“In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. piercing: or, crossing like a bar”
Hard. Septuagint, “holy.” (Calmet) — Leviathan. That is, the devil, the great enemy of the people of God. He is called the bar serpent from his strength, and the crooked serpent from his wiles, and the whale of the sea, from the tyranny he exercises in the sea of this world. He was spiritually slain by the death of Christ, when his power was destroyed. (Challoner) — It may also literally refer to Nabuchodonosor, and the king of Egypt, or rather to Cambyses, or Holofernes, but particularly Cambyses. (Calmet)
“In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine .”
Vineyard; the Church of Christ, (Challoner) or Judea. It may be the beginning of a noted song. (Calmet)
“I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.”
Drink; or, as the Hebrew may also be rendered, I will continually water it. (Challoner) — God will protect his people. (Calmet)
“Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. go: or, march against”
In me, against the Church; nor shall I become as a thorn or brier in its regard; or march against it, or set it on fire: but it shall always take fast hold of me, and keep an everlasting peace with me. (Challoner) — God rather speaks of the enemy. If he attempt to lay waste this vineyard, I will chastise him. (Calmet)
“He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.”
Rush in. Some understand this of the enemies of the true Israel, that shall invade it in vain. Others of the spiritual invasion made by the apostles of Christ. (Challoner) — Protestants, “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root.” Septuagint, “those who come are children of Jacob.” (Haydock)
“Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? as: Heb. according to the stroke of”
Struck. Hath God punished the carnal persecuting Jews, in proportion to their doings against Christ and his saints? (Challoner) — God punished Israel as a father: but he will destroy the Chaldeans, &c. (Calmet)
“In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. it shooteth: or, thou sendest it forth he: or, when he removeth it with”
Cast off. When the synagogue shall be cast off, thou shalt judge it in measure, and in proportion to its crimes. (Challoner) — The Israelites have been rigorously punished. (Calmet) — He, &c. God hath designed severe punishments in the day of his wrath. (Challoner)
“By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. images: or, sun images”
Jacob; viz., of such of them as shall be converted. (Challoner) — Altar, dedicated to idols: then he shall obtain pardon. (Calmet)
“Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.”
City. Jerusalem, (Challoner) or more probably Babylon, of which he is going to speak.
“When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.”
Women. The princes shall be weak and irresolute. (Calmet) — Septuagint, “Hither, ye women, coming from the shew. For it is not an intelligent people.”
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.”
River Euphrates, even to the Nile. (Haydock) — Nabuchodonosor laid waste all the intermediate countries. Afterwards Cyrus gave the people liberty. On the death of Cambyses, the nations were in consternation; and it was only during the peaceable reign of Darius that Israel returned, though not in a body, as the Jews had done twenty years before, chap. xxvi. (Calmet) — By one, into the Church of Christ, John xi. (Menochius)
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.”
Trumpet. The preaching of the Gospel for the conversion of the Jews. (Challoner)