Part 479 (2/2)

28:7. But these also have been ignorant through wine, and through drunkenness have erred: the priest and the prophet have been ignorant through drunkenness, they are swallowed up with wine, they have gone astray in drunkenness, they have not known him that seeth, they have been ignorant of judgment.

These also... The kingdom of Juda.

28:8. For all the tables were full of vomit and filth, so that there was no more place.

28:9. Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand the hearing? them that are weaned from the milk, that are drawn away from the b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

28:10. For command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; a little there, a little there.

Command, command again, etc... This is said in the person of the Jews, resisting the repeated commands of G.o.d, and still putting him off.

28:11. For with the speech of lips, and with another tongue he will speak to this people.

28:12. To whom he said: This is my rest, refresh the weary, and this is my refres.h.i.+ng: and they would not hear.

28:13. And the word of the Lord shall be to them: Command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; a little there, a little there: that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

28:14. Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, who rule over my people that is in Jerusalem.

28:15. For you have said: We have entered into a league with death, and we have made a covenant with h.e.l.l. When the overflowing scourge shall pa.s.s through, it shall not come upon us: for we have placed our hope in lies, and by falsehood we are protected.

28:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord G.o.d: Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation. He that believeth, let him not hasten.

A stone in the foundations... Viz., Christ.-Ibid. Let him not hasten, etc... Let him expect his coming with patience.

28:17. And I will set judgment in weight, and justice in measure: and hail shall overturn the hope of falsehood: and waters shall overflow its protection.

28:18. And your league with death shall be abolished, and your covenant with h.e.l.l shall not stand: when the overflowing scourge shall pa.s.s, you shall be trodden down by it.

28:19. Whensoever it shall pa.s.s through, it shall take you away: because in the morning early it shall pa.s.s through, in the day and in the night, and vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear.

28:20. For the bed is straitened, so that one must fall out, and a short covering cannot cover both.

The bed is straitened, etc... It is too narrow to hold two: G.o.d will have the bed of our heart all to himself.

28:21. For the Lord shall stand up as in the mountain of divisions: he shall be angry as in the valley which is in Gabaon: that he may do his work, his strange work: that he may perform his work, his work is strange to him.

As in the mountain, etc... As the Lord fought against the Philistines in Baal Pharasim, 2 Kings 5., and against the Chanaanites, in the valley of Gabaon, Jos. 10.

28:22. And now do not mock, lest your bonds be tied strait. For I have heard of the Lord the G.o.d of hosts a consumption and a cutting short upon all the earth.

28:23. Give ear, and hear my voice, hearken, and hear my speech.

28:24. Shall the ploughman plough all the day to sow, shall he open and harrow his ground?

28:25. Will he not, when he hath made plain the surface thereof, sow gith, and scatter c.u.mmin, and put wheat in order, and barley, and millet, and vetches in their bounds?

28:26. For he will instruct him in judgment: his G.o.d will teach him.

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