Woe to the land shaded by wings Jonathan renders: to which they come in ships from a distant land, and their sails are spread out like an eagle that flies with its wings. I say, however, that because they live in the east, and the land is hot, birds assemble there, and it is shaded by the birds’ wings. Now this prophecy concerns the armies of Gog and Magog, as the matter is stated in Ezekiel (38: 5) “Persia, Cush, and Put with them.”

Go swift messengers to see whether it is true that the Israelites have returned to their place, a nation which is pulled and torn, to a people that is awesome from its inception.

from their beginning and onward From the day it was chosen as a people and onward.

a nation punished in kind Heb. קַו-קָו [lit. a line for a line, i.e.,] when he is punished for his sin, he is punished in kind and given to be trampled. Alternatively, קַו-קָו is an expression of vomit (קִיא) (Lam. 3:45): “Loathsome and rejected.”

river [figurative for] kings.

All inhabitants of the world, etc. You need not send messengers for this, for when a standard of the mountains is raised, you shall see the ingathering of the exiles, and when a shofar is sounded you shall hear.

I will rest from paying Esau his just deserts; I will turn away from all My affairs and I will look down upon My dwelling-place to do good to it.

like a clear heat upon herbs It will illuminate it and cause to shine like the clear heat of the sun on herbs. Comp. (II Kings 4:39) “To gather herbs (אוֹרוֹת) .”

like a cloud of dew for which the reapers long, to refresh themselves during the heat of the harvest.

For before the ripening of the harvest of Amalek and of Gog, when he has not yet filled his desire and his hope, that he plans to destroy his brothers.

when the blossom is past i.e., when its blossom is past and the grain is close to becoming ripe in its ears and before the buds of his vine become ripening grapes, ripened to the extent of being בֹּסֶר, i.e., when the grapes become as big as a white bean. This is called בֹּסֶר and also גֵּרוּעַ.

and he shall cut off i.e., the cutter shall cut off the tendrils; these are the branches and the boughs.

with pruning hooks sarpes in O.F. [serpes in Modern French].

and the roots These are the roots of the vines, called ceps in O.F.

he cut [them] off Heb. הֵתַּז. i.e., to say that He shall slay the officers and the rulers of Esau and of Gog and his armies and his allies.

They shall be left [i.e.,] their corpses.

to the birds of the mountains Heb. לְעֵיט הָרִים, to the birds of the mountains.

shall spend the summer upon them All the days of the summer.

shall spend the winter All the days of the winter. From there they deduced that the judgment of Gog in the future shall be twelve months.