Thus saith the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to subdue nations before his face, and to turn the backs of kings, and to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut.
Rashi
to His anointed one Every title of greatness is called anointing. Comp. (Num. 18:8) “To you I have given them for greatness (לְמָשְׁחָה).” Our Sages, however, said: To the King Messiah, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, “I complain to you about Cyrus,” as it is stated in Tractate Megillah 12a. to flatten nations before him Heb. לְרַד, to spread out and to flatten nations before him. לְרַד is equivalent to לְרַדֵּד, to spread out. and the loins of kings I will loosen This is an expression of weakness and breaking strength, for girding the loins constitutes arming with strength. Comp. (Job 38:3) “Gird up your loins like a mighty man”; (Jer. 1:17) “And you gird up your loins”; (Job 12:21) “And the belt of the mighty He loosens”; an expression of breaking strength. to open...before him the portals of the gates of Babylon. Gates are the space of the opening of the gate; portals are those with which they open and lock the gate.
Hebrew and Aramaic words are the commentator’s citations of the sacred text; the English translation that follows each is the translator’s.
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.