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In the second verse he expresses more clearly his mind, Perished, he says, has the righteous (182) from the land, and there is none upright (183) among men. Here now he does not personify the land. It was indeed a forcible and an emphatic language, when he complained at the beginning, that he groaned as though the land was ashamed of its dearth: but the Prophet now performs the office of a teacher, Perished, he says, has the righteous from the land; there is no one upright among men; all lay in wait for blood; every one hunts his brother as with a net In this verse the Prophet briefly shows, that all were full both of cruelty and perfidy, that there was no care for justice; as though he said, In vain are good men sought among this people; for they are all bloody, they are all fraudulent. When he says, that they all did lay in wait for blood, he no doubt intended to set forth their cruelty, as though he had said, that they were thirsting for blood. But when he adds, that each did lay in wait for their brethren, he alludes to their frauds or to their perfidy.
We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet: and the manner he adopts is more emphatical than if God, in his own name, had pronounced the words: for, as men were fixed, and as though drowned, in their own carelessness, the Prophet introduces here the land as speaking, which accuses its own children, and confesses its own guilt; yea, it anticipates God’ judgment, and acknowledges itself to be contaminated by its own inhabitants, so that nothing pure remained in it. It follows —
(182) Justus, rendered in the text humanus, vel, mansuetus The Hebrew is חסיר, rendered by the Septuagint “ ευσβης — pious,”— Marckius, “benignus — kind, benignant,” — by Newcome, “ good man,” — and by Henderson, “ pious.” It is sometimes rendered holy; but its meaning is, kind, benevolent, merciful, actively good, beneficent. In Psa_12:1, it is rendered “” and in Isa_57:1, “” — Ed.
(183) Rectus ישר, rendered by the Septuagint, “ κατορθων — going straight to an object,”— Newcome and Henderson, “” It is one who proceeds in a straight course according to the rule of the law, without making any windings or turning aside into any devious path. — Ed.