And spread them before the sun And the Chaldeans shall dwell when they besiege the city, in the graves of the princes, that were as beautiful as palaces.

for dung For fertilizer.

And death shall be preferable to life Although they see the dead being subjected to disgrace, the distress of the living is worse than that, and they will choose death.

Shall they fall and not rise Is it good for them to cast themselves into a fall from which there is no rising?

if he repents, will He not return? If they wish to repent of their wickedness, will the Holy One, blessed be He, not return from His decree? Another explanation: If they repent, the repentance will not be permanent, for they will quickly return to their wickedness, and in this manner Jonathan rendered it: If to repent, it is revealed before Me that they will not repent.

a perpetual backsliding Heb. משבה נצחת, a perpetual backsliding, like נצח, perpetual.

They have held Heb. החזיקו.

to deceit Heb. בתרמית.

not...properly Heb. לא כן, not right, cf. (Num. 27:7) “The daughters of Zelaphehad speak justly (כּן).

Each one turns away in his course [lit. in their course.] In the first way. They sin and repeatedly sin. מרוצתם is korse in O.F.

like a frightening effaye in French.

Even the stork (Cigogne in French).

her seasons The time they pass to the islands of the sea because of the cold, and the time of their return.

await Heb. שמרו.

and the turtledove and the crane and the swallow Jonathan renders: ושפנינא וכורכיא וּסנוּניתא. כּורכיא is (grue in French), a crane. סנוּניתא is (hirondelle in French), a swallow.

Verily, behold it is in vain Behold your wisdom is in vain within you to heal you lightly.

he made a false scribes’ pen i.e., your prophet.

Wise men were ashamed i.e., wise men like you. And what is the shame? Behold, they rejected the word of the Lord, now what wisdom have they?

And they healed Heb. וירפו, similar to וירפאו.

They shall be put to shame Shame and embarrassment shall come upon them.

Neither are they ashamed They are not ashamed of their evil deeds to take heart to repent.

I will utterly consume them This is an expression of destruction. Comp. (Zeph. 1:2) “I will utterly consume (אסף אסף) everything from upon the face of the earth.”

There shall be no grapes on the vine Nothing will be left over.

even the leaves will be withered Heb. נבל, an expression of withering (fleirit in French). Comp. (Isa. 34:4) “and as a withered fig (וּכנבלת) from a fig tree.” Also (ibid. 1:30), “like an elm whose leaves are wilting (נבלת).”

for what I gave them they transgressed All this shall befall them because I gave them statutes and they transgressed them.

and there let us sit in silence And let us be silent there. Let us sit there silent and mournful.

poisoned water Jonathan renders: the cup of the curse, like the venom of serpents. The venom of the serpents is the poison that is in his teeth.

From Dan is heard Because they worshipped the calf that was in Dan.

the snorting of their horses The sneezing of his nostrils.

the neighing of their stallions The neighing of joy of his horses, and we find elsewhere that horses are called אבּירים (Jud. 5:22) by reason of the prancings, “the prancings of their mighty ones (אבּיריו),” an expression of (Nahum 3:2) “a prancing horse.” And Jonathan renders: from the sound of the steps of their mighty ones.

serpents, adders After seventy years, the snake becomes a צפע, which shuts its ear so that it will not hear the voice of the charmer who charms him, as it is stated (Psalms 58:5), “Like a deaf asp that shuts up its ear.” That is the meaning of “that cannot be charmed.”

Were I to suppress my grief Heb. מבליגיתי, my suppression, and it is a noun, (mes estenimenc in O.F.). That is to say, if I said, I will suppress and keep in my grief.

my heart is sick within me From the voice of the prophecies that are revealed to me of the coming retributions.

Hark the voice...the cry of the daughter of My people I hear that eventually they will cry from a distant land, but why is all this necessary? Is not the Lord in Zion? If they return to Him, He will allow Himself to be found by them.

The harvest is past, the summer is ended We looked forward to the aid of Egypt, but it did not come. We said, “Let the harvest pass, and they will be free, and they will come.” Now behold, the time of harvest has passed in Iyar, and the summer season in Tammuz, and they have not come.

I mourn lit. I am darkened, an expression of blackness and darkness.

dismay Heb. שמה, wonder.

has taken hold of me Has held me.

Is there no balm in Gilead For balm comes from there, as it is said (infra 46:11) “Go up to Gilead and take balm.” That is to say, Did they not have any righteous men from whom to learn so that they should improve their ways?

the health of lit. the cure of, (emplatre in O.F.), plaster, dressing.