Commentary for Deuteronomy 32:35
לִ֤י נָקָם֙ וְשִׁלֵּ֔ם לְעֵ֖ת תָּמ֣וּט רַגְלָ֑ם כִּ֤י קָרוֹב֙ י֣וֹם אֵידָ֔ם וְחָ֖שׁ עֲתִדֹ֥ת לָֽמוֹ׃
Vengeance is Mine, and recompense, Against the time when their foot shall slip; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that are to come upon them shall make haste.
Rashi on Deuteronomy
לי נקם ושלם means, with Me is prepared and held in readiness the punishment of vengeance, and it will recompense them according to their doings. As regards the word ושלם, it means that vengeance will pay them their recompense (וְשִׁלַּם is therefore a verb with the Vau conversive, the subject being the noun נקם which precedes it). — But some explain the word וְשִׁלַּם as a noun, having the same meaning as שִׁלּוּם “recompense”, when it would be of the same grammatical form as the noun in the phrase (Jeremiah 5:13) “And the דִּבֵּר is not in them”, where it has the meaning of דִּבּוּר, “Divine utterance”. And when will I recompense them?
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Sforno on Deuteronomy
לי נקם, it is up to Me to do the avenging from My enemies.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
לי נקם ושלם, "Mine is the vengeance and the retribution." As mentioned previously and in Avodah Zarah 3, when that day arrives G'd will remove the sun from its orbit and the wicked will be burned by it whereas the righteous will experience the sun's heat as therapy and be healed by it. The sequence of the words לי נקם ושלם, means that at one and the same time what will be G'd's vengeance against the wicked will be the payment of a reward for the righteous.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy