| Ezekiel 5:2
| A third part thou shalt burn with fire in the midst of the city, according to the fulfilling of the days of the siege; and thou shalt take a third part, and cut it in pieces with the knife all round about; and the other third part thou shalt scatter in the wind, and I will draw out the sword after them.
| Third. Septuagint and Theodotion read "a fourth," as also [in] ver. 12., (Calmet) thus assigning half to be burnt by death (pestilence) and famine. The other half of the people falls a prey to the sword and to captivity. The pestilence, famine, and the sword, were the three usual scourges left to David's choice, (2 Kings xxiv.) which here destroy each a fourth part, while the rest become captives. Yet even of this third or fourth part, many engage in civil broils, and perish. St. Jerome hints that the Septuagint is interpolated from Theodotion, ver. 12, and that their version only comprised the pentateuch. But the other books went at least under the same title; and there must be some mistake in the words asterisked, since they occur in the Hebrew, Vulgate, etc., third being only substituted for fourth: "And a fourth part of thee shall fall by the sword." The Hebrew is rather less degrading to the Jews, as there would be thus at most one-third preserved, instead of a part only of one-fourth. See Deuteronomy 27:4., and Jeremias 52:28. --- Take. Septuagint add here, "a fourth part; and shalt burn it in the midst of it; and a fourth thou shalt cut," etc. (Haydock) --- He was thus to deal with a part of the hair during 390 days, (Menochius) or at the end of them. (R. Salom.) --- Round, in the cities near Jerusalem, (Worthington) or round the picture of it, Ezechiel 4:1.
|