2Ki 21:13, Isa 34:11 | JFB | STEP | 13. the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab —Captives doomed to destruction were sometimes grouped together and marked off by means of a measuring-line and plummet ( ); so that the line of Samaria means the line drawn for the destruction of Samaria; the plummet of the house of Ahab, for exterminating his apostate family; and the import of the threatening declaration here is that Judah would be utterly destroyed, as Samaria and the dynasty of Ahab had been. I will wipe Jerusalem, &c.—The same doom is denounced more strongly in a figure unmistakably significant.

2 Kings 21:13

13. the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab—Captives doomed to destruction were sometimes grouped together and marked off by means of a measuring-line and plummet (2Sa 8:2; Isa 34:11; Am 7:7); so that the line of Samaria means the line drawn for the destruction of Samaria; the plummet of the house of Ahab, for exterminating his apostate family; and the import of the threatening declaration here is that Judah would be utterly destroyed, as Samaria and the dynasty of Ahab had been.

I will wipe Jerusalem, &c.—The same doom is denounced more strongly in a figure unmistakably significant.

Isaiah 34:11

11. cormorant—The Hebrew is rendered, in Ps 102:6, "pelican," which is a seafowl, and cannot be meant here: some waterfowl (katta, according to BURCKHARDT) that tenants desert places is intended.

bittern—rather, "the hedgehog," or "porcupine" [GESENIUS] (Isa 14:23).

owl—from its being enumerated among water birds in Le 11:17; De 14:16. MAURER thinks rather the heron or crane is meant; from a Hebrew root, "to blow," as it utters a sound like the blowing of a horn (Re 18:2).

confusion—devastation.

line . . . stones—metaphor from an architect with line and plummet-stone (see on Isa 18:2; Isa 28:17); God will render to it the exact measure of justice without mercy (Jas 2:13; 2Ki 21:13; La 2:8; Am 7:7, 8).

emptiness—desolation. Edom is now a waste of "stones."