See ye the word of the Lord: Am I become a wilderness to Israel, or a lateward springing land? why then have my people said: We are revolted, we will come to thee no more.
Rashi
See the word of the Lord He took out to them the jar of manna. He said to them, “See here how helpful the word of the Lord is.” was I a desert to Israel Heb. המדבר. This is the interrogative form. Therefore, the ‘mem’ is punctuated ‘weak,’ i.e., without a ‘dagesh’ and the ‘heh’ with a ‘hataph- pattah.’ Did it seem to your forefathers that it was a desert when they traversed it? For I brought down for them this bread, the necessity of each day in its day.
thick darkness מאפליה, an expression of darkness.
Why have My people said, “We have been separated...”? Heb. רדנו, we have been separated from You. Like one who separates (רודֶה) bread from the oven. So is the midrash of Rabbi Tanhuma (Bamidbar 2). Menahem, however, explains רדנוּ as an expression of descending (ירידה) and also in other manners (Machbereth Menahem, p. 162).
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.