4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
and closed are the doors in the street in the failing sound of the mill, and one starts at the note of a sparrow, and hushed are all the daughters of song.
(4.) And shut are the doors in the street, in the failing voice of the grinding, (or ‘grinding maid’), and rises up (as there is no nominative we must take it as impersonal, ‘one rises up’) to a voice of the sparrow, and brought low (see Isaiah ii. 9, and also xxix. 4, where the word is used of a muttering voice) all daughters of the song.
5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
Moreover, the height is dreaded, and great fears are in the way, and the almond tree [the harbinger of spring] is despised, and the little grasshopper [of summer] is as a burden, and desire itself has fled, for man has departed to his long home, and mourners go round the market:
(5.) Moreover (this marks a transition in the catalogue of ills, the former were external evils——these come from within) also from the height they fear; and terrors in the way; and the almond is despised; and burdens itself the grasshopper; and scattered the desire. (This passage has exercised translators and commentators from the earliest times. The LXX. read——καίγε ἀπὸ ὕψους ὄψονται, καὶ θάμβοι ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, καὶ ἀνθήσει τὸ ἀμύγδαλον, καὶ [♦]παχυνθῇ ἡ ἀκρίς, καὶ διασκεδασθῇ ἡ καππάρις——‘and they shall look from the height, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond-tree shall blossom, and the locust shall increase, and the caper berry shall be scattered.’ Here B. read εἰς τὸ ὕψος, ‘into the height.’ Aquila, τρόμῳ τρομήσουσιν, ‘they shall tremble a trembling;’ and καὶ καρπεύσει ἡ καππάρις, ‘the caper-berry shall fructify.’ Now Symmachus, quoted by Jerome, read——‘Super hæc etiam de eccelso videbunt, et error erit in via, et obdormiet vigilans, et dissolvetur spiritus fortitudo.’ The last words are, however, preserved in Greek——καὶ διαλυθῇ ἡ ἐπίπονος. ‘On these they look from the height, and error will be in the way, and the watchful will fall asleep, and the courage of the spirit will be dissolved.’ The Syriac reads——
