Because the Lord hath sworn, &c. The original of this passage is variously rendered. There are two senses which appear most plausible. The one of them we have here in our text, the other in the margin. The words כי יד על כס יה chi jad gnall ches Jah, are literally, Because the hand upon the throne of Jah, Or Jehovah. The text considers it as an oath: Because he (Jehovah) hath lifted up his hand upon (that is, hath sworn by) his throne. So the Chaldee paraphrast. Others apply it to Moses: Because I have lifted up my hand, or sworn, by the throne of Jehovah. There is, however, no verb in the original answering to lifted up.
Therefore, some of the interpreters prefer the sense of the margin. Because the hand (the hand of Amalek) was against the throne of Jehovah, (the verb was being often understood,) therefore Jehovah will have war with Amalek, &c. His hand is said to have been against the throne of Jehovah, because the throne of God was then among the Israelites, whose King he was in a peculiar manner; on which account Jerusalem is called his throne, Jeremiah 3:17.