And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
Thine elder sister is Samaria - older than Sodom, to whom Judah was less nearly related by kindred than she was to Samaria. Sodom is therefore called her younger sister; Samaria her "older sister" (Grotius). Samaria is called the "older," because in a moral respect more nearly related to Judah (Fairbairn). Samaria had made the calves at Dan and Bethel in imitation of the cherubim.
She and her daughters - the inferior towns subject to Samaria (cf. Numbers 21:25, "Heshbon and ... all the villages," margin, 'daughters thereof.'
That dwell at thy left - the Orientals faced the East in marking the directions of the sky; thus, the North was "left," the South "right."
Sodom and her daughters - Ammon and Moab, offshoots from Sodom; also the towns subject to it.