[17] Isa. xliv. 24, יוצֶרך מבָּטן, xlix. 5, יצְרִי מבּטְןֶ לֶעבד לו.
[18] For the words of this promise, cf. ver. 19 infr., xv. 20, xlii. 11.
[19] צַלְמָוֶת, so far as the punctuation suggests that the term is a compound, meaning "shadow of death," is one of the fictions of the Masorets, like לִגְאֵיוֹנִים and חֵלְכָּאִים and חֵֽלְכָה in the Psalms.
[20] Perhaps, too, the immediate object of the prophet was attained, which was, as Ewald thinks, to dissuade the people from alliance with Psammitichus, the vigorous monarch who was then reviving the power and ambition of Egypt. Jeremiah dreaded the effects of Egyptian influence upon the religion and morals of Judah. Ewald notes the significant absence of all reference to the enemy from the north, who appears in all the later pieces.
[21] She saw: Pesh. This may be right. And the Traitress, her sister Judah, saw it: yea, saw that even because the Turncoat Israel had committed adultery, I put her away.... And yet the Traitress Judah, her sister, was not afraid, etc.
[22] 1 Kings ii. 4, בֶּאֱמֶת = בּכָל־לְבָבָם
[23] As if "Turn back, back-turning Israel!" i.e. Thou that turnedst thy back upon Iahvah, and, therefore, upon His pleasant land.
[24] Cf. also the Arabic
pravus,