fall."-I will not so far favour you as to punish your daughters or your wives when they play the harlot: while I respected you, and took keep of you, I was ready to correct you for your misdeeds; but now, I have given up the care of you, and will not chastise that in your children and wives which ye, that are the parents and husbands, are willingly guilty of; for ye yourselves go aside with your harlots, and spend the good cheer of your sacrifices upon whores; therefore, as I before denounced the sentence, the people, both one and other, that do not understand nor seek after God, shall perish.

15. "Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-aven, nor swear, The LORD liveth."]—But though Israel, or the Ten Tribes, be thus miscarried with idolatry, yet let not the infectious example of their sin so far prevail as that Judah and Benjamin should be tainted therewith: go not ye, O men of Judah, so far as Gilgal, the utmost bounds of your region on this side Jordan, upon any idolatrous pilgrimage; neither go ye up to the golden calf of Beth-el, yea, of Beth-aven rather, the house of vanity; neither do ye, in your solemn oaths, apply my name to your idols, as to say of them, The Lord liveth.

16. "For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place."]-For Israel is slidden back from her profession; as some wild and stubborn heifer draws back to pull his neck out of the yoke: and now, the Lord will lay them open to judgment, as if some silly lamb, in a large pasture, should be exposed to the violence of some devouring beast.

17. "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone."]-Ephraim, or the Ten Tribes of Israel, have given themselves over to idolatry meddle not thou with them, O Judah: if Israel will needs offend, let him sin without thee.

18. "Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.”]—Their intemperance is odious: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers are all for bribes, and are not ashamed to say, Give.

19. "The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices."]-But they shall be miserably dispersed: the wind of God's judgments is ready to carry them away upon the wings thereof into fearful desolation; and

they shall rue the time that they yielded themselves over to those their idolatrous sacrifices.

V. I. "And give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor."]—And give ye ear, O house of the king of Israel, for judgment is towards you; because, when as my people were, according to my command, to go up to sacrifice at Jerusalem, ye procured wait to be laid for them both at Mizpah and at mount Tabor, as a fowler would lay nets and snares for birds, to intercept them in their way and to draw them back to your own idolatrous altars.

2. “And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all."]--And the revolted Israelites are profound and subtle in their plots, to draw the slaughter of the sacrifices to the place of their own choosing; though I have not forborne my vehement rebukes of them all.

3. "I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me," &c.]— I know Ephraim, the chief of those Ten Tribes; and the rest, which make up the kingdom of Israel, are not hid from me, &c.

5. "Judah also shall fall with them."]-Judah also, since he would not be warned to avoid the sins of Israel, shall partake of their judgments, as well as of their iniquity.

6. "They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him."]-They shall go with whole flocks and herds of their sacrifices to seek the Lord, to appease his wrath, and recover his favour; but they shall not find grace and acceptation at his hands, &c.

7. "They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions."]—They have dealt treacherously against the Lord; for they have trained up their children in heathenish idolatry now therefore, in a very short space, shall they and their land be devoured by the enemy.

8. "Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Beth-aven, after thee, O Benjamin."]-Make speedy preparation therefore for the war: blow the cornet in Gibeah, the utmost border of Judah; and blow the trumpet in Ramah, the utmost border of Israel: cry aloud at Beth-aven, that is betwixt both; and do thou, O Benjamin, consider what thou hast to do when the enemy is at thy back.

9. "Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among

the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be."]-Even that leading tribe of Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of my vengeance: I have signified unto the tribes of Israel what they shall surely find, how incredulous soever they may be for the present.

10.

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The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water."] -The princes of Judah were lawless in their carriage, as men that resolved not to regard those bounds and limits which my law hath set unto them in their callings; therefore I will abundantly pour out my wrath upon them.

11. "Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment."]-Ephraim is oppressed by the Assyrian, and gone to wrack; because he willingly walked after the commandment of their wicked and idolatrous governors.

12. "Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness."]-Therefore will I consume Ephraim, as a moth eateth a garment; and will consume Judah, as a worm (or rottenness) consumeth wood: so will I decay them, by an insensible yet certain judgment.

13. "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound."] —When Israel saw the danger wherein he was, he made means to the Assyrian for help; and when Ahaz, the king of Judah, was in distress, he sends to Tiglath Pileser, that should stand out for him; but all in vain: neither shall any aid of mortal man be able to cure you of those wounds which the hand of my justice shall inflict upon you.

15. "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early."]—I will go, saith the Lord, and will withdraw myself from them; not giving them any testimony of my grace or presence till they shall be humbled in the sense of their sins, and seek to recover my favour in their affliction: and if any means can possibly prevail with them, it must be this; in their affliction they will seek me instantly.

VI. 1. "Come, and let us return unto the LORD.”]—And, in their seeking after me, they shall exhort and excite one another to repentance; Come, and let us return, &c.

2. "After two days will he revive us."]-After a very short space of our afflictions he will be gracious unto us, and so cheer and restore us as if he had given us a new life, &c.

3. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth."] -Then shall we attain to the perfect knowledge of the Lord, if we do carefully and constantly persist in using those good means that he hath appointed: he shall then so reveal himself to us, as the sun shows himself to the world in his morning rising, by degrees ascending to his full height; and he shall come to us, not at once, but as the rain that falls down by drops, even as the rain of the autumn and spring, that descends sweetly in soft and gentle showers.

4. "O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away."]—O Israel and Judah, what course should I take with you? I have neglected no means of your good; yet there is no hold to be taken of you: some profession you make, but it is altogether fickle and inconstant: your appearing goodness vanishes away like as a morning cloud, or an early dew in summer.

5. "Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth."]—Therefore I have wrought upon them by my prophets, denouncing judgment against them: I have, as it were, smitten them dead by the terrible threats of my punishments; and I have given them such means of information as have been no less clear than the light itself that goeth forth upon the world.

6. "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."]-For it was true inward goodness and mercy that I required of them, and not the outward formalities of sacrifice; and the true knowledge of God was that which I called for, more than their burnt offerings.

7. "But they like men have transgressed the covenant."]-But they like the right sons of Adam have transgressed the covenant that I made with them, &c.

8. "Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood."]-Even Gilead itself, a city of the priests, is a society of notoriously wicked men; and is full of murders.

the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be."]-Even that leading tribe of Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of my vengeance: I have signified unto the tribes of Israel what they shall surely find, how incredulous soever they may be for the present.

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IO. The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.”] -The princes of Judah were lawless in their carriage, as men that resolved not to regard those bounds and limits which my law hath set unto them in their callings; therefore I will abundantly pour out my wrath upon them.

11. "Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment."]-Ephraim is oppressed by the Assyrian, and gone to wrack; because he willingly walked after the commandment of their wicked and idolatrous governors.

12. "Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness."]-Therefore will I consume Ephraim, as a moth eateth a garment; and will consume Judah, as a worm (or rottenness) consumeth wood: so will I decay them, by an insensible yet certain judgment.

13. "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound."] -When Israel saw the danger wherein he was, he made means to the Assyrian for help; and when Ahaz, the king of Judah, was in distress, he sends to Tiglath Pileser, that should stand out for him; but all in vain: neither shall any aid of mortal man be able to cure you of those wounds which the hand of my justice shall inflict upon you.

15. "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early."]—I will go, saith the Lord, and will withdraw myself from them; not giving them any testimony of my grace or presence till they shall be humbled in the sense of their sins, and seek to recover my favour in their affliction: and if any means can possibly prevail with them, it must be this; in their affliction they will seek me instantly.

VI. 1. " Come, and let us return unto the LORD."]-And, in their seeking after me, they shall exhort and excite one another to repentance; Come, and let us return, &c.