Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God - (Habakkuk 2:20, "The Lord is in his holy temple let all the earth keep silence before him"). Let the earth be silent at his approach (Maurer). Or, 'Thou, whosoever hast been wont to speak against God, as if He had no care about earthly affairs, cease thy murmurs and self-justifications: submit thyself to God, and repent in time,' (Calvin, etc.)
For the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice - namely, a slaughter of the guilty Jews, the victims due to His justice (Isaiah 34:6, "The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea;" Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 39:17).
Bid his guests, х hiqdiysh (H6942) qªru'aayw (H7121)] - literally, sanctified His called ones (cf. Isaiah 13:3, "I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger"). It enhances the bitterness of the judgment that the pagan Chaldeans should be sanctified, or consecrated, as it were, by God as His priests, and be called to eat the flesh of the elect people, as on feast days the priests used to feast among themselves on the remains of the sacrifices Calvin). The English version takes it not of the priests, but the guests bidden, who also had to 'sanctify' or purify themselves before coming to the sacrificial feast (1 Samuel 9:13; 1 Samuel 9:22, "The people will not eat until he come, because he doth bless the sacrifice ... them that were bidden" [the same Hebrew as here, haqªruw'iym (H7121)]; 1 Samuel 16:5, "Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he (Samuel) sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice"). Nebuchadnezzar was bidden to come and take vengeance on guilty Jerusalem (Jeremiah 25:9, "Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land").