Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
Ye fast for strife and debate - How often is this the case! A whole nation are called to fast to implore God' s blessing on wars carried on for the purposes of wrath and ambition.
To smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day "To smite with the fist the poor. Wherefore fast ye unto me in this manner" - I follow the version of the Septuagint, which gives a much better sense than the present reading of the Hebrew. Instead of resha lo , they seem to have read in their copy rash al mah lli . The four first letters are the same, but otherwise divided in regard to the words; the four last are lost, and aleph added in their place, in order to make some sort of sense with . The version of the Septuagint is, · ̔ - as above.
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