Isaiah 51:20

As a wild bull in a net: they are full, etc. “Like the oryx taken in the toils; drenched to the full” - “Perhaps מכמרה מלאים michmerah meleim.” Secker. The demonstrative ה he, prefixed to מלאים meleim, full, seems improper in this place.

4:1). wild bull--rather, "oryx" [JEROME], or gazelle [GESENIUS], or wild goat [BOCHART]; commonly in the East taken in a net, of a wide sweep, into which the beasts were hunted together. The streets of cities in the East often have gates, which are closed at night; a person wishing to escape would be stopped by them and caught, as a wild animal in a net.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

Thy sons - Jerusalem is here represented as a mother. Her sons, that is, her inhabitants, had become weak and prostrate everywhere, and were unable to afford consolation. They lie at the head of all the streets - The ‘head’ of the streets is the same which in Lam 2:19; Lam 4:1, is denominated ‘the top of the streets.’ The head or top of the streets denotes, doubtless, the beginning of a way or street; the corner from which other streets diverge. These would be public places, where many would be naturally assembled, and where, in time of a siege, they would be driven together. This is a description of the state produced by famine. Weak, pale, and emaciated, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in the places of public concourse, would lie prostrate and inefficient, and unable to meet and repel their foes. They would be overpowered with famine, as a wild bull is insnared in a net, and rendered incapable of any effort. This reters undoubtedly to the famine that would be produced during the siege of the Babylonians. The state of things under the siege has been also described by Jeremiah: Arise, cry out in the night; In the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart before the Lord; Lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, That faint for hunger at the top of every street. The young and old lie on the ground in the streets, My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; Thou hast slain them in the day of thy anger; Thou hast killed, and not pitied. - Lam 2:19-21 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of His mouth for thirst; The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them; They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets; They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. - Lam 4:4-5 As a wild bull in a net - The word rendered here ‘wild bull’ is תוא tô'. […]