And the mean man boweth down. — The English gives adequately the significance of the two words for “man” — in Hebrew, adam and îsh. The Authorised Version applies the words to the prostrations of the worshippers of idols, whether of low or high degree; others refer them to the punishment of that idolatry: The mean man must be bowed down... the great man must be humbled.
Therefore forgive them not. — As a prayer the words find a parallel in Psalms 69:27; Psalms 109:14, but the rendering adopted by Cheyne and others, And thou canst not forgive them, is perhaps preferable. The sin is treated as “a sin unto death,” for which it is vain to pray (Isaiah 22:14).