11

12

13

14

Nor do they seek him, notwithstanding all this.
And Ephraim is as a simple dove, without know-
ledge.

Upon Egypt they call; to Assyria they resort.
When they resort, I will spread my net over them:
As a bird of the heavens, will I bring them down.
I will chastise them when they hearken to their
assembly,

Woe unto them; for they have fled from me: Destruction unto them; for they have transgressed against me:

Though I have redeemed them, yet have they spoken lies against me,

And they have not cried unto me in their heart; Though they have howled upon their beds for the corn and for the choice wine:

Yea, they have assembled themselves, they have
rebelled against me.

--seek him] Many MSS. and some editions read upa.
11. -Egypt] See 2 Kings xvii. 4. and c. xii. 1.
-Assyria] See c. v. 13. viii. 9, xii. 1.

Particular instances of this fact are not recorded with respect to the kingdom of Israel; except that an embassy was probably sent to Pul, while he was at a distance from Samaria. 2 Kings xv. 19.

.Sic d .קראו * ,קרבו Videntur uterque legisse .אתו .Sy אתקרבו .Vulg. Sed Ch

nec male." Secker.

12. hearken] See you Gen. iii. 17. When they are swayed by the counsel of their assembly to seek foreign assistance. However, nyy, to their own counsel, suggested by Chald. and Houbigant, furnishes a clear sense. Secker also observes this reading.

"I will chastise them, as they hear it declared in their congregations." Horsley's ver.

13. redeemed them] Out of Egypt. Mic. vi. 4. or, from the hand of their enemies. 2 Kings xiv. 27.

14. upon their beds] Though in secret they bewailed themselves for the famine with which I punished them. See c. iv. 3, 10. v. 7.

-assembled themselves] The true reading seems to be One MS. reads thus, and one ed. Another MS. read so originally. One MS. has 177: and two MSS. have 17.

יתגודדו

15

16

And I have chastened them; I have also strength ened their arm:

And they have imagined evil against me.

They have turned after that which doth not profit:
They have been as a || deceitful bow.

Their princes fall by the sword, for the rage of
their tongue.

This shall be their reproach in the land of Egypt.

Chald. has congregare, ó. have TT, which is another rendering of 77, agreeably to the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic sense of the root. See Cast lex. " Professor Michaelis prefers this reading, and paraphrases it thus: vulnerabant et cædebant se inter preces. 1 Kings xviii. 28." Mr. Woide. "Put themselves in a stir about corn and wine." Horsley's ver. -rebelled] From 7. "They have taken counsel against me:", or rather, '. Houbigant.

15. And I have chastened-] Whether I inflicted punishment on them, or shewed them favour, they rejected me for their idols. 16. which doth not profit] I propose reading NS, [which may be written by] See Jer. ii. 11. "My people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit." . Pocock's Arabic MS. has, "they return not to profit," or, "to what is profitable." And R. Salomo has, But not y , to profit themselves." See Pocock in loc, "Es adev ó. hyr Sarapants. Jer. ii. 8. Sic et Is. xliv. 10. 35 usd. Jer xiii. 10. Ut essent absque jugo. Vulg. leg. y. Syr. nulla de causa. Ch. Non quod malum ei fecerim. F. by vel saltem Ty, ut Joel ii. 12. Am. iv. 6, 8.” Secker,

-a deceitful bow] See the same expression Ps. lxxviii. 57. Virgil has, Perfidus ensis frangitur,

-rage of their tongue] See Isai. xxx. 27. "His lips are filled with y indignation:" where the words are spoken of Jehovah. Here the unworthy speeches against Jehovah are meant. "They are become like a deceitful bow." Horsley's ver,

-reproach] Or. matter of derision; when the people, whose princes fall by violence, take refuge from the Assyrians in Egypt. C. viii. 13. ix. 3, 6. Egypt was a country in which kings were held in great reverence. See Virg. G. iv. 210. quoted on c. iv. 10. Thither many of the ten tribes seem to have fled when the Assyrians invaded them.

2

8

4

CHAP. VIII.

SET the trumpet to thy

mouth:

As an eagle the Assyrian cometh against the house
of Jehovah :

Because they have transgressed my covenant,
And have trespassed against my law.

They shall cry unto me, O God of Israel, we
know thee.

Israel hath removed good far from him: the enemy
shall pursue him.

They themselves have made kings, and not from me:
They have made princes, and I knew it not.
Of their silver and their gold have they made them
idols;

That they might be cut off.

+ Hebr. the roof of thy mouth.

1. As an eagle] Chald. supplies so shall the king come up with his army. I suppose Shalmaneser meant. 2 Kings xvii. 3, 6. "Subaudi hostis irruit."

Bahrdt.

"As an eagle [shall he hover] over the House of the Lord." Dr. Wheeler. Rapidity is admirably expressed by the imperfect sentences in the original. Ellipses of this kind are common: as "There is a voice of thy watchmen: they lift up their voice: they shout together." Isai. lii. 8. -house] See c. ix. 15. Family, heritage. of God are his house. Numb. xii. 7." Secker.

"The people

2. O God of Israel] Houbigant thinks the word Israel misplaced in our present copies, and that this is the true order. 6. Ar. Syr. and MS. 96, omit Israel. But for "My God, we know thee" we should expect, as Syr. translates, "Our God, we know thee."

4.

Or,

"O my God, or, we know thee.

Israel even Israel hath removed good far from him:
The enemy shall pursue him."

kings] See 2 Kings xv. 10, 14, 25, 30.

-cut off] The versions and Chald. and the MS. Arab. ver

sion mentioned by Pocock, represent

unless Israel may he supplied from v. 3.

: a necessary reading,

"Their silver and their gold have they wrought for themselves Into idols, that they might be cut off."

Dr. Wheeler,

5

6

Remove far from thee thy calf, O Samaria:
Mine anger is kindled against them.

How long will they not endure innocency in Israel?
And as for him, the workman made him;

And he is no god:

For the calf of Samaria shall be † broken in pieces.
Hebr. fragments.

"Their silver and their gold have they made to themselves
idols." Secker.

5. Remove far from thee] 'A. Aquila. 'Azog. Theod. Argi ó. and in some other copies, anoppo, says Montfaucon, -endure] Through hatred of it. Ps. ci. 5. Isai. i.

13. Joel ii. 11.

See

-in Israel] ó. and Ar. read bw, or bow 103, and join the words to the foregoing clause. "MS. Copt. reads filii Israelis." Mr. Woide,

How long will not the sons of Israel endure innocency? "How long will they bear antipathy to pure religion?" Horsley's ver. "have antipathy. This is the true sense of the phrase . See Ps. ci. 5. Is. i. 13. and compare Amos vii. 10. Horsley.

"For he is from Israel," or, "made by the Israelites," is the sense of the words as they now stand. Syr. and Chald. read A. Dr. Wheeler's translation stands thus:

"For from Israel came this [calf:] N

The workman made it, and it is no God;

For the calf of Samaria shall become fragments."
Horsley renders similarly.

6. the calf] It is well known that animals of this species were woshipped in Egypt; the Apis at Memphis, and the Mnevis at Heliopolis. As they are employed in tilling the ground, they may have been used as symbols of one who had anciently introduced or improved the art of agriculture. Males of this kind were dedicated to Osiris; and females, to Isis. The Israelites may have originally borrowed this superstition from the Egyptians, and may have afterwards revived it; imputing the great fertility of Egypt to the deity thus represented.

"The people procured it, or contributed to it, as to Aaron's calf." Secker.

-broken in pieces] In Chaldee is to break. Schultens derives the word from a similar Arabic one, which signifies fragmenta, quibus ignis foveri potest. Animadv. Phil. p. 479.

7

8

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap

the whirlwind.

The stalk hath no bud:

It shall not yield flour:

If so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up.
Israel is swallowed up.

". שברים forte legendium שבבים *

Secker:

Eccl.

7. -sown the wind] See Job iv. 8. Prov. xxii. 8. v. 16. c. x. 13. Hab. ii. 13. They have served their idols in vain; and they shall reap the bitter fruits of their idolatry.

The stalk-] Houbigant also places the stop after my bud. "There shall be no stem belonging to him: the ear shall yield no meal; what perchance it may yield, strangers shall swallow it up." Horsley's ver.

8. no pleasure] Despised, and cast out. Ps. xxxi. 12. Jer. xxii. 28. xlviii. 38.

9. gone up]" For they are gone up of their own accord to Assyria." Horsley's ver. Note. "This I take to be the force of the pronoun. And this is generally its force, where it appears, as in this place, pleonastic. See v. 4. and chap. ix. 10." Horsley.

-to Assyria] Not only for alliance, but also for idolatrous

commerce.

-solitary wild ass] is redundant. See Am. ii. 13. But 6. MS. Pachom. read Ep, that is, for . Ephraim is to me like the solitary wild ass. Odit hominum frequentiam et habitationem. See Boch. Hieroz. 871. Job xxxix. 5-8. He is as untamed to the yoke, and traverses the desert as earnestly in the pursuit of idols, as the onager in quest of his mates. It may be said of this animal, Mentem Venus ipsa dedit. Jer. ii. 24. Plin. nat. hist. viii. xxx. "Ephraim is as a wild ass, traversing alone." Dr. Wheeler. "A wild ass all alone for himself is Ephraim." Horsley's ver. "Though wild asses be often found in the desert in whole herds, yet it is usual for some one of them to break away, and separate himself from his company, and run alone at random by himself: and one so doing is here spoken of." Pocock.