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CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS

ON,

AND VARIOUS READINGS OF, THE TEXT

IN

JEREMIAH.

C. i. 5th.

Fifty-six MSS. read 77, which is more grammatical; but, perhaps, the ↑ should be placed before the verb to give it the past "Before I formed," if it be not derived from 773 or NY.

sense,

15th.

The preposition by seems to be wanting before

; which: the Sept. and Chald have supplied. The other versions read .

C. ii. 3d.- Seventeen MSS. have nan, his increase, and so the Sept. and Vulg.

11th. Sixty-five MSS. read, which is more grammatical.

12th. Be ye very desolate does not seem very applicable to the heavens; if I might, therefore, be allowed a conjecture, I would read

, and render the words thus: "be astonished, O ye heavens, and, O earth, be thou very desolate," or struck with terror. Similar to which is that passage, Isai. c. i. 2: see Taylor's Conc.

13th. Forty-three MSS. have n in the second place, which is certainly preferable, but it is omitted in the Sept. Chald. and

Arab.

15th.

. 16th.

Twenty MSS. read, with the Keri, ny).

Forty MSS. at least, have, with the Keri, Diann, and thus it is written every where else.

17th.

tical.

18th.

xiii. 9.

Thirty-two MSS. read, which is still more gramma

Thirty MSS. have, which is more agreeable to Josh.

19th. - Twenty-six MSS. have ', which suits better with the preceding noun.

-

20th. Eight MSS. ready, and sixteen, with the Keri, 1, I will not transgress; but the Sept. reads both the verbs, I will not serve, but I will 'go; the reading of the Keri seems most eligible. For ny, perhaps, , and forty MSS, have : see Hos. iv. 18.

22d. May not, about the sense of which the interpreters are very much divided, be put by mistake for and, "thy sin is written before me?" similar to which is that passage, c. xvii. 1. The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron. The versions vary much.

24th.

ana

More than forty MSS. read, with the Keri, n), which is more suitable to the context. I am inclined to think, that, in the latter part of this verse, is put for na, "they shall find her in the forn, wood;" for, though the new moon, as Lud. de Dieu observes, might be applicable to the idolatry of the Jews, yet it does not seem to have any reference to the wild ass here spoken of, but the wood may carry an allusion both to the ass which frequents it and to the idolatrous worship of the Israelites in the groves, mentioned c. xvii. 2, and elsewhere. The Sam. renders it in viis ejus.

.

25th. — Might we not translate is, is there not hope, or, I have hope? and does not the Sept. favour this translation by rendering these words by avdı? Or, perhaps, we should read for *, "I am undone:" see Is. lvii. 10.

26th. The sense seems to require that we should read, with the Sept. the Syr. and the Ar. W in the future, as it occurs Hos. iv.

19.

27th. If we were to render the conjunction, although, or when, the opposition would be more striking; "although they have turned, &c. yet, in the time," &c. More than twenty MSS. read, with the Keri, un, “ thou hast brought us forth.”

28th. Either the is dropped before DD, or the in the preceding conjunction is redundant. The first is the case according to the Sept. and Vulg. See c. xi. 13.

4

"oh! perverse

31st. Is it not necessary to insert wpy after 1, "oh! generation," as we have it expressed Deut. xxxii. 5? The Sept. and Ar. omit 117, and seem to have read thus; 1, "we will not serve, neither will we come to thee any more;" and this is a still better sense. See v. 20.

33d.

Eighteen MSS. agree, with the Keri, in reading ns,

which is more suitable to the context.

34th. The latter part of this verse seems very obscure, and the commentators are greatly divided in their interpretation of the words, as they stand at present; but the Sept. adopted by Castalio appears to be the best. "I did not find them in ditches, or pits, (where slain persons are usually put,) but in, or under, every oak:" (where they committed their idolatries.) See Isai. i. 29.

C. iii. 1st. The Sept. and other versions did not read, and one MS. omits it. If it must be retained, might we not read 8, " and I said?"

2d.

Twenty-seven MSS. read ", as we have it v. 21; and six, with the Keri, have naw, which is more grammatical.

3d. Thirty-four MSS. read 7.

More than twenty MSS. read np, which is still more

4th. grammatical.

5th. - Is it not necessary to supply 8 or 18 after 10? The Arab. supplies impudentia tua. See Amos, i. 11. And perhaps

might be better considered as the first person, "behold, I spoke, but,"

&c.

9th. Should we not read instead of p, "and it came to pass, because of all her fornication?" as the word does not signify wantonness any where else. The versions differ much.

12th.

reading.

13th.

More than forty MSS. have Л, which is the more usual

The Sept. Ar. and Vulg. read ny in the second person singular, which agrees better with the context preceding.

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14th. May not mentioned here allude to the calling of Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees; and, to Isaac and Jacob, who were of the same family? And do not the two following verses seem to refer to the bringing of the children of Israel into the land of Judæa? By the consideration of which examples they might be the more forcibly excited to put their trust in God for his future mercies.

17th. For should we not read?

19th.

Twenty-five MSS. read, with the Keri, p, and more than twenty, with the Keri,

23d.

n.

,הגבעות והמון The Sept. seems to have read

verily, the hills and the host of the mountains are a lie." But perhaps as easy a

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