Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD has not done it?
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD has not done it?
Shall the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid? shall evil befall a city, and Jehovah hath not done it?
If the horn is sounded in the town will the people not be full of fear? will evil come on a town if the Lord has not done it?
Shalt a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn't done it?
Shall the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid? shalt evil befall a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
Shall a trumpet be blown - The sign of alarm and invasion.
And the people not be afraid? - Not take the alarm, and provide for their defense and safety?
Shall there be evil in a city - Shall there be any public calamity on the wicked, that is not an effect of my displeasure? The word does not mean moral evil, but punishment for sin; calamities falling on the workers of iniquity. Natural evil is the punishment of moral evil: God sends the former when the latter is persisted in.
Is there evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? - Evil is of two sorts, evil of sin, and evil of punishment. There is no other; for evil of nature, or evil of fortune, are evils, by God's Providence, punishing the evil of sin. Augustine, c. Adim. 26: "Evil, which is sin, the Lord hath not done; evil, which is punishment for sin, the Lord bringeth." The Providence of God governing and controlling all things, man doth ill which he wills, so as to suffer ill which he wills not. Only, evil which is by God's Providence the punishment of sin is in this life remedial and through final impenitence alone becomes purely judicial.
Rib.: "Refer not, the prophet would say, the ills which ye suffer and will suffer, to any other causes, as people are accustomed to do. God, in His displeasure, sends them upon you. And that ye may know this the more certainly, whatever He shall send He will first reveal to the prophets and by them ye shall be forewarned. See then that ye despise not my words, or the words of the other prophets. People ascribe their sufferings to fortune, accident, any cause, rather than the displeasure of God. The intemperate will think anything the cause of their illness rather than their intemperance. People love the things of the world and cannot and will not be persuaded that so many evils are brought on them by the things which they love. So then God explains through the prophets the punishment which He purposes to bring on people."
3:6 Afraid - Affected with the danger. Evil - Such as plague or famine. Done it - Either immediately by his own hand, or by the hands of those he employs. Whoever are the instruments, God is the principal agent. Out of his mouth both good and evil proceed.