Thy men - This is an address to Jerusalem itself, by a change not uncommon in the writings of Isaiah. In the calamities coming on them, their strong men should be overcome, and fall in battle.

Thy mighty men - For גבורתך geburathech an ancient MS. has גבורך gibborech. The true reading, from the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, and Chaldee, seems to be גבוריך gibborayich.

Thy men shall fall by the sword,.... Of the Romans; which would be a punishment to the women for their pride and luxury, being deprived thereby of their husbands:

and thy mighty in the war; of Vespasian and Titus, and which the Jews (i) call , "the war of Vespasian": in which great multitudes of men, even of mighty men, were slain.

(i) Misn. Sabbat, c. 6. sect. 3.

The prophet now passes over to a direct address to Jerusalem itself, since the "daughters of Zion" and the daughter of Zion in her present degenerate condition. The daughter of Zion loses her sons, and consequently the daughters of Zion their husbands. - "Thy men will fall by the sword, and thy might in war." The plural methim (the singular of which only occurs in the form methu, with the connecting vowel ū as a component part of the proper names) is used as a prose word in the Pentateuch; but in the later literature it is a poetic archaism. "Thy might" is used interchangeably with "thy men," the possessors of the might being really intended, like robur and robora in Latin (compare Jeremiah 49:35).

Thy men shall fall by the {t} sword, and thy mighty in the war.

(t) Meaning that God will not only punish the women but their husbands who have permitted this dissoluteness and also the commonwealth which has not remedied it.

mighty: Heb. might

25. Thy men-of Jerusalem.

3:16-26 The prophet reproves and warns the daughters of Zion of the sufferings coming upon them. Let them know that God notices the folly and vanity of proud women, even of their dress. The punishments threatened answered the sin. Loathsome diseases often are the just punishment of pride. It is not material to ask what sort of ornaments they wore; many of these things, if they had not been in fashion, would have been ridiculed then as now. Their fashions differed much from those of our times, but human nature is the same. Wasting time and money, to the neglect of piety, charity, and even of justice, displease the Lord. Many professors at the present day, seem to think there is no harm in worldly finery; but were it not a great evil, would the Holy Spirit have taught the prophet to expose it so fully? The Jews being overcome, Jerusalem would be levelled with the ground; which is represented under the idea of a desolate female seated upon the earth. And when the Romans had destroyed Jerusalem, they struck a medal, on which was represented a woman sitting on the ground in a posture of grief. If sin be harboured within the walls, lamentation and mourning are near the gates.