And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision - which I am about to reveal to thee.
And make it plain - just as God directed the law to be written, "Write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly" (Deuteronomy 27:8). In large legible characters.
Upon tables - boxwood tables covered with wax, on which national affairs were engraved with an iron pen, and then hung up in public, at the prophets' own houses, or at the temple, that those who passed might read them. Compare Luke 1:63, "a writing table" - i:e., a tablet.
That he may run that readeth it - commonly explained, 'so intelligible as to be easily read by any one running past;' but then it would be, 'that he that runneth may read it.' The true sense is, 'so legible that whoever readeth it may run to tell all whom he can the good news of the foe's coming doom and Judah's deliverance.' Compare Daniel 12:4, "many shall run to and fro" - namely, with the explanation of the prophecy, then unsealed; also Revelation 22:17, "Let him that heareth (the good news) say (to everyone within his reach), Come." "Run" is equivalent to announce the divine revelation (Jeremiah 23:21); as everyone who becomes informed of a divine message is bound to run - i:e., use all despatch to make it known to others (Henderson). Grotius, Ludovicus de Dieu, and Maurer interpret it: "Run" is not literal running, but 'that he who reads it may run through it' - i:e., read it at once without difficulty. This view accords well with the parallel words, "make it plain."