Concerning Damascus— Damascus was the capital of the kingdom of Syria, and had seemingly at this time swallowed up all the other petty sovereignties of that country. Isaiah had before uttered a prophesy concerning it of a calamitous import, ch. 17 which had been fulfilled by Tiglath-pileser's taking it, and carrying the people captives to Kir, 2 Kings 16:9. Amos also had foretold the same event, ch. Jeremiah 1:3-5. But it had recovered itself after the fall of the Assyrian empire, and is here doomed to suffer again the like calamities from the resentment of Nebuchadrezzar, probably about the same time with the other neighbouring nations.
Hamath, &c.— Hamath and Arpad are often joined together. Hamath was a frontier town lying on the borders of Judaea towards Syria; thence called the entrance of Hamath. Arpad is otherwise called Arphad, the habitation of the Arvadites. Genesis 10:18. Instead of, There is sorrow on the sea, Houbigant reads, They fluctuate as the sea; they cannot be at rest. Comp. Isaiah 57:20.
There is sorrow on the sea, &c.— דאגה בים נמגו namogu baiiam deagah. They are melted in a sea of solitude. This is a literal translation of the text, and appears to me preferable in sense to any of the interpretations which I have hitherto met with.