a From thy Throne, as it follows. 6 Either neceſſarily, be- cauſe thou ſhalt have no higher ſeat : Or, voluntarily, as mourners do, bewailing thine approaching calamities. «c So called either, 1. Becauie ſhe had not yer been humbled and conquered. Or ra- ther, 2. Becauſe ſhe was render and delicate, as the next Cluſe 3nformeth ' us. 4 To wit, for thee. The Empire is taken away From thee, and tranſlated to the Perſians. e Either be reputed ſo, Or rather be ſo: for to be called is frequently pur for to be, as hath been divers times noted: Thou ſhalt be reduced to great hard- ſhips and milſcries. |
2 Take the Milſtones f and grind meal g, uncover thy locks 4+: make bare the leg: uncover the thigh z,
paſs over the Rivers.
f Betake thy ſelf ro the Milſtones; as we commonly ſay, :2ke 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 Exodus Ir. 5. Judges 16. 21. Job 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. g Grind Bread-Corn into Meal for thy, Maſters uſe. Such Metony- mical Expreſſions, we find 1ſaiah 28. 28. Hoſea 8. 7. and elſe-where. h Or, thine hair. Take off the Ornaments wherewith ſuch Wo- men as welie 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 only PrediQtions of what they ſhould be forced to do or ſuffer, as appears from the next verſe. 7 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 w,, and I
will not meet thee as a man ».
& Either, x. For want of Raiment to cover it. Or rather, 2. By thine enemies in way of ſcorn and contumely, by compar- ing this place with Ezekiel 16. 37. and 23. 26, I Upon thee for thy: many and great injuries done to my People. m As a Man 'mects. his enemy in the field, to contend with chee. » With mo- deration and gentleneſs, as thoſe Men who have nor quite put off Humanity . uſe to do, bur like a Lyon tearing thee to picces, to which God in ſuch caſe compareth himſelf, as Hoſea ;. 14. and 13. 7,8. compare Hoſea 18. 14.
2 As for our Redeemer, the LORD of hoſts ;- his ' Name, the holy One of Iſrael o,
_—
"I Chap. XLy1L
0 According to this Verſion, the Prophet inſerteth this paſſage in the midſt of this Propheſie againſt Babylon, as Jacob inferterh a like paſſoge in the midſt of his Bleſſings and Prophefies concern- ing his Children, Geneſs 49. 18- And this may be here interpo- ſed, either, 1. As the reaſon why the Judgement here denounced ſhould be certainly inflicted, becauſe he who had undertaken ir was the Lord of Hojis, and therefore able to effe& it, and the Holy One, and the Redcemer of Iſrael, whom the Baylonians had cruelly opprefled, whoſe quarrel God would avenge upon them, and whom he had determined and promiſed to deliver out of thcir hands, Or, 2. As a pathetical exclamation or acclamarion of God's People, for this wonderful Work of breaking the aff of their oppreſſors, which they here aſcribe to God, as he is their God and Redeemer, whom they here 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 therefo.e a- nother word may be as conveniently ſupplyed; this verſe may be, and is'by ſome learned Interpreters, otherwiſe rendred, and joy- ned with the foregoing words thus, 7 wil! take vengeance, and { will net meet thee as a man, ſaith our Redeemer, whoſe Name is the Lird of Hoſts, the Holy One of Iſrael. For the word, ſaith or ſaying, is fre- qu:ntly underſtood, and therefore ſupplyed by Tranſlators, as x Kings 20. 34. Pſalm 27.8. and 125. 15. and in this very Prophecy, as ſainh 5.9. and 45. 14. and elſe-where.
5 Sit thou lilent p, and get thee into darkneſs 9, O
daughter of the Chaldzans: for thou ſhalt no more be
' called the Lady of Kingdoms 7.
Þ Through grief and ſhame, and as Mourners uſe to do, Job 2. 13. Ceaſe thy vaunting, and inſolent ſpeeches : Thou caaſt ſay
| nothing for thine own juſtification, q Thou ſhalt go into an obe
' circumciſed and unclean Perſons,
{cure, diſconſolate, and calamitous condition: r The chief and glory of a!l Kingdoms, as 7/aiah 13. 19, the moſt large and potent and glorious Empire of the World, as thou haſt been.
6 I was wroth with my people: TI have polluted mine inheritance s, and given them into thine hand :: thou didſt ſhew them no mercy # ; upon the ancient haſt thou very heavily laid the yoke x.
5 I caſtthem away as an unclean thing ; I ſtained their glory; I removed them from the holy Land, and from the place of my Preſence and Worthip, which alone made them an holy and pecu- liar People; I baniſhed them into a polluted Land, amongſt un- by whom they were many ways defiled ; IrejeQed them from being my People, and ſo they were in my ſight no better than the reſt of the Heathen Nations. t To puniſh them, and deal with them as thou ſaweſt fit. « Thou haſt exceeded the bounds of thy Commiſſion,and in ſtead of that com- paſſion, which humanity reacheth Men to ſhew to ſuch as are in miſery, thou didſt add ro their afflitions. x Who beſides their common calzmity were afflited with the miſeries of Old Age, and therefore did require both pity and reverence.
7 And thou fayeſt, 7 ſhall be * a Lady for ever : ſo, that thou diddeſt not lay cheſe things y to thy heart, NXv-18.7 neither did{t remember the latter end of it z.
y Thy cruel uſages of my People, and the heavy Judgements which thou kadſt reaſon to expe& 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 Ex- amples in this Prophet. The Senſe is, Thou waſt beſotted with the ſenſe of thy preſent felicity, and didft not conſider, as thy duty and common diſcretion obliged thee, what might and was likely to befal thee afterward ; thou didſt neither expe& a change nor prepare for it.