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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
He afterwards adds, Arise ye, and let us ascend in the night; that is, “ we cannot take the city in six hours, (from mid-day to night were six hours, for they divided the day into twelve hours, and the first hour began at the rising of the sun, and the twelfth hour closed the day,) as then we cannot take the city in six hours, let us attack it in the night.” We see here how graphically is described the extreme ardor of their enemies; for they were urged on by the hidden power of God; and this is what Jeremiah intended to express. (165) He afterwards adds —
(165) These two verses seem to have been the language of the enemies on their march towards Jerusalem. When men go to a chief city from any quarter, it is always ascending. When on their march, they encouraged one another to ascend by mid-day, as ב may be rendered, but the day declined before they reached the city; then they encouraged each other to continue their march in the night, —
Proclaim ye against her war: Rise, and let us ascend by mid-day. — Alas for us! for declined has the day, For extended have become the shadows of the evening: Arise, and let us ascend by night, And destroy her palaces.
The last word is rendered “” by the Septuagint, — “” by the Vulgate, — and “” by the Targum. This is an instance of the loose way in which the versions were often made.
To “ war,“ is not to prepare it, but to proclaim it, as Calvin says, by a solemn ceremony. — Ed.