effect it
JOHN CALVIN a manner to shake the very air, so that all might tremble at their voice alone. This seems to have been expressed by the Prophet, when he said, We have heard In short,
Jeremiah does not mean that the report of the pride of Moab had spread abroad, as rumors often fly respecting the haughtiness and boastings of men; but he intimates that the Moabites were heralds of their own power, so that they spoke in lofty terms of their own greatness, and thus their own tongues testified of their haughtiness and arrogance. 374 And hence it was that the Prophet enlarged on their pride; Moab is very proud, he says; we have heard his haughtiness, his pride and his arrogance,
(though it be the same word,) and the loftiness of his heart, or, as we may say in
Latin, et altos spiritus, and his high sprits. It now follows ---
Jeremiah 48:30
30. I know his wrath, saith the LORD; but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it
30. Ego cognovi, dicit Jehova, insolentiam ejus; et mendacia ejus non rectitudo; non sic facient.
This verse is variously explained, at least the second clause. Some render it,
indignation, and not what is right;'' then they add by itself, ``his lies;'' and lastly, ``they have not done rightly,'' or as others, ``they will not do anything fixed,'' which is more suitable, and comes near to the rendering which I have given. But I will not here discuss other interpretations, or try at large to disprove-them, but it is sufficient for us to understand the real meaning of the Prophet.
In the first place, God is here introduced as saying, I know his insolence The pronoun {,}אניani, is emphatical, for in the last verse the Prophet had said, that the boastings of Moab were a terror, as they spoke loudly of their own strength and defences. As then they thus with open mouths sounded forth their own praises, they filled all their neighbors with terror; hence the Prophet said, We have heard the pride of Moab Now God also on his part gives this answer, I know, he says, his insolence; as though he had said, ``The Moabites do not thus boast, but that I am a witness; all these things ascend to my tribunal.''
He afterwards adds, still in the person of God, Not rectitude are his lies By the word
which some render, ``his indignation,'' the Prophet means, I think, insolence. It signifies properly excess, as it comes from {,}עברober, to pass over.
The noun is indeed often taken to express indignation, because anger keeps within no limits, but is, as Horace says, a momentary madness. 375 But on account of what the passage seems to require, I render it insolence, and it is the most suitable word.
And God having declared that the insolence of Moab was seen by him, mentions also his lies The word {,}בדיםmeans branches of trees, and sometimes sons or children,
374Our version in Isaiah 16:6, where the same form of words occurs, is, "We have heard of," though here the "of" is dropped, and thus the meaning of Calvin is conveyed, which is favored by the early versions. The verse may be thus literally rendered, — We have heard the arrogance of Moab; Very arrogant has been his insolence and arrogance; Yea, his arrogantness and the loftiness of his heart. The word for "arrogance" means swelling; it is to grow big, and to claim more than what belongs to us. Then "insolence" signifies to rise high, so as to look down on others with contempt. Arrogance is first, then insolence: and in the last line the two are inverted, and with this difference, the disposition is denoted in the last line, and the acting in the former. — Ed.
375Ira furor brevis est — Epist. 2 ad Loll.