For, lo, they that are far from thee
Who are alienated from the life of God, far from the law of God, and subjection and obedience to it; and from righteousness either moral or evangelical, and from the love and fear of God, and worship of him:
shall perish;
not merely at death, as even righteous men do, but be lost eternally:
thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee;
that follow after other gods, and worship them; which is spiritual adultery and fornication, the Scriptures often speak of, and intend by it idolatry; see ( Deuteronomy 31:16 ) or who set their hearts and affections upon the creature, and have them alienated from God; and love the creature more and besides the Creator: the past tense seems to be put for the future, and so some render it, "thou shalt destroy", or "cut off" F9; destroy them soul and body, and punish them with an everlasting destruction in hell; the Targum is,
``that wander from thy fear;''that is, from the worship of God.