Commentaire sur Isaïe 17:3
וְנִשְׁבַּ֤ת מִבְצָר֙ מֵֽאֶפְרַ֔יִם וּמַמְלָכָ֥ה מִדַּמֶּ֖שֶׂק וּשְׁאָ֣ר אֲרָ֑ם כִּכְב֤וֹד בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ יִֽהְי֔וּ נְאֻ֖ם יְהוָ֥ה צְבָאֽוֹת׃ (ס)
Les forteresses disparaîtront d’Ephraïm, le pouvoir royal de Damas; il en sera des débris de la Syrie comme de la gloire des enfants d’Israël, dit l’Éternel-Cebaot.
Rashi on Isaiah
like the glory of the ten tribes, shall these also be [var. Aram, too, shall be]. These shall be exiled to Halah and Habor, and these shall be exiled to Kir, as it is stated (II Kings 16:9): “And exiled its inhabitants to Kir, and he slew Rezin.”
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
The fortress also shall cease, etc. When Sennacherib came, Damascus had been already conquered and also Samaria with its fortresses.4According to the Hebrew text: When Sennacherib came, he took (תפש) Damascus and also Samaria with its fortresses. This is incorrect, for Tiglath Pileser took Damascus in the time of Ahaz (2 Kings 16:7—10), and Shalmaneser conquered Samaria (ibid. 17:9, 10) in the sixth year of King Hezekiah; Sennacherib entered Judah in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah. This incorrectness is probably not the fault of I. E., but that of the copyist; for if we read instead of תפש, the Niphal נתפשה, and translate for when Sennacherib came, Damascus was already conquered, Samaria with its fortresses likewise, we have a better construction of the sentence, and no contradiction of the account given in the Book of Kings. I. E. refers the prophecy of this chapter to the period of the Assyrian invasion under Sennacherib.
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Ibn Ezra on Isaiah
And the remnant of Syria, Damascus was the capital of Syria. They shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, of which it is said, The glory of Jacob shall be made thin (ver. 4). Others explain, And the remnant of Syria will be reduced to so disgraceful a condition, that the condition of the Israelites will be considered glorious, in comparison with the fate of Damascus.5ככבוד בני ישראל is, according to this explanation, to be translated by as if it were a glory for the children of Israel, or nearly a glory, etc. For both significations of the prefix כ a sufficient number of instances can be adduced.
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