Ye have ploughed wickedness
Contrived it, and took a great deal of pains to commit it; by
ploughing sowed it, and which sprung up in a plentiful crop: it
may denote their first sins, from whence all others arose; as
their irreligion and infidelity; their apostasy from God; their
idolatry and contempt of his word and prophets: ye have
reaped iniquity;
abundance of other sins have sprung up from thence; a large
harvest of them have been reaped and got in; or great numbers of
other sins have been committed; one sin leads on to another, and
these proceed "ad infinitum"; wickedness is of an increasing
nature, and grows worse and worse, and proceeds to more
ungodliness: many understand this of the punishment or reward of
sin: ye have eaten the fruit of lies;
as a sweet morsel though bread of deceit; which could not profit
them, nor yield them in the issue the pleasure it promised them,
and they hoped for from it: because thou didst trust in thy
way;
in the worship of their idols, and in their alliances with
neighbouring nations, and promised themselves great prosperity
and happiness from hence: and in the multitude of thy
mighty men;
their valiant soldiers, their numerous armies, and the generals
of them, well skilled in war, and courageous; and also in their
auxiliaries, which they had from the Egyptians and others; these
they put their confidences in, to protect them; and so in their
garrisons and fortresses, as the following words show: