people; for the message by them is finished; but they
are the words of the Lord to the prophet, directing him
what he should say to the people at this critical junc-
ture: behold, I set before you the way of life, and the
way of death; the way how to preserve their lives; and
which, if they did not choose to take, would be inevi-
table death. The allusion seems to be to a phrase used
by Moses, when he gave the law; obedience to which
would issue in life, and disobedience in death, Dent.
xxx. 15, 19.
Ver. 9. He that abideth in this city, &c.] Imagining
himself safe there; not fearing its being taken by the
king of Babylon; though it was so often foretold by
the prophet of the Lord that it should: shah die by
the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: by
the first of these, in sallying out against the enemy;
and by the other two, which raged within the city:
but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that
besiege you, he shall live; not fall upon them, as the
words may be literali)r rendered; so it would describe
such that went out otthe city. and sallied upon them;
whereas it designs such who should go out of the city,
and surrender themselves unto the Chaldeans; submit
to them, so as to obey them, as the Targum adds; such
shall have their lives spared: and his life shall be unto
him for a prey; it shall be like a spoil or booty taken
out of an enemy's hands; it shall be with difficulty
obtained, and with joy possessed, as a prey or spoil is.
Ver. 10. For I have set my face against this city,
&c.] Or my fury, as the Targum; their sins had pro-
voked the eyes of his glory; he was wroth with them,
and determined to cut them off; his mind was set
against them, and upon their ruin; and there was. no
turning him from it :for evil, and uot for good, saith the
Lord; to bring the evil of punishment upon them for
the evil of their sins, and not do any good unto them,
they were so ill deserving of: it shall be given into the
hand of the king of Babylon; come under his power
and dominion, by the will of the Lord; for it was he
that gave it into his hands, because of the sins of the
inhabitants of it: and he shah burn it tvith fire ; as he
did, both the house of the Lord in it, the temple, the
king's house or palace, the stately houses of the princes
and nobles, and even the houses of all the people; see
oh. lii. 13.
Ver. 11. And touching the house of the king of Judah,
say, &c.] Or to the house of the king of Judah P; that
is, his palace, as Calvin understands it; go to it, and
there say as follows, as in ch. xxii. 1. and some think
that this part of the chapter belongs to that, and was
not delivered at the time the former part of it was;
but before the peremptory decree was gone forth, to
deliver the city into the hand of the king of Babylon
to be burned with fire; since, upon a reformation, some
hope. of pa. rdon and salvation is yet given. The Syriac
version joins this clause to the preceding verse, and he
shall burn it with fire, and the house of tlie king of Ju-
dab; burn the city of Jerusalem, and particularly the
king's palace; but by the house of the king is not
meant his dwelling-house, but his family, himself, his
sons, his servants, his courtiers and nobles, to whom
the following speech is directed: hear ye the word of
the Lord; and obey it; for not bare hearing is meant,
but a reverent attention to, and a cheerful and ready
performance of, what is heard.
Ver. lc2. O house of David, thus $aith the Lord, &c.]
This appellation is made use of to put them in mind
.of their descent, and to observe to them how much it
became them to follow the example of so illustrious
an ancestor, from whom they had the honour to de-
s.tend; by doing judgment and justice as he did, 2 Sam.
viii. 15. or, otherwise, their being his seed would not
secure them from ruin and destruction: execute judg-
ment in the morning; be at it early, and dispatch it
speedily; shew a hearty regard for it; prefer it to
eating and drinking; and do not delay it to the preju-
dice of persons concerned. The power of judgu,ent
with the Jews belonged to the king; he was supreme
judge in their courts; they judged, and were judged,
the Jews says; by whom judgment was executed in a
morning, and not in any other part of the day; and
the case judged ought, as they say, to be as clear as
the morning {}: and deliver him that is spoiled out of the
hand of the oppressor; that had any thing taken from
him by force or fraud; that was either robbed or
cheated of his substance; or was refused what he had
lent to or entrusted another with; or was by any ways
and means wronged and injured by another in his per-
son or property. This suggests that things of this kind
were not done, and were the reason why the Lord
would deliver them up into the hands of their enemies,
or cause his judgments to fall upon them: lest my fury
go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it; or put
a s. top to it, by all their prayers and entreaties, or by
all that they can say or do: because of the evil of your
doings; it is a sad thing when princes set bad ex-
amples; it is highly provoking to God, whose deputies
they are; and it becomes them to begin a reformation,
and lead it on, or they cannot expect safety for them-
selves and their people.
Vet. 13. Behold,/am against thee, &c.] Or, behold,
I unto thee{}; to be supplied either thus, behold, I say
unto theet; what follows; and therefore take notice of
it, attend unto it: or, behold, I come unto thee {u}; who
bid defiance to all their enemies to come near them, as
in the latter part of the verse. The Targum is, "1o,
"I send my fury against thee;" and the phrase de-
notes the Lord's opposition to them; his setting him-
self against them, and coming out unto them in his
great wrath: 0 inhabitant of the valley, and rocle of the
plain, saith the Lord; a description of Jerusalem; be-
tween the lower and higher part of which lay a valley,
called Tyropseon, which divided the two hills, on
which the city was built {w}; yea, the whole city was
on high, on a rock, and around it a valley or plain;
and because it was built upon a rock, and fortitled with
hills and mountains, the inhabitants of it thought
themselves safe and secure, and even impregnable;
hence it follows: which say, who shah come down
against us? who shall enter into our habitations? who

{p} \^Klm tybl\^ domui regis, Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version,
Schmidt.
{q} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 19. 1.
{r} ib. fol. 7.2.
{s} \^Kyla ynnh\^ ecce ego ad te, Munster, Montanus.
{t} Ecce tibi dico, Strigelius; so Luther.
{u} Ecee ad te venio, Pagninus; so Kimchi.
{w} Joseph. de Bello Jud. 1.5. c. 4. sect. 1.