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Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.
Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
Their horses are swifter than cheetahs and fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their charioteers charge from far away. Like eagles, they swoop down to devour their prey.
Their horses also are swifter than the leopards
Creatures remarkable for their swiftness: these are creatures
born of the mating of a he panther and a lioness, and not of a
lion and a she panther, as some have affirmed; and which adultery
is highly resented by the lion; nor will he suffer it to go
unrevenged, as Pliny F21 and Philostratus
FOOTNOTES:
F23 observe: those thus begotten differ from
common lions in this, that they have no manes: the panthers are the
creatures here meant, which are very swift, as Bochart F24 from
various authors has observed. Lucan F25 calls this creature
"celerem pardum", t"he swift panther"; and Jerom says F26 nothing is swifter than the panther; and
Aelianus F1 observes that the panther, by the
swiftness of its running, will overtake most creatures, and
particularly apes; and Eustathius F2 confirms the same, saying that
it exceeds other creatures in swiftness, and as it were flies
before the eyes of hunters; and Osorius F3 relates,
that the king of Portugal once sent to the pope of Rome a panther
tamed, which being had into the woods a hunting by a Persian
hunter, with wonderful swiftness leaped upon the boars and deer,
and killed them at once; and the Septuagint version here is, "their
horses will leap above the panthers": or exceed them in leaping,
for which these panthers are very famous too: an Arabic writer
F4, whom Bochart mentions, says it will
leap above forty cubits at a leap. Pliny F5 reports,
that the panthers in Africa will get up into thick trees, and hide
themselves in the branches, and leap from thence on those that pass
by; and because of the swiftness of this creature, with other
qualities of it, the third beast or Grecian monarchy, especially in
its first head Alexander the great, is represented by it, (
Daniel 7:6 ) he
making such a swift and rapid progress in his conquests; and yet
the Chaldean horses would exceed them in swiftness, and be very
speedy in their march into the land of Judea; and therefore it was
in vain for the Jews to please themselves with the thoughts that
these people were a great way off, and so they secure from them,
when they could and would be upon them presently, ere they were
aware: and are more fierce than ravening wolves;
which creatures are naturally fierce, and especially when they are
hungry, and particularly at evening; when, having had no food all
the day, their appetites are very keen, and they go in quest of
their prey; and, when they meet with it, fall upon it with greater
eagerness and fierceness. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render
it, than the wolves of Arabia; that there are wolves very frequent
in Arabia, is observed by Diodorus Siculus {f}, and Strabo
F7; but that these are remarkable for
their fierceness does not appear; rather those in colder climates
are more fierce; so Pliny F8 says, they are little and sluggish in
Africa and Egypt, but rough and fierce in cold climates. It is, in
the original text, "more sharp" F9; which some interpret of the
sharpness of their sight. Aelianus says F11, it is a
most quick and sharp sighted creature; and can see in the night
season, even though the moon shines not: the reason of which Pliny
F12 gives is, because the eyes of wolves
are shining, and dart light; hence Aelianus F13
observes, that that time of the night in which the wolf only by
nature enjoys the light is called wolf light; and that Homer
F14 calls a night which has some
glimmering of light, or a sort of twilight, such as the wolves can
see themselves walk by, (amfiluch
nux) , which is that light that precedes the rising sun; and
he also observes that the wolf is sacred to the sun, and to Apollo,
which are the same; and there was an image of one at Delphos; and
so Macrobias F15 says, that the inhabitants of
Lycopolis, a city of Thebais in Egypt, alike worship Apollo and a
wolf, and in both the sun, because this animal takes and consumes
all things like the sun; and, because perceiving much by the quick
sight of its eyes, overcomes the darkness of the night; and
observes, that some think they have their name from light, though
they would have it be from the morning light; because those
creatures especially observe that time for seizing on cattle, after
a nights hunger, when before day light they are turned out of the
stables into pasture; but it is for the most part at evening, and
in the night, that wolves prowl about for their prey {p}; and from
whence they have the name of evening wolves, to which the Chaldean
horses are here compared: and yet there seems to be an antipathy
between these, if what some naturalists F17 say is
true; as that if a horse by chance treads in the footsteps of a
wolf, a numbness will immediately seize it, yea, even its belly
will burst; (This sounds like a fable. Ed.) and that, if the hip
bone of a wolf is thrown under horses drawing a chariot full speed,
and they tread upon it, they will stop and stand stone still,
immovable: whether respect is here had to the quick sight or sharp
hunger of these creatures is not easy to say; though rather, since
the comparison of them is with horses, it seems to respect the
fierceness of them, for which the war horse is famous, ( Job 39:24 ) and may be
better understood of the sharpness of the appetite of evening
wolves, when hunger bitten: and their horsemen shall spread
themselves;
or be multiplied, as the Targum; they shall be many, and spread
themselves all over the country, so that there will be no escaping;
all will fall into their hands: and their horsemen shall come
from far;
as Chaldea was reckoned from Judea, and especially in comparison of
neighbouring nations, who used to be troublesome, as Moab, Edom see
( Jeremiah
5:15 ) : they shall flee as the eagle [that] hasteth to
eat;
those horsemen shall be so speedy in their march, that they shall
seem rather to fly than ride, and even to fly as swift as the
eagle, the swiftest of birds, and which itself flies swiftest when
hungry, and in sight of its prey; and the rather this bird is
mentioned, because used by many nations, as the Persians, and
others, for a military sign F18. F21 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 16. F23 De Vita Apollonii, l. 2. c. 7. F24 Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 7. col.
788. F25 Pharsalia, l. 6. F26 Comment. in Hos. v. 14. fol. 10. L. F1 Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 6. F2 In Hexaemeron. F3 De Rebus Portugall. l. 9. apud Frantz.
Hist. Animal. Sacr. par. 1. 8. p. 90. F4 Damir apud Bochart, ut supra. (Hierozoic.
par. 1. l. 3. c. 7. col. 788.) F5 Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 73. F6 Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 177. F7 Geograph. l. 16. p. 534. F8 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 22. F9 (wdxw) "et acuti erunt", Montanus, Cocceius; "et
acutiores", Pagninus, Calvin, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator,
Drusius, Grotius; so Ben Melech; "et acuti sunt", Burkius. F11 De Animal. l. 10. c. 26. F12 Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 37. F13 Ut supra. (De Animal. l. 10. c. 26.) F14 Iliad. 7. prope finem. F15 Saturnal. l. 1. c. 17. F16 "Vesper ubi e pastu vitulos ad tecta
reducit, Auditisque lupos acuunt balatibus agni." Virgil. Georgic.
l. 4. "Ac veluti pleno lupus insidiatus ovili Nocte super
media-----", Ibid. Aeneid. l. 8. F17 Aelian. de Animal. l. 1. c. 36. Plin.
Nat. Hist. l. 28. c. 20. F18 Vid. Lydium de Re Militari, l. 3. c. 7.
p. 87.