Matthew Poole and continuators on Isaiah 8:21

21 And they shall pass through it hardly bestead and hungry : and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king , and their God , and look upward .

The Idolatrous and Apostatical Israelites.

Or, i[illegible: 1+ letters] it, to wit, their own Land, which is easily understood out of the Context, and from the Phrase it self, the Pronoun Relative being put without an Antecedent, as it is in other Places which have been formerly noted. They shall either pass through it into Captivity, or wander hither and thither in it, like distracted men, not knowing whither to go, nor what to do; whereas if they had not forsaken God, they might have had a quiet and setled abede in it.

Sorely distressed, as this Word is used Gen. 35. 16. & Iob 30. 25.

Destitute of Food, and of all Necessaries, which are oft signified by Food.

Either because he doth not relieve them; or because, by his foolish Counsels and Courses, he brought them into these Miseries.

Either, 1. the True God; or rather, 2. to Idols, to whom they trusted, and whom they now find too late unable to help them.

To Heaven for help, as Men of all Nations and Religions in great Calamities use to do.