And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee,.... Like a mighty flood, which should sweep them away for their sins and transgressions; and particularly for their reproaches of God and his people, which caused his indignation to rise, and him to pour it out upon them in such a manner:
I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath; as men put metal into a furnace, and then blow upon it, in order to melt it, and consume the dross; and which fire, so blown, is exceeding fierce and very consuming; who can stand against such a blast as that of the wrath of God, not only kindled, but blown with his breath like a stream of brimstone?
and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men; or "burners" x; that burn with fierce anger, barbarous and inhuman, that would show no mercy nor compassion, such were the Chaldeans, Habakkuk 1:6:
and skilful to destroy; though like brutes or beasts of prey for their cruelty; yet, like men, rational, cunning, and artful to devise ways and means to destroy men; well versed in the art of war; and thoroughly learned in all the lessons and methods of violence and destruction.
x בערים "ardentium", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus "urentium", so some in Vatablus.