The prophet laments, that notwithstanding all his preaching, the
generality are still corrupt in their manners: therefore their
desolation is at hand: but they shall be restored again and prosper;
and all mankind shall be redeemed by Christ.
7:1. Woe is me, for I am become as one that gleaneth in autumn the
grapes of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat, my soul desired the
first ripe figs.
7:2. The holy man is perished out of the earth, and there is none
upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood, every one hunteth
his brother to death.
7:3. The evil of their hands they call good: the prince requireth, and
the judge is for giving: and the great man hath uttered the desire of
his soul, and they have troubled it.
7:4. He that is best among them, is as a brier, and he that is
righteous, as the thorn of the hedge. The day of thy inspection, thy
visitation cometh: now shall be their destruction.
7:5. Believe not a friend, and trust not in a prince: keep the doors of
thy mouth from her that sleepeth in thy bosom.
7:6. For the son dishonoureth the father, and the daughter riseth up
against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law: and
a man's enemies are they of his own household.
7:7. But I will look towards the Lord, I will wait for God, my saviour:
my God will hear me.
7:8. Rejoice not, thou my enemy, over me, because I am fallen: I shall
arise, when I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light.
7:9. I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against
him: until he judge my cause, and execute judgement for me: he will
bring me forth into the light, I shall behold his justice.
7:10. And my enemy shall behold, and she shall be covered with shame,
who saith to me: Where is the Lord thy God? my eyes shall look down
upon her: now shall she be trodden under foot as the mire of the
streets.
She shall be covered, etc. . .Viz., Babylon my enemy.
7:11. The day shall come, that thy walls may be built up: in that day
shall the law be far removed.
The law. . .Viz., of thy enemies, who have tyrannized over thee.
7:12. In that day they shall come even from Assyria to thee, and to the
fortified cities: and from the fortified cities even to the river, and
from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
7:13. And the land shall be made desolate because of the inhabitants
thereof, and for the fruit of their devices.
The land, etc. . .Viz., of Babylon.
7:14. Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy inheritance, them
that dwell alone in the forest, in the midst of Carmel: they shall feed
in Basan and Galaad, according to the days of old.
7:15. According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt, I
will shew him wonders.
7:16. The nations shall see, and shall be confounded at all their
strength: they shall put the hand upon the mouth, their ears shall be
deaf.
7:17. They shall lick the dust like serpents, as the creeping things of
the earth, they shall be disturbed in their houses: they shall dread
the Lord, our God, and shall fear thee.
7:18. Who is a God like to thee, who takest away iniquity, and passest
by the sin of the remnant of thy inheritance? he will send his fury in
no more, because he delighteth in mercy.
7:19. He will turn again, and have mercy on us: he will put away our
iniquities: and he will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea.
7:20. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, the mercy to Abraham: which
thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.