How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.
Ver. 22. How long will thou go about?] Hunting after human helps, and - refusing to set thy heart on the right straight way Jer 31:21 - fetch a compass, to thy loss of time and labour.
O thou backsliding daughter.] Who wast at times O virgin of Israel. Jer 31:21
For the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth.] Or, Will create; he is even about it.
A woman shall compass a man.] i.e., Say some, the Jews (who are now looked upon as weak women, and may say Imbelles damae, quid nisi turba sumus?). shall compass about, and conquer the Chaldees, those men of might - Sicut hostis circundat hostem. Or, As others sense it, the Church Christian, how weak soever at first it may seem, and inconsiderable, yet shall be able, by the confession of her faith, to resist her most potent persecutors, and by faith to overcome them, 1Jn 5:4 as she did in the apostles, Acts 4:13,14 ; Acts 4:33 ; Acts 5:18,19 ; Act 5:38-42 in the noble army of martyrs and confessors. The text is generally understood to be Christ's wonderful conception in the womb of his virgin mother.