propagines tuae penetrarunt ultra mare (trajecerunt mare,) usque ad mare Jaezer
JOHN CALVIN syllable to it; but the word, however, is the same. Then he says, I will think of the men of Kir-cheres The word {,}הגהege, is properly to complain, to whisper, to murmur; and hence some render the words not improperly, ``I will mutter to the men of the city of potsherd.'' 377
The Prophet does not relate here what he would do, as I have before reminded you; but that he might represent to the life the ruin of Moab, he mentions their howling, crying, and complaints. He then says, I will howl, cry aloud, and with a trembling voice complain, as those who are grievously oppressed with evils; at one time they complain, cry aloud, and howl, and at another they mutter inwardly, grumble and murmur. Thus the Prophet assumes the character of such persons, in order that he might more fully set forth the extreme calamity of that nation. He afterwards comes to particulars: ---
Jeremiah 48:32
32. O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer-fruits and upon thy vintage.
32. A fletu Jaezer flebo (vel, a planctu plangam) tibi (id est, super to) vitis Sibmah; propagines tuae penetrarunt ultra mare (trajecerunt mare,) usque ad mare Jaezer
(hoc est, cives Jaezer, vel propagines) attigerunt; super aestivales (vel, aestivos) fructus tuos (vel, messes proprie,) et super vindemias tuas irruit vastator.
Here the Prophet shews more clearly what he had said generally before, that
Sibmah would weep for her vines, after having wept for Jazer. These were cities in the land of Moab, as it appears from other places. Some give this rendering, ``In comparison with the weeping'' or mourning, etc.; and {,}מןmen, as it is well known, has this meaning; but as {,}בbeth, ``in weeping,'' is adopted by Isaiah, instead of {,}מןmen, there is no doubt but that the Prophet means a continued mourning, when he says, From (or with) the weeping of Jazer I will weep for thee, vine of Sibmah; that is, there will be no end to weeping; for after the Moabites had mourned for the destruction of the city Jazer, a new cause of weeping would arise, for other cities would be destroyed, and especially Sibmah.
Now the region of Sibmah was very fertile, especially on account of the abundance of vines. Then the Prophet includes the whole wealth of that city under the word vine; nay, he designates the citizens as its shoots or young branches. I will weep, he says, ``over thee, the vine of the vine-bearing region of Sibmah; for thy shoots, that is, thy wealth, have passed over the sea, and the citizens of Jazer, who were thy neighbors.'' He afterwards repeats respecting the city of Jazer what he had said, because its calamity was connected with the other, and was the same. For God had involved these two cities in the same destruction. Jazer then came even to the sea.
Now a waster rushed in: Isaiah has shouting, {,}הידדeidad, which is added presently here; but the word there has quite a different meaning, that all rejoicing would cease.
377This paragraph has been transplanted from the text. The verbs here are imperatives in the Sept and Syr., "Howl ye," etc.; and in the future tense in the Targ., "they shall howl, etc. The Vulg., is according to the Hebrew. The last verb is in the third person, "He (Moab) will mourn for the men of Kir-heres." This city was on the extremity of Moab northward, as Jazer was on its extremity southward. — Ed.