The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?
Ver. 1. The burden.] See Isaiah 13:1 .
Of the valley of vision,] i.e., Of Zion or Jerusalem, as the Septuagint express it, which is called first a valley, though set upon a knoll - first, Because environed with mountains; Psa 125:2 secondly, Because shortly to be laid low and levelled with the ground - ita ut vallis aut vorago dici posset.
Of vision.] So Jerusalem is called - first, Because there was God's visible or aspectable presence; secondly, Because it was a seminary of seers, as Jerome elegantly termeth it, not without some allusion, as it is thought, to Mount Moriah, whereon stood the temple, which signifieth vision; q.d., O Zion, thou wast Moriah, but now thou art Marah; thou wast the mountain of vision, but now thou art a valley of tears and of darkness; thou wast the temple of God, but now thou art a den of thieves.
What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the house tops?] Luctus et salutis causa, saith Scultetus; there to lament thy distress, or else for safeguard in this distraction. Shouldst thou not rather go out to fight, than go up thus wholly and fully to the tops of thy terraces?