But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.
Ver. 14. But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, &c.] Which shall be a cooler to your courage, a rebater to your swelth, a means to take you a link lower, and to stain the glory of your pride. I tell you not what a nation it is, that you may imagine the worst; but you will find their quiver is an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men, and no less merciless, Jeremiah 5:16,17 .
And they shall afflict you (or crush you) from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness] From one end of your land to the other; that as ye have filled it from corner to corner with your uncleannesses, Ezra 9:11, so there may pass over it an overflowing scourge to wash the foul face of it, as once the old world. Hamath was before noted to be Antiochia, which was one of the bounds of the land of Israel to the north-east.
The river of the wilderness] Is elsewhere called the river of Egypt, as some will have it: see Numbers 34:5; Num 34:8 Deuteronomy 3:17 Joshua 13:3; Joshua 15:47, where the wilderness was, Joel 1:20. I cannot but concur with Kimchi, who by the river of the valleys here understandeth the Dead Sea, comparing this text with 2Ki 14:25 Deuteronomy 3:17, it being common in Scripture to call lakes and great rivers by the name of seas, Luk 5:1 cf. Numbers 34:11. The Dead Sea also is in human authors called the lake Asphaltites, the lake of Palestina, of Sodom, &c. It lieth to the south-west; and is elsewhere made the bound of the promised land, Num 34:3 Joshua 15:2 .