In mine ears [said] the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, [even] great and fair, without inhabitant.
Ver. 9. In mine ears, said the Lord of hosts.] Or, In the ears of the Lord of hosts - q.d., God well heareth and knoweth all your cunning contrivances, your coloured and cloaked covetousness, as it is called 1 Thessalonians 2:5 2Pe 1:3 The cries also of those poor whom you have by fraud or force unroosted and undone, is come into God's ears, Deuteronomy 15:9 ; Deu 24:15 and he will reckon with you, though by your greatness you can bear out your wrong dealing, because it is facinus maioris abollae. Yet God will arraign you one day for an Abaddon; and in the meanwhile,
Of a truth many houses shall be desolate.] You shall be driven out of your great and fair houses, aut a milite, aut a morte, either by the enemy or by death, who shall come upon you with a firmae eiectione, forceful ejection and then the place of your habitation shall know you no more; a poor fool God will make of you. Jeremiah 17:11 Luk 12:20 If many houses be not desolate, never trust him more - if they be not left for caddows and jackdaws a to dwell in.
a The common name of the daw (Corvus monedula), one of the smallest of the crow family, which frequents old buildings, church towers, etc.; it is easily tamed and taught to imitate the sound of words, and is noted for its loquacity and thievish propensities.