To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.
Ver. 14. To the end that none of all the trees.] This is the use men should make of God's heavy judgments upon others. This man's father Sennacherib had a statue set up in Egypt, saith Herodotus, a with this inscription, Let him that looketh upon my misery learn to be modest and to fear God.
Neither their trees stand up in their height.] Neque stent in seipsis; neither stand in themselves, because of their height. Magna repente ruunt: in te stas et non stets, said the oracle to Augustine, Thou standest on thine own bottom, thou wilt surely down.
For they are all delivered uuto death.] Without difference, pell mell, lords and lowlies together; as the poet also singeth,
“ Sub tua purpurei veniunt vestigia reges,
Deposito luxu, turba cum paupere mixti;
Omnia mors aequat. ” - Claudian.
a Lib. ii.