John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 2. For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel , etc.] Or, “will render” a recompence for, or “revenge the pride of Jacob” f53 ; all that insolence, and those injuries done in a proud and haughty manner by Sennacherib king of Assyria to the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin; invading their land, taking their fenced cities, and besieging their metropolis; and in an audacious manner threatening them with utter destruction, unless they surrendered; and also by Shalmaneser, another king of Assyria, who had besieged and took Samaria the capital city of Israel or the ten tribes, and had carried them captive; and now Assyria, though it had been the rod of God’s anger, and the instrument of his chastisement and correction of his people, must in its turn suffer and smart for all this: for the emptiers have emptied them out : the Assyrians, partly by their exactions and tributes they demanded, and partly by their spoil and plunder, had stripped Israel and Judah of all, or the greatest part, of their substance, wealth, and treasure: and marred their vine branches ; their children, their sons and daughters, slaying them, or carrying them captive. Israel and Judah are often compared to a vine, and so their posterity to branches: or “corrupted” f54 them, with superstition and idolatry. The Targum interprets it of their renowned cities; these, and towns and villages, being to the land as branches to the vine; and which had been ransacked and pillaged by the Assyrians, and now they should be paid in their own coin.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-10 - Nineveh shall not put aside this judgment; there is no counsel of strength against the Lord. God looks upon proud cities, and brings the down. Particular account is given of the terrors wherein the invadin enemy shall appear against Nineveh. The empire of Assyria is represented as a queen, about to be led captive to Babylon. Guilt in the conscience fills men with terror in an evil day; and what wil treasures or glory do for us in times of distress, or in the day of wrath? Yet for such things how many lose their souls!
Original Hebrew כי3588 שׁב7725 יהוה3068 את853 גאון1347 יעקב3290 כגאון1347 ישׂראל3478 כי3588 בקקום1238 בקקים1238 וזמריהם2156 שׁחתו׃7843
