“Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.”
Virgin; delicate. (Menochius) — Cyrus overthrew this empire, (Calmet) which now felt its share of misery. (Worthington)
“Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.”
Shame. Hebrew tsammathec, Canticle of Canticles iv. 1, 4. Protestants, “thy locks, make bare the legs, uncover the thigh, pass,” &c. (Haydock) — Thou shalt be reduced to a state of the most abject slavery, Exodus xi. 5., and Supra[Isaias] iii. 17., and xx. 4. The Barbarians sold their slaves naked.
“I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.”
Polluted; deemed or declared unclean. But thou hast sought to gratify thy vindictive temper, in punishing my people. (Calmet) — The sins of both called down vengeance. (Worthington)
“And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.”
Lady. Pride goes before ruin, Proverbs xvi. 18.
“But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.”
Two. The empire and the people shall be removed at once. — Enchanters; princes or magicians, who gave them evil counsel, ver. 12.
“Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. from: Heb. the morning thereof put: Heb. expiate”
Know. All this shews the vanity of magic, which cannot announce future events to do any good. (Calmet)
“Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers , the stargazers , the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. astrologers: Heb. viewers of the heavens the monthly: Heb. that give knowledge concerning the months”
Months, to tell which would prove lucky, Esther iii. 7.
“Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. themselves: Heb. their souls”
Thereat, to warm themselves, (Haydock) or to adore. (Calmet) — In Cappadocia are to be seen “Pyratheia,…in which the magi keep a perpetual fire, and sing hymns about the space of an hour.” (Strabo xv.) — These were a sort of open temples. (Calmet)
“Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.”
Merchants. The city was well situated for trade, chap. xiii. 20. (Diodorus ii.)