Commentary for Isaiah 2:4

into plowshares koltres in O.F.

And he will judge – That is to say - just as they request, so it will be in truth because the judge at that time will be the messiah and he will judge, instruct and rebuke: between nations – because the need for the means of war is due to two things 1) between two peoples who do not have a shared religion the sword is necessary to judge and decide between them, 2) guarding the government and order within a particular country, that people not rebel and throw off the yoke of rule. In response to this it says that in that time these reasons will be nullified, because he will judge and rebuke in the matters that cause conflict between nations, and rebuke will be sufficient to stop many peoples from transgressing the law. Then, since they no longer need to wage war, perforce the will ‘beat their swords into plowshares’ and no more learn the ways of war:

And he shall judge. He, who is the judge, the Messiah, shall judge (comp. Numb. 26:59).⁵The passage referred to is אֲשֶׁר יָלְדָה אׂחָהּ, ‘ whom she bare’: no noun precedes the phrase, whose substitute the pronoun she should be. In this and similar elliptical cases, Ibn Ezra usually supplies a participle or a verbal noun from the verb; as, for instance, היולדת ‘ the mother,’ implied in the verb יָלְדָה or הַשׁׂפֵט implied in the verb וְשָׁפַט; sometimes he completes the elliptical phrase from the context; comp. ver. 8.

pruning hooks sarpes in O.F. [serpes in modern French], with which they prune the vineyards.

לְאִתִּים Into plowshares. Comp. אֵתוֹ his plowshare (1 Sam. 13:20); the Dagesh of the ת compensates for the omitted silent letter י; the same purpose is served by the long vowel Zere under א in the word ⁶Long vowels are either really or virtually followed by one of the silent letters אהוי ; namely, Kamez by א or ה, Zere and Hirek by י, Holem and Shurek by ו..אֵתוֹ

למזמרות Pruning-hooks. Instruments for pruning the vineyards.