And nation was destroyed of nation. — And they were crushed, nation by nation and city by city. The verb khathath occurs Isaiah 2:4 (“to beat”); but in its (intensive) passive form only here. Some MSS. have the (intensive) active form, which is found elsewhere. So LXX. and Vulg.: “And nation shall fight against nation.” Nation is gôy, i.e., a community of kindred, such as a tribe or clan, rather than a merely political aggregate. The allusion is to the old feuds and contentions between rival tribes, e.g., between Ephraim and Gilead (Manasseh) (Judges 12), or between Benjamin and the other tribes (Judges 20). The verse vividly pourtrays an internecine strife, like that described in Isaiah 19:2 : “And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, kingdom against kingdom;” or like that depicted by the same prophet (Isaiah 9:18-21): “No man shall spare his brother... they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm [i.e., of his natural ally]: Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah.”
Did vex them with all adversity. — Had confounded (or, discomfited) them with every kind of distress. (Comp. Zechariah 14:13 : “A great confusion from the Lord.”)