ἀποστρέψωμεν. . .πρὸς ἡμᾶς] Vulg. avellamus ad nos. Heb. verb means ‘cleave,’ ‘divide,’ ‘break through’; rendered ἔρρηξαν, lix. The sense given by LXX. and Vulg. is easy, but how they came by it is less clear. Aquila has ἀποσχίσωμεν αὐτήν. The Lucianic cursives mostly add καὶ κακώσωμεν (or σομεν) αὐτήν, which may be a duplicate.

αὐτοῖς] Dat. of person interested: easier than αὐτῆς, read by ℵΒQ and most cursives, except 24 41 106 305.

τὸν υἱὸν Ταβεήλ] Nothing is known of him, not even whether he was, to ordinary perceptions, a dangerously strong or an absurdly weak candidate. The name, it has been pointed out, is Aramaic (cf. Ezra iv. 7), meaning ‘Good (is) God.’ It was said to occur on Assyrian tablet, in connection with Rezin and Samaria; but this has since been read differently. The Jews explained Tabeal, been, by the cypher Albam—ℵ=ζ. ΑΒΒREV &c.—as standing for ℵABBREVthat is Remaliah, ABBREVas Sheshach, by another cypher, Atbash, stands for Babel, Jerem. xxv. 26, li. 41 (Heb.). LXX. omit these, but seem to have read li. (xxviii.) 1 correctly, according to this same Atbash, as Χαλδαίους. It is however a strange method of reference for Isaiah to use: and cyphers, perfect or imperfect, may be found too often: see on xxx. 15.

8. ἀλλ’ ἔτι ἑξήκοντα. . .ἀπὸ λαοῦ] This clause in the Hebrew has been rejected by many critics as interpolated: Lxx. however contains it, the MSS. being in agreement.

ἐκλαίψει] Heb. more strongly, ‘shall be broken’: ἦ βασιλεία inserted by LXX., apparently by way of explanation.