V. 1. l^Therefore they have burned the bones of the king of Edom to ashes].
[Instead of] incendere [it should be comburere, for in Hebrew] the verbum "means" "to burn altogether."
V. 2. [But I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall consume the palaces of Kirioth; and Moab shall die in tumult, and in shouting, and in sound of trumpets].
Carioth, better: cities, appellative. I do not like here the fables of the Jews of Moab that it burned [the bones of the king of Edom] to ashes and dug them out of the grave 2c. I would rather take it figuratively. This rural prophet is full of imagery. "Issachar is a legged ass" [Gen. 49:14.], that is, a strong one; and the strong bones, that is, his princes and mighty and strong ones, he has burned 2c. He punishes that it has avenged itself with such great lust; this sin GOD cannot suffer. A wonderful GOtt, that he judges among the heathen. God seeks out all the heathen, so that
He is the God of the whole world, both of the Gentiles and the Jews. He punishes one people by the other 2c. It is not by chance 2c. - In sonitu is as much as "in the tumult", as "outside" on the sea the storms, and the winds in the trees roar. - "In trumpet reverberation," in shouting and under the sound of the trumpet, or in rejoicing. All this the king of the Assyrians will do. Now he passes over to Judah and chiefly to Israel. "There he abideth."
V. 4. [Therefore, that they despise the law of the LORD, and do not keep his statutes, and are deceived by their lies, which their fathers followed].
Abjecerit, "it [namely Judah] despises". The prophets punish nothing so much in the people as that they do not keep what they should keep and "do". Here you see that one sin contains many 2c. -[Instead of mandatum it should be statutum,] a commandment, an order that can be changed with time 2c. Thus it is said in the second Psalm, v. 7:
I will preach a constant right of God 1). This people always remains on its sense, "therefore I will let them go as they go"; I will not spare them 2c. - Idola should mean "lies." The cause is this, because they stick to the lies of their fathers, just as our [papists] stick to the fathers. - Abierant, "they have followed".
V. 5. This shall consume the palaces of Jerusalem.
Aedes is palaces. - So far he has made a digression, and now he comes to the actual prophecy, which he has undertaken against Israel. 2)
V. 6. For three and four of Israel's vices I will not spare them, because they sell the righteous for money and the poor for a pair of shoes.
Against Israel he has similar sins as those which are sins before others, which he also calls sevenfold, because they happen continuously and persistently, "are called shoes", that is, they reject righteousness 3) altogether. Ezekiel says [Cap. 13, 19.]: "For the sake of a handful 4) of bread"; "he would take a piece of three" and betray the prince. These are the cowardly people who would sell and betray righteousness for the sake of some cause, ["for money"] "one", the other "for a pair of shoes". They are afraid to approach justice. This is very disgracefully spoken; that is, they do not judge righteously, as honor requires, "strike" righteousness and the righteous "to the wind" 2c.
V. 7. They tread the head of the poor in dung.
[Instead of: Qui conterunt super pulverem, it should be In pulverem or ad [pulverem ab-.
1) Instead of [1 in our original-is to be read either Dei, according to the Altenburg manuscript, or Hus according to the Vulgate.
2) Here it is probably better to read espid with the Erlanger than eospiti with the Weimarschen.
3) In the Weimarschen: iniustitiarn instead of justitiarn; probably a printing error.
4) What the Weimarsche here from the: Texts of the Bible inserted, korckei 6t tra^M6n, seems to us deliberately omitted for the sake of the following German phrase: "er nem ein stuck drei" (so. Brode).
sorbent. He uses a verb that means to devour, that is, they make the poor nothing at all, as the dust is. They do not do justice to the fatherless or the widow; they condemn them for the sake of the great or according to favor. Above in Hosea it says [Cap. 4, 1.]: "There is no faithfulness in the land", as our princes [nowadays also the common people [bring] into] 5) destitution or poverty. - "And hinder the way of the wretched." Declinently, they pervert, pervert, namely, the cause of the poor. They corrupt the ways of the same and direct them to their own advantage. Their tyranny and avarice go beyond all measure; their lechery is beyond all measure: so brazenly do they commit fornication that in open incest father and son ravish one and the same girl. This could easily happen among the Jewish people. - So that they profane my holy name." Ungodly life is a blasphemy of God. The name of GOD has been invoked over lins. [By whatever names GOtt is called,] 6) with these names we also are glorified. And yet the devil reigns among us 2c.
V. 8 They drink wine in the house of their gods (in domo Dei sui) from those they have prayed for.
"And wine from the penitents", from the penalty, from any penance (mulcta). They unjustly force to pay any amount that is unjustly taken, that is, they tyrannize freely, not only against the people, but also against the sanctuaries, because it was not allowed to [drink wine] in the temple. They lived quite brazenly, taking no account of shame or fear of God. - "Wine," that is, they took the unrighteous fines from which they bought wine to live deliciously on. So they made cushions of the garments, that they might sit there in the temple of GOD in splendor, as the lords. This he says to make the thing great. In the law both were forbidden: simple indulgence and what you read in the 5th book of Moses [Cap. 24, 12. f.] about the pledge that one should not keep it during the night];
5) Supplemented by us according to the Haitian manuscript.
6) Supplemented by us according to the Altenburg manuscript.
But they kept it not only through the night, but for ever. He makes their sins great and heavy: from what they had robbed from the poor, from the repentance of the unjustly condemned, they drank wine [on] "seats with baste bandages." 1) But what is it that he says, "In the temple of GOD," since the temple was not in Israel but in Judah? This he should have praised [ that they defiled the temple of the calves]. A godless heart sins in a godless way. Notice in Dionysius [ that he] consecrated his beard [to the gods, but) took away the golden gifts [from the image of Jupiter]. 2) He would have done the same at the right worship and at the right temple. The deities [numina] should not be despised but feared (by those who worship them), although the devil would be worshipped 2c. The godless are godless also in their worship. In their ungodly nature, even today the monks act ungodly, who have sworn poverty and are the very richest, have sworn chastity and are the very unchaste.
Threefold is the wickedness in the temple of God 2c. Now God is bringing upon them the benefits that were shown to Israel.
V. 9. I destroyed its fruit above and its root below.
Contrivi, I have exterminated. That is, I have exterminated the small and the great, the princes and the people. I have not left them seed; "with root, with all," both the roots and the fruit I have destroyed, above and below.
V. 10. I have led you in the wilderness.
This is an advancement of his good deeds: so you repay me.
V. 11. [And have raised up prophets from among your children, and Nazarites from among your young men].
1) In the original: "sit with basten binden". By "basten binden" will be understood carpets. The Hallic manuscript offers: pulviimridus 6t tap6tis ex vestimentis piMoratieiis emptis sauf Polstern und Teppichen, die für die verpfändeten Kleiver gekauft^.
2) Compare Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. II, 923, § 57.
("Prophets" and) "Nazarites"; Samson and the judges, who were prophets who ruled the people. I have not only brought you in (to the land), but have also given you judges, that you might be preserved.
V. 12. 3) So you give (the Nazarenes) wine to drink.
Deut. 6, 3. The Nazarites are forbidden to drink wine. 4) [They made the Nazarenes unholy and the prophets would not let them be prophets]. They could not suffer them to prophesy against them. Otherwise they would have been able to suffer it, "here we cannot suffer it". In the following chapter 2c.
V. 13. Behold, I will make it foolish among you.
[Instead of foeno in the Vulgate it should] rather be "sheaves" (read). As a chariot groans, 5) which is full of sheaves; [the load] makes the chariot groan; so will I make you groan under the chariot which I will harness by the king of the Assyrians. I will burden you, "will load full" 2c.; in whatever place you may be, "you shall be under it." Ye shall lie under the feet of [the king of] the Assyrians, and he shall overcome. Under him ye shall groan, but in vain; there shall be none to deliver you.
V. 14. That he who is swift shall not escape.
He takes away protection: I will take away all protection and strength. In the Psalm [142, 5. Vulg.] it says: "The escape has gone to ruin from me" [, that is], the hope is lost. 6) "He who is swift" will not be able to escape, and "the strong one" will not be able to do anything in the fight by his strength, 7) by his powers.
3) Here the Weimar edition has no new verse number, but the Erlangen has it in the margin.
4) Here follows a sentence m our original, which we cannot make sense of: tune ernt peeeatum yuamvis nune iäso üie 68t ä6lietum, quoä pror>Ü6tAV6runt. What we have inserted instead, according to the Hallic manuscript.
5) Instead of "geit", which both the Erlangen and Weimar editions offer, Mmit will read what is found in the Altenburg manuscript.
6) Already here, the verse number "15." is found in the Weimar edition.
7) For roko in the original we assumed rodoi-6, the Erlanger and the Weimarsche: rodorutus.
V. 15. [And the archers shall not stand].
[Tenens arcum 1) in the Vulgate] is "a bowman", arcitenens. I will send fear among you and attack you with the forces of others, so that you will not be able to stand. - [Ascensor equi, that is,] "he who rides." 2)
1) This should have been highlighted in the editions as the keyword, not saAittarius, which is an explanatory word.
mosus 2c.
V. 16. sAnd he that is most manly among the strong shall have to flee naked at that time].
The most courageous among the fighters will escape naked, "the ensign" or leader. Whose heart was like that of a lion, his heart will be so despondent at that time that he will flee away naked. "There fight the devil" where the enemy is strong, the heart despondent. This is the war of God, that he first takes the heart and "makes it faint"; it fears a child and a woman 2c.