Thou shalt take up this proverb; rather, this parable, as the word is translated in Numbers 23:1-30, and Numbers 24:1-25.; in Job 26:1; Job 29:1; Psalms 49:4; Psalms 78:2; Ezekiel 17:2; Ezekiel 20:49; Ezekiel 21:5; Ezekiel 24:3; Micah 2:4; Habakkuk 2:6; or "this taunting speech," as our translators render in the margin (see Cheyne, ad loc.
; and comp. Hebrews 2:6). The golden city. There are two readings here—madhebah and marhebah. The latter reading was preferred anciently, and is followed by the LXX; the Syriac and Chaldee Versions, the Targums, Ewald, Gesenius, and Mr.
Cheyne. It would give the meaning of" the raging one." Madhebah, however, is preferred by Rosenmüller, Vitringa, and Dr. Kay. It is supposed to mean "golden," from d'hab, the Chaldee form of the Hebrew zahob, gold.
But the question is pertinent—Why should a Chaldee form have been used by a Hebrew writer ignorant of Chaldee and Chaldea?