Labor

LABOR. This Word, which properly signifies Labour, is sometimes made Use of in Scripture for Sin, Iniquity, Falshood, the Punishment of Sin: For Example, Sub Lingua ejus labor & dolor. He has under his Tongue Ungodliness and Sorrow, or according to the Hebrew, Mischief and Iniquity; he thinks only of doing Mischief, of injuring and afflicting his Neighbour. And elsewhere Labor in medio ejus & injustitia; Sin and Injustice are in the Midst of the City. And again, Labor labiorum ipsorum operiet eos. Let the Mischief of their own Lips cover them: Let the Punishment of their Sin, of their evil Discourses fall upon them. And Isaiah ch. lix 4. Conceperunt laborem & peperunt iniquitatem. These Words were in a Manner proverbial. They are in the seventh Psalm, and are again met with in Job, ch. xv. ℣ 15. And Habakkuk speaking to God, ch. i. ℣ 3. Quare ostendisti mihi iniquitatem & laborem: That is to say, Iniquity and the Crimes of the wicked who conspire against me.

Labor is often used for all Sorts of Misfortunes, Fatigues and Troubles. Nosti omnem Num. xx. 14.laborem qui apprehendit nos. All the Evils which we have suffered. Narravit universum laborem qui accidisset eis in itinere; the Uneasiness Ex xviii. 8.which attended their Journey. Labor is also taken for the Fruit of Labour. Labores Ps civ. 44populorum possederunt. They possessed the Labours of the People. And elsewhere, let the Strangers spoil his Labour, and the first Fruits of their Labours; that is to say, what they have acquired by their Labours.

Labor is sometimes used for the Uneasiness we give others. Labor labiorum ipsorum Ps. cxxxix. 10.operiet eos. The Mischief they do others will fall upon them, or the Pain occasioned by their evil Discourses and Calumnies will overwhelm them. Labor stultorum affliget eos. The wicked shall be punished with those very Evils which they would inflict on others; and the Psalmist,¹ Numquid adhæret tibi sedes iniquitatis, qui fingis laborem in præcepto? Shall the Throne of Iniquity have Fellowship with thee which frameth Mischief, Iniquity, by its Precepts; for the Hebrew reads fingit in the third Person, and not fingis. The Throne of Iniquity are the Wicked, they who abuse the Power which God hath put into their Hands; they frame Mischief by a Law, they overwhelm the Weak with their Authority; they afflict, oppress them.

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