עיר עז לנו ישועה ישית To a city which is strength to us,¹ he will appoint salvation. To Jerusalem, which is strength unto us, God will appoint salvation.²

footnotes: ¹ A. V., We have a strong city. ² After ישית the word ישועה salvation seems to have been omitted in the Hebrew text.

חומות וחל For walls and bulwarks. חֵל הַחוֹמוֹת ═ חֵל the fence of the walls.³. Note 2; on 21:11, Note 22.

footnotes: ³ See I. E. on 15:1 and ibid

Open ye gates, etc. The gates of that city should only be opened for righteous people like the Israelites, to enter and to dwell in it.

יצר סמוך תצר שלום Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Others are of opinion that שלום may be used as masculine and feminine.⁴

footnotes: ⁴ According to this opinion the translation of the passage is as follows: Peace will guard him whose mind is stayed on thee. There is, however, no other instance in the Bible of שלום being used as a feminine noun.

Trust ye, etc. Therefore fathers will say to their children, Trust in the Lord, etc.

ביה In the Lord. ב is a preposition, and has its usual meaning.⁵, גיה ,ביה ,איה, and so on. In his commentary on the book of Psalms (68:5), I. E. rejects this opinion, but without giving the explanation which is promised here.⁵, גיה ,ביה ,איה, and so on. In his commentary on the book of Psalms (68:5), I. E. rejects this opinion, but without giving the explanation which is promised here.⁵, גיה ,ביה ,איה, and so on. In his commentary on the book of Psalms (68:5), I. E. rejects this opinion, but without giving the explanation which is promised here.

footnotes: ⁵ The name of God consists of the four letters ו ,ה ,י, and ה; the name יה of half that number; in ביה the ב is prepositive; but some take it as part of the name, believing that new names of God are formed by combining the word יה with any letters of the alphabet; e.g. ⁵ The name of God consists of the four letters ו ,ה ,י, and ה; the name יה of half that number; in ביה the ב is prepositive; but some take it as part of the name, believing that new names of God are formed by combining the word יה with any letters of the alphabet; e.g. ⁵ The name of God consists of the four letters ו ,ה ,י, and ה; the name יה of half that number; in ביה the ב is prepositive; but some take it as part of the name, believing that new names of God are formed by combining the word יה with any letters of the alphabet; e.g.

צור עולמים Everlasting strength. ביה In some books all the letters of the Alphabet are combined with this word (יה), which consists of one-half the number of letters composing the full name of God, in order to form new names for the Divine Being. In the book of Psalms (68:5) I shall explain this.

השח He bringeth down. A verb ע״ע like הֵקַל he afflicted slightly (8:23). Them that dwell on high, etc. This refers to the heathens.

ישפילנה ישפילה He layeth it low, he layeth it low. He will continually lay it low; comp. עזי ומעזי My strength and my fortress (Jer. 16:19).⁶

footnotes: ⁶ See I. E. on 3:1, Note 1; xxiv. Note 27; xxv. Note 2.

The foot shall tread it down, etc. He will bring it so low, that it will be trodden not by the foot of the noble but by that of the poor.

רגלי ═ פעמי feet. Comp. פעמים (Ex. 23:14) ═ רגלים (ibid. 17) times.

The way of the just, etc. And why is all this? because there is no path for the righteous but that of rectitude,

and Thou, O Lord, art most upright and dost weigh the path of the just.

תפלס Thou weighest.

We waited for thee, O Lord, even for the way of Thy judgment,⁷ etc. These are the words of the righteous that hope in the Lord, that He will show His judgment in the universe; for the soul is longing for Thy name. Before ארח path supply the preposition ל for.

footnotes: ⁷ A. V., In the way of thy judgment.

נפשי My soul, that is, the thought of my soul,⁸ was בלילה אויתיך I have desired Thee in the night;

footnotes: ⁸ A. V., With my soul, with my spirit. אויתיך I desired thee, and אשחרך Will I seek thee early, are, according to I. E., the thoughts which fill the soul and spirit of the righteous, and are, therefore, by a kind of metonymy, called their soul and spirit.

Yea the thought of my spirit within me, was אשחרך I will seek Thee early. Man has נפש soul and רוח spirit, as I explained in Koheleth.⁹

footnotes: ⁹ In his commentary on Koheleth 3:21, I. E. says that נפש is common to all living creatures, but נשמה is peculiar to human beings alone;—the difference between רוח and נפש is not explained there. On Koheleth 7:3, he remarks that the life of man manifests itself in his vegetable, animal and intellectual nature, or as explained there by I. E. himself, in his appetitive, נפש, sensitive, רוח, and deliberative capacities נשמה.

When Thy judgments are, etc. When Thy judgments appear on the earth the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

תבל World. The inhabited part of the earth.

יחן Let favour be shewn. A verb ע״ע; it is a form like יוסב is turned (28:27).¹⁰—God is merciful to the wicked, but they will not learn righteousness; He has patience with them for a long time, they might perhaps improve.

footnotes: ¹⁰ יחַֻן is future Hophal of יוסב ; חנן future Hophal of סבב.

In the land of uprightness. In the place where the people are upright, they (the wicked) will do wrong.

נבחות Straightforwardness. It is related to נכח before (Ex. 26:35); comp. נכחים right (2 Sam. 15:3). And will not behold, etc. He does not wish to consider the greatness of God.

רמה ידך בל יחזיון When Thy hand is lifted up¹¹ they will not see. יחזו ויבשו קנאת עם But they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people; let them show their envy of Thy people, and be ashamed, אף אש צריך תאכלם And let the fire devour Thine enemies. Some explain the former phrase thus: Let them see Thy punishment inflicted upon all of them. According to this explanation, the phrase has the same meaning as the words אף אש צריך תאכלם yea, even the fire, which shall devour thine enemies.¹²

footnotes: ¹¹ רמה Is lifted up, that is, does not touch them or does not punish them. ¹² A. V., They shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea the fire of Thine enemies shall devour them.—The Hebrew text has קנאתך בבלם יחזו, which is perhaps to be altered into יחזו קנאתך בכל עם, since the difference between the two explanations is, that according to the first, עם refers to Israel, according to the second, to all other nations, so that קנאת עם is either the envy of the heathen people at Israel, or the punishment inflicted upon all people, that are enemies to Israel or to God.

תשפות Thou wilt ordain. Comp. שפות set on (Ez. 24:3).

For thou also hast wrought, etc. For Thou hast always done for us what we do not know how to do.

Other lords, besides Thee, have had dominion, etc. For we worshipped Thee even when others became our masters. בעלונו Had dominion over us, were our masters (בעלים); comp. לבעליו unto the owner of them (Ex. 21:34). But by Thee only we make mention of Thy name. Nevertheless we praised Thy name. לבד בך But by Thee. Thou hast helped us, therefore we were able to praise Thee.

They are dead. Those our masters, that have owned us, are now dead.

יספת Thou hast continued.¹³ Thou hast removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. The more Thou hast chastised Thy people, the more they acknowledged Thy glory, even when exiled from their country.

footnotes: ¹³ A. V., Thou hast increased the nation. I. E. explains יספת Thou hast continued, and supplies the infinitive to chastise.

In trouble. In their trouble.

צקון They poured out. The נ is paragogic, as in ידעון they knew (Deut. 8:3); the word is besides irregular; the regular form is יצקו; the first radical is dropped in צקון; comp. ירד═רד he went down (Judg. 19:11). As to the phrase they poured out a prayer, comp. he will pour out his prayer (Ps. 102:1).

מוסרך למו Thy chastening upon them.¹⁴ They mention in their prayer the punishment which thou hast inflicted upon them.

footnotes: ¹⁴ A. V., When thy chastening was upon them.

Like as a woman, etc. This verse describes the chastening mentioned in the preceding verse.

תקריב That draweth near Lit. that bringeth near, namely, herself.¹⁵

footnotes: ¹⁵ תקריב is Hiphil, and therefore transitive; the object herself must be supplied.

We have conceived, we have been in pain with, as we have brought forth, wind.¹⁶ We have conceived, and we have been in pain with wind, and so we have also brought forth wind. We had no strength to deliver ourselves; this is the meaning of the following ישועות בל נעשה we have not wrought any deliverance. We were not able to bring any deliverance.

footnotes: ¹⁶ A. V., We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have, as it were (כְמוֹ) brought forth wind. According to I. E. the word כמו compares the verbs הָרִינוּ we have conceived and הַלְנוּ we have been in pain, with the verb יָלַדְנוּ רוּחַ we have brought forth, with regard to the object רוּחַ wind, which is common to all of them.

ארץ In the earth. Supply ב; comp. בששת═ששת (Ex. 20:11).

ובל יפלו Some say, that א is omitted, as in ויפלו (Neh. 6:16); but the latter has its usual meaning (and they fell), as will be explained by me. I explain בל יפלו we could not help their falling.¹⁷

footnotes: ¹⁷ According to I. E. the root of יפלו is נפל to fall. ובל יפלו ישבי תבל We could not effect that the inhabitants of the world should not fall; that is, we could not prevent the destruction which threatened to come over a great many of the inhabitants of the world.—A. V., Neither have the inhabitants of the earth fallen.—The passage quoted from Nehemiah ויפלו מאוד בעיניהם is explained by I. E. בשפלים ונפלים ממעלתם they appeared to themselves low and degraded.

Thy dead men shall live. Only Thy dead men shall live; God is addressed. Generally, it is believed, that this phrase contains some reference to the resurrection of the dead.¹⁸ Some explain it as a contrast to They are dead, they will not live, (ver. 14), they, that is, our masters, are dead, but we, who were considered as dead, are living.

footnotes: ¹⁸ Comp. Targum: Thou wilt revive the dead.

My dead body. The first person refers to the prophet, who is one of the Israelites, that are considered as dead. Let Thy dead men live, and let the dead of my people rise, as if they heard the cry: Awake, etc.

טל אורות A dew of light.¹⁹ A dew acccompanied by light. Thy dew. God is addressed in these words. According to others, אורות means herbs; comp. 2 Kings 4:39; it signifies a kind of herb, which turns toward the sun and moon.²⁰

footnotes: ¹⁹ A. V., The dew of herbs. ²⁰ Comp. Plin. Nat. Hist. Lib. XVIII., cap. 36 (Lupinus) cum sole quotidie circumagitur, horasque agricolis etiam nubilo demonstrat. The lupine makes its daily circuit with the sun, and shows the farmer the time even when the heaven is covered with clouds.

וְהָאָרֶץ ═ וָאָרֶץ. And the earth Shall cast out the dead, out of itself. תפיל Shall cast out, shall bear; comp. כנפל אשח As the untimely birth of a woman (Psalm 58:9). Others explain, Thou alone hast given life to Thy dead; for it is the nature of the earth to throw the dead into its midst.²¹

footnotes: ²¹ The dead are buried and hidden under the surface of the earth, whence we do not see them rise again; the restoration of the dead to life is therefore not the usual course of nature, but an extraordinary and miraculous act of the Almighty.

Come, my people, etc. R. Moses Hakkohen explains this verse to mean that the people shall shut themselves in Jerusalem, because of Sennacherib.²²

footnotes: ²² See xxiv., Notes 18 and 24.

חבי Some explain this word as a regular form of a verb (חבה) ל״ה; the feminine form חבי is used, because עם is sometimes feminine; comp. וחטאת עמך And thy people sinneth (Ex. 5:16). R. Jehudah, the Grammarian, says,²³ חבה. that חבי is a noun like שבי captivity. The first explanation is the right one.

footnotes: ²³ See two treatises on verbs containing feeble and double letters, of R. Jehuda Hayug, of Fez, etc., ed. by John W. Nutt, M.A., sub voce

The Lord cometh out. The decrees of the Lord come out.²⁴

footnotes: ²⁴ See xvi., Note 26.

Her blood. The slain, that are buried in the earth.