For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.

For they are fled from before the swords, from the sword that hung over them, from the bent bow, from the face of a grievous battle.

For they flee from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.

For from the face of destructions they fled, From the face of a stretched-out sword, And from the face of a trodden bow, And from the face of the grievousness of battle.

For they are in flight from the sharp sword, and the bent bow, and from the trouble of war.

For they are fleeing before the face of swords, before the face of a sword hanging over them, before the face of a bent bow, before the face of a grievous battle.

Quia a facie gladiorum fugiunt, a facie gladii extenti, a facie arcus intenti, a facie gravitatis belli.

For they flee from the face of the swords. [1] He means that the calamity will be dreadful, and that the Arabians will have good reason for betaking themselves to flight, because the enemies will pursue them with arms and with swords, so that they will have no other way of providing for their safety than by flight. The reason why he foretells this defeat is plain enough; for it was necessary that the Jews should obtain early information of that which should happen long after, that they might learn that the world is governed by the providence of God and not by chance, and likewise that they should be taught by the example of others to behold God as the judge of all nations, wherever they turned their eyes. We do not know, and history does not inform us, whether or not the Arabians were enemies of the Jews. However that may be, it is certain that these things are spoken for the consolation of the godly, that they may behold the justice of God towards all nations, and may acknowledge that his judgment-seat is at Jerusalem, from which he will pronounce judgment on the whole world.

Footnotes

1 - "From the swords," or, for fear (Heb. from the face.) -- Eng. Ver. "From before the swords." -- Stock. "From the presence of swords." -- Alexander

For they fled - The inhabitants of one part of the land.
The grievousness of war - Hebrew, כבד kobed - "the weight, the heaviness, the oppression" of war; probably from the calamities that would result from the march of the Assyrian through their land, either on his way to Judea or to Egypt.

For they fled from the swords,.... Of their enemy, whom they could not withstand; perhaps the Assyrian army:
from the drawn sword; just ready to be sheathed in them:
and from the bent bow; just going to let the arrow fly at them:
and from the grievousness of war: too heavy for them to bear.

they--the fugitive Dedanites and other Arabs.