Commentaire sur Isaïe 3:24

And it shall come to pass, that, instead of perfume, there will be decay The place where they would perfume themselves will be decayed.

בושם Sweet smell. It keeps the body fresh and healthy.

and in the place of a girdle, laceration Heb. נקפה. The place where she girded herself, there will be lacerated, cut with wounds and signs of blows, as (Job: 19:26): “And after my skin is cut to pieces (נִקְּפוּ)”; (infra 10:34) “and the thickets of forest shall be cut down (וְנִקַּף).”

מק Rottenness is nearly the opposite of the preceding. Root מקק, to rot; verb, ע״ע; comp. תמקנה They shall consume away (Zac. 14:2).

and in the place of the deed, a wound Heb. (מַעֲשֶׂה מִקְשֶׁה). [The place where they would do the deed mentioned above: “walking and raising themselves they walk,” and that is at the height of the head, there will be] מִקְשֶׁה קָרְחָה, a wound that makes the head bald. מִקְשֶׁה is an expression similar to (Daniel 5:6): “knocked one against the other (נַקְשָׁן).” I would explain it as follows: The place where they would put the plates of gold made by hammering batdec in O.F.but it is vowelized in the Masorah among the ten words vowelized with a ‘pattach’ [i.e., a ‘segol,’ and none of them is connected to the following word, and every [instance of the word] that is in the construct state is vowelized with a ‘kamatz’ [i.e., a ‘tzeireh’].

נקפה A noun; נ is radical; we may fairly compare with it ונקף And he shall cut down (10:34); its mean-is a kind of cutting.

and in the place of the organ of levity Heb. וְתַחַתפְּתִיגִיל. This is like two words: פְּתִי גִיל, a vessel [or organ] that brings levity; the secret parts about which is mentioned above: shall pour out their ‘vessels.’ Instead of that levity, a girdle of sackcloth will be on all loins.

מעשה מקשה Well set hair; comp. עשה שפמו ולא Nor trimmed his beard (1 Sam. 19:25).

for this is instead of beauty For this is fitting for them to have instead of the beauty with which they acted haughtily.

פתיגיל A fine embroidered garment, which is worn over all the dresses.

כי תחת יופי According to Saadiah: for the contrary (תחת) is more fit for them; others take כויה ═ כי burning (Exod. 21:24); comp. ברויה ═ ברי (root רוה) with plenty (Job. 37:11); but this is contrary to the rules of the grammar, since ו in כויה is radical. I think the passage must be taken in this sense: For instead of beauty, the above-mentioned consumption, destruction and baldness shall come.²⁴Ibn Ezra rejects the identity of כי and רי ,כויה and רויה; he takes the ב in ברי as radical, and explains ברי pure; root כי תחת יופי .ברר is translated by Saadiah: إنَّ ٱلتَّبْدِيلُ أحْمَلُ لَهُم