How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by [them that are] no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.
Ver. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this?] How with the safety of mine honour and justice? Swearing then by creatures (us by our Lady, by St Anne, by this light, &c.), or by idols, (as by the mass, by the rood, &c.), or by qualities (as by faith, troth, &c.), is not so small a sin as many deem it, since God maketh here a great question how he can pardon it. For why? it is a forsaking of him, a giving away his honour to another, a disgrace done to a man's self - since we always "swear by the greater," Heb 6:16 and a means to procure his utter ruin, without God's greater mercy. Amo 6:14 Zep 1:3-5 Men sport themselves with oaths, as the Philistines did with Samson, which will at last pull the house about their ears. Zec 5:4
When I fed them to the full, they then committed adultery.] Fulness in good men oft breeds forgetfulness, and in bad men, filthiness. Gula vestibulum luxuriae; gluttony is the gallery that incontinence walketh through. The Israelites ate and drank, and rose up to play - scil., with their Midianitish mistresses - to the provoking of God's fierce wrath. Fulness of bread made way to Sodom's sin. Lunatics, when the moon is declining and in the wane are sober enough; but when full, more wild and exorbitant. Ceres and Bacchus are great friends to Venus, &c. Watch therefore, and feed with fear.
And assembled themselves by troops.] Heb., They trooped themselves; such was their impudence.