הדי *Oh !*¹ It is the sign of the vocative case. Comp. Zac. 2:10.

footnotes: ¹ A. V., Woe. See I. E. on 1:4, and c. i., note 13.

צלצל Shadowing. Reduplication of צל shadow. A shady land is identical with a wide land.²

footnotes: ² The idea of connecting shady with wide, is probably suggested by the image of a shady tree, whose branches extend over a large area.

Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. That is, beyond the rivers of the kingdom of Assyria.³

footnotes: ³ Ethiopia (Kush) is here identified with Assyria. I. E. on Gen. 10:11 seems to deny the connection between Ethiopia and Assyria, and to consider Asshur (═Assyria) as a son of Japheth or Shem, but not as a descendant of Kush (Ethiopia) or Ham. See c. xlii. Note 1.

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.⁴ The Israelites are meant, that have been dragged from their homes like sheep, until they were flayed from the dragging.

footnotes: ⁴ A. V., Scattered and peeled.

To a terrible people. To the Ethiopians.

מן הוא From thence.⁵ From that people, or from those rivers.⁶

footnotes: ⁵ A. V., From their beginning. ⁶ ממֶּנּוּ ═ מן הוּא. The pronoun is sometimes written in full, instead of a suffix. That I. E., who is always very particular about the gender and number should have found in the singular הוא a reference to the plural נהרי rivers, is very strange. Instead of נהרי we have perhaps to read עֵבֶר נהרי

גוי קו קו A nation of line by line.⁷ A nation whose intellect is like that of a child, who is taught gradually, line by line. ומבוסה And therefore it is trodden down.

footnotes: ⁷ A. V., A nation meted out.

בזאו They have spoiled. א is to replace the second ז of the root which is omitted; comp. דליו they are thin⁸ (Prov. 26:7). This is the explanation of R. Moses Hakkohen.

footnotes: ⁸ Root דלל to be poor. דללו ═ דליו as בזזו ═ בואו.8a I. E. himself is of opinion that בָּזוּ ═ בזאו. See Moznaim, sub voce, המתחלפים, and Zahoth, On the Numerals, sub voce עשרים.

Rivers. This is a figure for kings; comp. The water of the river⁹ (8:7)

footnotes: ⁹ To this phrase Isaiah adds the explanation: The king of Assyria.

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 glory¹⁰ which remained.

footnotes: ¹⁰ In order to remove the anthropomorphism, God takes rest, I. E. substitutes for God, or the pronoun referring to Him, the word שכינה (lit. dwelling,) the divine glory revealed in His works. This divine glory, he says, remained in Jerusalem, that is, revealed itself in the deliverance of the holy city from the threatened humiliation by Sennacherib.

ואביטה And I shall see.¹¹

footnotes: ¹¹ What I. E. means to say by this remark can hardly be discovered, unless we suppose that he read מכוני instead of במכוני—the word is quoted by I. E. without ב—and explained by this remark, the exceptional construction of the verb הביט with a noun without the preposition ב; he says that it has the meaning of ראה to see, which governs the accusative.

מכוני My dwelling-place, Jerusalem.

אויר צח ═ צח Pure air.¹²¹²

footnotes: ¹² According to I. E. the words כחם צח אלי אור, must be rendered when the pure air is warm after the rain. A. V., Like a clear heat upon herbs. ¹² According to I. E. the words כחם צח אלי אור, must be rendered when the pure air is warm after the rain. A. V., Like a clear heat upon herbs.

עלי אור After rain. Comp. ענן אורו the cloud of his rain¹³ (Job 37:11). The sun is also called אור, the moon too,—comp. אורים גדולים great luminaries¹⁴ (Ps. 136:7)—because they are the cause of the rain,¹ but of course only at the will of the Almighty.

footnotes: ¹³ A. V., His bright cloud. ¹⁴ Sun and moon. ¹ The same remark is made by I.E. in Gen. 2:6.

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.¹⁵ 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.

footnotes: ¹⁵ Comp. Talmud Babli. Gittin 70a, Synhedrin, 52b.

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.¹⁶ (11:11.

footnotes: ¹⁶ This verse describes, according to R. Moses Hakkohen, the deliverance of the Israelites in the time of Hezekiah. Comp. I. E. on 11:11.