They have belied the Lord, and said, it is not he,.... Or, "denied the Lord" x, as some render the words, saying that there was no God; which, though they might not deliver in express words, yet inasmuch as they denied his providence, and disbelieved his word by his prophets, it was tacitly denying that there was a God, or that the Lord was God. The meaning of the phrase "not he" may be, he takes no notice of what is done by us; he does not concern himself with our affairs; nor has he given any such orders to our enemies, as above; nor said these things by the prophets which are pretended:
neither shall evil come upon us; they speak of:
neither shall we see sword nor famine; war and sieges, and famine, the consequence of them.
x וכחשו ביהוה "egaverunt Dominum", V. L. Pagninus; "abnegant", Piscator; "abnegarunt Jehovam", Cocceius, Schmidt.