Ibn Ezra on Isaiah

הדי Oh ! It is the sign of the vocative case. Comp. Zac. 2:10. צלצל Shadowing. Reduplication of צל shadow. A shady land is identical with a wide land. Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. That is, beyond the rivers of the kingdom of Assyria.

That sendeth, etc. That is accustomed to send messengers over the sea. Go, ye swift messengers, and bring good tidings to the Israelites, that are fled or are driven into exile, and are now beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. And in vessels of bulrushes. This phrase is added because of the rivers mentioned before, גוי ממשך ומורט A nation dragged and peeled. The Israelites are meant, that have been dragged from their homes like sheep, until they were flayed from the dragging. To a terrible people. To the Ethiopians. מן הוא From thence. From that people, or from those rivers. גוי קו קו A nation of line by line. A nation whose intellect is like that of a child, who is taught gradually, line by line. ומבוסה And therefore it is trodden down. בזאו They have spoiled. א is to replace the second ז of the root which is omitted; comp. דליו they are thin (Prov. 26:7). This is the explanation of R. Moses Hakkohen. Rivers. This is a figure for kings; comp. The water of the river (8:7)

All ye inhabitants of the world. As if a banner were raised over the whole earth. You shall hear, so as to know the work of the Lord, which He has done in the camp of Sennacherib.

I will take my rest. This refers to the divine glory which remained. ואביטה And I shall see. מכוני My dwelling-place, Jerusalem. אויר צח = צח Pure air. עלי אור After rain. Comp. ענן אורו the cloud of his rain (Job 37:11). The sun is also called אור, the moon too,—comp. אורים גדולים great luminaries (Ps. 136:7)—because they are the cause of the rain, but of course only at the will of the Almighty.

גומל Ripening, Comp. ויגמל And it ripened (Num. 17:23). יהיה נצה Will still be in the flower. And He will cut off. The pronoun refers to God. הזלזלים The sprigs. The branches which are joined to the root; the word is hap. leg. הנטישות The large branches, that spread (נטש) widely. כרת = התז He cut. This verb is often met with in Rabbinical Hebrew. The two verbs in the past follow each other without a conjunction, like חמק עבר Hath gone, passed by (Song 5:6). The meaning of the verse is: The Assyrians will perish before the fruit of their devices will be ripe.

They will be left, etc. The host of Assyria, having been destroyed through the angel, will be left, etc. לעיט To the fowl (comp. Gen. 15:11); its forms are like those of שֵׁשׁ (Est. 1:6), and שַׁיִשׁ (1 Chron. 29:2), marble. וקץ And shall summer. Comp. קיץ summer (Gen. 8:22). תחרף Shall winter. Comp. הֹרֶף winter (Gen. 8:22).—The beasts will remain there to eat the corpses of the killed.

שי Present. Comp. Ps. 76:12. A people dragged and peeled. Israel, who has been dragged and flayed during the period of his captivity, will now be brought, to the honour of God, to His abode on Mount Zion. According to R. Moses Hakkohen, this chapter describes the redemption announced by the words—The Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of the people, etc. (11:11.