Commentary for Isaiah 26:19
יִֽחְי֣וּ מֵתֶ֔יךָ נְבֵלָתִ֖י יְקוּמ֑וּן הָקִ֨יצוּ וְרַנְּנ֜וּ שֹׁכְנֵ֣י עָפָ֗ר כִּ֣י טַ֤ל אוֹרֹת֙ טַלֶּ֔ךָ וָאָ֖רֶץ רְפָאִ֥ים תַּפִּֽיל׃ (ס)
Thy dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise— Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust— For Thy dew is as the dew of light, And the earth shall bring to life the shades.
Rashi on Isaiah
May Your dead live Above (v. 14) he prayed that the wicked should not live, and here he prayed that the righteous should live. I beseech You that those who were slain for Your sake come to life. May a royal edict emanate from You saying, “My corpses shall rise.” The corpses of My people who made themselves corpses for My sake, they shall be raised up. This is the opposite of what is written above (v. 14): “Slackers shall not rise.” These, however, shall rise.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
Thy dead men shall live. Only Thy dead men shall live; God is addressed. Generally, it is believed, that this phrase contains some reference to the resurrection of the dead.18Comp. Targum: Thou wilt revive the dead. Some explain it as a contrast to They are dead, they will not live, (ver. 14), they, that is, our masters, are dead, but we, who were considered as dead, are living.
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Rashi on Isaiah
awaken and sing All this the Holy One, blessed be He, shall say to them. “Awaken and sing,” is an imperative form.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
My dead body. The first person refers to the prophet, who is one of the Israelites, that are considered as dead. Let Thy dead men live, and let the dead of my people rise, as if they heard the cry: Awake, etc.
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Rashi on Isaiah
for a dew of lights is Your dew For it is fitting for You to do so, that the dew of Your Torah and Your commandments shall be to them dew of light.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
טל אורות A dew of light.19A. V., The dew of herbs. A dew acccompanied by light. Thy dew. God is addressed in these words. According to others, אורות means herbs; comp. 2 Kings 4:39; it signifies a kind of herb, which turns toward the sun and moon.20Comp. Plin. Nat. Hist. Lib. XVIII., cap. 36 (Lupinus) cum sole quotidie circumagitur, horasque agricolis etiam nubilo demonstrat. The lupine makes its daily circuit with the sun, and shows the farmer the time even when the heaven is covered with clouds.
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Rashi on Isaiah
and [to the] earth You shall cast the slackers And to the earth and to the dust You shall cast the land of (sic) the slackers who slackened their hands from Your Torah.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
וְהָאָרֶץ ═ וָאָרֶץ. And the earth Shall cast out the dead, out of itself. תפיל Shall cast out, shall bear; comp. כנפל אשח As the untimely birth of a woman (Psalm 58:9). Others explain, Thou alone hast given life to Thy dead; for it is the nature of the earth to throw the dead into its midst.21The dead are buried and hidden under the surface of the earth, whence we do not see them rise again; the restoration of the dead to life is therefore not the usual course of nature, but an extraordinary and miraculous act of the Almighty.
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Rashi on Isaiah
You shall cast the slackers Since he stated (v. 18) “Neither do the inhabitants of the world fall,” he repeats, “You cast them down, for our merits do not suffice to cast them down.”
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