Комментарий к Йешайау 10:42

engravings of injustice Notes of injustice, forged notes.

הוי Oh. Sign of the vocative;¹See I. E. on 1:4, and Note 13. the prophet invokes the judges and their scribes.

letters Heb. מְכַתְּבִים. This is Arabic, like מִכְתָּבִים in Hebrew.

ומכתבים And they that cause to write.²A. V., And that write. A verb that governs two accusatives; it is participle Piel. עמל כתבו They cause to write grievousness. עמל is to be joined with ³The accents join עמל with ומכתבים. A. V., Grievousness, which they have prescribed..כתבו

To pervert through the false notes, the poor from the legal rights due them.

To turn aside, etc. They command the secretaries to write false documents for the orphans, widows and poor, who are powerless, and cannot open their mouths in defence of their rights.

for the day of visitation when the Holy One, blessed be He, visits upon you your iniquities.

And what, etc. All this you have done, but what do you think to do in future, when the Lord will visit your iniquities?

and for the destruction Heb. וּלְשׁוֹאָה, an expression of destruction.

כבודכם Your Glory. Your army.

To whom will you flee for aid The Holy One, blessed be He, will afford you no aid.

and where will you leave all the riches you are accumulating from robbery, when you go into exile?

Where he never knelt In the place where none of you ever knelt or lay down, where there was no kneeling to lie down, in that place you shall be prisoners, i.e., to say, outside of your land you shall be imprisoned, and so did Jonathan render: Outside of your land you shall be bound as prisoners.

All this you have done.⁴These words are superfluous, and seem to be a repetition of the same phrase in the preceding verse, a mistake made by some careless copyist. בלתי וגו׳ Except⁵A. V., Without me. they bow down, etc. None will escape except those that will bow down amongst the captives, or throw themselves amongst the slain, as if they were slain with them.

in that place Heb. תַּחַת, a place. Comp. (Exodus 16:29) “Let every man stay in his place (תַּחְתָּיו).”

and in that place they will fall slain Heb. וְתַחַתהֲרוּגִים יִפֹּלוּ, and in that place they will fall slain.

Woe that I made Assyria the rod of My wrath with which to chastise My people.

הוי Oh. Sign of the vocative.¹See I. E. on 1:4, and Note 13.

and...a staff is My fury in the hands of the people of Assyria.

The rod of mine anger, wherewith I have chastised many.

And the staff, etc. And the staff that is in the hand of the Assyrians, is the instrument of my indignation.

Against a hypocritical nation Israel.

The people of my wrath. The people with whom I am wroth.

But he Sennacherib.

ידמה He meaneth. Comp. דמיתי I thought (Num. 33:56); דמיון imagination (Ps. 17:12). He does not think that I have sent him to chastise; he only considers how to overthrow every kingdom.

does not deem it so that the decree is from Me, and that I am sending him. יְדַמֶּה koujjder in O.F. (

and his heart does not think so that I sent him concerning money, to take plunder and spoils.) but in his heart is the thought to destroy everything with his haughtiness.

For he says Therefore, his heart is haughty.

He will say in his heart.⁶See I. E. on 3:10. Behold my officers, etc. Those who formerly were officers, have now, through me, become rulers over nations.

Is not Calno like Carchemish Just as the inhabitants of Carchemish are princes and governors, so are the inhabitants of Calno. Therefore, if not like Arpad, which is under the rule of Hamath, which I took from Aram, and if not like Damascus, that I took from Aram, so will I do to Samaria. “If not like Arpad of Hamath,” is the construct state, like Arpad of Hamath. Therefore, it is voweled with a ‘pattach’ [i.e., it reads אַרְפַּד rather than אַרְפָּד].

כלנו Kalno כלנה ═ Kalneh (Gen. 10:10); for the names mentioned there (Gen. x.) are names of places called after their founders, like מצרים Egypt.

and their graven images were from Jerusalem and from Samaria. From here we deduce that the wicked of Israel supplied all the nations with their images, and “since the worshippers of the graven images of Samaria and Jerusalem fell into my hands, and their graven images did not save them, so will Samaria and Jerusalem not be saved.”

לממלכות עובדי אליל ═ לממלכות אליל To the kingdoms of worshippers of idols.

ופסיליהם מירושלים And their graven images of Jerusalem.⁷A. V., And whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem. Of the country surrounding Jerusalem, of the fortified towns of Judah, which were already in the hands of the Assyrian conqueror.

as I did to Samaria He shall say this after he conquers Samaria.

Shall I not, etc. This prophecy refers to Sennacherib, when he came to conquer Jerusalem.⁸Ibn Ezra refers this passage to Sennacherib’s expedition against Jerusalem Jerusalem was not conquered by him; comp. 1:8.

And it shall be, when the Lord completes... But it did not come about as he thought, but, after the Holy One, blessed be He, completes all His work and His vengeance against Israel and against some of the cities of Judea, and because of that fear, the inhabitants of Zion and Jerusalem will be humbled to return to Me, I will let the king of Assyria know that not by his power was he victorious.

יבצע He will perform (comp. Zach. 4:9).

I will visit retribution upon the increase of the arrogance of the king of Assyria’s heart For that which he increased the arrogance of the king of Assyria’s heart, to boast of his power falsely. The fruit of the arrogance is craysement de grandeze in O.F., increase of arrogance, of Sennacherib’s heart.

His work. To bring the host of Sennacherib unto Zion.

the boasting of the haughtiness of his eyes Since he boasted with his haughtiness. Boasting is vantance in O.F.

The fruit of the stout heart of the king. Comp. The fruit of their thoughts (Jer. 6:19)

haughtiness of his eyes Arrogance, as the matter is stated: (Psalms 101:5) “One who has proud eyes and a haughty heart.”

For he said, With the strength of my hand I accomplished this None of my might is from the Holy One, blessed be He.

עשיתי I have acted valiantly. ⁹A. V., I have done it. Supply גבורה valour.

I am clever [More exactly,] I have become clever.

נבונותי I am prudent. Niphal of בין, verb ע"י.

and their positions Heb. וַעֲתוּדֹתֵיהֶם, their stand and their position.

ואסיר And I was removing. Future for the imperfect;¹⁰See chap. i., Note 43. comp. יעשו they made. Ps. 106:19.

and I lowered I lowered them from their greatness.

ועתודתיהם And their treasures. Comp. ועתדה And prepare it (Prov. 24:26); the possessions which man provides for himself for the days that are to come.

many inhabitants Heb. כַּאבִּיר יוֹשְׁבִים, plousors in O.F., several.

כאביר Although it is written with Aleph, this letter is pleonastic, and the word means strong, mighty—I subdued those that dwell in strong fortresses.¹¹This is against the accents, which join כב׳ר with ואסיר and separate it from יושבים; besides, the construction of the words, the adverb or object כאביר being placed before the verb יושבים, is very unusual; the regular order would be יושבים כביר According to I. E. כַּבִּיר ═ כַּאבִּיר; according to R. Moses Hakkohen כְּאַַבִּיר ═ כַּאבִּיר. According to R. Moses Hakkohen, who takes the א as radical—comp. אביר the chief (1 Sam. 21:8)—it means like a hero.

like a nest like nests of ownerless birds.

לחיל The riches. Comp. החיל the wealth (Deut. 8:17).

and as one gathers abandoned eggs And as one gathers abandoned eggs which their mother abandoned, and no one protests against him by covering them.

נודד Moving. A transitive verb, governing the accusative. כנף Wing. This figure is used because the nations have just been compared with eggs, and birds come from eggs.

and no one moved a wing, or opened his mouth or chirped This entire expression is apropos to birds; since he compared those exiles to a bird’s nest and to abandoned eggs, he used this expression, saying that neither the father nor the mother chirped about them.

Shall the axe boast The Holy One, blessed be He, says: You should not have boasted about this, since you are merely like My axe, and I am hewing with you; I visit retribution upon My enemies. You are the saw, and I am He Who wields it. Now is it customary for the saw to boast over the one who wields it? מַשּׂוֹר is dolodojjre in O.F., a small axe.

הגרזן. An instrument to cut with. Comp. נגרזתי, I have been cut. (Ps. 31:23.) Shall the axe, etc. That is to say, It is God that has given the power to the Assyrians. משוד. Only one parallel is found to this word; וישר, And he cut (1 Chr. 20:3); it is derived from a verb ע״ע (שרר, to cut), after the form of מֽעוֹז, strength. ¹²מַשוֹר with Dagesh in ש and Pathah under מׇעוֹז ; מ has long Kamez under מ, to compensate for the omission of the Dagesh, because the succeeding letter is a guttural.

It is as though the rod wields those who raise it It is as though the rod was raising [itself and] the hand of him who was raising it. Is it not so that the rod does not wield itself but the man?

Another figure is contained in the succeeding ¹³Ibn Ezra read ואת מרימיו, while our editions have את מרימיו. Rashi seems also to have read ואת. I. E. does not at all explain the meaning of את; he ignores it entirely as if ואת מרימיו were the same as מרימיו ותנופת ═ ומרימיו..וחנופת מרימיו כהנפת שבט ═ כהניף שבט ואת מרימיו It is like the shaking of the rod; and this is principally the action of them that lift it up. כהרים מטה. As the lifting up of the staff, which is done by the people, not by the wood.¹⁴A. V., As if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.

When the staff is raised, it is not the wood It is not the wood that raises it, but it is the man who raises it.

and in the place of his honor Under their clothing they shall be burnt. The garments [are referred to as “his honor” since] they command respect for the man.

Among his fat ones, leanness. This refers to the death of the nobles of Assyria, related 2 Chr. 32:21.

a burning shall burn A burning shall burn like the burning of fire. The Midrash Aggadah [states]: Here He repaid the children of Shem for the respect Shem showed for his father, when he covered the nakedness of Noah his father, as it is said (Gen. 9:23): “And Shem and Japeth took the garment...”

יֵקַד He will kindle. Comp. וַיֵרַד, And he came down (Ps. 18:10.)¹⁵Verbs פ״י of this class take as a rule a Zeré in the second syllable of the future Kal; e.g., יֵצֵא יֵרֵד, but occasionally Pathah, e.g. וַיׅרֵד יֵקֵד.

יקד. A burning. A noun like כְּפׂר, hoar frost (Ps. 147:16.

the light of Israel The Torah in which Hezekiah engages shall become fire for Sennacherib.

The light of Israel. God. Shall be a fire. This refers to the angel that destroyed the Assyrian camp.

and his holy one The Holy One, blessed be He. Alternatively, “And his holy one,” refers to the righteous of the generation.

His thorns and his briers. The wicked.

his thorns and his worms [They symbolize] his nobles and his heroes.

And the glory of his forest and his stately forest They are his numerous armies.

And the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field. A figure, signifying that his armies would be as numerous as the trees of the forest, and as the ears of a fruitful field.

כַּרְמֶל is a tall forest.

Both soul and body. He destroyed them as if it were by burning.¹⁶Not only the soul, that is, the life, was destroyed, but also the whole body, as if it were entirely burnt, nothing being left.

as a tree eaten to powder by the worms Since he compared them to forest trees, he compared their retribution to the worm that saws with his mouth and grinds the tree. He called him סָס, as (infra 51:8): “Like wool, the worm (סָס) shall devour them.”

מְסוֹס, Destruction.¹⁷A.V. As when a standard bearer fainteth. A noun like יְקׂד; it is not in the construct state.

as a tree eaten to powder by the worms As the grinder grinds.

נוסס. Wonderful; appearing as a miracle (נֵס)

as a tree eaten to powder by the worms Heb. כִּמְסֹס נֹסֵס, [lit.] as that which is sawed by the sawyer, which is pulverized very finely, which the worm grinds. So fine were the ashes of their burnt bodies. מְסֹס is that which is ground and falls off because of the worm. נֹסֵס is the worm.

And the remaining trees of his forest The survivors of his armies.

And the rest of the trees, etc. There will escape but a few, whose number even a boy that has not yet had practice in counting, will be able to calculate and write down.

shall be few [lit. a number, i. e.,] easy to count, for they will be few, and a lad will be able to write them, and our Rabbis said that ten remained of them, for there is no small child who cannot write a small ‘yud.’

to lean on him that smote them [i.e.,] to lean on the kings of Egypt, who were the first to oppress them.

That smote them, the Assyrians. This verse shows, that many of the men of Judah conspired against their king.

A remnant shall return The remnant of them shall return to the Holy One, blessed be He.

שאר יעקב. The remnant shall return. This is the name of the prophet’s son, which is to be explained now. Supply יעקב, after the first שאר. The remnant of Jacob, that is Judah, will return; repeat likewise ישוב before אל: The remnant of Jacob will return to the mighty God (comp. Prov. 21:14). The verse, if written in full, would run thus: שאר יעקב ישוב אל אל גבור שאר יעקב ישוב,. The remnant of Jacob will return, the remnant of Jacob will return to the mighty God.

the mighty God Who demonstrated His might against Sennacherib.

Mighty, who is able to help them.

For if your people The prophet says to Hezekiah, If your people are like the sand of the sea, the remnant of them that return to do good, will wash away the destruction sentenced to come upon them, and prevent it from coming, through the righteousness with which they will behave.

For though, etc. Although Israel should in those days be as numerous as the sand of the sea, only those that will return to God will remain; for destruction, which is decreed—חרוץ, decreed; comp. חרצת, thou hast decreed (1 Kings 20:40)—by God, will come like a river, overflowing with righteousness.

For destruction and annihilation you shall see that the Holy One, blessed be He, executes upon the wicked, and you shall humble yourselves and return to Him.

נחרצה. A decree is made by God.¹⁸Supply the feminine noun נזרה, decree, to the adj. נחרצה. Comp. חרצת (1 Kings 20:40)

Therefore Since I know that Hezekiah and his company will return to Him. [Aternatively, לָכֵן is an expression of an oath. לָכֵן indeed.]

Inhabitants of Zion. All the other towns of Judah are already conquered.

so said the Lord... Fear not,...Assyria; with a rod may he smite you With the “rod” of his mouth will he insult and deride you through Rabshakeh.

He will smite thee, in his thought.¹⁹Because in reality he could not do it; his army was destroyed before Jerusalem.

and his staff may he bear over you to frighten you, the way he did to Egypt. It may alternatively be explained: With a rod does he smite you[i.e.,] who has smitten you until now with a rod and has become accustomed to bearing his staff and his fright over you as the Egyptians did. Rabbi Joseph told me this in the name of Rabbi Menahem.

בדרך מצרים On the way to Egypt.²⁰A.V., After the manner of Egypt. Sennacherib was then on his march to Egypt.

For [in] yet very few days...the fury shall be over My fury, which was given as a staff into the hand of Assyria, as he said above, “And My fury is a staff in his hands” (v. 5).

מעט מזער. A very little. Supply בימים, of time. And the indignation, etc. And mine anger and wrath, on account of their great iniquities will all be spent. תבליתם. Their iniquities. According to some, their destruction; comp. בלותי, My old age²¹חבלית is, according to the first explanation another form for תֶּבֶל (Lev. 20:12); according to the second it is formed from בלה, to wither, as תכלית, from כלה. (Gen. 18:12). The form of the word is like that of תַּכְלִית (Ps. 132:32)

and My wrath that became a rod, shall return because of their blasphemy Heb. (עַל-תַּבְלִיתָם). Comp. (Lev. 20:12) “they have committed a disgrace (תֶּבֶל),” i.e., because of the insults and blasphemies which the servants of the king of Assyria blasphemed Me.

And...shall stir up against him And to stir up.

וכמכת מטהו═ומטהו. As he smote with his staff at the sea, when the water flowed back over the Egyptians.

a scourge A tortuous blow.

So shall be lift up. This refers to the defeat of Sennacherib, after which he returned to his own country disappointed.

like the smiting of Midian who were slain in one night, and as for the kings who fled from them and escaped, Oreb was slain at the Rock of Oreb, and is related in the Book of Judges (7:25). This one, too, after he returns to his land, will die there by the sword.

and his staff on the sea And furthermore, He shall stir up against him, His staff, which was on the sea against Pharaoh and his army.

and He shall carry him off And He shall carry him away from the world after the manner that He carried off Egypt.

and the yoke shall be destroyed The yoke of Sennacherib shall be destroyed because of Hezekiah, who was mild to his generation, as oil. Our Rabbis, however, explained [that Sennacherib’s yoke would be destroyed] because of Hezekiah’s oil which burnt in the synagogues and in the study-halls, for he persuaded them to engage in Torah, after the matter that is written (Proverbs 25: 1): “Which the men of Hezekiah strengthened.”

His burden. The burden imposed by the King of Assyria.

Thy neck. Judah’s neck. וחבל.

And shall be destroyed. Comp. וְחִבֵּל, And he will destroy (Eccl. 5:5). The yoke is broken, when the neck has become very fat; it is a figurative expression for, Judah will become mighty.

He came upon Aiath He goes on to enumerate the travels which Sennacherib traveled when he came upon the cities of Judah, to come to Jerusalem, on the day of his downfall: Aiath, Migron, Michmas, Ramah, Gib’ath Saul, Bath-galim, Laishah, Anathoth, Madmenah, and Gebim. They are all places.

they lodged Heb. לָנוּ, an expression of lodging.

מעברה. The passage, or the name of a place.

Gib’ath Saul fled Fled, they all fled because of his armies.

לנו. They have taken up their lodgings. Comp. ללון, To stay over night. (Gen. 24:23.

Raise your voice to warn the people.

צהלי. Lift up the voice. Comp. מצהלת, the neighing of the horse (Jer. 8:16.)

Hearken, Laishah to the sound of the shofar and flee, and so, Aniah Anathoth.

בת גלים. Name of a country. בת has here perhaps the same meaning as in בת־ציון. (The state of, the people of.

gathered Assembled to flee. Our Rabbis, however, expounded, “Raise your voice, Bath-Gallim,” and the entire verse in a different manner in the Aggadah of “Chelek,” and they set the number of travels at ten. But, Jonathan rendered them all as names of places.

הגבים. Name of a place; or pits; comp. גובא, pit, in Chaldee. העיזו.

They saved²²A.V., Gather. themselves or others of Israel; it is a transitive verb; comp. העז, Save (Exod. 9:19)

Still today, [he intends] to stand in Nob All this way he hastened, in order to stand in Nob while it is still day, since his stargazers told him, If you attack it today, you will conquer it. And, when he stood in Nob and saw that Jerusalem was small, he did not heed the words of his stargazers and began to wave his hand arrogantly: For a city like this have I mustered all these armies? Stay here overnight, and tomorrow, each one will cast his stone upon it.

And yet, etc. There will yet come a day when he will stay in Nob.

Behold the Master on that night.

מסעף Shall cut off the branches (סעיפים). Comp. לא תפאר Thou shalt not take off the crown (פאר, Deut. 24:20); ושרשך And he will take away thy root (Ps. 52:7).

lops off the branches with a saw Shall lop off its branches, the root of the branches of his trees. ([Mss. read:] Uproots the branches of his trees.) ([Other mss. read:] Cuts off the branches of his trees.)

פארה Bough. Comp. פארות Branches (Ez. 17:6).

with a saw Heb. בְּמַעֲרָצָה, with a saw that cuts the boughs. This [word פֻּארָה] is not an expression denoting a winepress, for it is not spelled with a ‘vav,’ like (infra 63: 3) “A winepress (פּוּרָה) I trod,” and like (Haggai 2:16) “To draw off fifty measures from the winepress (פּוּרָה),” but with an ‘aleph,’ like (Ezekiel 31:5) “And its boughs became long (פֹּארֹתָיו).” מְסָעֵף is an expression of cutting off branches [esbranchier in O.F.], like (infra 27:10) “And he will destroy its branches (סְעִיפֶיהָ), and (infra 17:6) “On its branches (בִּסְעִיפֶיהָ) the fruitful one.”

במערצה With strength.²³A.V., Terror, Comp. עריץ strong.

with a saw Heb. בְּמַעֲרָצָה, with an implement of destruction, which breaks them.

And the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, etc. The nobles shall be cut off.²⁴The addition of בעבור כי in the Hebrew text is a mere indication that the succeeding remark explains the propriety of the use of this figure; it is not the explanation of the conjunction ו.

and those of lofty height [This alludes to] the heroes.

are hewn down The expression of hewing is apropos only to trees and hard things.

And...shall be cut off Heb. וְנִקַּף. This, too, is an expression of cutting, as (ibid.) “Like one who cuts off olives (כְּנֹקֶף).” ואךדר גךכנִקַּף is in the passive voice.

ונקף And he shall cut down.

the thickets of the forests The prominent branches, symbolizing the heroes.

סבכי The trees that are thick with branches.²⁵A. V., Thickets.

and the Lebanon The thickness of his forest and his stately forest. They are the multitudes of his armies.

בברזל With the axe,²⁶A. V., With iron. that is, by means of the angel.²⁷The angel, that destroyed the Assyrian host before Jerusalem.

shall fall through a mighty one Through an angel they shall fall. Alternatively, through a mighty one, in the merit of Hezekiah who is the mighty one and the rulers of Israel, as it is said (Jer. 30:21): “And their leader shall be of themselves.”

And Lebanon, etc. The princes, that are compared with the trees of the Lebanon, shall fall. בברזל אדיר ═ באדיר By a mighty axe;²⁸A. V., By a mighty one. ברזל is to be supplied from the preceding בברזל with the axe.