thing like this has happened: 11. whether a nation has changed its gods, which yet are no gods, but my people has changed its glory for that which profits not ! 12. Be astonished, ye heavens, at this, and shudder and be utterly aghast, says Yahveh. 13. For my people has committed two evils: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, to dig out for themselves springs, springs full of holes, which hold no water.

14. Is Israel a slave or is he a home-born (slave)? Wherefore has he become a prey? 15. Lions roar upon him, they make their voice resound again, and they turn his land into a desolation; his cities are laid waste, without inhabitants. 16. The sons of Memphis and Tahpanhes also shall form (iii. 1), here as particle of indirect question. Ver. 11. Yahveh is Israel's glory, whereas the false gods are often called nya, shame, iii. 24. Ver. 12. 127, chorbu, from 77, to be stiff (properly, to be dried up) with terror; on the other hand, the form chirbu, 1. 27, is used transitively. Ver. 13. The writing Na instead of ia (only again 2 Sam. xxiii. 15, 16, 20, Kethib) reminds of the stem-word 8, to dig (whence "); cf. Deut. vi. 11. According to usage, a is a cistern for rain-water, hewn or dug and walled round, in distinction from the living spring and the stream running from it (, seldom cistern). Ver. 15. The roaring of lions is to be understood as in Amos iii. 4: heathen powers throw themselves on the prey, certain of victory.

:

, Kethib, fem. sing., the irregular form to be preferred as in xxii. 6, xlvi. 19. In this case the word is to be derived from, to wrangle, contend, passively of cities: to be overthrown; cf. ver. 16. The Keri reads, according to ix. 9, from, to kindle; but originally a form of the stem used in iv. 7 may have stood there as here and ix. 11. In the does not indicate the cause, but strengthens the negation (Job vi. 6) in an uninhabited condition, the natural consequence of devastation. Ver. 16. Even the Egyptians, on whose alliance Israel at present relies, will rob the land of the last things. remaining to it, and so in a sense graze its crown; cf. Isa. vii. 20 (LXX inaccurate). The inhabitants of two cities of Lower Egypt are mentioned by way of particularizing: =, Hos. ix. 6, Memphis, the capital of Lower Egypt, Egyptian men-nofer, "the good site" (Brugsch, Gesch. Eg. p. 44 f.), Coptic Memphi or Manuphi, from which the two Hebrew forms and the Greek one are explained. The ruin lies at the village

graze on the crown of thy head. 17. Does not thy backsliding from Yahveh, thy God, at the time when he was leading thee in the way, bring this upon thee? 18. And now, what hast thou to do with the way to Egypt to drink the waters of Shihor (the Nile)? And what hast thou to do with the way to Assyria to drink the waters of the river (Euphrates)? 19. Thy wickedness shall chastise thee, and thy rebellions shall punish thee. Know then and perceive how evil and bitter is thy backsliding from Yahveh, thy God, and that thou hast no reverence for me, says the Lord, Yahveh of hosts. 20. For thou hast ever broken thy yoke, burst thy fetters, and said: I will not serve. For on every high hill, and under every green tree, thou didst lie down as

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of Mit Rachene, south of Cairo. Tahpanhes (Keth. with a л, probably copyist's error, perhaps from 1 Kings xi. 19 f.; Keri supported by xliii. 7, 8, 9, xliv. 1, xlvi. 14, somewhat differently pointed in Ezek. xxx. 18), LXX Tápvn and Táprar, without doubt sápra, Daphne, not far from Pelusium, but west of the Suez Canal, now Tell Defenne, once a border-fortress of Egypt on the north-east. Since according to xliii. 7 ff. it is the city in which Jeremiah afterwards settled with a Jewish colony, vv. 14-17 have been critically attacked (Ewald), without reason, as a later interpolation, or ver. 16 at least as a later addition in the sense of xliv. 12, 14 (Nägelsbach). We rather see in the passage a declaration, that the Egyptians also will contribute their share to the overthrow of Judah, which was soon done, 2 Kings xxiii. 29. These cities are also mentioned in xlvi. 14, before Jeremiah took up his abode there. Ver. 17. At the time of thy leader when He was thy leader. Thou hast lost His guidance by thy unfaithfulness. This has come to thee through thy backsliding in the wilderness, which has not ceased since. Ver. 18.75, as in Hos. xiv. 9: why dost thou run to Egypt and Assyria to drink water there, i.e. to obtain means of refreshment and support in those empires? Cf. ver. 13 and Isa. viii. 6. Shihor (properly black, turbid), poetical name for the Nile; the river Euphrates, as already in Gen. xxxi. 21 and often. Ver. 19. Thy (own) wickedness, see on xiv. 16. The subject: "thy irreverence towards me," is expressed by the entire sentence: "fear of me ( here only; cf. Gen. xxxi. 42) does not come nigh thee." Ver. 20. ' and 'p, not 1 sing. but 2 sing. fem. with the ancient ending e, especially frequent in Jer. and Ezek., Ges. § 44. 2. a. 4, although the

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a harlot. 21. But I had planted thee a noble vine of wholly genuine seed; how then hast thou changed thyself for me into bastards of a strange vine? 22. For although thou wash thyself with lye, and take to thee much soap, thy guilt remains written before me, says the Lord, Yahveh. 23. How canst thou say: I have not defiled myself, nor followed after Baalim? Look on thy way in the valley, learn what thou hast done, a young fleet she-camel that crosses her ways! 24. A wild she-ass, used to the desert, that snaps at the air in her soul's desire; who can restrain her heat? All who seek her will not weary themselves, they will find her in her month. 25. Take heed to thy foot lest it lose its shoe, and to thy throat lest it become thirsty! But thou sayest: In vain! no! for I now love strangers, and after them I will go. 26. As a thief is perforce ashamed when he is caught, so Masoretes have not noticed this in the present passage (as e.g. in ver. 33). The same is to be said of their Keris, instead of which the Kethib is to be preferred, expressing the people's love of licence, which has always shaken off the divine commands and shaped its worship according to carnal fancy. On every high hill, so to speak, and under every shady tree, it has surrendered itself to semi-heathen worships. This indication. of place points to former prophetic sayings, Hos. iv. 13; cf. Deut. xii. 2, and so the description of the hybrid worship as unchastity. nys, elsewhere to bend, incline. On sacred heights and trees, see Baudissin, Studien, ii. Ver. 21. p, as in Isa. v. 2, a particular species of noble, precious vine., that which has turned aside, shoot, twig, bastard. Ver. 22. л, Greek vírpov or irpov. Alkali is meant, and that mineral; whereas nis vegetable, obtained from the soap- plant; cf. Prov. XXV. 20. л, inscribed (root on allied to an), according to others foul. Ver. 23. The valley is the valley of Hinnom, see on vii. 31.-77, to twist, here to cross the ways by vague, wild roaming about in the state of heat. Ver. 24. They who desire her need not run far after her; she is accessible to all in her month, i.e. pairing-time. Ver. 25. Ironical warning to one restlessly going here and there in her lust after strange creatures: weary not thyself too much. 77, Kethib for 7 elsewhere also the mater lectionis is not seldom transposed: xvii. 23, xxvii. 1, xxix. 23, xxxii. 23, xlii. 20. See explanations of such transposing in Nägelsbach on xvii. 23. To all kindly warnings she replies: it is useless, wasted labour (as in xviii.

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shall they of the house of Israel be put to shame,—they, their kings, their princes, along with their priests and their prophets, 27. which say to the log: "Thou art my father," and to the stone: "Thou hast borne me;" for they turn their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their calamity they will say: Arise and help us! 28. Where then are thy gods, which thou madest for thyself? Let them arise, if they can help thee in the time of thy calamity; for as many as thy cities are thy gods, O Judah!

29. Wherefore do you contend against me? You have all done me outrage, says Yahveh. 30. In vain I smote your children, they received not correction; your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. 31. O generation that you are, see ye the word of Yahveh: Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Wherefore has my people said: "We have no lord, we will not come to thee again"? 32. Does a virgin then forget her jewelry, a bride her girdle? But my people has forgotten me

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12). Ver. 26. n here put in infinitive.-, the second Hiphil form of a (as if formed from ), whereas the first form as a rule signifies to put to shame. Ver. 27. They have descended to fetish-worship. To gods of wood and stone they say father and mother (28, fem.). This would be true if they were really life-giving deities, as supposed, Deut. xxxii. 6, 18; Isa. lxiv. 8.-Kethib Ver. 28. Thou hast enough of gods; properly, the number of thy cities are thy gods; the LXX has also the addition of xi. 13. This saying often holds good in heathenism, in paganised Judæa also it was not mere hyperbole. Ver. 30. I have smitten your children without salutary result, i.e. smitten with afflictions of every kind, not specifically with the sword. God has brought one generation of you after another under His rod; but you and the nation itself are no better. The prophets who announced and interpreted these blows of God, and thus were the medium of kindly chastening, encountered deadly hate instead of gratitude. Cf. examples in 1 Kings xviii. 4, 13, xix. 10; 2 Chron. xxiv. 20 ff. (2 Kings xxi. 16, xxiv. 4; Jer. xxvi. 23). Ver. 31. Indignant warning appeal to the present generation (cf. Deut. xxxii. 5).

darkness of the Lord = extreme מאפל יָהּ composed of,מאפליה

darkness, cf. Cant. viii. 6, unless it is to be taken as a simply

days without number. 33. How excellently thou trimmest thy way to seek after love; therefore also thou hast accustomed thy ways to evil things. 34. Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor, the innocent, whom thou didst not catch at breaking in. For respecting all this (I will reckon with thee). 35. Yet thou sayest: I am

verily acquitted, certainly his wrath is turned away from me. Behold, I will reckon with thee respecting this, that thou sayest I have not sinned. 36. Why runnest thou away so eagerly to change thy way? Of Egypt also thou shalt be ashamed, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. 37. From it also thou shalt come forth with thy hands on thy head; for Yahveh has rejected those on whom thou trustest, and thou shalt have no success with them.

III. 1. [And the word of Yahveh came to me] as follows: If a man dismiss his wife, and she go away from him and become another man's, will he return to her again? Would not such a land be shamefully polluted? And thou hast played the harlot with many paramours, and wouldst thou intensive form of END. Ver. 33. The love, which she is so skilful and quick in finding, is irregular, ungodly love, Therefore no shameful deed is surprising in her. In (see on ver. 20) the ending e is removed by the Keri, whilst in ver. 34 D'ANY is left, because not known. Ver. 34. x baby, abrupt and obscure. Perhaps words like ey have fallen out. л, breaking in (from л, to break through), alludes to the law, Ex. xxii. 2, according to which it was not reckoned murder to slay any one breaking in at night. The victims referred to are not thieves and murderers, but innocent, harmless people. The religious persecution under Manasseh is especially suggested, 2 Kings xxiv. 4. Ver. 35. Now when they are suffering outwardly, they speak with such confidence and complacency as if nothing ailed them. D, see on i. 16. Ver. 36. in for n (Ges. § 68. 2; Eng. § 67), from 5, to go away. Having come to shame by one false friend (Assyria), why dost thou so quickly choose another (Egypt)? Thou wilt at last come back from this one in despair.

CHAPTER III.

Ver. 1. Before, which cannot stand alone nor be joined with the preceding DND, some words have dropped out, perhaps