Commentary for Isaiah 59:5
בֵּיצֵ֤י צִפְעוֹנִי֙ בִּקֵּ֔עוּ וְקוּרֵ֥י עַכָּבִ֖ישׁ יֶאֱרֹ֑גוּ הָאֹכֵ֤ל מִבֵּֽיצֵיהֶם֙ יָמ֔וּת וְהַזּוּרֶ֖ה תִּבָּקַ֥ע אֶפְעֶֽה׃
They hatch basilisks’eggs, And weave the spider’s web; He that eateth of their eggs dieth, And that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Rashi on Isaiah
vipers a species of harmful snake.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
They hatch, etc. They are compared with the cockatrice’s eggs, when they open themselves.5A. V., They hatch cockatrice’s eggs. I. E. supplies the relative כאשר when. The Hebrew text has the words: המשילם שהם כביצי צפעוני. Lit., he compared them, (saying) that they are like the eggs of the cockatrice. This passage seems to be corrupt, because, in the first place, if I. E. intended only to say that the prophet compared them with the eggs of the cockatrice, he would have said המשילם לביצי צפעוני, or אמר שהם כביצי צפעוני; secondly, the whole remark would, in that case, be superfluous; thirdly, from the preceding remark of I. E., in which thoughts and words are pointed at as meant by the prophet, it may be inferred, that the commentator will show in this remark that the prophet speaks of the deeds of the people. It is, therefore, probable that the words in question are a corruption of the original מעשיהם לביצי צפעוני המשיל, he compares their deeds with the eggs, etc.
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Rashi on Isaiah
hatched Heb. בִּקְּעוּ, eskloterant in O.F. That is to say that they committed ugly deeds, from which they did not benefit.
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