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The personal word gives force and vividness to the application of the image. Comp. James 1:15.

The more complete form of expression would have been tivktousa mevn ... ejkfevrousa dev ..., but the first case is taken by itself as giving the true normal issue.
botavnhn ] the simplest natural produce: Gen. 1:11 ff. Hence the word is used in a bad sense for wild plants, weeds. Comp. Lightfoot on Ign. Eph. 10. eu[qeton ] Vulg. opportunam (Old Lat. utilem, aptam ); Luke 9:62; 14:35. The word probably is not to be taken absolutely but joined with ejkeivnoi" .
dij ou}" kai; gewrgei'tai ] for whose sake it is also tilled. For the use of kaiv compare Heb. 7:26; 2 Cor. 3:6; Col. 3:15.

The laborious culture of the soil seems to be contrasted with its spontaneous fruitfulness. In its truest state, as fulfilling the divine purpose, it meets (so to speak) man's efforts for the service of man. Those ‘for whom’ it is cultivated are not the tillers themselves only (Vulg. a quibus , Old Lat. propter quos ), nor yet the owners, but men at large.

It is easy to see an allusion to the human field tilled for God's glory: 1 Cor. 3:9.
metalambavnei eujlogiva" ] shares in blessing which is of wider range. This blessing may best be supposed to lie in increased fruitfulness: John 15:2.

For metalambavnei see Heb. 12:10; 2 Tim. 2:6. Heb. 6:8. ejkfevrousa dev ] but if it bear , breaking the law of fruitfulness. The word ejkfevrousa stands in contrast with tivktousa , though in Gen. 1:12 ejxhvnegken is used of the productiveness of the earth in answer to the divine command. Usage hardly justifies the remark of the Greek Fathers: oujkevti ei\pe tivktousa ajllj ejkfevrousa, to; para; fuvsin th'" ejkbolh'" aijnittovmeno" (OEcum.).
ajdovkimo" ... kau'sin ] The judgment on the land, fruitful only for ill, is given in three stages. It is rejected: such land cannot any longer be reckoned as land for fruitful service. It is nigh unto a curse: it presents the outward features of the curse (Gen. 3:17 f.), whence the near presence of the curse is inferred. Its end is burning. jAdovkimo" (Lat. reproba ) is found elsewhere in the
N. T. only in St Paul: e.g., 1 Cor. 9:27; 2 Cor. 13:5 ff. For
katavra" ejgguv" compare Heb. 8:13 ejggu;" ajfanismou' . Primasius remarks upon the phrase; Notandum quia non dixit maledicta est sed maledictioni proxima ( fobw'n a{ma kai; paramuqouvmeno" Euth. Zig.); and OEcumenius (following Chrysostom) oJ de; ejggu;" katavra" genovmeno" kai; makra;n genevsqai duvnatai dia; metanoiva" .
h|" to; tevlo" eij" kau'sin ] whose end ( i.e. the end of the land) is for burning , Vulg. cujus consummatio in combustionem. The rhythm of the whole sentence shews that the relative looks back to the main and not to the last
(
katavra ) antecedent.

So OEcumenius (after Chrysostom): eja;n mevcri tevlou" ejpimeivnh/, fhsiv, kai; mevcri teleuth'" ajkavnqa" ejkfevrwn tovte kauqhvsetai . For eij" compare Rom. 10:10; 1 Cor. 11:17; and for kau'si" 2 Pet. 3:10, 12; Heb. 10:27.

The image here appears to represent utter desolation as of a land destroyed by volcanic forces ( hJ katakekaumevnh ). Compare Deut. 29:23. The thought of purification by fire, true in itself, is foreign to the context; nor does


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