is manifest, both from Scripture, Ier. 51. 31. Dan. 5. and from other Histories.

Or, when thou shalt not know it. Thou shalt not apprehend thy danger till it be too late.

Marginal references: Heb. the morning thereof; Heb. expiate

12. Stand now with thine inchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth : if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.

This Word notes; Either 1. continuance. Persist or go on in these Practises. Or 2. their gesture. For those that enquired of their gods by any of these superstitious Practices used to stand, this being a posture, both of Reverence, and waiting for an Answer. But this is not a command or concession, but a sacred Irony, or scoff at the folly of these Men, who having so oft been disappointed by these Impostures, yet were as forward to use them, and trust to them, as if they had never deceived them.

From the beginning of thy Common-wealth or Kingdome. For the Chaldeans in all Ages were famous, Or rather infamous, for the study and practice of these Arts.

13. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the † montly Prognosticators stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

Thou hast spent thy time and strength in going from one to another, in trying all manner of Experiments, and all to no purpose.

To Succour thee, or to enquire for thee.

Marginal references: Heb. viewer of the heavens. [illegible: 1+ letters] Heb. that give knowledge concerning the moneths.

14. Behold, they shall be as stubble: the fire shall burn them, they shall not deliver * themselves from the power of the flame : there shall not be a coale to warme at, nor fire to sit before it.

And much less thee.

They shall be totally consumed, and all the comfort which thou didst expect from them, shall utterly vanish.

Marginal references: † Heb. their souls.

15. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants from thy youth, they shall wander every one to his quarter: none shall save thee .

Such comfortless and helpless Creatures.

Either 1. thy merchants, as it follows, with whom tho[illegible: 1+ letters] hast trafficked. Or 2. thy Sorcerers, Astrologers, &c. with whom they are said to have laboured, both here and ver. 12. who also may possibly be called their Merchants, because they traded so much with them; and because of their deceitful practices; for which Ephraim is called a Merchant, Hos. 12. 7. And so the following Clause may be rendred, who have been thy Merchants from thy Youth. Or, the last clause may be understood of Merchants, properly so called, who came from several Countries to trade with Babylon, as is noted in Scripture, and by other Authors: And the Verse may be thus rendred. Thus (vain and unprofitable) shall they (thy Sorcerers, &c.) with whom thou hast laboured be unto thee. (So here is onely a transposition of Words, than which nothing is more usual in Scripture. Then follows another matter in the next Clause:) also Thy Merchants, or they with whom thou hast traded from thy Youth, shall wander every one to his own quarter.

They shall all leave thee, and flee away with all possible speed to their several Countries and Habitations.

Isa 47:1-4

From the gods of Babylon the proclamation of judgment passes onto Babylon itself. “Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter Babel; sit on the ground without a throne, O Chaldaeans-daughter! For men no longer call thee delicate and voluptuous. Take the mill, and grind meal: throw back they veil, lift up the train, uncover the thigh, wade through streams. Let thy nakedness be uncovered, even let thy shame be seen; I shall take vengeance, and not spare men. Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is His name, Holy One of Israel.” This is the first strophe in the prophecy. As v. 36 clearly shows, what precedes is a penal sentence from Jehovah. Both בּת in relation to בּתוּלת (Isa 23:12; Isa 37:22), and בּבל and כּשׂדּים in relation to בּת, are appositional genitives; Babel and Chaldeans (כשׂדים as in Isa 48:20) are regarded as a woman, and that as one not yet dishonoured. The unconquered oppressor is threatened with degradation from her proud eminence into shameful humiliation; sitting on the ground is used in the same sense as in Isa 3:26. Hitherto men have called her, with envious admiration, rakkâh va‛ânuggâh (from Deu 28:56), mollis et delicata, as having carefully kept everything disagreeable at a distance, and revelled in nothing but luxury (compare ‛ōneg, Isa 13:22). Debauchery with its attendant rioting (Isa 14:11; Isa 25:5), and the Mylitta worship with its licensed prostitution (Herod. i. 199), were current there; but now all this was at an end. תוסיפי, according to the Masora, has only one pashta both here and in Isa 47:5, and so has the tone upon the last syllable, and accordingly metheg in the antepenult. Isaiah’s artistic style may be readily perceived both in the three clauses of Isa 47:1 that are comparable to a long trumpet-blast (compare Isa 40:9 and Isa 16:1), and also in the short, rugged, involuntarily excited clauses that follow. The mistress becomes the maid, and has to perform the low, menial service of those who, as Homer says in Od. vii. 104, ἀλετρεύουσι μύλης ἔπι μήλοπα καρπόν (grind at the mill the quince-coloured fruit; compare at Job 31:10). She has to leave her palace as a prisoner of war, and, laying aside all feminine modesty, to wade through the rivers upon which she borders. Chespı̄ has ĕ instead of ĭ, and, as in other cases where a sibilant precedes, the mute p instead of f (compare 'ispı̄, Jer 10:17). Both the prosopopeia and the parallel, “thy shame shall be seen,” require that the expression “thy nakedness shall be uncovered” should not be understood literally. The shame of Babel is her shameful conduct, which is not to be exhibited in its true colours, inasmuch as a stronger one is coming upon it to rob it of its might and honour. This stronger one, apart from the instrument employed, is Jehovah: vindictam sumam, non parcam homini. Stier gives a different rendering here, namely, “I will run upon no man, i.e., so as to make him give way;” Hahn, “I will not meet with a man,” so destitute of population will Babylon be; and Ruetschi, “I will not step in as a man.” Gesenius and Rosenmüller are nearer to the mark when they suggest non pangam (paciscar)cum homine; but this would require at any rate את־אדם, even if the verb פּגע really had the meaning to strike a treaty. It means rather to strike against a person, to assault any one, then to meet or come in an opposite direction, and that not only in a hostile sense, but, as in this instance, and also in Isa 64:4, in a friendly sense as well. Hence, “I shall not receive any man, or pardon any man” (Hitzig, Ewald, etc.). According to an old method of writing the passage, there is a pause here. But Isa 47:4 is still connected with what goes before. As Jehovah is speaking in Isa 47:5, but Israel in Isa 47:4, and as Isa 47:4 is unsuitable to form the basis of the words of Jehovah, it must be regarded as the antiphone to Isa 47:1-3 (cf., Isa 45:15). Our Redeemer, exclaims the church in joyfully exalted self-consciousness, He is Jehovah of Hosts, the Holy One of Israel! The one name affirms that He possesses the all-conquering might; the other that He possesses the will to carry on the work of redemption - a will influenced and constrained by both love and wrath.

Isa 47:5-7

In the second strophe the penal sentence of Jehovah is continued. “Sit silent, and creep into the darkness, O Chaldeans-daughter! for men no longer call thee lady of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people; I polluted mine inheritance, and gave them into thy hand: thou hast shown them no mercy; upon old men thou laidst thy yoke very heavily. And thou saidst, I shall be lady for ever; so that thou didst not take these things to heart: thou didst not consider the latter end thereof.” Babylon shall sit down in silent, brooding sorrow, and take herself away into darkness, just as those who have fallen into disgrace shrink from the eyes of men. She is looked upon as an empress (Isa 13:9; the king of Babylon called himself the king of kings, Eze 26:7), who has been reduced to the condition of a slave, and durst not show herself for shame. This would happen to her, because at the time when Jehovah made use of her as His instrument for punishing His people, she went beyond the bounds of her authority, showing ho pity, and ill-treating even defenceless old men. According to Loppe, Gesenius, and Hitzig, Israel is here called zâqēn, as a decayed nation awakening sympathy; but according to the Scripture, the people of God is always young, and never decays; on the contrary, its ziqnâh, i.e., the latest period of its history (Isa 46:4), is to be like its youth. The words are to be understood literally, like Lam 4:16; Lam 5:12 : even upon old men, Babylon had placed the heavy yoke of prisoners and slaves. But in spite of this inhumanity, it flattered itself that it would last for ever. Hitzig adopts the reading עד גּברת, and renders it, “To all future times shall I continue, mistress to all eternity.” This may possibly be correct, but it is by no means necessary, inasmuch as it can be shown from 1Sa 20:41, and Job 14:6, that (ד is used as equivalent to אשׁר עד, in the sense of “till the time that;” and gebhereth, as the feminine of gâbhēr = gebher, may be the absolute quite as well as the construct. The meaning therefore is, that the confidence of Babylon in the eternal continuance of its power was such, that “these things,” i.e., such punishments as those which were now about to fall upon it according to the prophecy, had never come into its mind; such, indeed, that it had not called to remembrance as even possible “the latter end of it,” i.e., the inevitably evil termination of its tyranny and presumption.

Isa 47:8-11

A third strophe of this proclamation of punishment is opened here with ועתה, on the ground of the conduct censured. “And now hear this, thou voluptuous one, she who sitteth so securely, who sayeth in her heart, I am it, and none else: I shall not sit a widow, nor experience bereavement of children. And these two will come upon thee suddenly in one day: bereavement of children and widowhood; they come upon thee in fullest measure, in spite of the multitude of thy sorceries, in spite of the great abundance of thy witchcrafts. Thou trustedst in thy wickedness, saidst, No one seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, they led thee astray; so that thou saidst in thy heart, I am it, and none else. And misfortune cometh upon thee, which thou dost not understand how to charm away: and destruction will fall upon thee, which thou canst not atone for; there will come suddenly upon thee ruin which thou suspectest not.” In the surnames given to Babylon here, a new reason is assigned for the judgment - namely, extravagance, security, and self-exaltation. עדין is an intensive from of עדן (lxx τρυφερά). The i of אפסי is regarded by Hahn as the same as we meet with in אתּי = אתּ; but this is impossible here with the first person. Rosenmüller, Ewald, Gesenius, and others, take it as chirek compaginis, and equivalent to עוד אין, which would only occur in this particular formula. Hitzig supposes it to be the suffix of the word, which is meant as a preposition in the sense of et praeter me ultra (nemo); but this nemo would be omitted, which is improbable. The more probable explanation is, that אפס signifies absolute non-existence, and when used as an adverb, “exclusively, nothing but,” e.g., קצהוּ אפס, nothing, the utmost extremity thereof, i.e., only the utmost extremity of it (Num 23:13; cf., Num 22:35). But it is mostly used with a verbal force, like אין (אין), (utique) non est (see Isa 45:14); hence אפסי, like איני, (utique) non sum. The form in which the presumption of Babylon expresses itself, viz., “I (am it), and I am absolutely nothing further,” sounds like self-deification, by the side of similar self-assertion on the part of Jehovah (Isa 45:5-6; Isa 14:21, Isa 14:22 and Isa 46:9). Nineveh speaks in just the same way in Zep 2:15; compare Martial: “Terrarum Dea gentiumque Roma cui par est nihil et nihil secundum.” Babylon also says still further (like the Babylon of the last days in Rev 18:7): “I shall not sit as a widow (viz., mourning thus in solitude, Lam 1:1; Lam 3:28; and secluded from the world, Gen 38:11), nor experience the loss of children” (orbitatem). She would become a widow, if she should lose the different nations, and “the kings of the earth who committed fornication with her” (Rev 18:9); for her relation to her own king cannot possibly be thought of, inasmuch as the relation in which a nation stands to its temporal king is never thought of as marriage, like that of Jehovah to Israel. She would also be a mother bereaved of her children, if war and captivity robbed her of her population. But both of these would happen to her suddenly in one day, so that she would succumb to the weight of the double sorrow. Both of them would come upon her kethummâm (secundum integritatem eorum), i.e., so that she would come to learn what the loss of men and the loss of children signified in all its extent and in all its depth, and that in spite of (בּ, with, equivalent to “notwithstanding,” as in Isa 5:25; not “through = on account of,” since this tone is adopted for the first time in Isa 47:10) the multitude of its incantations, and the very great mass (‛ŏtsmâh, an inf. noun, as in Isa 30:19; Isa 55:2, used here, not as in Isa 40:29, in an intensive sense, but, like ‛âtsūm, as a parallel word to rabh in a numerical sense) of its witchcrafts (chebher, binding by means of incantations, κατάδεσμος). Babylonia was the birth-place of astrology, from which sprang the twelve-fold division of the day, the horoscope and sun-dial (Herod. ii. 109); but it was also the home of magic, which pretended to bind the course of events, and even the power of the gods, and to direct them in whatever way it pleased (Diodorus, ii. 29). Thus had Babylon trusted in her wickedness (Isa 13:11), viz., in the tyranny and cunning by which she hoped to ensure perpetual duration, with the notion that she was exalted above the reach of any earthly calamity.

She thought, “None seeth me” (non est videns me), thus suppressing the voice of conscience, and practically denying the omnipotence and omnipresence of God. ראני (with a verbal suffix, videns me, whereas ראי saere in Gen 16:3 signifies videns mei = meus), also written ראני, is a pausal form in half pause for ראני (Isa 29:15). Tzere passes in pause both into pathach (e.g., Isa 42:22), and also, apart from such hithpael forms as Isa 41:16, into kametz, as in קימנוּ (Job 22:20, which see). By the “wisdom and knowledge” of Babylon, which had turned her aside from the right way, we are to understand her policy, strategy, and more especially her magical arts, i.e., the mysteries of the Chaldeans, their ἐπιχώριοι φιλόσοφοι (Strabo, xxi. 1, 6). On hōvâh (used here and in Eze 7:26, written havvâh elsewhere), according to its primary meaning, “yawning,” χαῖνον, then a yawning depth, χάσμα, utter destruction, see at Job 37:6. שׁאה signifies primarily a desert, or desolate place, here destruction; and hence the derivative meaning, waste noise, a dull groan. The perfect consec. of the first clause precedes its predicate רעה in the radical form בא (Ges., §147,a). With the parallelism of כּפּרהּ, it is not probable that שׁחרהּ, which rhymes with it, is a substantive, in the sense of “from which thou wilt experience no morning dawn” (i.e., after the night of calamity), as Umbreit supposes. The suffix also causes some difficulty (hence the Vulgate rendering, ortum ejus, sc. mali); and instead of תדעי, we should expect תראי. In any case, shachrâh is a verb, and Hitzig renders it, “which thou wilt not know how to unblacken;” but this privative use of shichēr as a word of colour would be without example. It would be better to translate it, “which thou wilt not know how to spy out” (as in Isa 26:9), but better still, “which thou wilt not know how to conjure away” (shichēr = Arab. sḥḥr, as it were incantitare, and here incantando averruncare). The last relative clause affirms what shachrâh would state, if understood according to Isa 26:9 : destruction which thou wilt not know, i.e., which will come suddenly and unexpectedly.

Isa 47:12-15

Then follows the concluding strophe, which, like the first, announces to the imperial city in a triumphantly sarcastic tone its inevitable fate; whereas the intermediate strophes refer rather to the sins by which this fate has been brought upon it. “Come near, then, with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy witchcrafts, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth: perhaps thou canst profit, perhaps thou wilt inspire terror. Thou art wearied through the multitude of thy consultations; let the dissectors of the heavens come near, then, and save thee, the star-gazers, they who with every new moon bring things to light that will come upon thee. Behold, they have become like stubble: fire has consumed them: there is not a red-hot coal to warm themselves, a hearth-fire to sit before. So is it with thy people, for whom thou hast laboured: thy partners in trade from thy youth, they wander away every one in his own direction; no one who brings salvation to thee.” Hitzig and others adopt the simple rendering, “Persevere, then, with thine enchantments.” It is indeed true, that in Lev 13:5 בּ עמד signifies “to remain standing by anything,” i.e., to persevere with it, just as in Eze 13:5 it signifies to keep one’s standing in anything; in 2Ki 23:3, to enter upon anything; and in Ecc 8:3, to engage in anything; but there is no reason for taking it here in any other sense than in Isa 47:13. Babylon is to draw near with all the processes of the black art, wherein בּאשׁר, according to our western mode of expression, equivalent to בּהם אשׁר, Ges. 123, 2*) it had been addicted to abundance of routine from its youth upwards (יגעאתּ with an auxiliary pathach for יגעתּ); possibly it may be of some use, possibly it will terrify, i.e., make itself so terrible to the approaching calamity, as to cause it to keep off. The prophet now sees in spirit how Babylon draws near, and how it also harasses itself to no purpose; he therefore follows up the עמדי־נא, addressed in pleno to Babylon, with a second challenge commencing with יעמדוּ־נא. Their astrologers are to draw near, and try that power over the future to which they lay claim, by bringing it to bear at once upon the approaching destruction for the benefit of Babylon. עצתיך is a singular form connected with a feminine plural suffix, such as we find in Psa 9:15; Eze 35:11; Ezr 9:15, connected with a masculine plural suffix. Assuming the correctness of the vowel-pointing, the singular appears in such cases as these to have a collective meaning, like the Arabic pl. fractus; for there is no ground to suppose that the Aramaean plural form ‛ētsâth is used here in the place of the Hebrew. Instead of שׁמים הברו (which would be equivalent to הברו אשׁרא, the keri reads שׁמים הברי, cutters up of the heavens, i.e., planners or dissectors of them, from hâb, dissecare, resecare (compare the rabbinical habhârâh, a syllable, i.e., segmentum vocabuli, and possibly also the talmudic 'ēbhârı̄m, limbs of a body). The correction proposed by Knobel, viz., chōbherē, from châbhār, to know, or be versed in, is unnecessary. Châzâh b' signifies here, as it generally does, to look with pleasure or with interest at anything; hence Luther has rendered it correctly, die Sternkucker (Eng. ver. star-gazers). They are described still further as those who make known with every new moon (lechŏdâshı̄m, like labbeqârı̄m, every morning, Isa 33:2, etc.), things which, etc. מאשׁר is used in a partitive sense: out of the great mass of events they select the most important, and prepare a calendar or almanack (ἀλμενιχιακά in Plutarch) for the state every month. But these very wise men cannot save themselves, to say nothing of others, out of the power of that flame, which is no comforting coal-fire to warm one’s self by, no hearth-fire (Isa 44:16) to sit in front of, but a devouring, eternal, i.e., peremptory flame (Isa 33:14). The rendering adopted by Grotius, Vitringa, Lowth, Gesenius, and others, “non supererit pruna ad calendum,” is a false one, if only because it is not in harmony with the figure. “Thus shall they be unto thee,” he continues in Isa 47:15, i.e., such things shall be endured to thy disgrace by those about whom thou hast wearied thyself (אשׁר = בּהם אשׁר). The learned orders of the Chaldeans had their own quarter, and enjoyed all the distinction and privileges of a priestly caste. What follows cannot possibly be understood as relating to these masters of astrology and witchcraft, as Ewald supposes; for, according to the expression שׁחרהּ in Isa 47:11, they would be called שׁחריך. Moreover, if they became a prey of the flames, and therefore were unable to flee, we should have to assume that they were burned while taking flight (Umbreit). סחריך are those who carried on commercial intercourse with the great “trading city” (Eze 17:4), as Berossos says, “In Babylon there was a great multitude of men of other nations who had settled in Chaldea, and they lived in disorder, like the wild beasts;” compare Aeschylus, Pers. 52-3, Βαβυλὼν δ ̓ ἡ πολύχρυσος πάμμικτον ὄχλον πέμπει. All of these are scattered in the wildest flight, אל־עברו אישׁ, every one on his own side, viz., in the direction of his own home, and do not trouble themselves about Babylon.

Babylon Threatened. (b. c. 708.)

1 Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. 2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. 3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. 4 As for our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. 5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms. 6 I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.

In these verses God by the prophet sends a messenger even to Babylon, like that of Jonah to Nineveh: "The time is at hand when Babylon shall be destroyed." Fair warning is thus given her, that she may by repentance prevent the ruin and there may be a lengthening of her tranquility. We may observe here,

I. God's controversy with Babylon. We will begin with that, for there all the calamity begins; she has made God her enemy, and then who can befriend her: Let her know that the righteous Judge, to whom vengeance belongs, has said (v. 3), I will take vengeance. She has provoked God, and shall be reckoned with for it when the measure of her iniquities is full. Woe to those on whom God comes to take vengeance; for who knows the power of his anger and what a fearful thing it is to fall into his hands? Were it a man like ourselves who would be revenged on us, we might hope to be a match for him, either to make our escape from him or to make our part good with him. But he says, "I will not meet thee as a man, not with the compassions of a man, but I will be to the as a lion, and a young lion" (Hos. v. 14); or, rather, not with the strength of a man, which is easily resisted, but with the power of a God, which cannot be resisted. Not with the justice of a man, which may be bribed, or biassed, or mollified by a foolish pity, but with the justice of a God, which is strict and severe, and can never be evaded. As in pardoning the penitent, so in punishing the impenitent, he is God and not man, Hos. xi. 9.

II. The particular ground of this controversy. We are sure that there is cause for it, and it is a just cause; it is the vengeance of his temple (Jer. l. 28); it is for violence done to Zion, Jer. li. 35. God will plead his people's cause against them. It is acknowledged (v. 6) that God had, in wrath, delivered his people into the hands of the Babylonians, had made use of them for the correction of his children, and had by their means polluted his inheritance, had left his peculiar people exposed to suffer in common with the rest of the nations, had suffered the heathen, who should have been kept at a distance, to come into his sanctuary and defile his temple, Ps. lxxix. 1. Herein God was righteous; but the Babylonians carried the matter too far, and, when they had them in their hands (triumphing to see a people that had been so much in reputation for wisdom, holiness, and honour, brought thus low), with a base and servile spirit they trampled upon them, and showed them no mercy, no, not the common instances of humanity which the miserable are entitled to purely by their misery. They used them barbarously, and with an air of contempt, nay, and of complacency in their calamities. They were brought under the yoke; but, as if that were not enough, they laid the yoke on very heavily, adding affliction to the afflicted. Nay, they laid it on the ancient—the elders in years, who were past their labour, and must sink under a yoke which those in their youthful strength would easily bear—the elders in office, those that had been judges and magistrates, and persons of the first rank. They took a pride in putting these to the meanest hardest drudgery. Jeremiah laments this, that the faces of elders were not honoured, Lam. v. 12. Nothing brings a surer or a sorer ruin upon any people than cruelty, especially to God's Israel.

III. The terror of this controversy. She has reason to tremble when she is told who it is that has this quarrel with her (v. 4): "As for our Redeemer, our Goël, that undertakes to plead our cause as the avenger of our blood, he has two names which speak not only comfort to us, but terror to our adversaries." 1. "He is the Lord of hosts, that has all the creatures at his command, and therefore has all power both in heaven and in earth." Woe to those against whom the Lord fights, for the whole creation is at war with them. 2. "He is the Holy One of Israel, a God in covenant with us, who has his residence among us, and will faithfully perform all the promises he has made to us." God's power and holiness are engaged against Babylon and for Zion. This may fitly be applied to Christ, our great Redeemer. He is both Lord of hosts and the Holy One of Israel.

IV. The consequences of it to Babylon. She is called a virgin, because so she thought herself, though she was the mother of harlots. She was beautiful as a virgin, and courted by all about her; she had been called tender and delicate (v. 1), and the lady of kingdoms (v. 5); but now the case is altered. 1. Her honour is gone, and she must bid farewell to all her dignity. She that had sat at the upper end of the world, sat in state and sat at ease, must now come down and sit in the dust, as very mean and a deep mourner, must sit on the ground, for she shall be so emptied and impoverished that she shall not have a seat left her to sit upon. 2. Her power is gone, and she must bid farewell to all her dominion. She shall rule no more as she has done, nor give law as she has done to her neighbours: There is no throne, none for thee, O daughter of the Chaldeans! Note, Those that abuse their honour or power provoke God to deprive them of it, and to make them come down and sit in the dust. 3. Her ease and pleasure are gone: "She shall no more be called tender and delicate as she has been, for she shall not only be deprived of all those things with which she pampered herself, but shall be put to hard service and made to feel both want and pain, which will be more than doubly grievous to her who formerly would not venture to set so much as the sole of her foot to the ground for tenderness and for delicacy," Deut. xxviii. 56. It is our wisdom not to use ourselves to be tender and delicate, because we know not how hardly others may use us before we die not what straits we may be reduced to. 4. Her liberty is gone, and she is brought into a state of servitude and as sore a bondage as she in her prosperity had brought others to. Even the great men of Babylon must now receive the same law from the conquerors that they used to give to the conquered: "Take the mill-stones and grind meal (v. 2), set to work, to hard labour" (like beating hemp in Bridewell), "which will make thee sweat so that thou must throw off all thy head-dresses, and uncover thy locks." When they were driven from one place to another, at the capricious humours of their masters, they must be forced to wade up to the middle through the waters, to make bare the leg and uncover the thigh, that they might pass over the rivers, which would be a great mortification to those that used to ride in state. But let them not complain, for just thus they had formerly used their captives; and with what measure they then meted it is now measured to them again. Let those that have power use it with temper and moderation, considering that the spoke which is uppermost will be under. 5. All her glory, and all her glorying, are gone. Instead of glory, she has ignominy (v. 3): Thy nakedness shall be uncovered and thy shame shall be seen, according to the base and barbarous usage they commonly gave their captives, to whom, for covetousness of their clothes, they did not leave rags sufficient to cover their nakedness, so void were they of the modesty as well as of the pity due to the human nature. Instead of glorying she sits silently, and gets into darkness (v. 5), ashamed to show her face, for she has quite lost her credit and shall no more be called the lady of kingdoms. Note, God can make those sit silently that used to make the greatest noise in the world, and send those into darkness that used to make the greatest figure. Let him that glories, therefore, glory in a God that changes not, and not in any worldly wealth, pleasure, or honour, which are subject to change.

Babylon Threatened. (b. c. 708.)

7 And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. 8 Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: 9 But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. 10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. 11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. 12 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. 13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. 14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. 15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.

Babylon, now doomed to ruin, is here justly upbraided with her pride, luxury, and security, in the day of her prosperity, and the confidence she had in her own wisdom and forecast, and particularly in the prognostications and counsels of the astrologers. These things are mentioned both to justify God in bringing these judgments upon her and to mortify her, and put her to so much the greater shame, under these judgments; for, when God comes forth to take vengeance, glory belongs to him, but confusion to the sinner.

I. The Babylonians are here upbraided with their pride and haughtiness, and the great conceit they had of themselves, because of their wealth and power, and the vast extent of their dominion; it was the language both of the government and of the body of the people: Thou sayest in thy heart (and God, who searches all hearts, can tell men what they say there, though they never speak it out) I am, and none else besides me, v. 8, 10. The repetition of this part of the charge intimates that they said it often, and that it was very offensive to God. It is the very word that God has often said concerning himself, I am, and none else besides me, denoting his self-existence, his infinite and incomparable perfections, and his sole supremacy. All this Babylon pretends to; and no wonder if she that assumed a power to make what gods and goddesses she pleased for the people to worship made herself one among the rest. It is presumption to say of any creature, "It is, and there is not its like, there is none besides it" (for creatures stand very nearly upon a level with one another); but it is insufferable arrogance for any to say so of themselves, and an evidence of their self-ignorance.

II. They are upbraided with their luxury and love of ease (v. 8): "Thou that art given to pleasures, art a slave to them, art in them as in thy element, and, that thou mayest enjoy them without disturbance or interruption, dwellest carelessly and layest nothing to heart." Great wealth and plenty are great temptations to sensuality, and, where there is fulness of bread, there is commonly abundance of idleness. But if those that are given to pleasures, and dwell carelessly, would but hear this, that for all these things God will bring them into judgment, it would be a damp to their mirth, an allay to their pleasure, and would find them something to be in care about.

III. They are upbraided with their carnal security and their vain confidence of the perpetuity of their pomps and pleasures. This is much insisted on here. Observe,

1. The cause of their security. They thought themselves safe and out of danger, not because they were ignorant of the uncertainty of all earthly enjoyments and the inevitable fate that attends states and kingdoms as well as particular persons, but because they did not lay this to heart, did not apply it to themselves, nor give it a due consideration. They lulled themselves asleep in ease and pleasure, and dreamt of nothing else but that to-morrow should be as this day, and much more abundant. They did not remember the latter end of it—the latter end of their prosperity, that it is a fading flower, and will wither—the latter end of their iniquity, that it will be bitterness, that the day will come when their injustice and oppression must be reckoned for and punished. She did not remember her latter end (so some read it); she forgot that her day would come to fall and what would be in the end hereof. It was the ruin of Jerusalem (Lam. i. 9) that she remembered not her last end, therefore she came down wonderfully; and it was Babylon's ruin too. The children of men are easy, and think themselves safe, in their sinful ways, only because they never think of death, and judgment, and their future state.

2. The ground of their security. They trusted in their wickedness and in their wisdom, v. 10. (1.) Their power and wealth, which they had gotten by fraud and oppression, were their confidence: Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, As Doeg. Ps. lii. 7. Many have so debauched their own consciences, and have got to such a pitch of daring wickedness, that they stick at nothing; and this they trust to carry them through those difficulties which embarrass men who make conscience of what they say and do. They doubt not but they shall be too hard for all their enemies, because they dare lie, and kill, and forswear themselves, and do any thing for their interest. Thus they trust in their wickedness to secure them, which is the only thing that will ruin them. (2.) Their policy and craft, which they called their wisdom, were their confidence. They thought they could outwit all mankind, and therefore might set all their enemies at defiance. But their wisdom and knowledge perverted them, and turned them out of the way, made them forget themselves, and the preparation necessary to be made for hereafter.

3. The expressions of their security. Three things this proud and haughty monarchy said, in her security:— (1.) "I shall be a lady for ever," v. 7. She looked upon the patent of her honour to be not merely during the pleasure of the sovereign Lord, the fountain of honour, or during her own good behaviour, but to be perpetual to the present generation and their heirs and successors for ever. She was not only proud that she was a lady, but confident that she should be a lady for ever. Thus the New-Testament Babylon says, I sit as a queen, and shall see no sorrow, Rev. xviii. 7. Those ladies mistake themselves, and consider not their latter end, who think they shall be ladies for ever; for death will shortly lay their honour with them in the dust. Saints will be saints for ever, but lords and ladies will not be so for ever. (2.) "I shall not sit as a widow, in solitude and sorrow, shall never lose the power and wealth I am thus wedded to; the monarchy shall never want a monarch to espouse and protect it, and be a husband to the state; nor shall I know the loss of children," v. 8. She was as confident of the continuance of the numbers of her people as of the dignity of her prince, and had no fear of being either deposed or depopulated. Those that are in the height of prosperity are apt to fancy themselves out of the reach of adverse fate. (3.) "No one sees me when I do amiss, and therefore there will be none to call me to an account," v. 10. It is common for sinners to promise themselves impunity, because they promise themselves secrecy, in their wicked ways. They trust to their wicked arts and designs to stand them in stead, because they think they have carried them on so plausibly that none can discern the wickedness and deceit of them.

4. The punishment of their security. It shall be their ruin; and it will be, (1.) A complete ruin, the ruin of all their comforts and confidences: "These two things shall come upon thee (the very two things that thou didst set at defiance), loss of children and widowhood, v. 9. Both thy princes and thy people shall be cut off, so that thou shalt be no more a government, no more a nation." Note, God often brings upon secure sinners those very mischiefs which they least feared and thought themselves in least danger of. "They shall come upon thee in their perfection, with all their aggravating circumstances and without any thing to allay or mitigate them." Afflictions to God's children are not afflictions in perfection. Widowhood is not to them a calamity in perfection, for they have this to comfort themselves with, that their Maker is their husband; loss of children is not, for he is better to them than ten sons. But on his enemies they come in perfection. Widowhood and loss of children are either of them great griefs, but both together great indeed. Naomi thinks she may well be called Marah when she is left both of her sons and of her husband (Ruth i. 5); and yet on her these evils did not come in perfection, for she had two daughters-in-law left, that were comforts to her. But on Babylon they come in perfection; she has no comfort remaining. (2.) It will be a sudden and surprising ruin. The evil shall come in one day, nay, in a moment, which will make it much the more terrible, especially to those that were so very secure. "Evil shall come upon thee (v. 11) and thou shalt have neither time nor way to provide against it, or to prepare for it; for thou shalt not know whence it rises, and therefore shalt not know where to stand upon thy guard." Thou shalt not know the morning thereof; so the Hebrew phrase is. We know just when and where the day will break and the sun rise, but we know not what the day, when it comes, will bring forth, nor when or where trouble will arise; perhaps the storm may come from that point of the compass which we little thought of. Babylon pretended to great wisdom and knowledge (v. 10), but with all her knowledge she cannot foresee, nor with all her wisdom prevent, the ruin threatened: "Desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, as a thief in the night, which thou shalt not know, that is, which thou little thoughtest of." Fair warning was indeed given them, by Isaiah and other prophets of the Lord, of this desolation; but they slighted that notice, and would give no credit to it, and therefore justly is it so ordered that they should have no other notice of it, but that partly through their own security, and partly through the swiftness and subtlety of the enemy, when it came it should be a perfect surprise to them. Those that slight the warnings of the written word, let them not expect any other premonitions. (3.) It will be an irresistible ruin, and such as they will have no fence against: "Mischief shall come upon thee so suddenly that thou shalt have no time to turn thee in, so strongly that thou shalt not be able to make head against it and to put it off and save thyself." There is no opposing the judgments of God when they come with commission. Babylon herself, with all her wealth, and power, and multitude, is not able to put off the mischief that comes.

IV. They are upbraided with their divinations, their magical and astrological arts and sciences, which the Chaldeans, above any other nation, were notorious for, and from them other nations borrowed all their learning of that kind.

1. This is here spoken of as one of their provoking sins, which would bring the judgments of God upon them, v. 9. "These evils shall come upon thee to punish thee for the multitude of thy sorceries, and the great abundance of thy enchantments." Witchcraft is a sin in its own nature exceedingly heinous; it is giving that honour to the devil which is due to God only, making God's enemy our guide and the father of lies our oracle. In Babylon it was a national sin, and had the protection and countenance of the government; conjurors, for aught that appears, were their privy counsellors and prime ministers of state. And shall not God visit for these things? Observe what a multitude, what a great abundance, of sorceries and enchantments there were among them. Such a bewitching sin this was that when it was once admitted it spread like wildfire, and they never knew any end of it; the deceived and the deceivers both increased strangely.

2. It is here spoken of as one of their vain confidences, which they relied much upon, but should be deceived in, for it would not serve so much as to give them notice of the judgments coming, much less to guard against them. (1.) They are here upbraided with the mighty pains they had taken about their sorceries and enchantments: Thou hast laboured in them from thy youth, v. 12. They trained up their young men in these studies, and those that applied themselves to them were indefatigable in their labours about them—reading books, making observations, trying experiments. Well, let them stand up now with their enchantments, and try their skill in the critical moment. Let them make a stand, if they can, in opposition to the invading enemy; let them stand to offer their service to their country; but to what purpose? "Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels of this kind (v. 13); thou hast advised with them all, but hast received no satisfaction from them; the different schemes they have erected, and the different judgments they have given, have but increased thy perplexity and tired thee out." In the multitude of such counsellors there is no safety. (2.) They are upbraided with the variety they had of such kinds of people among them, v. 13. They had their astrologers, or viewers of the heavens, that did not consider them, as David, to behold the wisdom and power of God in them; but, under pretence of foretelling future events by them, they viewed the heavens and forgot him that made them and set their dominion on the earth (Job xxxviii. 33), and has himself dominion over them, for he rides on the heavens. They had their star-gazers, who by the motions of the stars, their conjunctions and oppositions, read the doom of states and kingdoms. They had their monthly prognosticators, their almanac-makers, that told what weather it should be or what news they should have each month. The great stock they had of these was what they valued themselves much upon; but they were all cheats, and their art was a sham. I confess I see not how the judicial astrology which some now pretend to, by the rules of which they undertake to prophecy concerning things to come, can be distinguished from that of the Chaldeans, nor therefore how it can escape the censure and contempt which this text lays that under; yet I fear there are some who study their almanacs, and regard them and their prognostications, more than their Bibles and the prophecies there. (3.) They are upbraided with the utter inability and insufficiency of all these pretenders to do them any kindness in the day of their distress. Let them see whether with the help of their enchantments they can prevail against their enemies, or profit themselves, inspirit their own forces or dispirit those that come against them, v. 12. Let them see what service those can do them who make a trade of divination: "Let them stand up, and either by their power save thee from these evils that are coming upon thee or by their foresight make such a discovery of them beforehand that thou mayest by needful precautions save thyself;" as Elisha, by notifying to the king of Israel the motions of the Syrian army, enabled him to save himself, not once nor twice, 2 Kings vi. 10. This baffling of the diviners was literally fulfilled when, the night that Babylon was taken and Belshazzar slain, all his astrologers, soothsayers, and wise men, were quite nonplussed with the handwriting on the wall that pronounced the fatal sentence, Dan. v. 8. (4.) They are upbraided with the fall of the wise men themselves in the common ruin, v. 14. Those are unlikely to stand their friends in any stead who cannot secure themselves; they are as stubble at the best, worthless and useless, and they shall be as stubble before a consuming fire. The Persians, to make room for their own wise men, will cut off those of Babylon; that fire shall burn them, and they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. Those can expect no other than to be devoured by their sins make themselves fuel to a devouring fire. When God kindles a fire among them it shall not be a coal to warm at, and a fire to sit before, but a coal to burn them. Or, rather, it denotes that they shall be utterly consumed by the judgments of God, burnt quite to ashes, and there shall not remain one live coal to do any body any service; for when God judges he will overcome. (5.) They are upbraided with their merchants, and those they dealt with (v. 15), such as they dealt with from their youth, either, [1.] In a way of consultation. These astrologers, that dealt in the black art, they always loved to be dealing with, and they were in effect their merchants; fortune-telling was one of the best trades in Babylon, and those that followed that trade probably lived as splendidly and got as much money as the richest merchants; yet, when some of them were devoured, others fled their country, every one to his quarter, and there was none to save Babylon. Miserable comforters are they all. Or, [2.] In a way of commerce. As their astrologers, with whom they had laboured, failed them, so did their merchants; they took care to secure their own effects, and then valued not what became of Babylon. They wandered every one to his own quarter; each man shifted for his own safety, but none would offer to lend a helping hand, no, not to a city by which they had got so much money. Every one was for himself, but few for his friends. The New-Testament Babylon is lamented by the merchants that were made rich by her, but they very prudently stand afar off to lament her (Rev. xviii. 15), not willing to attempt any thing for her succour. Happy are those who by faith and prayer deal with one that will be a very present help in time of trouble!

CHAP. XLVII.

Ver. 1. COme down] from thy lofty top, and towring ſtate, as the head.Sic tranſit gloria mundi. Cyrillus legit [non-Latin text not transcribed] City of the world.

Sit in the duſt] as a mourner, Job 2.8. & 42.6. So Judea being ſubdued by Veſpatian was pictured upon mony coined by him, as a hand-maid ſitting on the ground. Sic ruet alto à culmine Roma.

O Virgin daughter of Babylon] Thou that haſt never yet been ſubdued: So Venice hath for her Motto Intacta manto: So Cullen upon Rhine is called The Virgin-City.

Thou ſhalt no more be called tender and delicate] ſo as Queens uſe to be: Cleopatra for inſtance.

Ver. 2. Take the mil ſtone] As the moſt abject ſlaves uſed to do, qui in piſtrinum trudebantur. Neither is this an end of thy ſorrows: for out of the mil-houſe thou muſt be carried captive into a far Country, and therefore, in order thereunto,

Ʋncover thy locks] Caſt away thy diadem:

Make bare thy leg] Denuda turpituainem, the Vulgar rendereth it: that thou maiſt paſs through the waters naked, and ſquallid into captivity.

Ver. 3. The nakedneſſe ſhall be uncovered] Thou ſhalt be ſtript, and worſe dealt with: the ordinary lot of women-priſoners. At the ſack of Magdeburg by Monſieur Tilly, Ladies, Gentlewomen, and others, like beaſts and dogs, being naked and coupled together, were led into the woods, and there raviſhed. Such as reſiſted, the Souldiers ſtript naked, whipped them, cropt their ears, and ſo ſent them home again.

I will not meet the as a man] But as a Lion rather:Abſque omni humanitatis contemperatione. Scult. Tractabo te pro divina potentia mea. Piſcat. thou ſhalt have vengeance without mixture of mercy (See 2 Sam. 7.24.) Iſa. 13.6. & 27.7, 8, Hoſ. 5.14.) Men uſe ſometimes to deal favourably with women: but they ſhall not do ſo with thee.

Ver. 4. As for our Redeemer, &c.] This comes in by way of Parentheſis, for the comfort of Gods poor people.

Ver. 5. Sit thou ſilent] Here he threatneth Babylon with loſs of her former fame: ſhe ſhall be buried in obſcurity and oblivion, as out of ſight, and out of mind: no longer called the Lady of Kingdoms, but a wretched drudge, ut de Hecuba tradunt Tragici.

For thou ſhalt no more be called] Heb. thou ſhalt not add to be called. Ocolampadius ſenſeth it thus, Thou waſt wont to be called the Lady of Kingdoms; now they ſhall call thee, Non adjicies, as deſperate and irrecoverable. And why?

Ver. 6. I was wrath] See on Zach. 1. ver. 15.

I have polluted mine inheritance] God is his peoples inheritance, and they are his: but now, for their ſins, He had dealt with them as with a profane and unclean thing.

Thou dideſt ſhew them no mercy] Heb. thou didſt ſet them no bowels. Cruelty cries for vengeance. See Jer. 50.17. with 51.24.

Ʋpon the ancient] Who ſhould have been born with for their age and weakneſs.

Ver. 7. I ſhall be a Lady for ever] Preſumption precedeth deſtruction, Pſal. 10.6. Rev. 18.7.

So that thou didſt not lay theſe things to thy heart] The daughter of Pride is ſecurity, and pleaſure is her neece, ver. 8.

Nor didſt remember the latter end of it] Heb. her latter end. Memorare noviſſima tua, & in aeternum non peccabis: See Lam. 1.4.

Ver. 8. Thou that art given to pleaſure] Delicatula; It is not good to take pleaſure in pleaſure, no not to go as far here as we may: verecunda ſunt omnia initia peccati, ſin ſeemeth modeſtat firſt, &c.

Thou faiſt in thine heart, I am] ſc. the Lady of the world. Heathen Rome was called by the Heathens Terarum dea gentiumque. Rome Papal ſaith as much, Rev. 17.4.

And none elſe beſides me] i. e. None worth ſpeaking off. The Jeſuites brag in like ſort of their tranſcendent learning, and profeſſe skil beyond the periphery of poſſible knowledge.

I ſhall not ſit as a widdow] i. e. Be bereft of my Monarchy, which is as it were my husband.

Neither ſhall I know the loſſe of children] I ſhall not ceaſe to ſubdue Countries and Kingdoms, which are added unto me as ſo many children.

Ver. 9. But theſe two things ſhall come upon thee in a moment] Accidit in puncto, &c. Babylon was ſuddenly taken in one night, as the Prophet had foretold, chap. 21. and as the hiſtory teſtifieth, Dan. 5. Periit inter pocula.

For the multitude of thy ſorceries] Thy taking upon thee to divine of each mans life and fortune by the Stars and Horoſcope: for which profeſſion the Chaldeans were famous. But what a madneſs was it in Cardanus, who by the like skill went about to demonſtrate that it was fatal to our Saviour Chriſt,Alſted. Encycl. lib 30. cap. 10. to dye the death of the Croſs?

Ver. 10. Thou haſt truſted in thy wickedneſſe] God calleth that wickedneſſe which they counted wiſdom.

None ſeeth me] Ne Deus quidem novit rationes meas. Graceleſs men having hid God from themſelves, think alſo to hide themſelves from God.

Thy wiſdom and thy knowledge] Thy Magical arts and practices. Quantus artifex pereo? quadrabit in te peritum & periturum.

Ver. 11. Therefore ſhall evil come upon thee] An evil, an only evil, as Ezek. 7.5. both unexpected and inexpiable; ſuch as thou canſt neither avoid, nor abide.

Ver. 12. Stand now with thine enchantments] Try thine utmoſt skill, and let's ſee what thou canſt do forthy ſelf:Sen. H[illegible: 1 letter]nc divina [illegible: 1 letter]o[illegible: 1 letter]es per Anto[illegible: 1 letter] nomaſiam Ch[illegible: 1 letter]l[illegible: 1 letter]ae[illegible: 1 letter] appellati. this is ſpoken in way of deriſion.

Wherein thou haſt laboured from thy youth] But found them to be no better than toileſome toyes, quae nec ignoranti nocent, nec ſcientem juvant. Againſt judiciary Aſtrology, ſee Aug. de civ. Dei lib. 5. cap. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Ver. 13. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counſels] As all ſuch are ſure to be (with a woe to boot) as take counſel but not of God; and that cover with a covering, but not by his ſpirit that they may add ſin to ſin, Iſa. 30.1. Thus do thoſe vain Aſtrologers, that pretend to read mens fates and fortunes in the Heavens, velut in Minervae peplo; and thence to foretell good and evil. But experience frequently confuteth them, as it did Abraham the Jew, who foretold by the ſtars the coming of their Meſſiah, Anno Domini 1464. And Albumazar a Mahometan Wizzard, who predicted an end of the Chriſtian Religion, Anno 1460. at utmoſt. A great flood was foretold by theſe Diviners to fall out in the year 1524. cum planetae comitis in piſcibus celebrarent. Hollinſh. in 1524. This cauſed the Prior of St. Bartholomews in London (wiſe-man-like) to go and build him an houſe at Harrow on the hill, for his better ſecurity.

Stand up and ſave thee] Save thee if they can; but Baltaſar found they could not, though he called for them all, Dan. 5.7, 8. and they likely had promiſed him an everlaſting Monarchy: (as ſome did the Romans imperium ſine fine) but falſly: for now the Roman Empire is at a very low ebbe, and who ſhall be Emperour,This was w[illegible: 1 letter]itten, Sept. 19. 1637. is much queſtioned.

Ver. 14. Behold they ſhall be as ſtubble] As dryed ſtubble, Nah. 1.10. See the Note there.

They ſhall not deliver themſelves] Much leſſe others.

There ſhall not be a coal to warm at] Like a fire of flax, which is ſoon extinct, and leaves no embers or cinders behind it. In a ſpiritual ſenſe, it may be ſaid of moſt of our hearts and houſes as here, There's not a coal to warm at: Deeſt ignis, as Father Latimer was wont to ſay, the fire of zeal is wanting; that flame of God, Cant. 8.6.

Ver. 15. Thus ſhall they be unto thee with whom thou haſt laboured] But all in vain, viz. with thy Wizzards and Diviners, thoſe deceivers of the people,Cic de divinat. lib. 2. concerning whom Cato once ſaid, Poteſt Augur Augurem videre & non ridere? Can thoſe fellows look one on another, and not laugh when they conſider how they cozen people, and cheat them of their moneys?Cic. orat. 4. in Ver. hence they are called merchants alſo in the next words, as ſome think, qui non tam coeli rationem quam coelati argenti ducunt. Such money-Merchants hath myſtical Babylon alſo not a few, Rev. 18.11. Non deſunt Antichriſto ſui Augures & malefici, ſaith Oecolampadius; Antichriſt hath thoſe abroad that trade with him, and for him: theſe ſhall be caſt alive with him into the burning lake, Rev. 19.20. and though they wander, yet not ſo wide as to miſſe of hell.