For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.
Ver. 4. For before the child, &c.] That is, within a year or two; for it was an extraordinary thing that is reported of Maximilian the Emperor, that he was eight years old at least ere he spake anything, but afterwards he became a fluent and elegant speaker.
The riches of Damascus.] Riches do many times change their masters, and kingdoms are oft turned upside down, when they fall to persecuting the people of God especially, as did these Syrians and Israelites.
Before the king of Assyria.] Spoils taken from the enemy were and are usually carried in triumph before the conqueror.