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OCCASIONAL REMARKS

ON

THE PROPHET

ISAIA H.

C. i. 29.-
The change of the tense in this verse is very remarkable.
The Sept. reads uniformly in the third person, but the alteration would
be less to read the first verb in the second person; and two MSS. have
For the worship under oaks, as practised by the Druids, see
Maurice's Ind. Antiq. vol. iv. p. 100. Edit. 1801.

.חבושן

C. iii. 11th. Perhaps, "woe unto the wicked, for it shall be ill with him;" which answers to the in the former verse.

C. x. 5th. Perhaps y, "for the rod is he (emphatically the Assyrian) in the hand of mine indignation;" alluding to the rod in the hand of Moses

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על shall he remain, and * לעמד,יעמד Perhaps for

supplied before," against the mount."

may be

C.

C. xi. 3d.

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,והרוחו

Perhaps 1, "and his spirit shall be in the fear of Jehovah." But see the Bishop of Killalla.

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and the lion and * ימריאו may be read ומריא Perhaps for

the sheep shall fatten together."

C. xii. 2d.

is either redundant, or we should read, "for Jehovah shall be my strength and my song."

C. xv. 4th. The Bishop of London renders y, the loins of And Moab," with the Sept. and Syr. and so the Bishop of Killalla. the word may allude to the pangs of a woman in travail. See Jerem xlviii. 41.

Perhaps, for

C. xvi. 5th. mount of righteousness," i. e. Zion. the text," and dispatcher of justice."

1, we may read, “in the The Bishop of Killalla renders

C. xvii. 4th. - Perhaps, "from my seat," i. c. from heaven.

5th.

הסיר

Perhaps, for 'D, we may read D, "for the pot." See c. ix. 19, and Mich. iii. 3. And Harmer, in his observations, remarks that the vine-branches are much in use in the East for dressing of victuals. See John, xv. 16.

C. xx. 6th. Might we read n for , "behold the strength of our confidence?"

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,וחלוף or כחלוף we may read ,לחלוף Perhaps, for

"as the destruction," or, " and the destruction from the desert or wil

derness."

4th.

xviii. 11.

Rather, "Horrors have made me afraid." See Job,

8th. For 8, the Bishop of London reads, "the watchman; or, perhaps, we may read by," and he cried to me from

the watch-tower."

11th, 12th. The Bishop says he does not understand this passage, and therefore it may be the highest degree of presumption for me to think of explaining it; but I shall venture to give my conjecture. "The burden of Dumah. A voice (p being understood) cried unto me, from Seir, what doth the watchman say? what doth the watchman say? The watchman saith, the morning and the night cometh; (i. e. in the space of one day;) if ye inquire diligently, her standards (i. e. Dumah's, or Edom's,) are taken captive." The Bishop of London reads, with the Sept. &c. D. Several MSS. read in each place; and, for 18, see Ps. lxxiv. 4. But see the Bishop of Killalla on this passage.

C. xxii. 23. , in the latter part of this verse, seem to be transposed, and it appears to me, that, by adding to m', they may be thus rendered; " and it shall be a glory to the crown and to the house of his father." But see the Bishop of Killalla's ingenious interpretation.

C. xxiv. 14th. The Bishop of London observes, that the Sept. and Theod. read, waters, not from the sea; and, perhaps, we may therefore read ', in the former part of the verse, for 7: "the very waters shall lift up their voice for the excellency of Jehovah, the waters exult."

See Ps. xciii. 3.

C.

C. xxvi. 4th.

the rock of ages."

For, perhaps we may read , "for Jehovah is

All the antient versions read in the plural, as the Bishop of

19th. London

says,

,נבלותי

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,נבלותך my dead bodies: perhaps

cases:" as such repetitions are often used emphatically.

C. xxvii. 6th. The Bishop of London would read, with the Syr.

66

,משרש .יציצו פרח,,יציץ ופרח from the root of Jacob; and, for

But

the same sense is preserved, and less alteration in the text, by reading an," he that cometh from the root of Jacob shall flourish, and Israel shall bud forth."

,הבא משרש

9th. The Bishop of London reads this verse according to the present text, with the addition only of 1 to in the latter part of it, which throws great light upon the sense. But may we presume, by reading and D, to render the whole thus: "wherefore, on this condition, shall the iniquity of Jacob be expiated, and by these means shall all the effect of his sin be removed; in placing all the stones of the altar, (i. e. of Jehovah,) instead of the stones of the strange (God,) which are myon, much desired. (See Jerem. xliv. 9, where the idols are called by a similar name.) And the groves and the sun-images are not raised again." The Bishop of Killalla renders 78,"like as lime-stones."

,כאבני

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,לשאר instead of לראש

C. xxviii. 5th. "A crown and an ornament to the remnant of his people" are ideas not very well connected. May we therefore read "to the head of his people?" Such transpositions being not uncommon. But the Bishop of Killalla refers it to the kingdom of Judah under Hezekiah.

11th. There cannot be a more incontestible proof of the corruption of the Hebrew text than the word 28, which is found here

.אבן for

21st.

כבהר

פרצים כבעמק גבעון,The sense seenis to require this reading

,"for, as in mount Perazim, Jehovah shall rise up, as in the valley of Gibeon," &c.

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22d. The Bishop of Killalla's reading and interpretation greatly improve the passage.

הנביאיכם והראשיכם והחזים כסה,C. xxix. 10th. - May we read thus and hath closed the * ויעצם את עיני

rulers: the seers hath he also covered."

eyes of your prophets and your

may we render the words בחשב or,,מחשב By reading

16th. thus, " your perverseness, verily, is as (the perverseness) of the clay formed by the artificer; when the work saith, to him that made it?" &c.

7 for 77, in the first part of the

21st. If we might read verse, and in or 12, for na, the words give this sense: "that make man to wander out of the way, and lay snares for him that pleadeth in the gate, and turn aside the just from his integrity, or, because of his integrity."

,אתם for לאות May we read

66 now go

C. xxx. 8th. write it in a table for a sign?" which answers to y, which the Bishop of London remarks should be rendered "for a testimony."

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