Commento su Isaia 32:19

And He shall hail down the hailing of the forest (וּבָרַד בְּרֶדֶתהַיָּעַר) Perforce, this word וּבָרָד is not a noun, since half of it is vowelized with a ‘kamatz’ and half of it with a ‘pattah’ in an expression of פָּעַל. (Rashi distinguishes בָּרַד from בָּרָד, the noun denoting hail.) And so is its interpretation, an expression of an action, like ‘and he shall wash’ (וְרָחַץ), ‘and he shall sit’ (וְיָשַׁב), ‘and he shall stand’ (וְעָמַד). Here too, וּבָרַד ‘and He shall hail down the hailing of the forest.’ Then the ‘beth’ of בְּרֶדֶת is a radical, like עֲטֶרֶת, ‘a crown,’ עֲקֶרֶת ‘a barren woman.’ That is to say that the Holy One, blessed be He, shall rain down the rain of the coals of the wicked, those who are now built up and full of cities like a forest.

וברד When it shall hail. The Pathah under ר proves that the word is a verb; comp. עשן it smoked (Ex. 19:18). When it shall hail, coming down on the forest. When the hailstones will come down, they will come down on the forest, not on the fields.

and into the low state Into which Israel has been humbled until now,

The city shall be low, shall be like a wide plain without walls²³In time of war the people used to retire to the mountains, where they lived in forts and fortresses, and were thus enabled to resist the attack of the invading army; but as soon as the danger was over the people scattered again over the valleys and plains, to live in villages and open towns, where they could with greater ease devote themselves to their usual pursuits.

shall the metropolis of Persia (Seir, Edom, [according to various mss.]) be humbled. In a similar manner did Jonathan render it: And hail will come down and kill the camps of the nations.