Ibn Ezra on Isaiah

החרישו ושמעו אלי = החרישו אלי Be silent and listen unto me. here, החרישו ושמעו אלי = החרישו אלי and להסיר אותה מעל ראש אפרים ולשום אותה על ר״ מנ״= אפרים על ראש מנשה להסיר אותה מעל ראש to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head. (Gen. 48:17). —A. V., Keep silence before me. And let the people renew their strength, if they can. Let them come near, after having renewed their strength. Then let them speak, and let us come near together to judgment, to know, who is the mighty.

ממזרח The man from the east. The ancients refer this expression to Abraham, who defeated the kings (Gen. xiv.), and broke the idols; especially because of the words the seed of Abraham, my friend, (ver. 8). This is not impossible, but I refer it rather to Cyrus; because all these chapters are connected by their contents; comp. calling a ravenous bird from the east (46:11) and I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come; from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name (41:25); besides, the name of Cyrus is distinctly mentioned 44:28 and 45:1. From the east, Elam was north-east of Babylon. יקראהו He shall meet it or it shall meet him. לרגלו To his foot. Wherever he goes. ומלכים ירד He will appoint rulers over hings. יַרְדְּ is Hiphil; he will cause to rule; comp. (the Kal) וירר and he shall have dominion (Num. 24:19) יתן כעפר חרבו he will turn his sword into dust, that is, the sword of every other king. Others explain it: he will make his swords as numerous as the dust, and his arrows shall fly about as thickly as stubble driven by the wind.

ירדפם He will pursue them, the kings. And pass in peace, that is, without weariness. ארח ברגליו לא יבוא As if he had not at all gone that path with his feet.

עשה Hath prepared. Comp. לעשות to dress (Gen. 18:7). Who has done this? God has done it, who is calling the generations from the beginning, before they come into existence; who knows all future generations, and cites each of them to appear in its right time. The first of all generations that have hitherto existed. And with the last, with the last generations.

The isles saw the victory of Cyrus. They drew near. Those events drew near. ויאתיון And came. It is here written like a perfect verb; the third radical ה is replaced by י.

They help every one, etc. All islands, all men, and all nations are now more anxious to worship idols, believing that they can thus be delivered out of the hands of Cyrus.

מחליק He that smootheth. Comp. חלק smooth (Gen. 27:11). פטיש Hammer. A well known instrument Comp. Jer. 23:29. הלם It is a noun derived from הלם to beat; comp. והלמה and she smote; it signifies the iron which is wrought by beating with the hammer. פעם The iron block, upon which the iron is hammered : the anvil; it is called פַעַם because of the beating upon it. It is also possible that the two words פעם הלם together signify one instrument. אמר לדבק טוב הוא Saying of the joining, It is good. Till the joining is good.

But thou, Israel, etc. Those are worshippers of idols, says the prophet, but thou, Israel, art my servant; the name of Abraham is mentioned here, because he also was taken out from the midst of idolaters. אהבי Who loved me. It is not the same as אהובי who is loved by me, the former being active, the latter passive.

From the ends of the earth. The Israelites were in Babylon, far away from their own land. ומאציליה And from the chief men thereof, who are distinguished from the rest; comp. ואצלתי and I will take (Num. xi. אצילי .(17 . the nobles of (Ex. 24:11). ומאציליה can also be explained from between her arms.

תשתע The second ת is the characteristic of the Hithpael, correctly put after the first radical. אל תשתע Do not turn away. Comp. שעו מני turn away from me. (22:4)

הנחרים They that were incensed. It is the Niphal; Comp. חרי lit. the burning; נחרו were angry (Song 1:6). The Babylonians are meant; when God punished and destroyed Babylon, He released His people, who returned home to their country with the permission of Cyrus.

מנצותך = מצותך Thy Contention. The נ is replaced by Dagesh in צ ; the form of the word is like that of מלקות. Comp. מצה strife (Prov. 17:19); ינצו strive together (Deut. 25:11). אפס Nothing.

For I, the Lord, etc. For this is a wonderful event, that Babylon was taken, that her armies were destroyed in their own land, and the Israelites remained unhurt.

Thou worm Jacob, Israel had been considered by the Babylonians as worms. Fear not, that you will be killed together with the Babylonians. עזרתיך I will help thee. The future is here expressed by the past (עזרתיך), because all the divine decrees concerning the future, are considered as sure as if they were already fulfilled; besides the difference between past and future exists only with regard to created beings.

למורג A threshing instrument. It is well known. Comp. המוריגים threshing instruments (2 Sam. 24:22). חרוץ Decreed by law. Comp. חרצת thou hast decreed (1 Kings 20:40). It is not surprising to find here the word ישראל used as a masculine and feminine noun in one verse; it is used as feminine, as far as ערה congregation is understood, but it is not a feminine noun itself. Mountains, A figurative expression for the Babylonians.

Thou shalt scatter them, etc. This verse indicates that the greater part of the Babylonians will perish, and also that the Israelites will take their spoil.

The poor, etc. In their return from Babylon to Jerusalem. נשתה Faileth. Comp. ונשתו and shall fail (19:5). The God of Israel, I (אני) of the preceding, refers to this sentence also, and is to be supplied before the God, as is often the case.

שפים High places. It is the opposite of בקעות valleys. This also is wonderful, that rivers will be found on high places. מדבר Wilderness. A plain that is not inhabited.

ארז שטה The cedar, the shittah tree. Asyndeton, like ירח שמש the sun, the moon (Hab. 3:10), תדהר ותאשור. Names of trees. All these trees grow about rivers; they do not grow where there is a want of water.

That they may see, etc. That the poor may see with their own eyes, and take it to heart. בראה According to my opinion, hath shaped it; according to others, hath created it, that is, has brought it from non-existence into existence, but not from one form of existence into another.

קרבו Produce. It is imperative Piel after the form of ברכו praise (Jud. 5:2). עצומותיכם Your disputes, Comp. עצומים quarreling (Prov. 18:18). It would, however, not be wrong to explain עצומותיכם your strong reasons, as the plural of the adjective עצום mighty, strong.

Let them bring forth, their idols. The imperative produce is addressed to those Israelites, who did not trust in God, but worshipped idols even in Babylon; they are told to produce (ריבכם) their cause, that is, their evidence, to show which is the righteous side. The imperative shew הגידו is addressed to the idols.

האתיות Theat things that are to come. Comp. אתה cometh (21:12). לאחור hereafter it is the opposite of לפנים (Ruth 4:7). And know etc. We shall then know that you have power to do good or evil. ונשתעה that we may relate. Comp. ואשתעי the Chaldean translation of ויספר "and he related" (Ex. 48:18). Some explain it "and we shall turn unto it," and compare it with אל תשתע do not turn away.

Ye. The idols are adressed. מאפע of nothing. It is hap. leg. תועבה=איש תועבה "An abominable man," or it is the same as תועבה "for an abomination." יבחר בכם Chooseth you, for worship.

העירותי I have raised. The Pathah under ה is caused by the ע which follows. From the north, Elam was north-east of Babylon. The word איש a man must be supplied : I have raised up a man from the north; Cyrus is meant. ויאת And he came. It is an irregular form, because of the first and third radical (א and ה) being weak letters; it would have been of the form וַיׅפֶן, but the א being silent, the Hirek under י is changed into Pathah as is usually the case with gutturals; ויאת is Kal. And he shall come upon princes, etc. He shall come into the land or the camp of princes, and tread upon them, as upon mortar.

צדיק He is righteous. His words are true; it is the opposite of כזב false. Behold, there is none that showeth, none that heareth the words of the idols; for they have mouths but speak not (Ps. 115:5)

The first. The first relatively; it is the attribute to מבשר one that bringeth good tidings, which is to be supplied. הנה הם = הנם Behold them. These are the words which the messenger will say to Zion, behold there they are. The repetition of הנה behold is to indicate the speediness of the appreach.

For I beheld and there was no man of the idolaters that could tell this.

They. The idols. אין = און nothing as some explain ; the letters אֹ הֹ וֹ יֹ interchange. It can, however, also be taken literally. The meaning of the verse is, they are vanity, much more so their works. נסכיהם According to some their images; comp. עגל מסכה molten calf (Ex. 32:4). I explain it their libations, that is, the libations which the idolaters offer to their idols.