It is, then, better to read what follows as an explanation, Mine is the silver, mine is the gold, saith Jehovah; that is, “I have not through want of money deferred hitherto the complete building of the Temple; for what can hinder me from amassing gold and silver from all quarters? Should it so please me, I could in a short time build a Temple by all the wealth of the world. Is it not indeed in my power to create mountains of gold and silver, by which I might erect for myself a Temple? Ye hence see that wealth is not wanting to me to build the Temple which I have promised; but the time is not arrived. Therefore they who believe the preceding predictions, ought to wait and to look forward, until the suitable time shall come.” This is the import of the passage. Many have been the criticisms on this clause, both as to its grammatical construction and as to the import of the word rendered “desire.” The verb “come” is plural, and the word for “desire” is singular. The easiest solution, and countenanced by the Septuagint, where the word is rendered τὰ ἐκλεκτὰ—“choice things,” is to consider [חמדת] as a plural, the [ו] being omitted. This would remove the grammatical anomaly, and the sentiment, as Calvin says, woud be more consonant with the context. And come shall the choice things of all nations. There is no ground for the objection which Bishop Chandler states, that to “come” is in this case an improper expression; for there are other similar instances. See Joshua 6:12; Isaiah 60:5. It is also applied to trees, Isaiah 60:13; and to incense, Jeremiah 6:20. Newcome takes the word as a plural, but applies it as deliciae in Latin to a person, and refers to Daniel 9:23; where Daniel is called [חמודות], rendered in our version “greatly beloved.” The version of Henderson is the following— And the things desired by all nations shall come. He considers that they are the blessings of the kingdom of Christ, and thinks that the Prophet refers to the general expectation which pervaded the world of some better state of things, and especially of some deliverer. But the most tenable is the view of Calvin, which has been held by Kimchi, Drusius, Vitringa, and others.—Ed.