Ecclesiasticus 32:19

Nova Vulgata

Et penitus cadet saltus, et profunde deprimetur civitas.

Parallel Translations

Clementine Latin Vulgate (1592)
Grando autem in descensione saltus, et humilitate humiliabitur civitas.

Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405)
Grando autem in descensione saltus,
et humilitate humiliabitur civitas.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

it shall: Isaiah 25:4, Isaiah 28:2, Isaiah 28:17, Isaiah 30:30, Isaiah 37:24, Exodus 9:18-26, Ezekiel 13:11-13, Matthew 7:25, Revelation 8:7

on the: Zechariah 11:2

the city shall be low: or, the city shall be utterly abased, Isaiah 14:22, Isaiah 14:23, Isaiah 26:5, Nahum 1:1, Nahum 1:8, Nahum 2:10-13, Revelation 18:21

Reciprocal: Exodus 9:26 - General Isaiah 4:6 - for a covert Isaiah 26:20 - enter Isaiah 32:2 - an hiding Revelation 11:19 - and great

Gill's Notes on the Bible

When it shall hail, coming down on the forest,.... The people of God will be peaceable and quiet, safe and secure, when the judgments of God, signified by a "hail" storm, shall come upon antichrist, and the antichristian states, intended by the "forest", both for their numbers, and for their barrenness and unfruitfulness; see Revelation 16:21 and as so it sometimes is, by the disposition of divine Providence, that a storm of hail falls not upon fields and gardens, and the fruits of the earth, but upon forests and desert lands; and as the plague of hail fell upon the Egyptians, and not upon the Israelites in Goshen, to which some think the allusion is here; so will it be when God comes to take vengeance on the enemies of his people:

and the city shall be low in a low place: meaning not the city of Jerusalem, surrounded with mountains, built under hills, and so under the wind, and not exposed to the fury of a storm; but rather Babylon, built in a plain, in a low plain, and yet should be brought lower still; mystical Babylon is here meant, the city of Rome, that should "in humiliation be humbled", as the words may be rendered, that is, brought very low, exceeding low; see Isaiah 26:5 and which, at the time of the great hail, will be divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations shall fall, and Babylon be had in remembrance by the Lord to destroy it, Revelation 16:19.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When it shall hail - Hebrew, ברדת ברד bârad b^eredeth - ‘And it shall hail in coming down. There is a paranomasia in the original here, which cannot be expressed in a translation - a figure of speech, which, as we have seen, is common in Isaiah. ‘Hail’ is an image of divine vengeance or punishment; and the reference here is, doubtless, to the storms of indignation that would come on the enemies of the Jews, particularly on the Assyrians (see the notes at Isaiah 30:30).

Coming down on the forest - Coming down on the army of the Assyrian, which is here called ‘a forest.’ The same term ‘forest’ is given to the army of the Assyrians in Isaiah 10:18-19, Isaiah 10:33-34. The sense is, that the divine judgment would come down on that army with as much severity as a storm of hail descends on a forest - stripping the leaves from the trees, destroying its beauty, and laying it waste.

And the city - According to Gesenius, this is Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire. According to Rosenmuller, Grotius, and others, it is Babylon. Hensler supposes that it is Jerusalem, and that the sense is, that as a city that is situated in a valley is safe when the storm and tempest sweep over the hills, so would it be to Jerusalem when the storm of wrath should sweep away the army of the Assyrian. But the connection evidently requires us to understand it of the capital of the enemy; though whether it be Nineveh or Babylon perhaps cannot be determined.

Shall be low in a low place - Margin, ‘Utterly abased.’ Hebrew, ‘In humility shall be humbled.’ The sense is, shall be completely prostrate. Those who refer this to Jerusalem suppose it refers to the time when God should humble it by bringing the enemy so near, and exciting so much consternation and alarm. Those who refer it to Babylon suppose it relates to its destruction. If referred to Nineveh, it must mean when the pride of the capital of the Assyrian empire should be iratabled by the complete overthrow of their army, and the annihilation of their hopes. The connection seems to require us to adopt this latter interpretation. The whole verse is very obscure; but perhaps the above will express its general sense.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 32:19. The city shall be low in a low place. - "The city shall be laid level with the plain."] For ובשפלה ubashephelah, the Syriac reads וכשפלה ukeshephelah. The city - probably Nineveh or Babylon: but this verse is very obscure. Saltus; Assyriorum regnum: civitas; magnifica Assyriorum castra. Ephrem Syr. in loc. For וברד ubarad, a MS. has וירד vaiyered; and so conjectured Abp. Secker, referring to Zechariah 11:2.