68 This appears to be the meaning of the simile in ver. 24; the judgment is conceived as a parching drought, and the point of the comparison is that its severity is not tempered by the fertilising streams which should have descended on the people in the shape of sound political and religious guidance.
69 Following the LXX. we should read “whose princes” (אשר נשיאיה) for “the conspiracy of her prophets” (קשר נביאיה) in ver. 25.
70 Read עצים, “wood,” instead of עצמים, “bones” (Boettcher and others).
71 The words “except by fire” represent an emendation proposed by Cornill, which may be somewhat bold, but certainly expresses an idea in the passage.
72 Cf. Jer. xiii. 27: “Thou shalt not be pronounced clean, for how long a time yet!”
73 _I.e._, as generally explained, bread brought by sympathising friends, to be shared with the mourning household: cf. Jer. xvi. 7; 2 Sam. iii. 35. Wellhausen, however, proposes to read “bread of mourners” (אֲנִשֻׁים for אֲנָשִׁים).
74 The words “and Seir” in ver. 8 are wanting in the true text of the LXX., and should probably be omitted.
75 Isa. xvi. 6, xxv. 11; Jer. xlviii. 29, 42.
76 Rawlinson, _History of Phœnicia_.
77 Closing stanzas of _The Scholar Gipsy_.
78 Both Movers and Rawlinson make it the basis of their survey of Tyrian commerce.
79 Babylon and Egypt are probably omitted because of the peculiar point of view assumed by the prophet. They were too powerful to be represented as slaves of Tyre, even in poetry.
80 E.V., “going to and fro.”
81 So Cornill, חוילה for רכלי ( = merchants).
82 See ch. xxvii. 6, where ivory is said to come from Chittim or Cyprus.
83 The Hebrew text adds “purple, embroidered work, and byssus”; but most of these things are omitted in the LXX.
84 The text of vv. 18, 19 is in confusion, and Cornill, from a comparison with a contemporary wine‐list of Nebuchadnezzar, and also an Assyrian one from the library of Asshurbanipal, makes it read thus: “Wine of Helbon and Zimin and Arnaban they furnished in thy markets. From Uzal,” etc. Both lists are quoted in Schrader’s _Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament_, under this verse.
85 The latter half of this verse, however, is of very uncertain interpretation. For full explanation of the archæological details in this chapter it will be necessary to consult the commentaries and the lexicon. See also Rawlinson’s _History of Phœnicia_, pp. 285 ff.
86 With a change of one letter in the Hebrew text, המלאה for אמלאה, as in the LXX. and Targum.
87 Hebrew, _Tĕhôm_; Babylonian, _Tiamat_.
88 Psalm xxxvi. 6: cf. Gen. vii, 11.
89 _Contra Ap._, I. 21; _Ant._, X. xi. 1.
90 Cf. Hävernick against Hitzig and Winer, _Ezekiel_, pp. 436 f.
91 The same engineering feat was accomplished by Alexander the Great in seven months, but the Greek general probably adopted more scientific methods (such as pile‐driving) than the Babylonians; and, besides, it is possible that the remains of Nebuchadnezzar’s embankment may have facilitated the operation.
92 For the word גבוליך, rendered “thy borders,” Cornill proposes to read זבולך, which he thinks might mean “thine anchorage.” The translation is doubtful, but the sense is certainly appropriate.
93 Senir was the Amorite name of Mount Hermon, the Phœnician name being Sirion (Deut. iii. 9). Senir, however, occurs on the Assyrian monuments, and was probably widely known.
94 _Teasshur_ (read בִּחְאַשֻׁרִים instead of בַּת‐אַשׁוּרִים), a kind of tree mentioned several times in the Old Testament, is generally identified with the sherbîn tree.
95 Elishah is one of the sons of Javan (Ionia) (Gen. x. 4), and must have been some part of the Mediterranean coast, subject to the influence of Greece. Italy, Sicily, and the Peloponnesus have been suggested.