Comentário sobre Isaías 63:19

We were now like a people whom You did not choose ever to rule over them, and it is as though Your name was not called upon them.

היינו מעולם וגו' We are like men, over whom Thou hast never ruled.

had You rent the heavens and descended to save us now as You descended to save us from the hand of the Egyptians, then, mountains would drip from before You with fear and quaking.

לוא קרעת שמים Some refer this phrase to the revelation on Mount Sinai, and render it As if Thou hadst not rent the heavens;¹To give us Thy commandments. לוּא is, according to this explanation, the same as לא not. Comp. Targum Jonathan: לא להון ארבנת שמיא not for them (for the heathen people) hast thou descended from heaven. but it is more correct to take לוּ═לוּא in its usual meaning if; (comp. Ps. 84:13), and to explain the sentence thus: If Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, that is, if Thou wouldst send forth Thy decrees, then, the mountains, that is, the kings²Kingdoms (מלכות) or nations (גוים) would better correspond with the phrase מפניך גוים ירגזו thus the nations would tremble at Thy presence (64:1), which seems to be the explanation of מפניך הרים נזלו. who sit in safety, would flow down at Thy presence. נָזֹלּוּ Would flow down. The Dagesh in the ל is caused by the pause;³This Dagesh is called by the Grammarians: euphonic (לתפארת הקריאה); comp. חָדְלֽוּ ═ חָדֵלּֽוּ (Jud. 5:7).

נָזֹלּוּ is in form similar to יָכֹלוּ they could (Ex. 8:14).⁴The comparison of נָזֹלּוּ with יָבֹלוּ is only made with regard to the Holem in the second syllable, but not concerning the Dagesh in the third radical, since יָבֹלוּ has no Dagesh.