בוקק. He maketh empty. Comp. Hos. x. i.

ובולקה And maketh it waste. This word is met with a second time in the book of the vision of Nahum (Nah. 3:10).¹

footnotes: ¹ The Hebrew text has בספר הזה; but in Nahum, not in Isaiah, another instance of this root is found. בספר הזה is therefore a mistake; the text had originally בספר חזון (Nah. 1:1). The translation is based on this correction.

ועוה And turneth it upside down.

And it shall be, etc. All men shall be alike in this catastrophe. כעם ככהן וגו׳. As with the people, so with the priest. etc. When two nouns with the prefix כ follow each other, the phrase is elliptical; the complete sentence would be: as with the people so with the priest, and as with the priest so with the people, as with the servant so with the master, and as with the master so with the servant, etc.

כמלוה As with the lender, as with him who gives away money without security.²

footnotes: ² A. V., As with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. According to I. E. לוה to borrow money without security נשה (חנם) to lend on security. Comp. לא תהיה לו כנשה Thou shalt not be to him as one that lends money on security (A. V., As an usurer). Ex. 22:25, the נשה, according to I. E., has not that kind and charitable feeling, which he has who lends without security (מלוה); the former is more liable to hurt the feelings of the poor in taking and giving back the pledge (comp. Dent. xiiv. 10, ff.). The word חנם used by I. E. is translated without security, because it is here the opposite of על משכונו on his security.

נושה The capitalist.

אשר נושה בו He who borrows money on security.

הבוק תבוק. Shall be utterly emptied. Comp. בוקק (ver. 1); הבוק is infinitive Niphal of a verb בקק) ע״ע to empty). חבוק is formed like יסוב is driven back³ (Ps. 114:3.) הבוז תבוז Shall be utterly spoiled. The same.⁴—Since God decreed this, there will not remain to man any cause to exalt himself above his fellow.

footnotes: ³ According to I. E. יִסּוֹב ,תִּבּוֹז ,תִּבּוֹק, are forms of the future Niphal for יִסַּב ,תּבַּזּ ,תִּבַּק. ⁴ Infinitive and future Niphal.

The earth mourneth, because the King of Assyria has destroyed many countries.

נבלה Fadeth away.⁵ Niphal of בלל, to confound; comp. ונבקה, and it will be emptied⁶ (19:3); ונסבה and it will be surrounded⁷ (Ez. 41:7); the second נבלה might, however, be the Kal of נבל, to fade; comp. נבול תבול, thou wilt surely wear away⁸ (Ex. 18:18).

footnotes: ⁵ Literally, according to I. E., is confounded. ⁶ A V., Shall fall. ⁷ A. V., There was a winding about. ⁸ The two roots נבל and בלל are similar in form and meaning; the former to fade away, the latter to confound, Niphal to be confounded or to be destroyed. נָבְלָה is therefore either the third person feminine Kal of נבל or the same person Niphal of בלל; the regular form would be נָבַלָּה, but the Dagesh is sometimes omitted, as in the instances quoted by the author. נָבַקָּה═נָבְקָה נָסַבָּה═נָסְבָה.

יושבי מרום═מרום they that sit on high, the chiefs of the land.⁹

footnotes: ⁹ A. V., The haughty people.

תורות The laws. The laws which are dictated by common sense, in which all agree.¹⁰¹⁰ are generally distinguished by saying that the former refers to those laws which society would make even without revelation; the latter, to such laws as would not be made without direct command in Scripture. This distinction is not applicable here, because the prophet speaks in this passage of laws that concern all nations. The explanation, however, given here by I. E., does not agree with his remark on Gen. 26:5, where תורה is explained to refer to the law of circumcision. What I. E. means by the laws contained in the natural order of things or by the covenant of the universe is more clearly stated in his commentary on Gen. 26:5, namely, שילך אדם אחרי מעשיו Man shall follow the ways of God displayed in his works. Comp. I. E. on Lev. 19:19.

footnotes: ¹⁰ חּוֹרה and חֹק are generally distinguished by saying that the former refers to those laws which society would make even without revelation; the latter, to such laws as would not be made without direct command in Scripture. This distinction is not applicable here, because the prophet speaks in this passage of laws that concern all nations. The explanation, however, given here by I. E., does not agree with his remark on Gen. 26:5, where תורה is explained to refer to the law of circumcision. What I. E. means by the laws contained in the natural order of things or by the covenant of the universe is more clearly stated in his commentary on Gen. 26:5, namely, שילך אדם אחרי מעשיו Man shall follow the ways of God displayed in his works. Comp. I. E. on Lev. 19:19. ¹⁰ חּוֹרה and חֹק11A. V., Changed.

חלפו They have abolished. Comp. יחלוף, he shall abolish (2:18).

חק Ordinance. The laws of God, contained in the natural order of things; and this is likewise the meaning of ברית עולם, the covenant of the universe.

באלה ═ אלה By a curse;¹² comp. בששת ═ ששת, in sin (Ex. 20:11); according to others, the preposition תחת, for, is to be supplied; comp. פ׳ שפ׳ ונ׳ תחת ═ ונשלמה פרים שפתינו. And let us bring our lips (that is, the words of our lips, our prayer) instead of bulls (Hos. 14:2).¹³

footnotes: ¹² From this remark it may be concluded that I. E. read אבלה mourneth instead of אכלה. ¹³ A. V., So will we render the calves of our lips.

חרו They are burned. Comp. וחרה, and may be burnt (Ez. xxiv. II).¹⁴

footnotes: ¹⁴ A. V., And may burn.

The new wine mourneth, etc. Because there is none to dress the vine and to dig the ground.

The merry-hearted. For wine maketh glad the heart (Ps. 104:15)

The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, from the feasts.

The noise of them that rejoice, when they are drunk.

They shall not drink wine with a song, for the strong drink shall be bitter. יֵמַר is according to my opinion¹⁵ a verb ע״ע—comp. וָאֵקַל And I was despised (Gen. 16:5)—Niphal of מרר

footnotes: ¹⁵ The grammarian, R. Jonah, is of opinion that יֵמַר is Kal; therefore I. E. adds, according to my opinion.

The city of vanity. The city whose inhabitants go after vain things.

Every house is shut up, that no man can come in. For every one will go out into the streets because of the great trouble.

צוחה A crying.

על מקום היין ═ על היין In the place of wine.¹⁶

footnotes: ¹⁶ A. V., For wine.

In the streets. Publicly.

ערבה Is darkened. Comp. עֶרֶב evening.

ושאיה And with destruction. שאיה is a noun derived from שאה to be waste;comp. שואה desolation (10:3).

In the city is left desolation. This phrase is used by the prophet improperly; comp. Better is he than both they, who hath not yet been (Eccles. 4:3).¹⁷

footnotes: ¹⁷ Strictly speaking, he who has not yet been born cannot be better; in the same way שַׁמָּה desolation cannot be said to be left; because desolation is the negation of existence. Comp. I. E. on 2:11.

בנקף As the shaking. נקף is similar in meaning to ונקף and he shall cut down (10:34).

As the gleaning grapes, that is, only a few; for when the vintage is over, the gleaning grapes are left.

They shall lift up, etc. All commentators agree that from the words, Behold, the Lord maketh, etc. (ver. 1), the prophet refers to the remote future, to the war of Gog and Magog;¹⁸ only R. Moses Hakkohen refers this prophecy to the king of Assyria, and finds in a feast of fat things (25:6) the indication of the destruction of the hosts of Sennacherib, which remains the subject of the prophecy until the words, Woe to the crown of pride, etc. (28:1).¹⁹—

footnotes: ¹⁸ Comp. Ez. xxxyiii. and xxxix. Gog is the name of the king of Magog, a country or nation in the north of Palestine (xxxyiii. 15), deriving their origin from Magog, the son of Japheth (Gen. 10:2). ¹⁹ The words of the Hebrew text are—ועדו הוי עטרת גאות And his proof is taken from the words, ‘Woe to the crown of pride,’ but the proof is not at all clear; for granted even that xxviii. refers to the period of the Assyrian invasion, it cannot be concluded that xxiv.—xxvii. refer to the same period, especially since the last verse of xxvii. seems to be the conclusion of a prophecy (comp. 11:15, 16; 19:23—25). The translation is based on the suggestion, that ועדו is a corruption of the original וְעַד or עַד unto.

They shall lift up, etc., they that escaped, etc.²⁰

footnotes: ²⁰ The remnant of the army of Sennacherib, after the loss it sustained before Jerusalem. The opinion of R. Moses Hakkohen is continued in this remark.

ירנו They shall shout.²¹ Comp. הרנה the proclamation (1 Kgs. 22:36). They shall cry aloud from the sea. They that go on the sea, shall cry, etc. צהלו They shall cry aloud. Comp. צהלת הסום the neighing of the horse.²²

footnotes: ²¹ A. V., They shall sing. According to I. E., or rather to R. Moses Hakkohen, ידנו and צהלו refer to the cries of anxiety and distress which the remnant of the Assyrian army lifted up. רנן and צהל do not always signify, to sing, as proved by the quoted הָרִנָּה the proclamation after a defeat, and צהלת the neighing of horses. ²² Instead of צהלת הסוס, which is not a biblical phrase, we have perhaps to read מצהלות אביריו the neighing of his strong ones (Jer. 8:16).

באורים Some explain it, In the countries; comp. כשרים אור the land of the Chaldæans²³ (Gen. 11:31); others: In valleys. The former explanation is the right one.

footnotes: ²³ The same phrase is also quoted in favour of the second explanation. See Rashi.

שם The name. Supply כבדו glorify; for the verb כבדו in the first half of the sentence refers also to the second. They (ver. 14) can also be explained to refer to the righteous.²⁴

footnotes: ²⁴ With this remark I. E. reverts to the first mentioned opinion, that these chapters (xxiv.—xxvii.) refer to the period of Gog and Magog. According to this opinion the prophet speaks in ver. 14, of the righteous people, that will then receive the reward for their faith in God; ידנו and צהלו retain according to this explanation their usual meaning, they sing. In the following part the commentary is based on this same supposition, while that of R. Moses Hakkohen is only incidentally mentioned, as if to show that it can really be maintained throughout the whole portion from xxiv. unto xxvii.

מכנף From the uttermost part. The word כנף corner, is used here to signify a great distance, because the earth is round.²⁵

footnotes: ²⁵ One is rather inclined to think that, because the earth is round, the expression כנף הארץ the comer of the earth should not be used. Perhaps he means to say, that the corner of the earth is used instead of far off, because we can never reach it.

צבי Glory. The word is derived from a Chaldaic root.²⁶ And I said. Each nation will say so. Have we heard, etc. The same.

footnotes: ²⁶ צבה to desire; from this I. E. derives צבי desirable, beauty, glory.

רז׳ Leanness. Comp. רזון leanness (Ps. 106:15). The repetition indicates that these words are said every moment.

בגדים בגדו וגו׳ Treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, etc. For all people deal treacherously again and again.²⁷

footnotes: ²⁷ The root בגד is here repeated five times; this, according to I. E., indicates the repetition of the same action by the same person, as well as its contagious spreading amongst all classes of people.

Fear and the pit, etc. And therefore the evil is come to all people; for when any person is in fear, and a kind of pit is near him, and his foot is besides caught in a snare, he must instantly fall.

Windows from on high, etc. A figure for decrees of the Lord.

רעה Is broken. Comp. תרועם thou wilt break them (Ps. 2:9); a word found frequently in the Targum.²⁸

footnotes: ²⁸ רעע in Chaldee is the same as רצץ in Hebrew.

פור התפוררה Is broken asunder. Comp. ויפרפרני and he hath broken me asunder (Job 16:12); פוררת thou hast divided (Ps. 74:13)

The earth shall reel, etc. The inhabitants of the land will flee from one place to the other, and be moved like the cottage of the watchman; for the watchman changes the place of his abode.

And shall be heavy, etc. When they will be about to move and to flee, their transgression will be too heavy for them, and they will fall.

קום To rise. It is infinitive; comp. אלקום no rising up (Prov. 30:31 ).²⁹

footnotes: ²⁹ It is rather curious to find I. E. referring to אלקום as another instance of the infinitive קום, and not to Ps. 18:39, 36:13, 127:2; Lam. 1:14; Am. 5:2.

Many refer this prediction to an eclipse of the sun and moon; but more correctly it is referred to the angels, that are ready to assist or to attack a nation. Comp. Dan. 10:13, 20. These words are therefore followed by: the kings of the earth on the earth; for the reign of the kings is in connexion with the reign of the angels.³⁰

footnotes: ³⁰ Those unknown causes that govern the destinies of men and nations are sometimes personified, and represented as the messengers or angels of the Lord. Each nation is therefore said to have its angel above, in whose hand its destiny is placed, and the prosperity or the misfortune of a nation is made dependent on the success or failure of its representative angel above.

באסיר ═ אסיר As a prisoner. As prisoners are gathered, etc. As people who are brought to the prison to be shut in are often left there for a long time before they are visited to be supplied with their food. The idea contained in this simile is, that this evil will last a long time. יפקדו they shall be visited, may also be compared with ומימים רבים תפקד and after many years thou wilt be visited (Ez. 38:8), and explained in an evil sense.³¹

footnotes: ³¹ According to the first explanation, יפקדו means they will be visited to receive their food; according to the second, they will be visited to receive their final punishment.

Then the moon, etc. Sun and moon, the rulers of heaven, are used here in a figurative sense for the kings of the earth, who will be ashamed; but it is also possible that an eclipse of sun and moon is meant by the prophet. The kingdom of God will then appear on the mount of Zion, and honour will be given to those that remain faithful to God. According to others this passage refers to the worshippers of the heavenly bodies; but this explanation is at variance with the context.