Imagine mischief. — This is the Rabbinical rendering of a word that occurs only here. The LXX. have “fall upon”; Vulg., “rush upon,” a meaning supported by an Arabic root meaning to storm or assault, and is so far preferable to Aquila’s and Jerome’s “plot against,” and Symmachus’ “labour in vain,” or Syriac, “act foolishly.”
Ye shall be slain. — The reading varies, the Tiberian school reading the verb passive, the Babylonian, active. The latter is supported by the ancient versions. The primary meaning is given to break, and we get:
How long will ye assault a man?
(How long) will ye try to break him down,
As if he were a bowing wall, a tottering fence.
The metaphor of the falling wall is common in Eastern proverbs. “The wall is bowing,” is said of a man at the point of death. “By the oppression of the headman, the people of that village are a ruined wall.”