heifer. Probably an allusion to Apis, the sacred bull.
destruction. piercing. Hebrew. kerez. Occurs only here. Revised Version margin suggests gadfly. If it be so, the attack is on the heifer.
cometh. Some codices, with two early printed editions, Aramaean, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "attacketh her".
the north. Though Babylon was on the east, the entry through Palestine was from the north, as Abraham entered it.