dwelt in confidence and security, having no thought
and notion of destruction coming upon them; so Ben
Melech interprets the women of cities, and the daugh-
ters of villages.
,Ver. 10. Many days and years shall ye be troubled,
ú &c.3 Or, days above a year {k}; a year, and somewhat
,more, yet not two years; which some understand of
ú the time from this prophecy, until thein' troubles be-
.gnu, by the invasion of Sennacherib; and others of the
.continuance of it, it lasting more than a year; or,
 days with a year; so Kimchi, days upon a year, year
.upon year, one year after another; and so denotes a
long_ duration of their troubles; and so the troubles of
the Jews, before their utter destruction by the Romans,
lasted a great while, and since to this day; for the
 prophecy respects those times. Kimchi says it may
be interpreted of the destruction of the whole land of
Israel, and of ttfe destruction of the temple in the days
o.f Zedekiah; or of the destruction of the second tem-
ple, that is, by the Romans: for the vintage shall fail;
being spoiled by the enemy. or taken for their own
..use; and so there would be no wine to cheer 'their
ú hearts, and make them merry: the gathering shall, not
come; of the other fruits of the earth; when the time
.of ingathering should come, at which there was a
feast that bore that name, there should be none to be ga-
.thered in; the consequence of which must be a fa-
ú mine, and such there was before and at the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem by the Romans..
Ver. 11. Tremble, ye women that are at ease, &c.]
Which may be considered either as an exhortation to
repentance for their sins, of which, ifa due sense was
impressed on their hearts, would cause a trembling of
body and mind, under a fearful expectation of divine
wrath; or as a prediction, that though they were now
quite tranquil and easy, and nothing disturbed them,
yet such calamities would come upon them as would
make them tremble: be troubled, ye careless ones; or,
confident ones {l}; that live securely, trusting in their
present wealth and riches, and confident that things
will always continue as they are; be it known to you
that trouble will come, and better it would be for you
if you were now troubled for your sins, and truly re-
pented of them, that the judgments threatened, and
coming, might be prevented: strip ye, and make ye
bare; of your fine clothes, and beautiful ornaments,
in which they prided themselves, which used to be
done in time of mourning, Ezek. xxxiii. 4, 5, 6. or it
signifies that this should be their case, they would be
stripped not only of their richest clothes and deco-
rating jewels, but of their ordinary apparel, and left
bare and naked by the enemy: and gird sackcloth upon
your loins; as a token of mourning; see Gen. xxxvii.
34. the word sackcloth is supplied, as it is by Kimchi,
and in the $yriac and Arabic versions; though some
understand it as a  direction to gird their loins for ser-
vile work, signifying .what would be their condition
and circumstances  when taken and carried captive by
the enemy; they would n.o longer live at ease, and in
pleasure, as mistresses, but would serve as handmaids.
ver. l2. They shall lament for the teats, &c.]
Either of the beasts of the field, that should be dried
up, and give no milk, through the great drought that
should be upon the land; or through the waste of the
herbage by the enemy; or else of the women, their
breasts and paps, which should afford no milk for
their infants, through the famine that should press
them sore, which would  occasion great lamentation,
both in mothers and children; though some think
are to be understood of the fields, and are ex-
by them in the next clause; the fruitful earth
being compared to a woman, its fields are like breasts
or paps, which yield food and nourishment, but now
should not afford any, and therefore there would be
cause of lamentation. Jarchi interprets it, they shall
beat upon their breasts {m} a gesture used in lamentation
to express exceeding great grief and sorrow, Luke
xviii. 13. and xxiii. 48. some, because the word ren-
dered lament is of the masculine gender, and so not
applicable to women, render the words in con-
nexion with the preceding verse,' thus, "gird sack-
" cloth on yourloins, and on your mourning breasts{n}
though they may be interpreted indefinitely, there
shah be lamentation for the teats, among all sorts of
people, men, women, and children:for the pleasant
fields, for the fruitful vine; as the fields are when co-
vered with corn and grass, and the vines with clus-
ters of grapes, but now should not be, either through
drought, or by being foraged and trampled on by the
enemy.
Ver. 13. Upon the land of my people shah come up
thorns and briers, &c.] The curse of' the earth, the
spontaneous productions of it, being uncultivated.
and this through want of men, they being destroyed
or carried captive by the enemy; this is to be under-
stood of the land of Judea, and not Samaria, as Aben
Ezra; where the professing and covenant people of
God dwelt; which is mentioned to shew the apostacy
of this people, for which ruin came upon their land.
and the aggravation of it, as well as the goodness of
God to them, which continued to the last, still consi-
dering th. em as his people. This respects not the de-
solation of the country by the Assyrian army, nor by
the Chaldeans, but rather by the Romans, even their
last destruction: yea, upon all the houses of joy in the
joyous city; not Samaria, the head of the ten tribes.
as some; but Jerusalem, the joy of the whole earth.
as Jarchi; and the houses of joy in it mean not public
houses, as taverns, and the like, where persons meet
to revel and carouse, but the houses of nobles, princes.
and rich men, who lived voluptuously, in great sen-
suality and carnal mirth, drinking wine in bowls, and
chanting to the sound of the viol, and using all instru-
ments of music; but now their houses, in which they
enjoyed so much pleasure, should be demolished, and
briers and thorns should grow upon the spot where
they stood. Some render the word \^yk\^, burning, as in
ch. iii, 24. burning shall be on all the houses *, &c.;
and think it refers to the burning of the city of Jeru-
salem, and the palaces or houses of nobles and rich


{k} \^hnv le Mymy\^ dies super annum, Vatablus; dies ultra annum,
Cocceius.
{l} \^twxjwb\^ confidentes, Paguinus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius,
Piscator.
{m} So it is explained in T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 27. 2.
{n} So Castalio.
{o} Junius & Tremellius, Cocceius.