Comentário sobre Êxodo 5:9

ואל ישעו בדברי שקר AND LET THEM NOT REGARD VAIN WORDS — let them not think and speak always about “words of wind” saying, “Let us go and sacrifice”. Of similar meaning is, (Psalm 119:117) “And I will speak of (ואשעה ב־) thy statutes continually”. The phrase (Deuteronomy 28:37) למשל ולשנינה “[thou shalt become] a proverb and a byword” we translate in the Targum by “a topic of conversation (שועי)”, and the word ויספר (Genesis 24:66) “and he related” by ואשתעי “and he spoke about”. One cannot possibly say that the word ישעו has the same meaning as the verbs in (Genesis 4:4) “And the Lord turned (וישע) to Abel” and in (Genesis 4:4) “but to Cain and his offering he did not turn (שעה)”, and that we must translate אל ישעו by “Let them not turn”, for if this were so Scripture should have written אל דברי שקר or לדברי שקר (instead of בדברי) for so is the construction in all such cases. Examples are: (Isaiah 17:7) “A man shall turn to (ישעה אל) his Maker”; (Isaiah 17:8) “and he shall not turn to (ישעה על) the altars”; (Isaiah 31:1) “they turn not unto (שעו על) the Holy One of Israel”. I do not find the construction of a ב following these verbs in the sense of “turning to”, but after an expression of דבר “speaking” — as when one intently directs his conversation upon a matter — the construction with כ is quite an appropriate one. For instance: (Ezekiel 33:30) “those who intently direct their conversation (הנדברים) upon thee (בך)”; (Numbers 12:1) “And Miriam and Aaron directed their speech (ותדבר) upon Moses (במשה)”; (Zechariah 4:1) “And the angel who directed his conversaion (הדובר) upon me (בי)”; (Deuteronomy 11:9) “To turn your conversation (לדבר) intently upon them (בם)”; (Psalm 119:46) “And I will direct my speech (אדברה) upon thy testimonies (בעדותיך)”. So, too, here: ואל ישעו בדברי שקר means “let them not always be conversing about vain and idle matters”.

ישעו, they will turn willingly. The same word as used in Genesis 4,4 when it describes G’d’s turning with goodwill to Hevel’s offering while rejecting Kayin’s offering by not turning to it with favour.

ואל ישעו, “let them not pay heed, etc.” some commentators believe that the root is שען, to rely on, to draw support, and that the root letter נ has been omitted in this case. Ibn Ezra explains the term as meaning “so that they do not become weak,” ירפאו, in the sense of becoming weak through indolence, נרפים. False hopes would engender general slackness.