Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.

Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the caldron ; make it boil well; yea, let the bones thereof be boiled in the midst of it.

Take the fattest of the flock, and lay together piles of bones under it: the seething thereof is boiling hot, and the bones thereof are thoroughly sodden in the midst of it.

take the choice of the flock; and also put a pile of wood under it, for the bones; make it boil well, and let the bones of it seethe therein.

Take the choice of the flock, and pile also the bones under it: make it boil well; yea, let the bones thereof be seethed in the midst of it.

The choice of the flock to take, And also to pile of the bones under it, Boil it thoroughly, yea, cook its bones in its midst.

Take the best of the flock, put much wood under it: see that its bits are boiling well; let the bones be cooked inside it.

Take the fattest from the flock, and arrange also a heap of bones under it. Its cooking has boiled over, and its bones in its midst have been thoroughly cooked.

Burn - Rather, as in margin; the bones would serve for fuel.

Make it boil well - Let it boil over, that its own scum may augment the fire, that the bones - the soldiers, may be seethed therein. Let its contentions, divided counsels, and disunion be the means of increasing its miseries, רתח רתחיה rattach rethacheyha, let it bubble its bubbling; something like that of the poet: -
"Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble:
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."
Very like the noise made by ebullition, when a pot of thick broth, "sleek and slab," is set over a fierce fire. Such was that here represented in which all the flesh, the fat and the bones were to be boiled, and generally dissolved together.

Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the (e) bones under it, [and] make it boil well, and let them boil its bones in it.
(e) Meaning, of the innocents whom they had slain, who were the cause of the kindling of God's wrath against them.

Take the choice of the flock,.... King, princes, nobles, magistrates, priests and rulers of the people:
and burn also the bones under it: or, "put a pile of bones under it" (u); the bones of them that are slain in it; denoting the great slaughter of them; or the bones of the innocent that had been murdered in it; which were the cause of these judgments coming upon them; and caused the wrath of God to burn the more hotly against them; or the bones of the wicked:
and make it boil well; the pot; that the water may be very hot and boiling; denoting the severity of the judgments of God in the city, to the destruction of many by sword, famine, and pestilence:
and let them seethe the bones of it therein; that the strongest among them may be weakened and destroyed by the length and severity of the siege, and the judgments attending it. The Targum is,
"bring near the kings of the people, and even join auxiliaries with them; hasten the time of it yea, let her slain be cast in the midst of her.''
(u) "pyram ossium sub ipsa", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Starckius. "rogus, strues materiae combustibililis rotunda", Stockius, p. 223.

burn . . . bones--rather, "pile the bones." Literally, "Let there be a round pile of the bones."
therein--literally, "in the midst of it."

The bones - Not of the pieces to be boiled, but of the many innocents murdered in Jerusalem; for their blood crieth for vengeance, and their bones scattered on the face of the earth, will both make and maintain this fire.