Ibn Ezra on Isaiah

For the Lord will have mercy, etc. When Babylon was taken, Cyrus allowed the exiled Jews to return home. ונספחו And shall be joined. Comp. ספחני join me (1 Sam. 2:36)

And the people shall take them, etc. When people will see how Cyrus honours Israel, they will like to be servants to the Israelites.

מעצבך From thy hardship. Judah is addressed. מעצבך from thy hardship refers to the sufferings of the body, מרגזך from thy trouble to those of the heart.

מדהבה Gold. Comp. דהב the Chaldæan translation of זהב gold; in Arabic it is likewise דהב (ذَهَبٌ). The gold of the tribute is meant here.

The staff. A figure signifying kingdom. The rod. The same. The king is like a shepherd, the people like his flock.

מכת Stroke. It is the construct state; supply יד of the hand, or with the hand; comp. השותים במזרקי יין They that drink wine out of basons [of silver or gold] (Am. 6:6). מורדף Persecuted. Participle Hophal. The meaning of the whole sentence is: Who ruled over him that was persecuted without intermission. The word מורדף might, however, be taken in the active sense persecuting.

Is at rest, since the death of the King of Babylon. פצחו They break forth. The root פצח in Arabic means to speak poetically.

Yea, the fir trees, etc. For he had caused the fir trees and the cedars to be hewn down, to build with them fortresses and ramparts.

שאול The grave. It is common; therefore רׇגְזׇה (femin.) and עורר (mas.). רפאים The dead. The א is, perhaps, instead of ה (the root being רפה to be weak). עתודי The chiefs (lit., the he-goats) Comp. An he goat also and a king (Prov. 30:31). It hath raised up from their thrones. They were rising from their thrones as if they were alive; it is possible that the Babylonians had the custom of having thrones in the graves of their kings.

All they, etc. They would, if they could, speak thus. חלית Art thou become weak. Root חלה to be ill; comp. מחלה illness. (Exod. 15:26)

יצע Was spread. It is the past, like יֻלַּד was born (Gen. 35:26); or the future instead of the past.—As to the masculine form יצע (the subject רמה being feminine) compare לקח מהם קללה And of them a curse shall be taken up. (Jer. 29:22); this is a poetical license; the same freedom in the use of the gender is to be noticed in the Arabian language. Concerning the following ומכסך, which is participle masculine, the same remark is to be made.

הילל Very probably Lucifer, as בן שחר morning star proves. It is seen on certain days a little before dawn, and of all the host of heaven there is no star that shines with such brilliancy as this; its name is therefore הילל (lit., splendour); comp. יחלו They shall cause to shine (13:11). חולש Who didst weaken. Comp. ויחלוש And he defeated (Exod. 17:13). According to others: Who didst cast lots; comp. קלקל בחצים He divined by arrows (Ez. 21:26).

I will ascend to heaven. An expression indicating the pride of the heart. Upon the appointed mount. Upon mount Zion, which is the place appointed by the Lord for His sanctuary; comp. מועדי אל the synagogues of God (Ps. 74:8). This explanation is confirmed by the words which follow: in the sides of the north; for Zion was in the north of Jerusalem.

Join this verse to the following : Thou hast said, I will ascend, etc. but thou shalt be brought down, etc. אדמה I will be like. It is Hithpael, the characteristic ת being absorbed by ד; the Dagesh in מ proves that it is Hithpael.

ישגיחו. They shall look. אליך יתבוננו. They shall become reasonable through thee.

תבל The inhabited world. This noun is feminine in every instance but the present. Some refer the suffix to מדבר wilderness, others to the Babylonian king, explaining ועריו הרס he hath pulled down his own cities. לא פתח. He did not open. Supply, their prison.

In his house. Which he had prepared for himself, that is the grave; comp. man goeth to his long home (Eccl. 12:5)

There is an old tradition that when Nebuchadnezzar had died, and was buried, he was dragged out of his grave again, because the people of his kingdom were in doubt whether he really was dead, and feared he might again return to them as he had done before., and Dan. iv. This is perhaps really the fact; there is at least no doubt, that this verse refers to Nebuchadnezzar, who was the first of the Babylonian kings that reigned over Israel. This we may infer also from the words Prepare slaughter for his sons (ver. 21)., etc., was not to begin with the king addressed here, but with one of his descendants. כנצר As a bough. מטועני Pierced. Comp. طَعَنَ (טען) to pierce in Arabic. According to some,—who in a rather circuitous way derive it from טען to load, comp. טענו load (Gen. 45:17)—full. מובס Trodden, A verb ע״ו; (root בוס.

תחר Thou shall be joined. The radical א is dropped; comp. אהב I love (Prov. 8:17); according to the grammarian R. Jehudah, י is omitted, and the word is derived from יחד to be together. For thou hast destroyed thy land, even thy land, how much more other countries; this explains the words : And he pulled down his cities (ver. 17).

To his sons. To Belshazzar and his whole family. Their fathers. His father Evil Merodach and his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar. ערים Enemies. עיר=ציר messenger; ארע = ארץ earth. A. V., Cities. Comp. ערך thine enemy (1 Sam. 28:16). ומלאו וגו׳ Nor fill, etc. For they would stir up hatred everywhere; ולא מלאו=ומלאו. According to others : the face of the world will then be filled with cities, because the Babylonian kings will no longer be the masters of the earth.

שם Name. The person himself. שאר That is near to him. Comp. Lev. 20:6. The father is meant. נין Son. נכד Grandson.

קפוד Hedgehog. A well known animal. According to some קפוד is derived from קפד to roll—comp. קפדתי I rolled (xxxviii 12)—on account of its power of rolling itself together. מטאטא Besom. All agree that this word is hap. leg.; it signifies an instrument wherewith refuse is removed.

He hath sworn. The decree of God is His oath. I thought. Whatever I had planned, as far as concerned the past, has come to pass, and the same will be the case concerning the events that are planned for the future.

As I have thought to break Assyria in my land, that is, in Jerusalem, where His residence is. From them. From my land and from my mountains.

This is the purpose, etc. So will this plan be carried out, which I formed against Babylon. For all the nations. For Assyria, for Babylon, each in its turn.

For the Lord of hosts, etc. Since the Lord has decreed, who can annul it.

המשא. The prophecy or a parable in the prophetic style, as is apparent from the words For out of the serpent’s root, etc.

צפע Cockatrice. It is the same as צפעני (11:8); it is more dangerous than the serpent.—Hezekiah shall be mightier than his father, and more dangerous to the Philistines (comp. 2 Kings 18:8). And his fruit. The fruit that he will bring forth, will be שרף מעופף a fiery flying serpent; the flying one is the most dangerous of the fiery serpents.

בכורי דלים The firstborn of the poor. Israel, who had become impoverished sooner than any other nation,—Israel shall enjoy abundance and safety; the opposite fate shall befall the Philistines. Thy root. The fathers. ואחריתך And thy remnant Thy children; comp. לאחריתו to his posterity (Dan. 11:4)

הילילי Howl. Lift up thy voice publicly. For there shall come from the north a smoke. The king of Assyria, and probably Sennacherib is meant, as may be inferred from the words that the Lord hath founded Zion (ver. xxxii). בודד Alone. Related to בָּדָד alone. במועדיו In his castles. The smoke shall enter, and no one shall be able to remain there, even alone.

ומה יענה מלאכי גוי And what shall each of the messengers of the nation answer? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and therefore Assyria cannot conquer it; when the nations shall enquire, what has become of Jerusalem, the messengers will give this answer to those that have sent them.