Commentary for Isaiah 56:3
וְאַל־יֹאמַ֣ר בֶּן־הַנֵּכָ֗ר הַנִּלְוָ֤ה אֶל־יְהוָה֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר הַבְדֵּ֧ל יַבְדִּילַ֛נִי יְהוָ֖ה מֵעַ֣ל עַמּ֑וֹ וְאַל־יֹאמַר֙ הַסָּרִ֔יס הֵ֥ן אֲנִ֖י עֵ֥ץ יָבֵֽשׁ׃ (ס)
Neither let the alien, That hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying: ‘The LORD will surely separate me from His people’; Neither let the eunuch say: ‘Behold, I am a dry tree.’
Rashi on Isaiah
“The Lord will surely separate me from His people,” Why should I become converted? Will not the Holy One, blessed be He, separate me from His people when He pays their reward.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
The son of the stranger. The true proselytes.
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Rashi on Isaiah
Let not the eunnuch say Why should I better my ways and my deeds? I am like a withered tree, for lack of remembrance.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
הַנִּלְוׇה That hath joined himself. It is the past tense with a prefixed ה, which is here equivalent to the relative אשר that; comp. ההלכוא who went (Jos. 10:24)5The past of the Niphal of לוה is נִלְוׇה, the participle נִלְוֶה m., נִלְוׇה f. Because of the preceding בן הנכר the masculine is here required, and נִלְוׇה is consequently the past, third person masculine; the ה, which before nouns and participles has a demonstrative character, has before the past or future of a verb the power of a relative pronoun. This latter case is, however, very rare..
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
יבדילֵנִי═יבדילַני The Lord will separate me. Comp. יאהבַני (my husband) will love me (Gen. 29:32).6The vowel, which connects the suffix with the verb, is Kamez or Pathah for the forms of the past tense, Zere or Segol for the other forms. This rule, however, is not without exceptions, of which יַבְדִילַנִי instead of יַבְדִּילֵנִי is one.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
I am a dry tree, because I cannot have children.
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