12. Ho! multitude of many people; as the tumultuous noise of the sea they roar tumultuously: and the vehement noise of the nations, as the noise of mighty waters they vociferate! 13. The nations shall roar indeed as the roaring of many waters: yet he shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off; and they shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and as a rolling thing before the whirlwind. 14. In the time of the evening, and behold destruction! before morning, and they are not. This is the portion of them that trouble us, and the lot of them that spoil us.

xviii. 1. Ho! land of the perpetual shadow of sails*, which art beyond the rivers of Cush; 2. Accus

*Ho! land of the perpetual shadow of sails.] This transla tion is adopted on the following grounds-Since some maritime nation plainly seems here to be spoken to, I think we are warranted in understanding D metaphorically, as the wings of ships, or sails; how mapuyes, as the LXX translate it. Though Bp. Horsley renders the word by wings, and conceives the most natural exposition of the expression to be, that some great people, famous for taking under their protection-under the shadow of their wings-those whom they received into their alliance, is intended: yet he remarks, that both the LXX, Jonathan, and Coverdale, understood

to mean sails; and afterwards allows, that this sense seems to be insinuated in the imagery of the first verse (Letter on Isaiah xviii. p. 26, 88.) To myself it certainly appears to be by far the most natural sense, as it does likewise to the Bp. of Killalla, because it best accords with the subsequent context-I take byby to be a substantive, not a participle: it is

7

אל

Accustomed to send messengers by sea, even in bulrush vessels †, upon the surface of the waters! Go, swift messengers, unto a nation dragged away and plucked, unto a people wonderful from their beginning hitherto, a nation expecting, expecting, and trampled under foot, whose land rivers have

by, a shadow, in its reduplicate form, which involves the idea of frequency or intensity of action. Aquila renders it ona. The expression D'bio byby y¬8, a land of the perpetual shadow of sails, describes the most remarkable quality of the country spoken to. It is a genuine Hebraism, perfectly analogous to o' n pr8, a land of streams of water. See Dent. viii. 7, 8. x. 7. 2 Kings xviii. 32. Isaiah xxxvi. 17. Compare Isaiah liii. 3. Gen. xxv. 27. 1 Chron. xxii. 9.

This version has been submitted to the Bp. of Killalla; and, though it differs from his own, I have the pleasure of saying that he does not object to it.

* Accustomed to send messengers.]

"The form of the ex

"pression in the original signifies, not a single act of sending "once, but the habit of sending perpetually. The word 66 may be taken for persons employed between nation and nuation, "for the purposes either of negociation or commerce." ter on Isaiah xviii.

Let

+ Bulrush vessels.] "This is a figurative expression; de"scriptive of skill in navigation, and of the safety and ex"pedition with which the inhabitants of the land called to "are supposed to perform distant voyages. Navigable vessels "are certainly meant. If the country spoken to be distant "from Egypt, vessels of bulrush are only used as an apt image, on account of their levity, for quick-sailing vessels of any “material." Letter on Isaiah xviii.

spoiled *." 3. All ye, the inhabitants of the world, and dwellers upon earth, shall see the lifting up, as it were, of a banner upon the mountains, and shall hear the sounding, as it were, of a trumpet. 4. For thus saith the Lord unto me: I will sit still (but I will keep my eye upon my prepared-habitation), as the parching heat just before lightning, as the dewy cloud in the heat of harvest. 5. For afore the harvest, when the bud is coming to perfection, and the blossom is become a juicy berry, he will cut off the useless shoots with pruning hooks, and the bill shall take away the luxuriant branches. 6. They shall be left together to the bird of prey of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth. And upon it shall the bird of prey summer, and all the beasts of the earth upon it shall winter. 7. At that season a present shall be led to the Lord of hosts, of a people dragged away and plucked, even of a people wonderful from their beginning hitherto; a nation expecting, expecting, and trampled under foot, whose land rivers have

* Have spoiled.] See Bp. Horsley's elaborate note. He justly observes, that those few commentators, who venture to give an opposite meaning to the original word, first beg the question that the land must be Egypt, and then labour to elicit such a translation as may suit that opinion. It is on this very principle of adaptation, that the Bp. of Killalla boldly substitutes 1 create, because the Nile creates land in Egypt, In his letter to me, his Lordship however acknowledges, that he is not quite sure of it.

6

spoiled,

spoiled, unto the place of the name of the Lord of

hosts, mount Sion.

xix. 1. The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and cometh unto Egypt and the idols of Egypt are moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. 2. And I will cover in tents * the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight, every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. 3. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy

* I will cover in tents.] So I have ventured to render nob, attributing to the primitive the sense of one of its derivatives. The context shews, that it cannot mean I will protect. The Vulgate reads concurrere faciam; the LXX, επεγερθήσονται Αιγυπτιοι επ' Αιγυπτιες; the Chaldee Paraphrast, concurrere faciam; the Syriac, concitabo; and the Arabic, irruent Egyptii in Egyptios. All these convey the very same idea of the Egyptians being in a state of civil war with the Egyptians. Buxtorf translates it I will mix; and arranges 7 and 70, which he gives in its reduplicate form, as distinct roots. They seem however to be only different modifications of the same word, the primitive idea of which is to cover or overspread. Hence its sense is extended to anointing, because anointing is covering any thing with ointment. But it is difficult to conceive how it can be further extended to mixing, on the ground that ointments are wont to be prepared by mixing : because it is obvious, that such a sense has not the least athnity with its primitive meaning. The word does not signify to anoint, because ointments are mixed, but because they are spread over the person anointed.

the

the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. 4. And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of cruel lords; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts. 5. And the waters shall fail from the sea, even the river shall be wasted and dried up. 6. And the rivers shall be removed away; and the embanked canals * shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither. 7. The plants by the streams, by the mouth of the streams, and every thing sown by the streams, shall wither, be driven away, and be no 8. The fishers also shall mourn; even all they, that cast the hook into the streams, shall lament; and they, that spread nets upon the waters, shall languish. 9. Moreover they that work in yellow flax, and they that weave nets †, shall be confounded. 10. And their toils shall be broken,

more.

• The embanked canals.] "Rivi aggerum, as the Vulgate "has it. The canals, by which the waters of the Nile were "distributed, were fortified by mounds or banks, 10." Bp. of Killalla in loc.

+ They that work in yellow flax, and they that weave nets.] Bp. Lowth translates this passage, They that work the fine flax shall be confounded, and they that weave net-work. But the context seems to shew, that not fine flax fit for the purposes of weaving ornamental net-work is here intended, but coarse flar for the making of fishing-nets.

Their toils.] So I render 'nnw. See Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. Vox nu.