As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. The LXX. renders "laws," διαθήκη, "covenant," which is applied to the "Law" (Hebrews 9:20, quoting from Exodus 24:8; Deuteronomy 29:1).
Theodotion agrees in the main with the Massoretic text. The Peshitta differs only in joining the first clause of the next verse to this. Ewald makes the prenominal suffix at the end of the verse third person, not second.
The very awkwardness of the construction is an evidence in favour of the received reading, "As it is written in the Law of Moses." The passages referred to are those denoted previously (Leviticus 26:1-46; Deuteronomy 28:1-68).
All this evil is come upon us—the curses referred to there. Yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God; literally, entreat the face. The face being the sign of favour, "entreated not the favour of the Lord" would be really what is meant; therefore not quite as Ewald renders, "appeased not Jahve."
Understand thy truth. Hitzig thinks here the reference is to God's faithfulness, either in promises or in threats. Keil objects to this, contending that baamitheka with the preposition בֵ cannot mean "faithfulness," but" truth."
This is a mistake; the preposition might alter the significance of the verb it follows, but not that of the noun it governs. The truth is that the word here is extended to its fullest meaning, "God's supreme reality."
God's being God implies necessarily that every word he utters of promise or threatening is true; veracity and faithfulness are equally involved in Jehovah being God. At the same time, from the connection it is the evil—the judgments—he had threatened that bulk most largely in the prophet's mind.