Take the choice of the flock,.... King, princes, nobles, magistrates, priests and rulers of the people:and burn also the bones under it: or, "put a pile of bones under it" ; the bones of them that are slain in it; denoting the great slaughter of them; or the bones of the innocent that had been murdered in it; which were the cause of these judgments coming upon them; and caused the wrath of God to burn the more hotly against them; or the bones of the wicked:and make it boil well; the pot; that the water may be very hot and boiling; denoting the severity of the judgments of God in the city, to the destruction of many by sword, famine, and pestilence:and let them seethe the bones of it therein; that the strongest among them may be weakened and destroyed by the length and severity of the siege, and the judgments attending it.
The Targum is,"bring near the kings of the people, and even join auxiliaries with them; hasten the time of it yea, let her slain be cast in the midst of her.'' hytxt Mymueh rwd "pyram ossium sub ipsa", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Starckius.
rwd "rogus, strues materiae combustibililis rotunda", Stockius, p.