This dungeon, which seems to have belonged to one of Zedekiah's sons, appears to have been a most dreadful place; the horrors of which were probably augmented by the cruelty of the jailor. "The eastern people," observes Sir J. Chardin, "have not different prisons for the different classes of criminals; the judges do not trouble themselves about where the prisoners are confined, or how they are treated, considering it merely as a place of safety; and all that they require of the jailor is, that the prisoner be forthcoming when called for. As to the rest, he is master to do as he pleases; to treat him well or ill; to put him in irons or not; to shut him up close, or hold him in easier restraint; to admit people to him, or to suffer nobody to see him. If the jailor and his servants have large fees, let the person be the greatest rascal in the world, he shall be lodged in the jailor's own apartment, and the best part of it; and on the contrary, if those that have imprisoned a man give the jailor greater presents, or that he has a greater regard for them, he will treat the prisoner with the greatest inhumanity." This adds a double energy to those passages which speak of "the sighing of the prisoner," and to Jeremiah's supplicating that he might not be remanded to the dungeon of Jonathan. (ver. 26; ch. 37:20.)

22 Ge 37:24 Ps 40:2 69:2,14,15 La 3:52-55 Zec 9:11 [All]

Jeremiah 38:22

38:22

women <0802> [all.]

41:10 43:6 La 5:11 [All]

saying <0559> [and those.]

Mr. Harmer would render, "and here ({hennah,} or reading {hinneh,} behold,) the women (wont to sing on public occasions) shall say," etc.; observing "that these bitter speeches much better suit the lips of women belonging to the conquering nation, singing before a captive prince, than of his own wives and concubines." This he illustrates by the following extract from Della Valle: When he was at Lar, in Persia, the king of Ormuz was brought thither in triumph; and "this poor unfortunate king entered Lar, with his people, in the morning, music playing, and girls and women singing and dancing before him, according to the custom of Persia, and the people flocking together with a prodigious concourse, and conducting him in a pompous and magnificent manner, particularly with colours displayed, like what the Messenians formerly did to Philopoemen, the general of the Athenians, their prisoner of war, according to the report of Justin."

<0582> [Thy friends. Heb. The men of thy peace.]

4-6 20:10 Ps 41:9 *marg: [All]

misled <05496> [have set.]

19 La 1:2 Mic 7:5 [All]

feet <07272> [thy feet.]

6 Ps 69:2,14 [All]

turned <05472> [they are.]

46:5,21 Isa 42:17 La 1:13 [All]