| Tides worſhip'd Idols, or who accounted Rivers among their Gods: ITo thoſe that worſhip'd their Idols in low and ſhadowy Valleys. In all theſe places the Jews had either their ſeveral Gods, or performed a ſe- vera] kind of Worſhip, or, contrary ro Command, worſhip'd their God, and ſer up Altars to him there. »: Thar ſhall ſlay you Inhabitants, waſte your Mountains and Valleys, deſtroy your altars, and aboliſh your Worſhip. » I by the Enemy will do this. o Places of your Ido- latrous or SuperſtitiousWorſhip; by the Sword of thoſe rhat ſerve Idols, your Idols ſhall be deftroyed, and you wich them, unleſs ye repent.
4 And your p altars ſhall be 4 defolate, and your 7 F || images ſhall be s broken: and *1 will : caſt down your
'Þ {lain mer before your altars, | 6, Þ God's Altar was only at Jeruſalem, theſe were their Altars. q No **2- Prieſt to attend, no Sacrifice offered, nor. a Votary come to them. 7 Statues, and perhaps the particular ImageKmade to the Sun, as the Hb. Word including Heat may ſignify. Orgpe open Places on tops of ; your Houſes where you worſhip'd the Sun, Kings 23. 5. and Iſa. 27. , þ. 1-4 9g. mentions this piece of Idolatry. -- Either tore down from their Places to be carried Captives, which was a part of Heathen Conque- rors Inſolence, or torn in pieces in contempt and to be deſtroyed. ; My Hand ſhall guide the purſuing Enemy, who ſhall ſlay your Men
before the Altars of thoſe Idols they worſhip'd formerly, and to
r whom, as ſenſeleſs as the idols, they fly for refuge, as perhaps Sen4- | cherib did, 1ſa. 37, 38.
? Dn $4 eb, 5 And I will « + lay the Dead x carcafes of the children
e3). om, of Ifr-=ibefore their idols, and I will y ſcatter your bones
& | round about your altars.
) « Expoſe. to open ſhame, while the Carcaſes of Idolaters recall ro
mind their ſham«ful Folly and Sin. x Either of ſuch as are newly ſlain ; or, ſuch as the Chaldcans did dig out of their Graves in Spite, Contempt, or Cove:cuſneſs, hoping to find ſome coſtly Ornaments buried with them ; 1o God fulfils that of Lev. 26. 3o. » You ſhall thus be a Defilement to your ſuppoſed ſacred Altars and Worſhip, and an abbhorence to Beholders. z As unworthy to be laid up in Earth, who had ſo highly provoked the God of Heaven ; they are made dung who ſerved dunghil-Gods-
6 In & all your dwelling-places the cities ſhall be laid waſte, and the b high places ſhall be deſolate ; that your altars may be laid waſte and made deſolate, and your idols c may be broken and ceaſe, and your ima- ges 4d may be cut down, and your e works may be aboliſhed.
a Mountains and Hills with their Altars were doomed, now the Ci- ties that were of leſs note than Jeruſalem ſeem particularly to be threat- ned, becauſe they were idolatrous; according to the Number of Ci- ties were there Gods, Jer. 11. 13. 6 High Places and altars ſet up to the Honour of thoſe Idols, ſhall be laid waſte. c The Idols of thoſe
leſſer Cities ſhall be utterly deſtroyed. 4d Or, Statues that were uſu- ally faſtned on ſome Pedeſtal ſomewhat high, ſhall be cut down. e All
F
3 ; I ;
S,*L8 your coſtly Works for Idols, and your pompous Preparation for them \d 22 ſhall, wich your Cities, be aboliſh'd for ever, as your Sins and Abo- n minations deſerve.
PP 7 And the flain ſhall fall in the midſt of you, and e ye us |} hall know that I a» the LORD. ;
s, = Þ When the Slain ſhall fall thus in your Sight, you ſhall know two Jt * things you would not regard before : 1. That Idols are Vanity and ſhe Snares. 2. That TI am the Lord who doavenge the quarrel of my Co- ou | © venant. Or, may it not be turned, and the Prophane ſhall fall, z. e. he | the Idols and Altars, and other Implements of Idol-worſhip, made lee i holy by unholy Men, ſhall be profaned and caſt down, defiled and trod TC £ under foot in the ſight of the Jews, as God threatens ; then they ſhall ITE know God is the only Lord and God. I conjeQure at this by Eze- 'S, ' Kkiels being among the Chaldeans ſome Years, who had gotten ſome.
I ' what of their Tongue ; and the word hereuſed, whichis readred lain,
and I render profane, doth in the Chaldes ſignify prophane, and is ſo rendred Exzek. 21. 25. if here fo rendred, *twill better ſute with the foregoing Verſe, and more fitly ſum up that Diſcourſe and cloſe it. e See werſe 10, 12,
” b - Up. 8 * Yet will f I leave a g remnant, that ye may have le, + ſore that ſhall eſcape h the ſword among the nations, when ye ſhall be 7 ſcattered through the countries. Y. L F Ir is the Lord rhat preſerves a remnant, the Enemies Rage would 6 | CQeſtroy all; and tis an Atffof deliberate and voluntary Reſolution, Ye not by Chance, but by Choice. g Some few in compariſon with the ch greater Mulrtitudes that are cut off. + Tho he promiſeth an handful . ſhall remain, yet in that condition that they are little more than e- , ſcap'd, a poor and ſmall Remnant lefr, as Zeph. 3. 12 .; Either by your own choice ſhifting from Countrey to Country ; Or elſe diſſipared by nS*(kj the order of the proud oppreſſing Conquerour, who will ſcatter Fa- milies, Jeſt they ſhould be a little Comfort to one another, and great re * Jealouſy ro him, and to prevent Conſpiracies. ah W.'s. 9 And & they that eſcape of you ſhall remember / me a > .; among the »» nations, whither they ſhall be carried » I captives, » becauſe I am broken with their + whoriſh he ap, ;6, 1eart which o hath departed from me, and * with their re * Pþ eyes which go a whoring after their idols: and * they M. thall 4 loath themſelves for the 7 evils which they have rd committed in all thezr abominations s,
1e 3 k Some of them, not every one of them; for ſeveral of the eſca- he 2 ped did not bethink themſelves, as appears Jer. 42. 43. and 44- 2l- 4 My Prcecepts which they violated, my Mercies which they abuſed,
EZEXKIE I.
1 valleys, Behold, T, zen 1 will bring a ſword upon you, |
Chap. YL
my .Threats which they deſpiſcd, my Promiſes which they refuſed, my Prophets whom they perſecured, my Judgmencs wich I have executed ; and ſhall conſider and return, and ſeek me in their Afliftion. m» In their own Land they forgot and fianed, in a range Land they ſhall remember and weep; fo the Remnanr is bettered by Afflictions : at liberty they were Captive to Sin and Idols, when in Caprivity they
ſhall thake off thar Bondage, and become my Servants. » Here we
meet very different Reading. The Chal#e Paraphr. and Sr. Verſion
read itaCtively, ſo does the Yulg. Latin; Becauſe, or, when, I have