Open. Hebrew, "break down." (Haydock) --- Divide. Hebrew, "make a breach." They shall return boldly, and in triumph. (Calmet) CHAPTER II. I. Hebrew and Septuagint, "He, the Lord, said;" or, Micheas addressed the princes of both kingdoms, under Ezechias, ver. 12., and Jeremias xxvi. 18. --- To know and practice, Osee vi. 3. (Calmet) --- Both rich and poor strove to extort from each other. (Worthington) Skins. When some exhorted Tiberius to lay on more taxes, he replied: "a good shepherd must shear the flock, and not tear off the skin." (Suetorius xxxii.) Peace. They pretend goodness, while they do the greatest mischief. --- Prepare. Literally, "sanctify," (Haydock) or denounce war. (Calmet) --- False prophets seek their private lucre. (Worthington) Vision. Impostors shall skulk through fear, when the people shall see that they were not sent, ver. 7. Spirit. I am no impostor, chap. ii. 11. Iniquity. You offer victims unjustly procured, or build your palaces with what belongs to the poor. Hire. It is not lawful to refuse instruction to those who have nothing; nor must priests act solely for a temporal reward, though reason shews that they should be supported by those whom they have to teach, Matthew x. 8, 10., Galatians vi. 6., and 1 Timothy v. 18. (Calmet) --- The judges grew rich by other people's quarrels; and, as all ranks offended, they were justly involved in ruin, ver. 12. (Worthington) Forests, after its destruction by Nabuchodonosor. (Calmet) --- In the space of three years' neglect, shrubs were growing in the courts of the temple, 1 Machabees iv. 38. (Haydock) --- Rufus ploughed up the spot where the temple had stood, after the Romans had burnt it down. (St. Jerome; Josephus, Jewish Wars vii. 20.) --- This prediction made a deep impression on the minds of the people. It caused them to refrain from killing Jeremias, ver. 1. (Calmet)