And ye shall be left few in number
There were but very few left in the land of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar's general when Jerusalem was taken by him; and these were of the poorer sort, and were left for vinedressers and husbandmen, ( Jeremiah 39:10 ) ( 52:16 ) ; and how much they were reduced by the Romans will appear by the accounts Josephus gives of those that were slain, and made prisoners by them: he says {i},
``there were 1,100,000 slain at the siege of Jerusalem and by the war, and 97,000 made prisoners;''and it is computed that 1,240,490 were destroyed in Jerusalem and other parts of the nation F11; and it is also said by their historian {l}, that of those that were transported from Jerusalem and other parts of Palestine into Spain, scarce a thousandth part remained and that an infinite number were slain in France and Germany; and though their number equalled those that came out of Egypt, yet scarce five thousand of them were left:
whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude;
and, as it is sometimes said, as the sand of the sea, as was promised to Abraham, ( Genesis 15:5 ) ( 22:18 ) ; and was fulfilled in the days of Solomon ( 1 Kings 4:20 ) ;
because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the Lord thy God;
in his law, and by his prophets; and especially by the voice of the true Messiah, in his everlasting Gospel; of whom it is said, "today if ye will hear his voice"; &c. ( Hebrews 3:7 ) .
The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.