Commentary for Isaiah 55:4
הֵ֛ן עֵ֥ד לְאוּמִּ֖ים נְתַתִּ֑יו נָגִ֥יד וּמְצַוֵּ֖ה לְאֻמִּֽים׃
Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, A prince and commander to the peoples.
Rashi on Isaiah
a witness to nations A prince and a superior over them, and one who will reprove and testify of their ways to their faces. ([Mss., however, read:] One who reproaches them for their ways to their faces.)
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
Behold, I have given him, namely, Messiah.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
לאמים The people, the ל being radical; or to the people, the ל being a preposition.9There are in Hebrew two words which signify nation, namely: אֹם and לאֹם; pl. אֻמִּים (Ps. 117:1) and לאֻמִּים (49:1). For a witness. Messiah will testify, that there is no other king, no other ruler of the world, than God.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
ומצוה And one that issues commands.10This remark appears to be quite superfluous, since מְצַוֵּה can hardly mean anything else; it is perhaps intended to indicate that it is not an irregular participle instead of מְצַוֶּה, but the construct state of the noun מְצַוֶּה commander. See Kimchi ad locum.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy