The Lord rideth upon a swift cloud. This figure signifies the imminent fulfilment of the divine decrees.

וסכסכתי And I will set. Comp. יסכסך He will set up (9:10)

ונבקה And shall fail. Root בקק to empty. Comp. בוקק maketh empty (24:1). נבקה is Niphal of בקק, and is formed like נסבה and it will be wound about¹ (Ez. 41:7).

footnotes: ¹ The regular form of the Niphal third person fem. sing. past of בקק and סבב is נָסַבָּה נָבַקָּה, but the reduplication is very often neglected in the verbs עיע. Comp. יָזְמוּ ,וְנָבְלָה (Gen. 11:6,7) from בלל and זטם.

אטים Charmers. Comp. אט softly (1 Kings 21:27); אטים signifies things that are done secretly.

וסכרתי And I will give over. The כ is here, according to some, substituted for נ, but, in fact, only the silent letters interchange; it is rather to be compared with ויסכרו and were stopped² (Gen. 8:2).

footnotes: ² The second explanation is not different from the first in substance, but in the wording, because after all סכר means the same as סגר to shut, to stop, to deliver up, whether we say that the former is derived from the latter by the change of ג into כ or not.

אדנים קשה A cruel lord. The grammatical irregularity is already explained (Ex. 21:4).³

footnotes: ³ On Exod. 21:4, I. E. remarks that the plural form of a noun is sometimes used to signify one person, as a mark of honour and distinction, but that this only applies to nouns, not to verbs or adjectives.

And a fierce king. The king of Assyria.

ונשתו And shall be dried up.⁴ Comp. לשונם בצמא נשתה their tongue is dry for thirst (41:17)

footnotes: ⁴ A. V., And shall fail, faileth.

והאזניחו And shall leave.⁵. א is epenthetic. והאזניחו נהרות And the people will leave the rivers.⁶

footnotes: ⁵ A. V., And they shall turn far away. ⁶ They will leave the rivers, on the fruitful banks of which they had settled, because they are now barren and waste.

דללו They shall be poor.⁷ Comp. דל poor (Lev. 14:21).

footnotes: ⁷ A. V., Shall be emptied.

יאורי מצור The ponds of siege.⁸ The ponds which are prepared in order that the enemy should not be able to destroy the inhabitants through want of water, when he besieges the town.

footnotes: ⁸ A. V., The rivers of defence.

קנה וסוף The reeds and flags. The plants on the banks of the river.

קמלו Shall be cut off.⁹ Another instance of the same root occurs in this book (33:9)

footnotes: ⁹ A. V., Shall wither.

ערות Some compare it with מתערה spreading himself (Ps. 37:35), and say that it means green;¹⁰ all green herbs that grow on the banks of the river and at its mouth, and all that is sown near the river, all will dry up. Others, The banks of the river and its mouths have been stripped of every thing that had been there, for the plants may be considered as a covering to them.¹¹

footnotes: ¹⁰ A. V., The paper reeds. ¹¹ ערה to be naked, to be without the covering; ערות naked places is, according to this remark, the proper expression for banks of rivers which are bare of their usual verdure, the verdure being, as it were, the covering of the earth.

ואנו And they shall mourn.

הדיגים The fishers. A noun analogous to גַּנָּבִים thieves (1:23).

חכה Angle. Comp. בחכה with an angle (Hab. 1:15), an instrument by which the fish are caught. Many derive the word from חֵךְ palate, but they are far from being right.¹²

footnotes: ¹² I. E. does not show, why he rejects this derivation; it seems rather probable that חכה angle is derived from חֵךְ palate, because the hook takes hold of the fish in the palate.

מכמרת Net.

שריקות Red.¹³ Some compare it with משרק comb, but more correctly it is derived from שורק vine branch (5:2), and it signifies, having the colour of the vine branch, red; comp. שרקים red (Zac. 1:8).

footnotes: ¹³ A. V., Fire.

חורי It is either an adjective, meaning white,¹⁴ or a noun, signifying fine things, חוֹרָי being a plural form used instead of חורים; comp. חוֹרֵי the nobles of (Jer. 27:20).¹⁵

footnotes: ¹⁴ A. V., Net-works. ¹⁵ As the Hebrew text stands וכמוהו חוֹרֵי יהודה, it is not clear what this instance is to prove; the regular construct state חוֹרֵי does not contribute anything to the explanation of the irregular form חוֹרָי. The text seems to be incorrect; after כמוהו some instance like חַלוֹנָי windows (Jer. 22:17), or נּוֹבַי grasshoppers (Am. 12:1) is expected, and instead of חורי יהודה we should perhaps read בהראות היו״ד the י being sounded. (See Rashi and Michlal Jophi ad locum.)

שתותיה Her foundations.¹⁶ Comp. Ps. 11:3. The buildings which they erect to take the fish in.

footnotes: ¹⁶ A. V., In the purposes thereof.

שכר Sluices. Comp. ויסכרו and they were stopped (Gen. 8:2), although שכר is spelt with שֹ; comp. בסורי ═ בשורי when I depart (Hos. 9:12).

אנמי נפש The ponds for fish. Ponds containing the lives (נפש) of the fish.¹⁷., עֹשֵֹ֖י שֶֹכֶ֥ר אַנְמֵי־נָ֑פֶשֹ.

footnotes: ¹⁷ This explanation is against the accents, which require שכר rather to be joined to עשי than to the following word. According to I. E. שכר together with נפש אנמי is one expression, the object to עשי; the latter should therefore have a disjunctive accent, e.g

חכמי פרעה, יעצי פרעה ═ חכמי יועצי פרעה The wise men of Pharaoh, the counsellors of Pharaoh.¹⁸ This is an elliptical expression; comp. נחרי נחלי דבש Rivers, brooks of honey¹⁹ (Job 20:17).

footnotes: ¹⁸ A. V., The wise counsellors of Pharaoh. ¹⁹ An ellipsis like this may be supposed, wherever two co-ordinate nouns govern one genitive; by here calling our attention to it, I. E. seems to reject the assumption that the second noun יעצי is a genitive governed by the first noun חכמי: the wise of the counsellors of Pharaoh.

נבערה Foolish.²⁰ Comp. בער fool (Ps. 73:22).

footnotes: ²⁰ A. V., Is become brutish;.

I am a son of wise men. Comp. A son of free men (Koh. 10:17). Each of them will praise himself: my father was wise, my forefathers in days of old were also kings.

Where are thy wise men, etc. If they in reality be the sons of wise men, of royal family, why do they not know what God has decided for Egypt.

נואלו Are become fools. Comp. נואלנו we acted foolishly (Num. 12:11).

נשאו They are deceived. Comp. השיאני hath beguiled me (Gen. 3:13); it is Niphal.

פנת The stay. The nobles. Comp. פנות the chiefs (Judges 20:2).

שבטיה The tribes thereof, that is, her families.

נסך ═ מסך Hath mingled. The two roots have the same meaning, namely, to mingle.

עועים Perverseness. An irregular form of עוה to overturn. Comp. עַוָּה Overturned (Ez. 21:32)

Head or tail. Even a plant in its integrity, with head and tail, will not be left to them. Others take the phrase and explain it figuratively, They are wandering about and do not know what to begin; they can do neither the work of the head, of the old and noble (9:14), nor that of the tail, of the common people. In the same way the phrase, palm-tree and reed, is to be explained.

And it shall be afraid, etc. When the Egyptians shall have heard these decrees of the Lord, and also witnessed their fulfilment, they will fear the Lord.

לחגא For a terror. Comp. יחגו they reel to and fro (Ps. 107:27). ובמחוגה and with the compass²¹ (44:13).

footnotes: ²¹ Root חוג ═ חגג, to move about, to stagger, to fear.

The land of Jehudah. The glory of God, which is manifested in that land, is meant.

The language of Canaan. We may learn from this that the Canaanites spoke the holy language.²²

footnotes: ²² According to I. E., the prophet undoubtedly means to say that Hebrew will be spoken in Egypt. If this be granted, the inference is right that the Canaanites spoke the Hebrew language, since the expression Canaan is here used for Hebrew. Rashi explains: The holy language spoken by the Israelites, who dwell in Canaan.

עיר ההרס²³ The name of a town. It is surprising how people can confound ה with ח ²⁴..(ההרס with החרס)

footnotes: ²³ A. V., The city of destruction. ²⁴ The Targum has besides the literal translation of עיר ההרס, namely דעתידא למחרב קרתא city of destruction, also the name בית שמש, the city of the sun, the origin of which some find in the reading of עיר החרס, instead of עיר ההרס. As to חרס sun, comp. Job 9:7. See Rashi, ad locum

Shall there be an altar, etc. The explanation of the Midrash is known, that the altar refers to the slaughter of the Egyptians;²⁵ but the verse can be explained literally.²⁶ Comp. And they will worship with sacrifice and meat-offering (ver. 21)

footnotes: ²⁵ This is not mentioned in Yalkut, nor is any allusion made to it by Rashi or Targum. ²⁶ Some take it literally, and point for the fulfilment of this prophecy to the altar built in Egypt by Onias. See Menachoth, 109 b.; Josephus Antiq., XII. 11:7.

They shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, etc. Whosoever will be in trouble will come thither to bring his offering.

ורב And a great one.²⁷: a deliverer who is also a great man; a great deliverer. It would be a more natural explanation to take רב as participle of ריב to plead; a helper and a defender. Comp. רב chief (Est. 1:8)

footnotes: ²⁷ According to I. E. מושיע ורב may be explained as ἐν διà δυoῖν

ועבדו בזבח ═ ועבדו זבח And they shall worship with sacrifice.

ורפאם רפא ═ ורפא And he will surely heal them.

ונעתר And he will be entreated. He will accept their prayer.

אשורה To Assyria.—Egypt and Assyria will be in peace together, after a part of the Egyptians have been taken captive and made subjects of the king of Assyria.²⁸

footnotes: ²⁸ This assertion is probably based on the last words of this verse, מצרים את אשור ועברו, And the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians. (A. V., with the Assyrians.) The Hebrew את can, however, be explained in two ways: as the sign of the objective case, and as a preposition signifying with.

שלשיה The third. Most of the commentators compare it with ושלשים and chiefs²⁹ (Ex. 14:7); but they must presume the existence of the second degree before they speak of the third.³⁰ More naturally it is derived from שלשה three, and explained by the third; for there will be in Assyria people that will know the Lord, and many more so in Egypt; and Israel will be a blessing in the midst of the land, for through him Egypt and part of Assyria will know the Lord.³¹

footnotes: ²⁹ Literally, according to I. E., officers of the third rank. Comp. I. E. on Exod. 14:7. ³⁰ If שלישיה meant chief, it would signify, according to I. E., an officer of a lower rank that had above him the משנה, the officer of the second rank, that is, the officer next to the king. I. E. hesitates to give this attribute to the Israelites, as if the Assyrians and Egyptians were superior to them, and explains therefore שלישיה a third in the alliance with Egypt and Assyria. ³¹ Comp. next verse.

Whom the Lord of hosts hath blessed. For the Lord has blessed Israel, therefore he will be a blessing, etc; or He has blessed each of the three.³²

footnotes: ³² The question is here, to which word does the pronoun in בֵּרְכוֹ he blessed him refer. The one explanation refers it to Israel; because God has blessed Israel, therefore he can again be a source of blessing to other nations. The second explanation refers it to Israel, Egypt, and Assyria, and explains the singular of the pronoun in the usual way, each of them.

My people. Because they will erect an altar to the Lord publicly, He calls them my people.

And the work of my hands (and not my people), for there will be only a few of them that will know the work of the Lord.

And mine inheritance. Israel remains His inheritance for ever, for Assyria and Egypt are this only temporarily in comparison with Israel. The Chaldæan translation renders this passage thus: Blessed be my people that is in Egypt.