A.C. 588.

have been an arm to the children of Lot.

22.

24.

5 For they have consulted together with one consent: Heb. heart, they are confederate against thee :

6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;

7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek ; the Philistines with

the inhabitants of Tyre; + Heb. they 8 Assur also is joined with them : + they have holpen the

children of Lot. Selah.

9 Do unto them as unto the * Midianites; as to y Sisera, x Judg. vii.

as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison : y Judg. iv. 15,

10 Which perished at En-dor : they became as dung for

the earth. z Judg. Vli. 25,

11 Make their nobles like · Oreb, and like Zeeb : yea, all a Judg., vlil their princes as a Zebah, and as Zalmunna :

12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.

13 O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.

14 As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire ;

15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.

16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.

17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish :

18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth,

12,

PSALM XCIV.

1 The prophet, calling for justice, complaineth of tyranny and impiety. 8 He

teacheth God's providence. 12 He sheweth the blessedness of affliction. 16 God is the defender of the afflicted.

Heb. God of Tevenges.

1 0 LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; 0 God, Het shine to whom vengeance belongeth, & shew thyself forth.

2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth : render a reward to the proud.

3 LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?

4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things ? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves ?

5 They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.

6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.

Prov. xx. 12.

7 Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall A.C.588.
the God of Jacob regard it.

b Ps. x. 11, 13.
8 Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools,
when will

ye

be wise?
9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that Ex. iv, 1);
formed the

eye,

shall he not see?
10 He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct?
he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?

11 The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they d 1 Cor. ii. 20.
are vanity

12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;

13 That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.

14 For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness : and all the upright in heart * shall follow it.

16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who
will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity ?

17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had tal- + Or, quickly.
most dwelt in silence.
18 When I said, My foot slippeth ; thy mercy, O LORD,

19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy com-
forts delight my soul.

20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law ?

21 They gather themselves together against the sou of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.

22 But the Lord is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.

23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

* Heb, shall be after it,

held me up

2 KINGS XXIV. VER. 17, TO THE END.
17 9 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in e Jer. xxxvii,

1.
his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18 ? Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he f Jer. lii. I.
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the
daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

19 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all
that Jehoiakim had done.

20 For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

g 2 Kings 4 g And it came to pass in the 8 ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month,
xxv. 1-27.
ch. xxxix. 1.

in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came,
he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts
against it round about.

JEREMIAH XXXIX. VER. 2 & 4-10.

11

ments.

marshal.

2 And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.

4 1 And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls : and be went out the way of the plain.

5 But the Chaldeans' army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Ne

buchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he Heb. spake

gave judgment upon him. with him judg

6 Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his

eyes : also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. + Heb. with 7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with chains, to two brasen chains, or,

carry him to Babylon. fetters. 8 | And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the people,

with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem. 1 Or, chief 9 Then Nebuzar-adan the 1 s captain of the guard carried away captive Heb. chies

into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and those of the execu.

that fell away, that fell to him, with the rest of the people that remained. tioners, or, slaughter men: And so

2 KINGS XXV. VER. 3—22. ver. 10, 11,

3 And on the ninth day of the h fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

4 And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden : (now the Chaldees were against the city round about :) and the king went the way toward the plain.

5 And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.

6 So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riba ! Heb. spake lah ; and they II gave judgment upon him. judgment with

7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the Heb. made eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Ba

bylon.

8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the

nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, + Or, chief captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:

9 And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire.

10 And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

&c.
h Jer. lii. 6.

blind.

marshal,

away.

Jer. xxvii, 22,

sca.

11 Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the * fugitives A.C. 588. that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did

* Heb. fallen Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carry away.

12 But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

13 And i the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the ich. xx. 17. bases, and the brasen sea that was in the bouse of the Lord, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon.

14 And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.

15 And the firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away.

16 The two pillars, fone sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the + Heb. the one house of the Lord; the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

17 * The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon 15. Jer... 21. it was brass : and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass : and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work. 18 & And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zepha

Heb. thresniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the I door:

19 And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, Or, eunuch. and five men of them that || were in the king's presence, which were found in || Heb. saw the the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the * Or, scribe of

the captain of land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city: the host.

20 And Nebuzar-adan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah :

21 And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.

hoid.

SECTION XXI.

The Lamentations of Jeremiah over the Desolation of his

Country 21

LAMENTATIONS I.

1 The miserable estate of Jerusalem by reason of her sin. 12 She complaineth of

her grief, 18 and confesseth God's judgments to be righteous.
1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!
how is she become as a widow ! she that was great among

name,

21 That Jeremiah was the author of the Elegies or Lamentations which bear his

is evident, not only from a very ancient and almost uninterrupted tra-
dition, but also from the argument and style of the book, which correspond ex-
actly with those of his prophecies.

Josephus, Jerome, Junius, Archbishop Usher, and other eminent writers, are
of opinion that the Lamentations of Jeremiah were the same which are men-
tioned in 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. as being composed by the prophet on the death of
the pious king Josial, and which are there said to have been perpetuated by
"an crdinance in Israel." But, whatever may have become of those Lamen-

A.C. 588 the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she

become tributary !

tations, it is evident that these cannot possibly be the same; for their whole
tenor plainly shews that they were not composed till after the subversion of the
kingdom of Judah. The calamities, which Jeremiah had foretold in his pro-
phecies, are here deplored as having actually taken place, viz. the impositions
of the false prophets who had seduced the people by their lying declarations, the
destruction of the holy city and temple, the overthrow of the state, and the ex-
termination of the people. But though it be allowed that the Lamentations
were primarily intended as a pathetic description of present calamities, yet it
has with great probability been conjectured, that, while Jeremiah mourns the
desolation of Judah and Jerusalem, he may be considered as prophetically
painting the still greater miseries they were to suffer at some future time; and
this seems plainly indicated by his referring to the time when the punishment of
their iniquity shall be accomplislied, and they shall no more be carried into
captivity, (iv. 22). •

II. This book, which in our Bibles is divided into five chapters, consists of
five distinct elegies; viz.
ELEGY 1. The prophet begins with lamenting the sad reverse of fortune

which his country had experienced, confessing at the same time that all her
miseries were the just consequences of the national wickedness and rebellion
against God. In the midst of his discourse, Jerusalem herself is personi-
fied, and introduced to continue the complaint, and humbly to solicit the
divine compassion. Jahn is of opinion, that, in this elegy, Jeremiah de-
plores the deportation of king Jehoiachin, and ten thousand of the principal
Jews to Babylon. Compare 2 Kings xxiv. 8—17. and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9,

10.
ELEGY 2. Jeremiah pourtrays the dire effects of the divine anger in the sub-

version of the civil and religious constitution of the Jews, and in that ex-
treme misery in which every class of individuals was involved. He repre-
sents the wretchedness of his country as unparalleled ; and charges the
false prophets with having betrayed her into ruin by their false and flatter-
ing suggestions. In this forlorn and desolate condition, the astonishment
and by-word of all who see her,–Jerusalem is directed earnestly to implore
the removal of those heavy judgments, which God, in the height of his
displeasure, had inflicted upon her. Jahn thinks, that this elegy was com-

posed on the storming of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army.
ELEGY 3. The prophet, by describing his own severe afflictions, and shew.

ing his trust in the inexhaustible mercies of God, encourages his people to
be patient and resigned under the divine chastisements, and to trust in the
never failing mercy of Jehovah. He asserts the divine supremacy in the
dispensations of good and evil, and shews the unreasonableness of murmur-
ing under them. He recommends self-examination and repentance ; and,
from their past experience of former deliverances from God, he encourages

them to look for pardon for their sins, and retribution to their enemies.
ELEGY 4. exhibits a striking contrast, in various affecting instances, between

* Bishop Tomline's Elements of Christian Theology, vol. i. pp. 112, 113.