His anointed. According to some, the prophet; others think that Cyrus is meant; either explanation is admissible; comp. The Lord hath anointed me (61:1), and Anoint Hazael to be king (1 K. 19:15).

לרד To subdue. It is infinitive of רדד ; comp. הרדד who subdueth (Ps. 144:2); as to its form comp. לְעַד to prey (Zeph. 3:8)

I. The support of God or the heavenly prince of Persia is to be understood;¹ comp. Dan. 10:20.

footnotes: ¹ This remark of I. E. is intended to smooth the anthropological expression I (God) will go before thee. Two explanations are given; the first substitutes for I the expression my support; the second assigns these words to the angel, the messenger of God, who speaks of God sometimes in the first, sometimes in the third person. Comp. c. xvi. Note 7.

והדורים The crooked places. It is the opposite of ישר straight. Some derive it from הדר glory;² it means mountains, and is as to its form either adjective or participle passive.³

footnotes: ² According to this derivation the mountains are called הדורים the glorious, majestic part of the earth, because of their rising above the rest of the surface of the earth.—הרר of the Hebrew text is a corruption of הדר. ³ By this remark I. E. means to say, that strictly speaking, we have to supply here the noun, to which הדורים is an attribute.

דלתות The doors⁴ that are in the gates of the city.

footnotes: ⁴ A, V., The gates.

And I will give thee the treasures of darkness. Cyrus will take the spoil of the countries.

That thou mayest know. For before that he did not fear the Lord.

For Jacob my servant’s sake, etc. All this success is not granted to thee for thine own sake, but for Israel, that thou shouldst send back the captives of Israel and rebuild Jerusalem.

I have named thee. Comp. I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine (43:1)

I am the Lord, I alone know what will happen in future; as the victory of Cyrus shows.

I shall gird thee. I shall strengthen thee, although thou hast not worshipped Me.

That they may know, etc. I have besides given thee strength, in order that My name shall be known everywhere, that I am alone the Lord, and that there is none beside Me.

I form the light, etc. Things which are opposite to each other are mentioned in this verse.

ובורא חשך And causeth⁵⁵ darkness. ברא has here the same meaning as גזר to decree; for darkness is nothing by itself, it is but the absence of light.⁶

footnotes: ⁵ A. V., And create. ⁵ A. V., And create. ⁶ Darkness is no substance in itself; the verb to create, which signifies to bring a substance into existence (להוציא יש מאין), cannot therefore be applied to it, and the verb ברא, which is used here by the prophet with regard to darkness, means to decree, to order. But God commands that there shall be darkness, is the same as, God commands the light to withdraw. I. E., however, lays rather too much stress on his exposition of the verb ברא.

The same is to be said¹ war, illness. But I. E. explains that these evils are but a certain relation of existing beings to each other; and finds the verb to decree or to command to be more applicable to them than the verb to create. concerning ובורא רע And causeth evil. By evil war is meant as the opposite of peace, or the sickness under which man labours, as being at war with his constitution. These antitheses are used to indicate that in the same way God will strengthen Cyrus and weaken the king of Babylon.

footnotes: ¹ The evil seems sometimes to be something real, to which the verb to create might well be applied, as e.g.

Drop down. This is a command to the angels⁷ that they shall drop righteousness, and cause salvation and truth to succeed.

footnotes: ⁷ Heavens and skies are in this verse, according to I. E., metaphors for angels, for the messengers or servants of the Lord, that execute His decrees. As to the use of שמים and similar expressions for angels Comp. I. E. on Dan. 10:20 and Ex. 25:40.

אני יי בראתיו I, the Lord, have created for him,⁸ have created righteousness for Cyrus; he will establish righteousness in the world.⁹

footnotes: ⁸ A. V., Have created it. ⁹ By overthrowing the Babylonian Empire, and delivering those who were oppressed by it.

הוי *Hi!*¹⁰ Interjectio vocandi. The prophet calls unto him, that does not believe in the words of God, who foretells these future events.

footnotes: ¹⁰ A. V., Woe unto him.

רב את יוצר That striveth with his maker. יוצר has here the same meaning as in Ps. 2:9; namely potter.¹¹

footnotes: ¹¹ The lit. rendering of the phrase רב את יצרו is: that striveth with its pother; but the word him that striveth with his maker express the same idea, if the pronouns him and his be referred to the noun potsherd, mentioned in the phrase which follows.

The potsherd. The man who is like a potsherd of earthenware.

Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? This cannot be ; but he who fashions the clay does what he wishes.

ופעלך אין ידים לו Or thy work, etc. Or shall the clay say to him who fashions it, What thou doest is not done by thy hands.¹² I think that this phrase contains the same idea as the preceding, namely : Thy work is made without hands; thou hast no power to do it as thou likest.

footnotes: ¹² A. V., He hath no hands. According to the explanation of I. E. it is very strange that the most important word thine should be omitted.

He that saith to his father, etc. Or can the son before his birth say to his father, What wilt thou beget,¹³¹³ or to the woman, that is, to his mother, what wilt thou bring forth? תחילין Thou will bring forth. Comp. כי חלה נם ילדה ציון Zion travailed, she brought forth (66:8)

footnotes: ¹³ A. V., What begettest thou. What hast thou brought forth. ¹³ A. V., What begettest thou. What hast thou brought forth.

And his maker. I am he who made Israel.

שְׁאׇלוּגׅי Ask me. It is imperative like שְׁמׇלוּגׅי hear me (Gen. 23:8), the kamez being substituted for zeré because of the guttural letter (א) ¹⁴.

footnotes: ¹⁴ The regular form would be שַׁאֲלוּגׅי שׁׅמׅעוּגׅי. See I. E. on 41:25, and Note 31.

,mubhWill ye command me.¹⁵ It is a question.—As the potter knows what to do with the clay, so I know what to do with Israel, who is my son. The other nations, the Non-Israelites are addressed in these words.

footnotes: ¹⁵ A. V., Ask me. Comp. Rashi ad locum.

I have made the earth, etc. How will you command me concerning my children, when the whole universe belongs to me? I have created earth and man upon it; my hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded, and consequently they were created. I commanded is poetically said¹⁶ for I spoke as in the verse He commanded and they were created (Ps. 148:5)

footnotes: ¹⁶ I. E. explains I commanded by I spoke, because this verse refers to the creation of heaven and earth and all their hosts, and the verb to command cannot properly be applied to things which do not yet exist.

I have raised him, namely Cyrus.

And I will make straight all his ways, and all this only because He shall build, etc.

The labour of Egypt, etc. This verse shows that Cyrus was also to conquer Egypt, and to carry the inhabitants thereof away into captivity; the way, as is well known, led through. Palestine, which is situated in the midst between Elam and Egypt.¹⁷

footnotes: ¹⁷ As to the position of Elam, see c. xiii. Note 7. Cyrus did not conquer Egypt, but Kambyses, his successor, conquered it 525 B. C.

Men of measure. Men of great measure; for all men have a certain measure; comp. show thyself a man═show thyself a brave man (1 Kgs. 2:2).

Surely God is in thee. These are the words which they will confess and declare; this was in fact the case after the return of Israel from the Babylonian captivity.¹⁸

footnotes: ¹⁸ Comp. I. E. 19:19, note 26.

Verily thou art a God, etc. Then they will confess to God and say, It is true that thou art God who hid himself from the people in which He delighted, and now thou art the God of the Israelites, who helps them. Some say that אל נסתר ═ אל מסתתר invisible God, and explain the verse thus: God, though invisible, revealed himself for the sake of Israel. This explanation, however, is not supported by the rules of Hebrew grammar, מסתתר being Hithpael, and signifying who hid himself.

*They shall go with confusion,*¹⁹ etc. They that make the idols, and come with honour to those that send for them, shall go, etc. צירים *Messengers.*²⁰ Comp. ציר an ambassador (Jer. 49:14). הלכו They shall go. They shall return to their land.

footnotes: ¹⁹ A. V., To confusion. ²⁰ A. V., Idols. According to I. E. חרשי means the makers of idols, צירים of messengers, that is, for whom messengers were sent from a distance.

Israel is saved by the Lord. Therefore they will not be ashamed, as those men have been put to shame, that made vain things which cannot help in times of trouble.

עד *Innumerable.*²¹

footnotes: ²¹ A. V., Without end. The literal translation of עַד according to I. E. is till, and the phrase they cannot be numbered for multitude, must be supplied. Comp. I. E. on c. 57:15 and 65:18.

He hath established it, as the habitation for men and beasts.

תהו In vain.

I have not spoken, etc. I have not made the earth in vain, how then should I say to the Israelites Seek ye me in vain.²² Many refer this verse to the revelation on Sinai;¹ but I refer it to those future events, of which the Lord informed the prophet, and which the prophet announced to Israel and all other nations ; this may be gathered from the words מגיד מישרים I declare things that are right.²³

footnotes: ²² God has not created the earth in vain; he wishes that it shall be inhabited; how then should He ask the Israelites, whose land is desolate and waste, to seek Him, that is, to pray to Him, for the restoration of the country, in vain, that is, without being relieved? ¹ See Rashi ad locum. ²³ According to I. E., the words Things that are right, refer to the predictions concerning the redemption of the Israelites, which is sure to take place as soon as they make up their minds to return to God.

הקבצו ובאו התנגשו Assemble yourselves and come, draw near. These are imperatives.

Ye, that are escaped, etc. The Babylonians are addressed.—I called thus long ago, but they have, no knowledge that set up, etc.

Tell ye the truth.

And bring near your wise men.

יועצו Let them take counsel. It is Niphal of יעץ

And be ye saved. This is the same as and you will be saved; it is in your own power.²⁴

footnotes: ²⁴ The imperative And be ye saved is here used, although the Israelites cannot properly be commanded to save themselves, for it is God who saves them; because the relief sent to them by God is only the consequence of their good actions, which they are here indirectly commanded to do.

By myself, who am eternal. I have sworn. I have made a decree, which will not be undone.

דבר צדקה ═ צדקה *a righteous word.*¹ Comp. צדקה she hath been righteous (Gen. 38:27).²⁵

footnotes: ¹ This remark is added to explain the discrepancy between the genders of the verb יצא and the noun צדקה. ²⁵ This quotation is adduced to prove that the word צדקה admits also of the meaning truth.

That unto me, etc. These things here foretold I shall do, till unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear to belong to me. לי unto me must be repeated before תשבע shall swear ; it is an ellipsis, such as is frequently met with. Comp.²⁶ And shall swear by His name (Deut. 6:13)

footnotes: ²⁶ As to the meaning of נשבע to swear to be faithful to.

לי Unto me. The pronoun of the first person refers to the prophet. He declares, that he does not know these future events by the aid of his reason, but by the Lord alone, who informed him of these things of righteousness and strength.²⁷ It is more correct to explain the verse thus : Surely in the Lord, alone is righteousness and strength, the words לי אמר are a relative sentence signifying who spoke unto me.

footnotes: ²⁷ Mentioned in the preceding verse, and referring to the faithful fulfilment of the divine promise.

עדיו To Him. Comp. Am. 4:6

In the Lord. In faithfully believing in the Lord.