Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing [shall be] in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
Ver. 16. Therefore the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus] Therefore? wherefore? because neither promises of mercy nor menaces of misery will work upon you, stand forth, and hear your doom, your sentence of condemnation; and it beginneth, as is usual, In nomine Dei: In the name of God, neither can you say, as that martyr did, when wrongfully sentenced, ye begin in a wrong name. To assure the matter, the prophet here heapeth up three majestic names of God; that they might tremble and turn, considering the greatness of him with whom they here have to do, being "glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders," Exodus 15:11 .
Wailing shall be in all streets, &c.] A general outcry, as once in Egypt, when in every house there was a dead corpse; or, as at the taking and sacking of Troy there was
“ Luctus ubique, pavor, et plurima morris imago ”(Virg.).
And they shall say in all the highways, Alas, alas] Man is a creature apt to overly grieve for crosses, and to fill the air with moans and complaints of his misery. The Latin word Aeger, for a sick person, is judged to come from Aι, αι, the doleful expression of his grief. The Greek word ουαι is as much as ουκ αει, Not ever. We are soon weary of suffering, and would fain see an end of it; and therefore cry out for help. The Hebrew word here used, He, He, is the same with our Oh, Oh; it is dolentis particula, it is eiulantis, the broken speech of one in great dolour and durance. Nature need not to be taught to tell her own tale when in distress, then men are apt to be eloquent even beyond truth; they add, they multiply, they rise in their discourse, like him in the poet, I am thrice miserable, nay, ten times, nay, a hundred, ten hundred times: τρις κακοδαιμων, και τετρακις και μυριακις (Aristoph.): whereas they should correct their excessive complaints with that other, οιμοι τι δ οιμοιο, Alas, alas. But why alas? Nothing hath befallen us but what is human, common to men and our betters, 1 Corinthians 10:13 .
And they shall call the husbandman to mourning] For the marring of his grain by the enemy, or by the vermin. Others read it thus, The husbandman shall send for those that are skilful in lamentation to mourning and wailing.
And such as are skilful of lamentation] An ordinary practice in those eastern parts (as now also in Ireland) to hire artificial mourners at funerals to sing doleful ditties. Ut qui conducti plorant in funere. See Jer 9:17 Matthew 9:23. See Trapp on " Jer 9:17 " See Trapp on " Mat 9:23 " Of the lawfulness of this custom the prophet speaketh not. Many things are mentioned in Scripture and made use of but not approved, as usury, Matthew 25:27; dancing, Matthew 11:17; theft, 1 Thessalonians 5:2; injustice, Luke 16:1; the Isthmian games, 1 Corinthians 9:24 .