[119] Or Molech = king. LXX. by their king. Other Greek versions: Moloch and Melchom. Vulg. Melchom.
[120] LXX. His.
[121] So LXX. Heb. sons.
[122] Is this some superstitious rite of the idol-worshippers as described in the case of Dagon, 1 Sam. v. 5? Or is it a phrase for breaking into a house, and so parallel to the second clause of the verse? Most interpreters prefer the latter. The idolatrous rites have been left behind. Schwally suggests the original order may have been: princes and sons of the king, who fill their lord’s house full of violence and deceit; and I will visit upon every one that leapeth over the threshold on that day, and upon all that wear foreign raiment.
[123] The Second or New Town: cf. 2 Kings xxii. 14, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 22, which state that the prophetess Huldah lived there. Cf. Neh. iii. 9, 12, xi. 9.
[124] The hollow probably between the western and eastern hills, or the upper part of the Tyropœan (Orelli).
[125] Heb. people of Canaan.
[126] נטיל, found only here, from נטל, to lift up, and in Isa. xl. 15 to weigh. Still it may have a wider meaning, all they that carry money (Davidson).
[128] The Hebrew text and versions here add: And they shall build houses and not inhabit (Greek in them), and plant vineyards and not drink the wine thereof. But the phrase is a common one (Deut. xxviii. 30; Amos v. 11: cf. Micah vi. 15), and while likely to have been inserted by a later hand, is here superfluous, and mars the firmness and edge of Zephaniah’s threat.