He now repeats that the day of Jehovah and his voice would cry out bitterly. I have stated three renderings as given by interpreters. Some read thus—The day of Jehovah shall be bitter; there the strong shall cry aloud. This meaning is admissible, and a useful instruction may from it be elicited; as though the Prophet had said, that no courage could bring help to men, or be an aid to them, against God’s vengeance. Others give this rendering, that the day would bitterly cry out, for there would be the strong, that is, the strength of enemies would break down whatever courage the Jews might have. But this second meaning seems forced; and I am disposed to adopt the third—that the voice of the day of Jehovah would bitterly cry out. And he means the voice of those who would have really to know God as a judge, whom they had previously despised; for God would then put forth his power, which had been an object of contempt, until the Jews had by experience felt it. The Rabbinical punctuation has destroyed the simplicity of this passage by connecting "bitter” with the latter clause. Jerome, Pagninus, Newcome, as well as the Septuagint, connect it with the former clause. The literal rendering of the two lines is as follows— The voice of the day of Jehovah shall be grievous; Roar out there (or then) shall the brave. “The voice of the day,” etc., means the voice uttered on that day, as Drusius explains it. [מר] is no doubt “bitter;” but it is often applied in scripture to express what is grievous, afflictive, or sorrowful. If we render [שט], “there,” it refers to Jerusalem, verse 12; but it is sometimes used as an adverb of time, “then,” see Psalm 14:5; Nehemiah 3:15. “The meaning is,” says Drusius, “that the voice of that day, which they who excel in strength of mind and body shall utter, shall be bitter.” The whole verse is remarkably concise and emphatical,— 14. Nigh is the great day of Jehovah, Nigh and hastening quickly: The voice of the day of Jehovah shall be grievous; Roar out then shall the brave. Then the following verse is not to begin, as in our version, which has been followed by Newcome and Henderson, “That day is a day of wrath,” but thus— A day of wrath shall be that day. This is the order of the original, and as there is no verb, it must be supplied and regulated as to its tense by the context.—Ed.