Verse 1. :{ ~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~} { ~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} { ~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HE~} { ~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER FINAL TSADI~} { ~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF~} { ~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER QOF~} { ~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER VAV~} { ~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} { ~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HE~} { ~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~} { ~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} { ~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~} { ~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER TET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} { ~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}
_The heavy burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof; when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be towards the Lord._
These are the words of the translation in our Bible; but the sense of them I must acknowledge my inability to unravel. Of what Damascus is to be the rest, or what period is intimated by the adverb of time _when_, I am at a loss to discover. The separation of Hadrach and Damascus by the insertion of a comma between them, evidently owes its origin to the supposed necessity for rendering the word { ~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER VAV~} (or { ~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}) _the rest thereof_. But if deriving it from { ~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HET~} (or { ~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}) or { ~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HET~} (or { ~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}) does not afford any intelligible sense, we are naturally led to seek another derivation; and we find one in the verb { ~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} (or { ~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}) _to descend_ or _send down_, which without violating grammatical construction affords a meaning not only intelligible, but in perfect unison with the context. The Hemantiv { ~HEBREW LETTER MEM~} prefixed, gives the _thing sent down_, while the suffix { ~HEBREW LETTER VAV~} _his_, evidently refers to _the Lord_ who sends the vision or denunciation. The English construction, of course, requires it should be rendered _his sending down_, that is, the Lord's denunciation, _against_ Hadrach and Damascus, as well as the other cities which are mentioned afterwards; for { ~HEBREW LETTER BET~} here rendered _in_, may with more propriety be rendered _against_ or _upon_. The verb { ~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} (or { ~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}) _to send down_, occurs in Joel iii. 11 and elsewhere: but the writer freely acknowledges that he has no authority for the participial noun with the Hemantiv { ~HEBREW LETTER MEM~} prefixed to signify the thing sent down, or the act of sending down, as the sense seems to require here. He therefore rests this construction solely on the ground of its being grammatically admissible, consonant to analogy, and in accordance with the context, as affording a satisfactory meaning. Let those who are not satisfied with such reasons furnish a better solution of the difficulty. In the next place, there is no necessity for rendering { ~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} (or { ~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{ ~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}) _when_, which more frequently signifies _for_; and when so rendered, it will be found to connect together the latter and the former part of the verse. For this, we only require to render the dative { ~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}, as it frequently is rendered in Hebrew, as well as Greek and Latin, to denote _possession_; and the verse will run thus. _For the Lord's is_, or to the Lord belongs, _the eye of man_; to wit, the eye of the Seer, who receives the vision, _and all the tribes of Israel_, whom the vision chiefly concerns. Making the tribes a genitive case, by inserting _of_ before them, is wholly uncalled for by the text.