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1 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

2 Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.

3 Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.

4 And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

5 Thus saith the Lord God; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.

6 An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.

7 The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.

8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.

9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth.

10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.

11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall there be wailing for them.

12 The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.

14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.

17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.

18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.

19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.

21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.

22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.

25 Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.

26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.

27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

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<html><b>The end has come</b> Because I had said (Deut. 4:25): “and you will have grown old (וְנוֹשַּׁנְתֶּם) in the land, and you will practice corruption, etc., so that you will be lost.” [The word] וְנוֹשַּׁנְתֶּם has the numerical value of 852, but they stayed there for [only] 850 years: 440 from the time they entered it until the Temple was built, and [then] the Temple stood 410 years.</html>

<html><b>An evil, a singular evil</b> Heb. רָעָה אַחַתרָעָה, a total, special evil, worse than all evils; that is the destruction of the Temple. <b>behold it comes</b> Heb. בָאָה. Its accent is on the ‘aleph.’ It is in the present tense.</html>

<html><b>The dawn has set</b> Heb. בָּאָה הַצְפִירָה. Its accent is at the beginning of the word, and it is in the past tense. The צְפִירָה has already set. The light of the dawn and the glory has already set. <b>and not the shout of the mountains</b> [Jonathan renders:] And not to escape into the strongholds of the mountains. [The word] הֵד means the cry of the announcement to rise and flee to the mountaintops, like (Isa. 16: 10): “the shout [of joy] (הֵידָד) have I abolished.” Also (Jer. 51:1): “and they shall raise a battle-cry (הֵידָד) against you.” The shout of those who carry the load of grapes to the winepress and those who load on the beam.</html>

<html><b>Speedily</b> Heb. מקרוב, [lit. from close.] Quickly.</html>

<html><b>Behold the day</b> Behold the day has come. <b>behold it is coming</b> The evil. <b>the dawn has gone forth</b> The dawn of the day of the evil. <b>the staff has budded</b> to strike you. <b>the willful wickedness has blossomed</b> The wicked Nebuchadnezzar has revealed himself.</html>

<html><b>The violence has arisen, etc.</b> The violence in your hands has risen upon you as a staff of wickedness to destroy you. <b>neither from them</b> So said the Holy One, blessed be He, to the Destroyer: You are not required to spare a soul [from the wicked of Israel], for no good will come from them or from their children or from their multitude. <b>and no one among them longs</b> No one among them longs or gives thought to Me, as in (I Sam. 7:2): “and all the house of Israel longed (וַיִנָהוּ) for the Lord.” This is an Aramaism: “And they longed (וְאִתְנְהִיאוּ) for My worship,” an expression of desire and longing. Menachem (p. 69) associated it with יללה, an expression of wailing, and the word retains only the ‘hey’ as a radical.</html>

<html><b>neither will the seller mourn</b> Although one who sells his field usually grieves, he will not grieve because you are destined to go into exile.</html>

<html><b>For the seller will not return to that which was sold</b> Once he goes into exile, he will not return and will no longer see the field that he had sold; so why should he mourn? <b>as long as they are alive</b> All the days of their lives they will not return to their place. <b>for when the prophecy was [directed] to all her multitude, etc.</b> For the prophets prophesy concerning all their multitude to repent, but they do not repent. <b>and each man’s soul is in his iniquity</b> The life and soul of every one of them is attached to his iniquity. <b>they do not strengthen themselves</b> They do not strengthen their heart over their evil inclination, to return to their Torah.</html>

<html><b>They sound the shofar</b> When the enemy comes upon them, they prepare themselves for war, but no one will go out to fight.</html>

<html><b>like the doves of the valleys</b> It is customary for doves to congregate in the valleys and moan there. They [the survivors] will moan on the mountains, where they will flee, each one for his iniquity, like the doves of the valleys, which all moan.</html>

<html><b>will go [like] water</b> from the sweat of fright.</html>

<html><b>will be repugnant</b> It will be disgusting for them.</html>

<html><b>And the beauty of His adornment</b> of the Holy One, blessed be He, that He made for their pride. This is the Temple, called the pride of their might, as it is said (24:21): “Behold I profane My sanctuary, the pride of Your might.” They made in it the images of their abominations, therefore, etc.</html>

<html><b>My secret place</b> The place where I was hidden among them.</html>

<html><b>Make the chain</b> Heb. הָרַתּוֹק, the chain. It is a symbolic sign that they will go into exile bound in fetters. <b>crimes of bloodshed</b> [lit. judgment of blood. Targum renders:] Crimes deserving of death.</html>

<html><b>the most wicked of the nations</b> Heb. רָעֵי גוֹיִם. The most wicked and cruel of the nations. <b>and they will deliver as an inheritance</b> Heb. וְנִחֲלוּ, they will give over to others as an inheritance. <b>their meeting places</b> Heb. מְקַדְשֵׁיהֶם. The temples of the high places, where they would gather at appointed times; an expression of a house of their appointment.</html>

<html><b>A cutting off comes</b> Heb. קְפָדָה like (Isa. 38:12): “I severed (קִפַּדְתִּי) like a weaver, my life”; a term denoting cutting off.</html>

<html><b>Happening upon happening</b> Heb. הוָֹה עַל-הוָֹה, happening upon happening, being after being. Menachem (p. 70) associated it to a term for a breach. <b>and instruction will be lost from a priest</b> who usually gave instruction, as is said (Mal. 2:7): “and teaching should be sought from his mouth.”

Chapter 8