Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his
people
His professing people; which character, as it aggravated their sin in rejecting and despising the word of the Lord, so it increased his anger and indignation against them: and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten
them;
which some understand of past judgments and afflictions upon them, under Joash, Amaziah, and Ahaz; and others of future ones, under Shalmaneser and Nebuchadnezzar: and the hills did tremble;
which Jarchi interprets of their kings and princes; or it may be only a figurative expression, setting forth the awfulness of the dispensation: and their carcasses [were] torn in the midst of the streets.
The Targum renders it, "were as dung"; so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions; being slain there, and lying unburied, were trampled upon, and trodden down like "clay", as the Syriac version; or like the mire of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away;
this being abundantly less than their sins deserved; which shows how great were their sins, and how much the Lord was provoked to anger by them: but his hand [is] stretched out still;
to inflict yet sorer judgments. The Targum is
``by all this they turn not from their sins, that his fury may turn from them; but their rebellion grows stronger, and his stroke is again to take vengeance on them;''which expresses their impenitence and hardness of heart, under the judgments of God, which caused him to take more severe methods with them.