prophet may be the speaker in ver. 19, but degree the characteristic assonanoo of the eimply (as is the case with eo many of the origine.1-rohii va-bohii); more literally im- psahnists) as the representative of bis fel- mo11able and lifeless. It is the phrase \1Scrl Jow-beliovers, whom in ver. 20 ho brings on in Gen. i. 2 for primeval chaos. Tohu nnrl tl10 stage more directly. Ver. 19 is beet biihii occur in parallel lines in Isa. xxxiv. 11, rendered as a series of exclamations- to express utter desolation ; tiihii alone fi vc " My bowels I my bowels I I must writhe in times in the Ilook of Isaiah, nncl once in pain I Job. They had no light. The heavens wero The walls of my heart I My heart moaneth in the same condition as on the thircl day, unto me! subsequently to the creation of the heavens, I cannot hold my pence I but prior to that of the luminaries. For thou hast henrd, 0 my soul, the sound Ver. 24.-llloved lightly; rather, mo-i,ed fo of the trumpet, and /To, The alarm of war I " Ver. 26.-The fruitful plo.oe; rather, th~ Observe, the "soul" hears : the " heart '' is garden-land (see on eh. ii. 7). Not "the pained. So generally the one is more active, Carmel" (Keil, Payne Smith) for the con- the other more passive. The Hebrew mar- text refers to the whole of the country, not gin gives, for "I must writhe," "I must to any single tract. 'l'he arliclo before the wait" (comp. Micah vii. 7); but this render- two appe!latives is the generic. At the ing does not suit the context. The walls of presence of; rather, by reason of. my heart. A poetical way of saying, "My Ver. 27.-Tho vision breaks off, and the heart beats." prophet emphasizes its truthfulness by the Ver. 20.-My tentl. Jeremiah uses a. e.nnonncement of the Divine decree. "Deso- similar phrase in eh. :u:x. 18 (comp. also lation, and yet not a full end," is its burden. 2 Sam. xx. 1: 1 Kings viii. 66; xii. 16; Ps. This is the same doctrine of the" remnimt" cxxxii. 3: also Isa. xxi.x. I, " ci_ty where which formed so important e. part of tho David encamped, i.e. dwelt"). The ex- prophctio message of Isaiah nnd his con- pression is evidently a "survival" of the temporaries. However severe the punish- nomadic, tent-dwelling age. (Comp. the ment of Judah m"y be, there will be e. parallel phrase, "my curtains," i.e. my "remnant" which shall escupe, o.nd become tent-curtains: comp. eh. x. 20; Isa. liv. 2; the seed of e. holier nntion (Arnos ix. 8; Cant. i. 5.) Isa. iv.2; vi.13; x.20; xi.11; Hos.vi.1,2). Ver. 21.-Shall I He the standard. (See Ver. 28.-For this ; i.e. becnuso of tlie on ver. 6.) impending judgrnent. Be blaok. " 'l'o be Ver. 22.-l'or my people is foolish. The black" is equivalent to "to put on mow·n- Lord gives no direct nnswer to the com- ing" (comp. eh. viii. 21; xiv. 2). plnining question in ver. 21. He simply Ver. 29.-The whole oity. 'l'he reading states the moral ground for J udah's calamity, of which this is a version can hardly be the and implies that this will last so long as right one; for "the whole city" can only the people continue to be "foolish," i.e. be Jerusalem, and in ver. 6 the peoplo out- virtual deniers of the true God. side are biddon to take refuge in the cnpitCL!, Ver. 23.-1 beheld. The prophet is again Hence Ew.\ld, Hitzig, aucl Payno Smith (after the speaker, but in a calmer mood. God's Soptuagint, 'l'o.rgurn) wouhl slightly umcnd judgment has been pronounocd, and it is the word rendorecl •· oily," so as to trnnslato not for him to rebel. He has now simply "the whole lancl" (of Jmlo.h). Shall flee; to record the vision of woe which has been litero.lly,fteeth. Bo aftcrwanls rcnclcr, "ham granted him. He foresees the utter deso- gone," "is forsaken," "d wclletli." It is a lation into whioh not only the land of vivid dramutio representation of the effects Judah, but the earth in genernl, will be of tho invasion. Bowmen. It is sin~ulur brought, and which reminds him of nothing that Herodotus should say nothing about so much as the "waste and wiltl" condition the use of tho how by the Ohalcleans. Ilut of the earth previous to the first creative tho monuments give nmple evidonco tho.t word. But why is "the earth" mentioned they were a people of archers. So of course in this connection? Because the judgment were tho Scythians, o.s Herodotus testifies. upon Judah is but one act in the great The rooks; i.e. the limestone caverns which general judgrnent which, when completed, a.bound in Palestine, and which wore fre- will issue in a fresh order of things (comp. quently used ns strongholds and hiding- lea. iii. 14, 15, where side by side are men- places (see J udg. vi. 2; x_v. 8: 1 ~nm. tionei Jehovah'sjud§ment of "the peoples" xiii. 6; xiv. 11; xxiv. 3 (cspecmlly); 1 Kings and of "his people,' and Isa. xxiv., whore xviii. 13). tho judgmont upon the enemies of Isrnel Ver. 30.-.&nd when thou art spoiled, etc. ii interwoven with the juJgment upon "the It is Jerusalem who is addrcs~ed-Jeru- e11rth "). Without form, and void; rather, salcm, porsonifiod as a. woman, who decl1s 1rnste and wild (to represent in somo l1Gr~clf 011t finely to plcaso her admi1·er,. Jf.l!l•:~IIAJI (1 THE BOOK OF 'l'llE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [011. iv.1-31.
All these arts are in vain, for a violent hair nnd edges of their eyelids with the repulsion hns converted her lovers into her powder of lead ore, And as this oporo.tinn deadly enemies. And when Jerusalem is is performed by dipping first into this powder "spoiled," or taken by storm, what device a small wooden bodkiu of tho thickness of will there be left to att.empt? The "lovers" a quill, and then drawing it afterwards arc tho foreign powers to whom the Jews thrnugh the eyelids over 1he ball of the paid rnmt (ell, ii. 18, 36, 37), Though thou eye, we have a lively iman-o of what the rentcs: thy face, ctc; alluding to the custom prophet (Jer. iv. 30) may be supposed to of Eastern women, who try to make their mean" (Shaw, 'Trnvels in Barbary and the eyes seem larger by putliug powdered auti- Levant,' 2nd edit., p. 220). m011y (the Arabic ko~l) upon their eyelids. Ver. 31.-For I ha.ve hea.rd a. voice, eto. So, fnr ins lance, did J ezebcl (see 2 Kings Thia explo.ins the preceding statement, xi. SO); and one of Job's <laughters received " They will seek thy life." It is this mur- the name Keren-happuch, "box of anti- derous plot which calls forth the "cry as of mony," i.e. one who sets off the company in a woman in pangs." Bewa.ileth herself; which she is, as antimony does the eye. An rather, sigheth deeply. Her hands; literally old author, Dr. Shaw, writes thus: "None of these ladies fake thcmsch-es to be com- her palms. Is wearied because of murderers i rather, faintet/1 into the handB of (literally, plelcly dressed till they have tinged the ia wcaru unto) t11e murderer,.