Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: [this shall be] the portion of their cup.
Ver. 6. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares] His soul hateth them; and as revenge is the next effect of hatred, he will exercise horrible judgmeuts upon them. Go on they may in their wicked ways for a time, and happily think to outrun wrath, but it shall easily overtake them, and inevitably: for the first thing that God shall rain upon them is snares, to catch and hold them fast, that they may surely suffer the rest that follow. "Take him, and lead him away safely," saith Judas concernmg Jesus to the soldiers, Mark 14:44. And the same in effect saith God to his judgments concerning the wicked, on whom for that purpose he raineth snares, i.e. he suddenly surpriseth them; as by unexpected foul weather.
Fire and brimstone] Hell from heaven, as once upon Sodom and her sisters, figuring the vengeance of eternal fire, Jdg 1:7 Revelation 20:10, where the sacrifice is salted with fire, Mark 9:49, that is, burneth, but consumeth not, fire being of a burning, but salt of a preserving nature, Perdit sed non disperdit, et cruciat ita ut nunquam perimat (Camero.). Tophet is of the most tormenting temper, the fuel thereof is fire, and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of fire, doth kindle it, Isaiah 30:33. Utinam ubique, de Gehenna dissereretur, saith a Father, Oh that men would think and talk much of hell! Oh that they would take a turn in it; and, taking a view of that formidable fire fed with a river of brimstone, and blown by the breath of the Almighty, they would hasten out of their natural condition, as Lot did out of Sodom; since there is the smell of the fire and brimstone already upon them!
And an horrible tempest] Ventus procellosissimus, a most terrible blasting whirlwind, such as the Greeks call Prester; whereof see Plin. lib. 2, c. 48, and the Evangelist calleth Euroclydon, Acts 27:14, the mariner's mischief.
This shall be the portion of their cup] Vel, portio partis eorum, id est, ipsissima eorum portio; duplicatur idem sensus duobus verbis, saith R. David. He seemeth to allude to the custom at feasts, where each had his cup, his demensum, or measure of meat and drink. Wicked ones shall drink up the cup of God's wrath (worse than that cup of boiling lead poured down the drunken Turk's throat by the command of the bashaw), though it be brimful, and have eternity to the bottom, Psalms 75:8 .