Ibn Ezra on Isaiah

נא Now. נא is always identical in meaning with עתה now. לידידי Concerning my well-beloved; comp. אמרי לי Say of me (Gen. 20:13). לכרמו Touching his vineyard. ידידי My well-beloved. Root tri-literal דודי .(ידד) My beloved. Root bi-literal (דוד). השניים, and Zahoth, on the biliteral verbs. בקרן בן שמן In Keren Ben Shamen. A beautiful spot among the vineyards of Jerusalem. According to some, בקרן On a hill. בן שמן Fruitful; comp. שָׁמֵן fat (30:23), לשׁד הַשָֽׁמֶן fat oil (Num. 11:8); and this explanation is not incorrect.

ויעזקהו According to some: he sealed it; comp. the Chaldæan עזקתא Ring (3:21) for the Hebrew ;טבעת but this gives no sense; I think that this word is hapax legomenon. In Arabic there is, however, a word of the same root, meaning fence or hedge (to fence). ויסקלהו, Piel; he removed the stones thereof; the Kal, (סקל) has the meaning, to heap up stones; comp. ושרשך And he shall root thee out (Ps. 52:7). ויטעהו מטע שרק = ויטעהו שרק And he planted it, the planting of a choicest vine. The verbal substantive is implied in every form of the verb, whether past or future. Tower. A place for the watchman to dwell in. And also made a wine-press therein. To press the vine within the vineyard. באושים Thorns; comp. באשה thorn (31:40). [The application of the parable is as follows:] And he fenced it. Palestine was filled with good houses and protected by strong walls. And he removed the stones thereof. God expelled the Canaanites. And built a tower. The temple on Mount Moriah was built. And also made a wine-press. The altar of burnt-offering was erected. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, that is righteous men.

And men of Judah. And every man of Judah round about Jerusalem.

What could have been done, etc. What good thing is left to be done for the vineyard that I have not yet done? מדוע Wherefore. A compound of two words, like (מה זה =) מזה What is this (Exod. 4:2). (מה לכם=) מלכם What is it unto you (Is. 3:15)

משובחו The hedge thereof. Comp. שכים thorns (Num. 33:55). לבער For pasture. Comp. ובער And he feedeth (Exod. 22:4). Break down the fence thereof. By this the prophet indicates that the walls of the towns shall be destroyed.

בתה Waste. Comp. בתות The desolate places (7:19). יזמר It shall be pruned. זמורה branch is of the same root; זמר means to dress the vineyard by cutting off the branches. יעדר It shall be digged. עדר to dig, to prepare the vineyard by digging (comp. 7:25). שמיר ושית Two kinds of thorns. The application of this figure is The wicked will increase. The clouds. The prophets are hereby meant; comp. Her prophets also find no vision from the Lord (Lam. 2:9).

The prophet now explains who is meant by the vineyard. משפח Disease. Comp. מספחת scab (Lev. 13:6)

הוי Oh. The sign for the vocative; or (אוי =) woe. That join house to house, etc. That move the boundaries of the houses and fields according to their own interest. אין = אפס Not. Till there be no place. Till they have taken away every place. הושבתם That you may be placed. Hophal of a verb ;פ״י comp. והורד and it was taken down (Num. 10:17)

באזנָי באזנֵי יי = באזני יי To mine ears, the ears of the Lord, has come the report of the injustice which you have committed; comp. נביאכם יי Your prophet, the prophet of the Lord (Num. 12:6); or, referring באזני to the prophet, supply אמר said, or קול came the voice of.

Ten. A round number, meaning many. צמדי כרם Pairs of vineyards. They have removed the boundaries, and many vineyards were thus coupled together (נצמדים), combined into one. בת Bath. A measure. חמר Homer; the same as ten pairs of vineyards. Bath and Epha are likewise equal.

משכימי That rise up early. Status constructus, although followed by the preposition ב; comp. השכוני באהלים that dwell in tents (Judg. 8:11); the same is the case with the following מאחרי בנשף, that continue until night. נשף The beginning of the night (comp. Prov. 7:9, Job 3:9); sometimes נשף is the time before daybreak, the dawning. ידליקם Causative. He will cause them to pursue; comp. דלקת Thou hast pursued (Gen. 31:36); others compare it with דאדלק, the Chaldæan translation of המבעיר, he that kindled (Exod. 22:5).

כנור Harp. A well-known musical instrument. נבל A musical instrument with ten holes. חליל Pipe. Likewise a hollow instrument; חליל is of the same root as חלול, hollow. And they regard not the work of the Lord. Many explain, They regard, etc., because he who is given to drunkenness does not regard the ways of the Lord; comp. Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise (Prov. 20:1); but my opinion is, that by the work of the Lord those punishments are to be understood which the Lord was bringing over Israel, when the ten tribes went into exile.

ועם כבודו = וכבודו And the people of his glory, according to the rule of ellipsis; in the same way מח׳ צחה צמא = צחה צמא Men dried up with thirst. צחה is nearly the same as צמא thirsty; comp. בצחצחות in drought (58:11); צח (18:4), the pure and dry air.

נפשה Her breath. נפש is the breath that comes out of the mouth; comp. נפשו his breath (Job 41:21). ופערה And opened; comp. פערו they opened (Job 29:23). לבלי חק Unusually. ועלז בה And all that rejoice in it. or, and rejoicing will be—to others—at his fall. According to R. Jonah, the phrase ועלז בה And rejoicing, or laughing will be in it, describes that kind of laughter which may sometimes be noticed in people at the moment of death.

And the mean man, etc. And all men of the nations which surround Judah will be humbled.

But the Lord of hosts, etc. Then the excellence of the Lord will be known by the judgment (משפט) which He will have executed on Israel, and His holiness will be revealed by the kindness (צדקה) shown to them.

Then shall the lambs feed, etc. Judah will then be desolate, and lambs will feed therein, as if they were driven to be there. כדברם As if they were driven. Comp. the Chaldee דבר to lead, to drive; and דברת floats (1 Kings 5:25). מחים Strong lambs, that have marrow (מוח) in their bones; comp. ממוחים things full of marrow (25:6). וחרבות And the waste places of; comp. חרבן destruction. It is the construct state; supply הארץ the land; comp. ושכורת And drunken of SORROW. (51:21). משא ח׳ ל׳ = חמר לחם An ass’s LOAD of bread (1 Sam. 16:20). גרים Strangers, that will then dwell there. מחים (Adjective, strong lambs) is the objective case; גרים strangers, the subject.

מושכי העון That fasten iniquity. וכעבות העגלח חטאה supply הם משכים And draw sin as if it were with a cart rope. המאה is here a noun; it is the same as חטאת sin (comp. Exod. 34:7); it can also be an adjective, signifying a woman that committeth many sins.

ימהר Either transitive, let him bring hastily; comp. מהרו (Esth. 5:5), fetch hastily; or intransitive, let him make speed; and only יחישה transitive, let him accelerate. As to two verbs in the future following each other without conjunction, comp. אל תרבו תדברו Talk no more (1 Sam. 2:3).—Let these prophecies be fulfilled, that we may see whether they are true.

Woe unto them that call, etc. They wish that these evils shall come, they are therefore like those that have no reason.

Woe unto them that are wise, etc. They do not know how to discern between good and evil, yet think themselves wise.

Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, etc. They lose their reason through drunkenness. לנסוך = למסוך To pour out, though these words have different roots, נסך and מסך. Comp. מסכה she poured (Prov. 9:2)

Which justify the wicked, etc. Wine deprives them of understanding, so does a bribe. עקב For, the reward that comes generally at the end; comp. עקבו Its rear (Jos. 8:13). וצדקת צדיקים יסירו ממנו And the righteousness of each of the righteous they take away from him; comp. בנות צעדה (Gen. 49:20).

קש Stubble. Objective case. לשון אש The flame of fire. Subject. חשש Chaff; comp. 33:11. בלהבה = להבה through the flame; comp. בששת = ששת in six (Exod. 20:11); בבית = בית in the house (2 Kings 18:15); for ירפה, the predicate to חשש, is an intransitive verb. Their root shall be as rottenness. Their root will rot, and they will not be able to stand. כאבק As the dust of. It is the construct state; supply הארץ the earth, or a similar word. Their root. Their blossom. The parents and their children.

Therefore. For having forsaken His law. And the hills did tremble, in consequence of the heavy blow. כסוחה Cast away; the כ is radical; comp. כסוחה thrown down (Ps. 80:17). These two words are various forms of the same root.

And He will lift up, etc. It will be as if He lifted up a banner to all nations to come and to fight against Israel; the same is meant by And will hiss, etc. בזמן קל = קל Swiftly; or it is an adjective, attribute to the subject contained in the verb יבא he, a swift one, will come, and this latter explanation is the right one.

ינום He will slumber; נום signifies a sleep of a less profound kind than ישן. He will not slumber, much less will he sleep. נתק It is broken. Niphal.

כצר Like flint; comp. צורים flint (Jos. 5:3); the form of the noun varies. וגלגליו The wheels of his chariots; they are known. סופה = כסופה כמוץ. As the chaff of the storm. They will come as quickly as the chaff driven by the storm.

וינהום And he shall roar. Irregular form; because regularly the guttural letter widens the vowel, and causes the form of the future to be like ,יִפְעַל the second radical of the verb פעל being a guttural; in the conjugation tables, however, no notice is taken of this property, else we should not have in the paradigm the standard form of the future ויפליט יִפְצוֹל And he lets escape. He lets escape the prey, as I think, in order to see whether there is any one to deliver it.

עליו Against him: against Israel. Like the roaring of the sea, etc.; behold darkness. For the light shall then be withheld from the earth. Comp. darkness of water (Ps. 18:12). And if he look unto the land, etc. For they will be on the land, not on the sea. And behold darkness. Darkness is here a figure for the distress of the heart. ונבט According to some it is Niphal, And it is looked; but I think it is Piel, And he looks, and its subject is Israel, the same to whom reference is made in the word עליו, as I have already stated. צר ואור According to some, Sun and moon; according to others, Moon and sun, because the moon is small (צַר) if compared with the sun; R. Adonim thinks that ה is omitted, צהר=צר light; for the letters א ה ו י are sometimes present in a word when they are superfluous, and at others omitted where they properly form part of the root; but he is mistaken, because ה does not belong to the vowel letters, and cannot be dropped except at the end of a word, where it replaces א. I take צר literally; it has here the same meaning as in Ps. 119:143, namely, distress, or—being an adjective—distressed. Palestine will be darkened by distress as well as by the sun, which will cast a gloom over her at the time of her destruction; for a mist will rise and hide the sun. בעריפיה In her destructions. Comp. יערף (Hos. 10:2) He will destroy; similar to it is וערפתו And break its neck (Exod. 13:13)