You are right, O Lord, when I contend with You When I debate with You, I know that you will be right in Your words, but I wish to argue with You so that You will let me know Your way.

Why has the way of the wicked prospered? That You have given greatness to Nebuchadnezzar the wicked, and you have made him succeed in destroying Your house? Another explanation is that he was crying and complaining about the men of Anathoth.

have peace Heb. שלו, an expression of שלוה, peace.

But You, O Lord, have known me Also, concerning the men of Anathoth You have aided me, for You have known me.

Draw them out like sheep to the slaughter Draw them out of life to death (detache les in French, separate them, cut them off). Comp. (Joshua 8:6) “until we have drawn (התיקנו) them from the city.”

and prepare them Heb. הקדישם, prepare them.

How long will the land mourn and the grass of all the field dry out? Up to here are the prophet’s words, and the Holy Spirit replies to him, “Because of the evil of its inhabitants, beasts and fowl are ended.”

will...mourn Be waste.

ended (finira in French, will terminate).

for they said i.e., the inhabitants of this land have said.

“He will not see our end.” It is not revealed to Him what will be at our end.

For if you have run with foot men and they wearied you Your kin, the priests like you and the men of your city come to kill you. with footmen Heb. רגלים (pieton in O.F), pedestrian.

how will you compete with horses To run with the horses. That is to say, If even your brethren the priests come to kill you, surely the princes of Judah will rise up against you to kill you. This is the reason for My anger against them, and this is the reason for the success of the enemy. And so did Jonathan render: This is the reply, etc. And, according to the Midrash of our Rabbis (Sanhedrin 96a): If you are amazed about the reward for the three steps that Nebuchadnezzar ran in My honor in the days of Merodach-baladan, why I gave him so much greatness, how much more will you be amazed when you see the payment of reward that I will pay the righteous who ran before Me like horses!

will you compete (aastir in O.F.).

and in the peaceful land that you trust there they wearied you.

how will you do in the heights The princes of Judah. The pride of the Jordan is symbolic since it is a place of lions and tigers, and Jonathan taught us this in many places. And here he paraphrased. And how do you expect to do against the wild beasts that are on the height of the Jordan? “And behold, as a lion ascends from the height of the Jordan,” Jonathan renders in two places (infra 49:19, 50:44): like a lion that ascends from the height of the Jordan.

have called a gang after you Heb. מלא, a group of men.

My soul’s beloved My treasured people.

she raised her voice against Me The cry of her violent deeds has ascended before Me.

Is...a speckled bird of prey? The ‘heh’ is that of the interrogative. Therefore, it is vowelized with a ‘pattah.’ Are they like a speckled bird of prey, stained with blood, around which other birds gather? Another explanation:

Is...a speckled bird of prey One bird is speckled, and all the birds gather around it to eat it because they hate it.

Are there birds of prey around her? Are these armies fowl of the heavens, the swift troops that are around her?

Many shepherds The commanders of the troops of Nebuchadnezzar’s army, as it is stated above (6:3): “Shepherds and their flocks shall come to her.”

they have trampled Heb. בססו, an expression of trampling. Cf. (Zech. 10:5) “And they shall be like mighty men trampling (בוסים) the mire of the streets.”

My field Heb. חלקתי, (campagne in French), countryside.

the wasted one mourns before Me Heb. עלי, lit. on Me.

They sowed wheat, but they reaped thorns They prayed, but their prayer was not accepted. Why? Because they did not plow for themselves a furrow of repentance and good deeds. Therefore, they sowed seeds resulting in thorns. A book in which זרעו is vowelized with a ‘chirik’ under the ‘zayin,’ is erroneous.

they have become ill Heb. נחלו, an expression of illness. They have become ill with their pain and their cry before Me, but they did not avail.

of your increase Of your deeds.

My wicked neighbors Egypt, Ammon and Moab, Tyre and Sidon, who were neighbors of Eretz Israel and were inflicting harm upon them.

I will return and have pity on them They all suffered close to the destruction of the Temple, and concerning each one it is stated in this Book, “I will return the exile of...”

if they learn If they proselytize.

they shall be built up an expression of building.