the chastisements that were laid upon them were to no
purpose; had produced no good effect, were of no
avail, and unprofitable to them; and which is men-
tioned as an aggravation of their sins, obstinacy, and
impenitence; see \\#Jer 5:3\\. \*\\Ye will revolt more and
more\\, or %add defection% {b}; go on in sin, and apostatize
more and more, and grow more obdurate and resolute
in it; unless afflictions are sanctified, men become
more hardened by them: \*\\the whole head is sick, and
the whole heart faint\\; which may be understood either
of their chastisements, which were universal, and had
reached all sorts and ranks of men among them, with-
out any reformation, and therefore it was in vain to
use more; or of their sins and transgressions which
abounded among them, even among the principal of
them; their civil rulers and governors, meant by the
%head%; and the priests, who should feed the people
with knowledge and understanding, designed by the
%heart%; but both were corrupted, and in a bad condition.
\*Ver. 6. \\From the sole of the foot even unto the head
[there is] no soundness in it\\, &c.] Every member of the
body politic was afflicted in one way or another, or
sadly infected with the disease of sin; see \\#Psa 28:3\\.
So the Targum, \*"from the rest of the people,
"even unto the princes, there is none among them
"who is perfect in my fear;"\* see \\#Da 9:8 Jer 8:10\\
\*\\[but] wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores\\; to
which either public calamities on a city or nation may
be compared, \\#Ho 5:13\\ or the sins and transgressions
both of single persons, and of whole bodies of men,
\\#Ps 38:5,7\\. The Targum is, \*"they are all ???
"stubborn and rebellious, they are defiled with sins
"as an ulcerous plaster."\* KILL \*\\They have not been closed\\;
that is, the wounds and sores have not been healed;
or %they have not been pressed% or %squeezed% {c}, in order to
get the purulent matter out of them: \*\\neither bound up\\;
with bands, after the matter is squeezed out, and a
plaster laid on: \*\\neither mollified with ointment\\; which
is used for the suppling and healing of wounds; see
\\#Lu 10:34\\. The sense either is, that they were not
reformed by their afflictions; or that they did not re-
pent of their sins, nor seek to God for healing and par-
don, nor make use of any means for their more health-
ful state and condition. The Targum paraphrases the
words thus, \*"they don't leave their haughtinesses,
"nor are they desirous of repentance, nor have they
"any righteousness to protect them."\*
\*Ver. 7. \\Your country [is] desolate\\, &c.] Or %shall be%;
this is either a declaration in proper terms of what is
before figuratively expressed, or rather a prophecy of
what would be their case on account of transgressions;
and which had its accomplishment partly in the Baby-
lonish captivity, and fully in the destruction of Jerusa-
lem by the Romans; when not only their city and tem-
ple, called their house, \\#Mt 23:38\\, were left unto
them desolate, but the whole land; and they were carried
captive, and scattered among the nations, where they
have been ever since: \*\\your cities [are\\, or shall be, \*\\burned
with fire\\; as, Jerusalem has been, and other cities in
Judea, \\#Mt 22:7\\ \*\\your land, strangers devour it in
your presence\\; before their eyes, and it would not be in
their power to prevent it; meaning either the Baby-
lonians or the Romans, or both, and especially the latter,
who were strangers and aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel: \*\\and [it is] desolate, as overthrown by strangers\\;
who ravage, plunder, and destroy all they meet with,
and spare nothing, not intending to settle there, as
those who are near do, when they conquer a neighbour-
ing nation. Some think this prophecy was delivered
in the times of Ahaz, and refers to the desolation in
his time, \\#2Ch 28:17-19\\ but rather, as
Joel and Amos prophesied before Isaiah, he may refer
to those desolating judgments, they speak of, by the
locusts, caterpillars, and fire, \\#Joe 1:4,10-12,17-20 Am 4:6,11\\
but to consider the words
as a prediction of what should be in after times
seems best; and so the Arabic version reads the words,
%your land shall be desolate, your cities shall be burnt
with fire, and your country strangers shall devour before
you"; or shall be as overthrown by strangers, being
overflown with a flood or storm of rain; so Abendana {d}.
\*Ver. 8. \\And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage
in the vineyard\\, &c.] The Targum is, \*"after they
"have got in the vintage."\* A cottage in the vine-
yard was a booth, as the word {e} signifies, which was
erected in the middle of the vineyard for the keeper of
the vineyard to watch in night and day, that the fruit
might not be hurt by birds, or stolen by thieves, and
was a very, lonely place; and when the clusters of the
vine were gathered, this cottage or booth was left by
the keeper himself: and such it is suggested Jerusalem
should be, not only stand alone, the cities all around
being destroyed by the besiegers, but empty of inha-
bitants itself, when taken. \*\\As a lodge in a garden of
cucumbers\\: the Targum adds here also, \*"after they
"have gathered them out of it."\* A lodge in a garden
of cucumbers was built up for the gardener to watch
in at night, that nobody came and stole away the cu-
cumbers, and this was also a lonely place; but when
the cucumbers were gathered, the gardener left his
lodge entirely; and such a forsaken place would Jeru-
salem be at the time of its destruction; see \\#Lu 19:43,44\\
\*\\as a besieged city\\; which is in great distress,
and none care to come near it, and as many as can
make their escape out of it; or %as a city kept%; so
Gussetius {f}, who understands this, and all the above
clauses, of some places preserved from the sword in
the common desolation.
\*Ver. 9. \\Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a
very small remnant\\, &c.] This is an instance of the
superabounding goodness of the Lord of hosts, as the
Targum expresses it; that he should, in those very
wicked and calamitous times, leave and reserve a few
from being defiled with the sins of the age, and from
being involved in the general calamity of it; which
was true of the Christian Jews at the time of Jeru-


{b} \^hro wpyowt\^ %addentes prevaricationem%, Sept. V. L.
{c} \^wrz al\^ %non expessa fuere a% \^rwz\^ %exprimere humorem,
    hoc significari clarum est ex% Jud. vi. 38. Gusset. Comment. Ling.
    Ebr. p. 227. So Vatablus, Junius and Tremellius.
{d} As if it was \^Mrz\^, which signifies a flood, or overflowing of 
    water, Hab. iii. 10. to which sense Aben Ezra inclines; so 
    Schultens in Job xxiv. 8.
{e} \^hkok\^ \~wv skhnh\~, Sept.
{f} \^hrwun ryek\^ %ut urbs custodita%, Gusset. Comment. Ling. Ebr.
    p. 529. %Observata vel observanda%, Forerius.