Set up the standard toward Zion. — Still the language of alarm. The words are as a command, “Raise the signal which shall point to Zion as a place of refuge from the foe, by whom the rest of the country is laid waste.”
Retire. — Withdraw, in the transitive sense, “gather, with a view to removing” (as in Exodus 9:19), and this is followed by “stay not,” linger not, be quick. The call to retreat was urgent.
I will bring. — Literally, I am bringing.
From the north. — The Chaldæan, and possibly the Scythian, invasion, as in Jeremiah 1:14.