Then will I visit their transgression with the rod,.... That is, of men; as in Sa2 7:14, the Lord making use of men to chastise his people by, as he did of the neighbouring nations of the Jews, when they sinned against him; and so the Targum interprets it here, "I will visit their transgressions by the hands of the tribes of the ungodly;'' or with such afflictions as are common to men, Co1 10:13, in a kind, humane, moderate way, in measure, in judgment, and not in wrath and hot displeasure; or in such like manner as a man chastises his children, which is in love, Deu 8:5. and their iniquity with stripes; such as diseases of body, loss of relations, crosses and disappointments in the world; not with the stripes of divine vengeance, of vindictive justice, such as Christ, the surety of his people, endured for them; but with the scourges of a father, Isa 53:8.