Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
And they shall be broken, etc. "Her stores" - שתתיה shathotheyha, αποθηκαι, granaries. - Aquila.
All that make sluices and ponds for fish "All that make a gain of pools for fish" - This obscure line is rendered by different interpreters in very different manners. Kimchi explains אגמי agmey as if it were the same with אגמה agemah, from Job 30:25, in which he is followed by some of the rabbins, and supported by the Septuagint: and שכר secher, which I translate gain, and which some take for nets or enclosures, the Septuagint render by ζυθον, strong drink or beer, which it is well known was much used in Egypt; and so likewise the Syriac, retaining the Hebrew word שכרא sekra. I submit these very different interpretations to the reader's judgment. The Version of the Septuagint is as follows:
Και παντες οἱ ποιουντες τον ζυθον λυπηθησονται, και τας ψυχας πονεσουσι· "And all they that make barley wine shall mourn, and be grieved in soul."
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
in the purposes--rather, "the foundations," that is, "the nobles shall be broken" or brought low: so Isa 3:1; Psa 11:3; compare Isa 19:13, "The princes--the stay of the tribes. The Arabs call a prince "a pillar of the people" [MAURER]. "Their weaving-frames" [HORSLEY]. "Dykes" [BARNES].
all that make sluices, &c.--"makers of dams," made to confine the waters which overflow from the Nile in artificial fish-ponds [HORSLEY]. "Makers of gain," that is, the common people who have to earn their livelihood, as opposed to the "nobles" previously [MAURER].
John Gill Bible Commentary
And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof,.... Meaning either the persons that work in flax, or in making nets; who shall be disappointed in their views, expectations, and designs, in bringing them to a good market, since there will be no buyers. The word for "purposes" signifies foundations, as in Psa 11:3 and may design dams and banks, that are made to keep in the water, which shall be broken down, and be of no service to answer the end; but Kimchi observes, that the word in the Talmudic language signifies "nets", as it does (n); and this seems to be most agreeable to the context; and then the words may be rendered, "and its nets shall be broken" (o); shall lie and rot for want of use:
all that make sluices and ponds for fish; or, "all that make an enclosure of ponds of soul" (p); or for delight and pleasure; that is, not only such shall be broken in their purposes, ashamed and confounded, and be dispirited, mourn and lament, whose business and employment it is to catch fish, or make nets for that end, and get their livelihood thereby; but even such who enclose a confluence of water, and make fishponds in their fields and gardens for their pleasure, will be disappointed; for their waters there will be dried up, and the fish die, as well as in the common rivers. The Septuagint version renders it, "and all they that make zythum shall grieve"; "zythum" was a sort of malt liquor of the ancients; and the word for "sluices" is of affinity with a word that is often used for strong drink; and so the Syriac version here,
"and all they shall be humbled that make strong drink, for the drink of the soul;''
or for men to drink for pleasure.
(n) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 124. 2. Bava Kama, fol. 117. 1. (o) "Et erunt retia ejus contrita", Pagninus, Montanus. (p) "omnes facientes clausuram stagnorum animae", Montanus.