cows of Bashan—This refers to the wives of the princes and the officers. Jonathan renders: wealthy in property.

and you shall be borne on shields Heb. בְּצִנּוֹת. And the nations shall bear you on their shields.

and your posterity in fishing boats Heb. בְּסִירוֹת דּוּגָה. [Jonathan renders:] And your daughters in fishermen’s boats. That is a small boat used by fishermen, and, since it is small, he calls it סִיר, a pot, and in Mishnaic Hebrew, it is called דּוּגִית in Baba Bathra 73a. your posterity Heb. וְאַחֲרִיתְכֶן, lit., your end. Dunash ben Livrat (Teshuvoth p. 50): We find a person’s descendants called ‘his end.’ Cf. (Daniel 11:4) “And when he stands up, his kingdom shall be broken, and it shall be divided to the four winds of the heaven, and not to his posterity (לְאַחֲרִיתוֹ).” I.e, he will not leave over his kingdom to his son.

And [through the] breaches they shall emerge, each woman straight before her—And in the breaches of the wall they shall emerge there to flee.

each woman straight before her—In the breach that she will find straight before her. Cf. (Josh. 6:5) “And the people shall go up, every man opposite him (נֶגְדוֹ),” for there will be many breaches, and they will not find it necessary to search for entrances.

and you shall cast off the haughtiness Heb. הַהַרְמוֹנָה. And you shall cast off yourselves the haughtiness and the authority that you took. This is an Aramaism in the Talmud: (Baba Mezia 84) “הַרְמָנָה דְמַלְכָּא, It is the king’s command.” And Jonathan renders: “And they shall exile you beyond the טורֵי חַרְמִינֵי”. They are the mountains of darkness, an expression of destruction (חֵרֶם) and waste.

Come to Bethel etc.—Like a man who says to a scoundrel, “Do [as you please] until your measure [of sin] is full.”

and bring your sacrifices in the morning—The priests of Baal say to them, “Idolatry is liberal and does not impose stringent regulations upon you. The Torah states: (Exodus 34:25) ‘Shall not stay overnight,’ but for idolatry, ‘And bring in the morning. ’ The Torah states concerning sacrifices of lesser sanctity: (Lev. 19:6) ‘On the day of your sacrifice, it may be eaten, and on the morrow, ’ but idolatry, ‘after three days your tithes of cattle.’ The Torah states: (Lev. 2: 11) ‘Leaven... you shall not offer up,’ but idolatry, (verse 5) ‘And offer up a thanksgiving offering of leaven. ’ The Torah states: (Deut. 23:22) ‘You shall not delay its payment,’ but idolatry, ‘and proclaim and publish the free will offerings.’ Proclaim: ‘Whoever vowed and forgot, shall give it thought and remember.’” (Yerushalemi, Avodah Zarah 1:1) And Jonathan renders: And offer up from robbery. Cf. (Isa. 1: 17) “Strengthen the robbed (חָמוֹץ);” (Psalms 71:4) “From the hand of the unrighteous and the robbers (וּמְחַמֵּץ).”

and proclaim and publish the freewill offerings—with a song, and say that this sacrifice is desirable and acceptable as a freewill offering. So did Jonathan render.

Cleanness of teeth Heb. נִקְיוֹן שִׁנַּיִם. Setting your teeth on edge. [I.e, they would have nothing to eat, and their teeth would be set on edge.] Another explanation: cleanness of teeth. This denotes the lack of meat, which goes between the teeth, as it is stated: (Num. 11:33) “The meat was still between their teeth.”

when there were yet three months before the harvest—Until the harvest. I.e, three months before the harvest.

field Heb. חֶלְקָה, a fielded plain, campagne in French.

shall receive rain Heb. תִמָּטֵר, shall be a place of rain. The master stated: Both of them are for a curse; this one will rot, and this one will wither. [from Taanith 6b]

and the field upon which no rain shall fall—That will not show itself rained upon.

the increase of your gardens—That you are engaged in increasing your gardens.

the shearing locust has devoured Heb. יֹאכַל, lit., shall devour. Has devoured.

after the manner of Egypt—Just as I sent upon you in the desert when you left Egypt.

with the captivity of your horses—For they slay the horses as well.

and I caused the stench of your camps to rise—The smell of your corpses would raise a stench, and I caused it to rise into your nostrils.

like a brand Heb. כְּאוּד, tison in French, an ember; i.e, black and dark and burnt black.

Therefore—Since you did not return to Me.

because I will do this to you—as all these evils.

because—Since you hear from the mouth of My prophets that I will do this to you.

prepare to meet Me—to repent of your wickedness.

what his speech is—All his deeds are related in detail before him at the time of his death.

He makes dawn—for the righteous like a bright light.

darkness—He turns the brightness of the wicked into darkness. Cf. (Isa. 8:22) “And behold, distress and darkness, darkness (מְעוּף) of oppression.” Similarly, (Job 10:22) “Land of darkness (עֵפָתָה)”; (ibid. 11:17) “Darkness (תָּעֻפָה) shall be like morning.” Your darkness shall shine like the morning.

and treads upon the high places of the earth—He humbles the high and haughty.