5 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine,

He is a proud man, neither keepeth at home,

properly even, without ruggedness or heights (Is. xl. 3, 4). Cf. Prov. XXX. 32; Ps. cxxxi. 2.

Instead of "is puffed up" the parallelism of the verse would naturally require a noun as subject, opposed to "the righteous" of next clause: Behold the..., his soul is not upright in him, but the righteous &c. No acceptable suggestion has been made. The Sept. took the clause as a conditional, if he draw back; reading also my soul for his soul.

The term "faithfulness" is used in the sense of physical steadiness or firmness, as Ex. xvii. 12 of the hands of Moses (cf. Is. xxxiii. 6); then in the sense of trueness, e.g. as opposed to falsehood or lies in speech, Jer. v. 3, vii. 28; and as equivalent to trustworthiness, honesty in conduct, 2 Kings xii. 15, 16. The word is often coupled with "righteousness," as I Sam. xxvi. 23; Is. lix. 4; Jer. v. 1. In Is. xi. 5 it is said of the Messiah: "righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." So far as the expression is used of men it appears to mean integrity of character and conduct, and differs little from righteousness. Such a character has in it the principle of permanence, while the Chaldean, whose soul is not upright in him, shall perish. Comp. Prov. x. 25, "when the whirlwind passeth the wicked is no more, but the righteous is an everlasting foundation" (x. 2). Sept. rendered "faith," and read in this way the passage became the text for St Paul's doctrine of faith. The Heb. language has no word for "faith" as an active principle, though the term "believe" is derived from the same root as the present word. The situation here is similar to that described in Is. viii. 17, "Bind up the testimony...and I will wait for Jehovah, who hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him "; cf. here v. 3 "though it tarry wait for it."

5.

Yea also...transgresseth by wine] A.V. is hardly a rendering of the text. R.V. renders: yea, moreover, wine is a treacherous dealer, a haughty man, and that keepeth not at home; who enlargeth his desire as hell. Such phraseology has little meaning. Any reference to Chaldean debaucheries, openly expressed by A.V. and apparently insinuated by R.V., is farfetched in the extreme and has no probability. The text cannot be right; the word "wine" does not appear either in Sept. or Syr., and the word rendered "keepeth at home" is unknown.

The term rendered by R. V. "treacherous (barbarous) dealer" is that applied to the Chaldean, ch. i. 13, and it would be more natural to take the "ruthless dealer" as the subject of the statement here, and to suppose that what is said of him is that he is insatiable, in agreement with the second half of the verse. The Syr. contents itself with expressing this general sense: an arrogant and greedy man is not satiated (insatiable). There is some corruption in the word "wine," which should express the predicate; yea, moreover...is the treacherous dealer.

He is a proud man, neither keepeth at home] The term "proud" occurs Prov. xxi. 24, "The proud and haughty man, scorner is his

Who enlargeth his desire as hell,

And is as death, and cannot be satisfied,

But gathereth unto him all nations,

And heapeth unto him all people:

Shall not all these take up a parable against him,

name." The verb "keepeth at home" is found nowhere else; a noun in the sense of pasture, homestead, is not uncommon, and the verb if it existed might (after Arab.) mean to find a home, or resting-placepossibly even to be quiet or rest (Job xx. 20). The whole would then read: yea, moreover...is the treacherous dealer, a man that is proud and resteth not; who enlargeth. For "resteth_not" (yinweh) Wellh. suggests "is not satisfied" (yirweh). The latter word properly means to drink to satiety, as the thirsty does water, and as the sword does blood (Jer. xlvi. 10). When Ibn Ahmar sings of his camel: "She says, when I have raised the saddle upon her, Will Ibn Ahmar be supplied with drink and never satisfy his thirst (yarwa) from me?" the beast refers to her sweat. If the word "wine" were retained a slight change in the Heb. text might produce a comparison: Moreover, like wine is the treacherous dealer, a man that is proud and restless (insatiable); who enlargeth:-the comparison "like wine" indicating the conduct and demeanour that wine produces. But all efforts to educe sense must fail with the present text.

enlargeth his desire as hell] who openeth wide his maw like Sheòl. Sheòl, the place of the dead, is insatiable. Is. v. 14; Prov. xxvii. 20, "Sheòl and Abaddon are never satisfied," cf. xxx. 16. "Death" like Sheòl is personified.

heapeth unto him all people] all peoples. nations like Sheòl.

He swalloweth down all

6-20. FIVE WOES PRONOUNCED AGAINST THE CHALDEAN FROM THE MOUTH OF THE NATIONS WHOM HE HAS DESOLATED.

Verse 5 does not belong to the vision v. 4, but forms the transition to the taunting proverb taken up against the Chaldean by the nations. This proverb is in the form of a prophecy in which woes are pronounced on the lust of conquest, rapacity, selfish pride and idolatry of the people, and their ruin is predicted, for their vices carry in them their own recompense. The woes are five in number, beginning with verses 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18. Though the nations take up the woes, as the passage proceeds the prophet himself appears to speak.

6-8. FIRST WOE: THE CHALDEAN LUST OF CONQUEST.

6. Shall not all these] i.e. all the nations whom he has drawn into his net, and heaped together as his own possession.

take up a parable] The word may mean originally a saying containing a comparison or similitude; in a wider sense, a figurative speech or song. For the phrase "take up a parable" cf. Numb. xxiii. 7, 18; Job xxvii. I.

6

And a taunting proverb against him, and say,

Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how

long?

And to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!

7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, And awake that shall vex thee,

And thou shalt be for booties unto them?

8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations,

All the remnant of the people shall spoil thee;
Because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land,
Of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

taunting proverb against him]_Or, in regard to him. Taunting proverb is lit. an enigma, riddles, Prov. i. 6; Ps. xlix. 4; Dan. viii. 23. Both words suggest a song or poem with concealed taunting allusions. increaseth that which is not his] The reference is to his insatiable lust of conquest and robbery of the nations.

that ladeth himself with thick clay] and that ladeth himself with pledges. That which he compels the nations to give him or takes from them by force is compared to pledges which he heaps up upon himself. The day will come when their restitution shall be exacted of him. Job xx. 10, 15, 20. The rendering "thick clay" is obtained by taking the word "pledges" as a compound; cf. Ex. xix. 9, thick cloud.

7. that shall bite thee] Such is the usual sense of the word, which is used of the serpent, Gen. xlix. 17; Numb. xxi. 8, 9; cf. Mic. iii. 5. The term is employed here in a figurative sense of the attack of enemies. In one form the verb means to exact usury from one, Deut. xxiii. 20, and some would render here thy creditors. This double sense is supposed by some to be one of the taunting allusions (v. 6). shall vex thee] Or, violently shake thee. Eccles. xii. 3; Esth. v. 9; cf. Dan. v. 19, vi. 27; Deut. xxviii. 25; Is. xxviii. 19.

8. remnant of the people] the peoples. The most natural meaning is, all the other peoples in contrast with the Chaldean: the nations shall make common cause against him and spoil their spoiler. Others consider that reference is made to the desolating wars of the Chaldeans which have reduced the inhabitants of the world to a "remnant." This is less natural. Altogether unacceptable is the view that the remnant or rest of the nations are those nations whom the Chaldean did not spoil, for in v. 5 he is said to have gathered to him all nations.

violence of the land] violence done to the earth, Jer. 1. 23, li. 7, 25. The term "city" is collective, cities. Bloodshed of men, desolation of the earth, which also is sentient and moral (Is. xiv. 7, xlv. 18), and burning of cities-these are the things for which nemesis awaits the Chaldean. The like shall be done unto him-he shall be spoiled, his

Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, 9 That he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered

from the power of evil!

Thou hast consulted shame to thy house

By cutting off many people,

And hast sinned against thy soul.

For the stone shall cry out of the wall,

ΙΟ

II

And the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

proud cities burned in the fire (v. 13), and his glory covered with shame (v. 16). This refrain recurs v. 17.

9.

9-11. SECOND WOE: THE CHALDEAN'S RAPACITY
AND SELF-AGGRANDISEMENT.

coveteth an evil covetousness] gaineth evil gains for his house. His "house" is his family or dynasty, or, if the Chaldean represent the nation, his people.

set his nest on high] A figure from the eagle or other birds that build in inaccessible places. He sought evil gains for the purpose of fortifying his abode and making it unassailable. Numb. xxiv. 21; Jer. xlix. 16; Obad. 4.

power of evil] lit. hand of evil, i.e. calamity from assailants. The "evil" is not present but eventual and possible.

10. consulted shame to thy house] The next words explain that what he consulted or purposed was to cut off many nations; but this purpose shall turn out to be to the confusion of his house; Jer. vii. 19. As the Assyrian was sent against an ungodly nation, so the Chaldean was appointed for chastisement, but neither of them understood the limits of his commission: "he thinketh not so, but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few," Is. x. 7.

By cutting off many people] Or, to cut off. The text is not quite assured, the Versions render: thou hast cut off. Cf. 2 Kings x. 32.

And hast sinned] Or, whilst thou sinnest against thine own life. In his purpose to cut off mary peoples and the execution of it he sins to the endangering or rather to the forfeiture of his own life. Comp. Is. x. 12-19, and particularly Is. xiv. 20. The construction and form of sentence are both unusual, cf. Prov. viii. 36, xx. 2, and Ps. vii. 10, lv. 20 (A.V. vii. 9, lv. 19).

11. stone shall cry out of the wall] For the stone out of the wall shall cry out. The Chaldean gains evil gains to build his nest on high; the materials he uses, the stones and wood, shall cry out against the wrong and oppression perpetrated in procuring them. This sense is preferable to that assumed by Hitzig, that in his constructions the Chaldean kept back the hire of the labourers (Jer. xxii. 13). beam...answer it] i. e. reecho its cry of injustice.

12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, And stablisheth a city by iniquity!

13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts

That the people shall labour in the very fire,

And the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? 14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,

As the waters cover the sea.

15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink,

12-14. THIRD WOE: HIS OPPRESSION OF THE PEOPLES TO GRATIFY HIS ARCHITECTURAL PRIDE.

12. buildeth a town with blood] The meaning appears to be that the means of building the city are acquired through bloodshed, conquest and slaughter of the nations, and deportation of them to be employed in forced labour. Comp. Mic. iii. 10, "They build up Zion with blood," i.e. by the goods of those slain by judicial murder (1 Kings xxi.). by iniquity] Cf. Jer. xxii. 13, where the iniquity consists in the forced labour; here it may be more general. The terms town" and city" refer to any city or to many. 13. people...in the very fire] peoples shall labour for the fire. Those great cities of the heathen world on which the peoples labour are destined to become the prey of the fire.

Is. xiv. 21.

people...for very vanity] the nations shall weary themselves for vanity, or, for nought, in vain. The great buildings on whose construction the nations exhaust themselves are doomed to annihilation. This is the decree of the Lord of Hosts. The words with some difference occur again, Jer. li. 58, with special reference to Babylon. The passage is scarcely a quotation from Jer., neither do the words, Behold, is it not, &c., imply that it is a quotation from some other source. Cf. 2 Chron. xxv. 26, where the peculiar phrase occurs again.

14. As the waters cover] Or, like the waters which cover the (bed of the) sea. The knowledge shall be not only universal but deep. Is. xi. 9. The verse explains the preceding. The Lord of Hosts, God Omnipotent, whose purposes overrule all, shall bring in His kingdom, and in the judgments that precede its coming the great fabrics reared by heathenism for its idolatries and its oppressions shall become fuel for the fire (Is. ix. 5). This is the line of thought most natural. Another might be that when the reign of peace in Jehovah's kingdom shall come in men themselves shall burn to the ground their strongholds of war and their edifices of pride, just as they shall beat their swords to ploughshares (Is. ii. 4).

15-17. FOURTH WOE: HIS CONTEMPTUOUS HUMILIATION OF PROSTRATE POTENTATES AND NATIONS.

15.

The helplessness of the nations before the power or the craft of