Shall eat. — The figure of the banquet is resumed from Psalms 22:26, and extended. The mention of the “fat upon earth,” as included in this feast, seems certainly out of place, and injures the parallelism. We must change the text to either (1) “Shall eat and do homage all earth’s mourners,” or (2) “Ah! to him shall be bowed all the fat ones of earth.”
They that go down to the dust — i.e., those on the point to die through their sufferings.
And none can keep. — Better, And he who cannot keep his soul alive. Literally, has not kept. But the parallelism shows that this is not spoken of those actually dead, but of those not able from poverty to keep body and soul together.