y bowels were troubled: my lips trembled at the
voice. Let rottenness enter into my bones, and swarm under me. That I
may rest in the day of tribulation: that I may go up to our people that
are girded.

I have heard, etc... Viz., the evils that are now coming upon the
Israelites for their sins; and that shall come hereafter upon all
impenitent sinners; and the foresight that I have of these miseries
makes me willing to die, that I may be at rest, before this general
tribulation comes, in which all good things shall be withdrawn from the
wicked. Ibid. That I may go up to our people, etc... That I may join the
happy company in the bosom of Abraham, that are girded, that is,
prepared for their journey, by which they shall attend their Lord, when
he shall ascend into heaven. To which high and happy place, my Jesus,
that is, my Saviour, the great conqueror of death and hell, shall one
day conduct me rejoicing and singing psalms of praise, ver. 18 and 19.

3:17. For the fig tree shall not blossom: and there shall be no spring
in the vines. The labour of the olive tree shall fail: and the fields
shall yield no food: the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there
shall be no herd in the stalls.

3:18. But I will rejoice in the Lord: and I will joy in God my Jesus.

3:19. The Lord God is my strength: and he will make my feet like the
feet of harts: and he the conqueror will lead me upon my high places
singing psalms.

THE PROPHECY OF SOPHONIAS

SOPHONIAS, whose name, saith St. Jerome, signifies The Watchman of the
Lord, or The hidden of the Lord, prophesied in the beginning of the
reign of Josias. He was a native of Sarabatha, and of the tribe of
Simeon, according to the more general opinion. He prophesied the
punishments of the Jews, for their idolatry and other crimes; also the
punishments that were to come on divers nations; the coming of Christ,
the conversion of the Gentiles, the blindness of the Jews, and their
conversion towards the end of the world.

Sophonias Chapter 1

For divers enormous sins, the kingdom of Juda is threatened with severe
judgment.

1:1. The word of the Lord that came to Sophonias the son of Chusi, the
son of Godolias, the son of Amarias, the son of Ezechias, in the days of
Josias, the son of Amon king of Juda.

1:2. Gathering, I will gather together all things from off the face of
the land, saith the Lord:

Gathering, I will gather, etc... That is, I will assuredly ta