Commentaire sur Isaïe 1:30

whose leaves wilt Its leaf ([Other editions read:] whose leaf) wilts, becomes wilted [flatisant in O. F.]. When heat or cold comes upon it, it wilts and its moisture is lost and destroyed. [The word] נבל is not an expression of decay like בלה, for no ‘nun’ is found in that expression, but נבל [is an expression of something that becomes fatigued and its strength is curtailed, from the root of] נָבֹל תִּבֹּל (Exod. 18: 18), which Onkelos renders: You will surely be exhausted.

For he shall be as an oak tree, etc. After having said that they shall be ashamed of the oak trees they have coveted and stolen, the prophet compares them to an oak tree whose leaves have withered.

that has no water to water its seeds; to the thing with which they sin, he compares their punishment.

נובלת עליה Whose leaf fadeth. Literally, which is withering with regard to its leaves; comp. ותאבדו דרך, And you shall perish with regard to the way (Ps. 2:12); similarly we say in the Confession, (קשינו ערף (ודוי We are stiff with regard to our neck. ⁵²The confession or וִדּוּי is a portion of the divine service for the Day of Atonement (10th of Tishri). כאלה As an oak. This proves that מאי לים(ver. 29) is the plural of אלה oak, especially since this is likewise followed by and as a garden, etc.⁵³See note 51.