Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear: they shall rise in the morning and shall not find me:

Then they call me, and I do not answer, They seek me earnestly, and find me not.

Then I will give no answer to their cries; searching for me early, they will not see me:

then they will call to me, and I will not heed, they will arise in the morning, and not find me.

Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not (x) find me:
(x) Because they sought not with an affection to God, but for ease of their own grief.

Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer,.... As he called them, and they refused to answer to his call, Proverbs 1:24; so it was just in him to return no answer to them, when they called on him to deliver them from the Romans, and save them from ruin: for this was what they called out for, and what they expected, that the Messiah would come and deliver them; this was what they buoyed themselves up with, and made them so desperate to the last;
they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me; this is the very thing that Christ told the Jews, and much in the same words with these, John 7:34; for when he was gone, and they were in distress, then they sought after the Messiah, in the desert, and in the secret chambers, and in this and the other place, where they were told he was; but, alas! they could not find him: the true Messiah, whom they had rejected, was come and gone, and would return no more, until his second coming to judgment; or, however, till he came in his kingdom and power, to their ruin and destruction; of which coming of his the Scriptures often speak.

Now no prayers or most diligent seeking will avail (Proverbs 8:17).

Then - this sublime preacher in the streets continues - distress shall teach them to pray:
28 Then shall they call on me, and I will not answer;
They shall early seek after me, and not find me;
29 Because that they hated knowledge,
And did not choose the fear of Jahve.
30 They have not yielded to my counsel,
Despised all my reproof:
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their way,
And satiate themselves with their own counsels.
In the full emphatic forms, יקראנני, they shall call on me, ישׁחרנני, they shall seek me, and ימצאנני, they shall find me, the suffix ני may be joined to the old plur. ending ûn (Gesenius, Olshausen, Bttcher); but open forms like יברכנהוּ, He will bless him,יכבּדנני, He will honour me (from יכבּדנּי), and the like, rather favour the conclusion that נ is epenthetic (Ew. 250, b).
(Note: In the Codd. יקראנני is written; in this case the Metheg indicates the tone syllable: vid., Torath Emeth, p. 7 note, p. 21 note; and Accentssystem, ii. 1, note. In ישׁחרנני the Rebia is to be placed over the ר. In the Silluk-word ימצאנני it appears undoubtedly that the form is to be spoken as Milel, i.e., with tone on the penult.)
The address here takes the form of a declaration: Stultos nunc indignos censet ulteriori alloquio (Mich.). It is that laughter and scorn, Proverbs 1:26, which here sounds forth from the address of the Judge regarding the incorrigible. שׁחר is denom. of שׁחר, to go out and to seek with the morning twilight, as also בּקּר, Psalm 27:5, perhaps to appear early, and usually (Arab.) bakar (I, II, IV), to rise early, to be zealous (Lane: "He hastened to do or accomplish, or attain the thing needed"). Zckler, with Hitzig, erroneously regards Proverbs 1:29, Proverbs 1:30 as the antecedent to Proverbs 1:31. With ויאכלוּ, "and they shall eat," the futt. announcing judgment are continued from Proverbs 1:28; cf. Deuteronomy 28:46-48. The conclusion after תּהת כּי, "therefore because," or as usually expressed (except here and Deuteronomy 4:37, cf. Genesis 4:25), תּהת אשׁר (ἀνθ ̓ ὧν), is otherwise characterized, Deuteronomy 22:29; 2-Chronicles 21:12; and besides, תהת אשׁר stands after (e.g., 1-Samuel 26:21; 2-Kings 22:17; Jeremiah 29:19) oftener than before the principal clause. בּחר combines in itself the meanings of eligere and diligere (Fl.). The construction of אבה ל (to be inclining towards) follows that of the analogous שׁמע ל (to hear). Each one eats of the fruit of his way - good fruit of good ways (Isaiah 3:10), and evil fruit of evil ways. "The מן, 31b, introduces the object from which, as a whole, that which one eats, and with which he is satisfied, is taken as a part, or the object from which, as from a fountain, satisfaction flows forth" (Fl.). In correct texts, ויאכלוּ has the accent Dech, and at the same time Munach as its servant. Regarding the laws of punctuation, according to which וּממּעצתיהם (with Munach on the tone-syllable, Tarcha on the antepenult, and Metheg before the Chateph-Pathach) is to be written, see Baer's Torath Emeth, p. 11, Accentssystem, iv. 4. Norzi accents the word incorrectly with Rebia Mugrash. With the exception of Proverbs 22:22, the pluralet
(Note: A plur. denoting unity in the circumstances, and a similarity in the relations of time and space.)
מועצות has always the meaning of ungodly counsels.

Early - With diligence and fervency.