פירוש על ישעיהו 47:16

without a throne Without a kingdom.

Virgin. Babylon is like a virgin, that has not yet been deflowered.¹That is, for a long period; but strictly speaking, Babylon had been conquered before by the Assyrians. See Niebuhr, Gesch. As. and B. p. 179.

for no longer [lit. for you shall not continue,] that they call you tender and delicate.

בת Daughter. It is here figuratively used for people.²It is strange that I. E. here explains the expression daughter, after having many times passed it over in silence (1:8; 10:32; 16:1; 22:4 ; 23:10, etc.); even the very same phrase בתולת בת (23:12; 37:22), did not elicit any remark or explanation. The object of his remark here, is probably not only to explain the figurative use of the word בת daughter קהלת═ congregation or people, but also the meaning of the construct state of the two nouns בתולת בת the virgin of the daughter of, while other authorities render them the virgin daughter of, explaining בתולת, in spite of the form of the construct state, to be in apposition to בת. I. E. refers the virgin to the capital and the daughter to the whole country. Comp. his remark on Lam. 1:15. The Chaldæan translation renders these two words by מלכו כנשתא the kingdom of the people.

There is no throne for thee any longer.

ענוגה Tender. It is an adjective similar in form to אדומה red (Num. 19:2)

Take millstones This is hard labor, i.e., subordinate yourself from now on, to the kings of Persia and Media. Alternatively: And grind flour for supplies on the road of your exile.

Take the millstones, etc., as handmaids do; for thou wilt go into captivity.

bare your covered parts Your arms and your legs, parts veiled, tied, and covered.

Meal. This is a prolepsis. Comp. And stripped the naked of their clothing (Job 22:6).

uncover the paths Heb. חֶשְׂפִּי שֹׁבֶל. Uncover the paths of the water that is upon them, for that way you shall go out into exile, or bare your leg and cross rivers.

צמתך Thy crown.³A. V., Thy crown. The hair upon the head.

שובל Locks.⁴A. V., The leg. The hair that hangs down over the cheeks. R. Moses Hakkohen compares שובל with שבלת the channel of the river (27:12),⁵The comparison between the locks of hair and the river is probably made with regard to the similarity in their winding form. but I consider it as hap. leg., and its meaning can only be found from the context, without being supported by any. parallel passage.

Pass over the rivers, in order to grind.

I will not entreat any man I will ask no man to take My revenge.

תגל Shall be uncovered. It is Niphal of גלה .

ולא אפגע אדם And I shall not accept the intercession of any man.⁶A. V., And I will not meet thee as a man. פגע means to entreat; comp. אל תפגעי בי entreat me not (Ruth 1:16); when פגע is constructed with the preposition ב, then the noun, to which the ב is prefixed, is the object to the verb.⁷I. E. thus distinguishes between פגע governing the accusative, and פגע being followed by the preposition ב; the former has the meaning to accept the prayer of or to be entreated by, the latter: to entreat. In the former case the noun governed by the verb פגע is in reality הפועל, the one that acts (that entreats), in the other case הפעול the object. Some render the meaning of this sentence in the following way: I shall not take vengeance on thee, and I shall not meet a man (comp. ויפגעו and they met, Ex. 5:20) sc. standing in my way, or telling me not to do it, or I shall not meet a man, whom 1 should not cause joy by this.⁸It can hardly be seen, how the reader could supply from the context, or from the signification of the verb פגע to meet, the relative sentence whom I should not cause joy by this, and it is very improbable that the prophet, if he had this sentence in his mind, should have dropped it, leaving it to the sagacity of the reader or hearer to supply it.

Our redeemer, the Lord of Hosts is His name The prophet states: All this the Lord of Hosts does, to redeem us from there.

Our redeemer, etc. Then the Israelites will say, this is our redeemer, etc.

יקראו לך Thou shalt be called. Lit. They, the people, will call thee. Comp. Num. 26:59; there are many other instances like it.⁹Comp. I. E. on 2:4 and note 5.

on the aged you made your yoke very heavy On the aged, who were unable to bear hard work, you made heavy your yoke.

I was wroth, etc. When I was angry with my people, thou didst not show mercy to them, etc.

The ancient is especially mentioned because of the failure of his strength and because of the regard due to him.

And you said to yourself, “I will forever be a mistress, and no retribution shall come upon me,” and this thing enticed you until you did not take to heart these blows that would come upon you, and you did not remember the end of your evil that you have done.

And thou saidst, in thy heart, etc.;

but thou ought to have taken to thy heart These things, which I have done for my people.

Neither didst thou remember the latter end of it. That is, the latter end of the pride; or thou didst not remember what the future of my peculiar people was to be, when I was angry with them.¹⁰The question is, to which noun does the pronoun –ָהּ its in אחריתה refer, since there is no such noun directly preceding. According to I. E. it may refer either to the noun pride which is the true character of the words I shall be a mistress for ever, and can be substituted for them, whenever reference is made to them; or to a word like נחלתי my inheritance (ver. 6), which might easily be supplied from the preceding verse, as well as from the phrase I shall be a mistress for ever, viz., of Israel, the inheritance of the Lord.

delicate one Heb. עֲדִינָה. Jonathan renders: מְפַנֶּקְתָּא, delicate.

עדינה Given to pleasures. It is an adjective; עדנה pleasure (Gen. 18:12) is of the same root.

and there is none besides me Heb. וְאַפְסִי. And there is none outside of me. Like אֵין זוּלָתִי.

אפס═אפסי None,¹¹A. V., None beside me. The י is paragogic;^11aComp. I. E. on 52:10, and Notes 11, 12 and 13. According to I. E. אפס signifies either the negatives not or none or the preposition beside; in the former case אפס ═ אפסי; in the latter אפסי means beside me; but it does not signify both simultaneously: none beside me. Since the context of the verse demands the negation; I. E. here gives the preference to the former. comp. מן═מני from (Judg. 5:14).

A widow. The king of the country is metaphorically called the husband.¹²It is not clear whether I. E. meant by the evils the threatened punishment of the loss of children and widowhood or the sins of Babylon mentioned vers. 6, sqq. In the former case I. E. would probably have said these evils (הרעות האלה); in the other case it is rather at variance with the words, וכל זה בעבור, All these evils came over thee for, since the cause of the threatened evils is stated already by the word כתמם when they were complete.

שכל The loss of children. It is a noun similar in form to כפר hoar-frost (Ex. 16:14); שפט judgment (2 Chr. 20:9)

these two that you said that you would not sit as a widow and you would not know bereavement, shall suddenly come upon you.

These two. The loss of the kingdom and the death of the children.

bereavement of your inhabitants.

כתמם In their perfection. When the evils¹²It is not clear whether I. E. meant by the evils the threatened punishment of the loss of children and widowhood or the sins of Babylon mentioned vers. 6, sqq. In the former case I. E. would probably have said these evils (הרעות האלה); in the other case it is rather at variance with the words, וכל זה בעבור, All these evils came over thee for, since the cause of the threatened evils is stated already by the word כתמם when they were complete. were complete. תמם is an infinitive.¹³It is the infinitive of תמם with the pronominal suffix –ם their.—All these evils came over thee for the multitude of thy sorceries, etc.

and widowhood of your king. Any burial of children or exile of the people of a land is called bereavement.

in their full measure All of them, complete in their decree, the bereavement and the widowhood.

your charms Heb. חֲבָרַיִךְ. An expression of sorcery. Comp. (Deut. 18:11) “And a charmer (וְחֹבֵר חָבֶר).”

your wisdom and your knowledge Your wisdom and the evil of your heart that perverted you. They turned your heart to be perverted, envesede in O.F. It perverted you from the way of other people (other daughters [mss. and K’li Paz]).

And thy knowledge. The prophet here alludes to that rationalism which denies the existence of God.

רוֹאׇגׅי Seeth me. The א has Kamez, because it is a guttural letter.¹⁴See I. E. on 41:25 and note 31.

Thy wisdom. That which was wisdom in thy imagination.

שובבתך Hath perverted thee, has made thee obstinate, that thou art not inclined to return from thy evil way.

ואפסי And none. It has here the same meaning as above (ver. 8). I am, and none else beside me, I am wise, and there is none as wise as I am.

you shall not know how to remove it by prayer Heb. לֹֹא תֵדְעִי שַׁחְרָהּ. You shall not know to pray about it (Jonathan). Whom will you beseech to extricate you therefrom?

יום רעה═רעה A day of evil.¹⁵A. V., Evil. I. E. supplies יום the day of because of the masculine form of the verb ובא.

to rid yourself of it Heb. כַּפְּרָהּ, to wipe it away and to remove it, and this is every expression of atonement (כַּפָּרָה). It is an expression of wiping and taking away.

לא תדעי שחרה Thou shalt not know its light.¹⁶A. V., From whence it riseth. It will be like a night, which is not relieved by daylight; שחר means light.

הׂוׇה Mischief. It is derived from הוה to become; comp. ואתה הוה that thou mayest become (Neh. 6:6);¹⁷A. V., That thou mayest be. Although the root הוה has the general meaning to become, both in the good sense and in the evil, the noun הוה may still be said to be derived from the same root, and to be used only in the bad sense. it signifies an evil that comes suddenly; of the same root is והותי and my calamity (Job 6:2).

כפרה To put it off by ransom; comp. כפר ransom (Ex. 30:12); or to annul it; comp. יכפרנה will remove it¹⁸A. V., Will pacify it. (Prov. 16:14).

שואה Desolation.

Stand now Strengthen yourself now.

נא Now.¹⁹See I. E. on 5:1 and note 1.

perhaps you will gain strength Heb. תַּעֲרוֹצִי. Jonathan renders: Perhaps you will be able to become strong.

בחבריך With thine enchantments. It is a plural noun, of the same root as וחבר חבר or a charmer (Deut. 18:11).

הועיל To profit. It is Infinitive.

תערוצי Thou mayest prevail. Comp. עריץ strong (29:20)

astrologers Heb. הֹבְרֵי שָׁמַיִם. Jonathan renders it like ‘the gazers of the heavens,’ who gaze at the constellations of the heavens. He compares it to (Song 6:10) “Clear (בָּרָה) as the sun,” and to (Job 33: 3) “Spoke a clear (בָּרוּר) word.” And so did Menahem associate it with them (Machbereth Menahem p. 47f.); those who clarify the orbit of the constellations, and he interpreted it thus because the diviners are unable to determine the seconds of the day and the night until the heaven is perfectly clear to them. Micah, too, said in prophecy (3:6), “It has become too dark for you to divine.” This teaches us that on a dark day the stars are sealed, and they cannot divine (ibid. p. 13).

עֲצׇתׇיׅךְ Thy counsels. It is an irregular form, a combination of the singular and plural; comp. מֲכּׂתְךְ thy plagues (Deut. 28:59), which shows the same peculiarity in the opposite order.²⁰The possessive pronoun of the second person feminine is –ֵךְ or –ַיׅךְ the former, if connected with a noun in the singular, the other, if connected with a noun in the plural; the regular forms for the two words are accordingly עֲצָתֵךְ thy counsel, or עֲצוֹתַיׅךְ thy counsels; מַכְּתֵךְ thy plague, or מַכּוֹתַיִךְ thy plagues.

the monthly prognosticators of what will come upon you For when the moon is in its first phase [lit. renewed], they see at the time of its ‘birth’ part of what is destined to come, but they do not know it clearly. Therefore, it is stated, “of what.” Similarly, he says elsewhere (supra 8:19): “who chirp and mutter,” like these birds who chirp and mutter and do not know why.

הברי שמים Astrologers. Some derive הברי from ברר to be clear, because the astrologers cannot know the exact time unless the heaven be clear and cloudless. This is far-fetched ; besides, the ה is radical, and the word is in form²¹That is in respect to letters and vowels. Although this is not yet sufficient to establish the identity of two forms, in this case it is sufficient, since the radical and preformative letters can in both words be easily distinguished and found as corresponding to each other. similar to שמרי watchmen of (Song 5:7).

מודיעים לחדשים The monthly prognosticators. This is their wisdom; they look to the stars for the knowledge of changes in the weather, and of events concerning the countries, only at the time of the conjunction of the planets, which is the source of their wisdom, and is here indicated by the word מאשר יבאו עליך ²²According to this explanation the literal translation of לחדשים is at each new revolution of the stars..לחרשים

From these things that shall come upon thee. This phrase is not to be joined with מודיעים לחדשים, but with ויושעוך and save thee, though distant from it; comp. אשד עבדו שם הגוים אשר אתם יורשים אותם את אלהיהם wherein the nations which ye shall possess, served their gods²³The words את אלהיהם are not governed by the nearer ירשים, but by the more remote עבדו. (Deut. 12:2)

Behold they were Your stargazers were like stubble.

Fire. The host of the enemy. Comp., There is a fire gone out of Heshbon (Num. 21:28).

there is no coal by which to warm oneself They have no remnant, like stubble, the fire of which does not leave over coals by whose fire one can warm himself.

לחמם To warm at. It is infinitive of a verb (חמם) ע״ע, written in full, and similar in form²⁴The Pathah under ל in לַחמם instead of Hirek as in לִשכב is easily explained by the guttural letter by which the ל is followed; but not so regular is the change of Pathah in the second syllable into Kamez; and a remark of I. E. on this point might have been expected, if he had had the reading לחמָם; and not rather לחמַם. to לשכב to lie (Gen. 34:7).—The meaning of the whole sentence is: they will perish and no remnant will be left of them.

each one strayed to his side each one to his way, to the side of his face [i.e., each one wandered away in the direction he was facing].

Thus were they, those wise men.

With whom thou hast laboured. To whom thou hast given money.

Even thy merchants, which were not from thy land, but had been thy friends.—When thy fall cometh, they all forsake thee.