Woe To the enemy, that you constantly spoil, but you are not spoiled, and you constantly deal treacherously, but no man deals treacherously with you or spoils you.

when you finish being a spoiler, when you finish your spoiling of those upon whom it was decreed to be spoiled by you, you shall be spoiled.

when you finish dealing treacherously (כַּנְּלֹתְךָ) Menahem classified כַּנְלֹתְךָ with (Job 15: 29) “And their destruction (מִנְלָם) shall not fall to the earth,” in one group (Machbereth Menahem, p. 123). In the word מִנְלָם, the first ‘mem’ is a radical which sometimes is absent, like the ‘mem’ of מַאֲמָר, a statement, and of מַדָּע, knowledge, and it is possibly an expression of ending, according to the context.

כַּנְּלֹתְךָ is an expression of ‘when you finish.’ “And מִנְלָם shall not fall to the earth,” the destruction decreed upon them shall not fall to the earth to become progressively void, but will become progressively stronger.

Be their arm of the spoiled ones in the hand of the spoiler. (Note that we followed other editions of Rashi. Nach Lublin is erroneous in this passage.)

every morning Daily, when they are in straits, also You be our salvation in time of trouble.

From the sound of roaring that emanated from before You, peoples wandered until here when You performed wondrous miracles for us.

And your booty shall be gathered This refers back to “when you finish dealing treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with you,” and your booty, you, who spoil My people, when your reckoning comes, the remnant of My people shall plunder you and gather your booty like the gathering of locusts, each one of whom gathers grain for himself in summer; here too, each one will plunder for himself.

like the roaring of the cisterns Like the sound of the roar of water gathering and falling into the cisterns in the river, so will those coming to plunder and pillage, roar. מַשַּׁק is an expression of roaring. Comp. (Prov. 28:15) “A roaring lion and a growling (שׁוֹקֵק) bear.” Also (Zeph. 2:9), “The noise (מִמְשַׁק) of the thorns.” When the wind blows on the thorns, and they knock against one another, they produce a sound. Comp. also, (Joel 2:9) “In the city they roar (יָשֹׁקּוּ).”

cisterns (גֵּבִים) like (supra 30: 14) “or to scoop water from a cistern (מִגֶּבֶא).” Our Sages expounded it in the Aggadah of Chapter Chelek (San. 94b) as referring to the booty of Sennacherib’s soldiers.

for He dwells on high He demonstrated His might, that He is exalted above all, and He has the upper hand.

And the faith of your times, etc. And it shall be for you for strength of salvations and for wisdom and knowledge, that you will be faithful to your Creator concerning the times that He set for you for terumoth and tithes at the time of their separation, for gleanings, forgotten sheaves, and the corner of the field in their time, to leave them over for the poor, to keep release years and jubilee years in their time. Another explanation is: faith of your times What you believed in the Holy One, blessed be He, in times that passed over you, and you hoped for salvation, shall become your strength.

fear of the Lord That you shall fear Him - that is a good treasure to open up for you from before Him.

Behold [for] their altar they have cried in the street The prophet was prophesying consolations and saying that the retribution had already been completed, and from now I will rise and exalt Myself to redeem them. Behold for their Arel - that is the altar (see above 29:1) - they have already cried and lamented in their streets and in their squares with weeping and wailing.

ambassadors of peace And the ambassadors whom they send, who were wont to bring tidings of peace, cry bitterly and say, “Highways have become desolate, the wayfarer has stopped.”

he has abrogated the treaty The enemy has abrogated the treaty he made with Israel.

despised cities He despised in his eyes; no enemy considers any man.

mourns (אָבֵל) an expression of mourning.

it was cut off Dried and cut off.

became (הָיָה, lit. was.) This is the past tense.

the Sharon The name of a region of pasture for animals, as we learned (Men. 87a): Rams from Moab, calves from Sharon.

like the plain a ruin.

have become emptied (וְנֹעֵר) An expression of shaking out. Comp. (Ex. 14:27): “And the Lord shook (וַיְנַעֵר).”

Now I will rise Because of the many evils the enemy perpetrated against My people, I will no longer restrain Myself; now I will rise, be raised and be exalted.

chaff (חֲשַׁשׁ) a kind of chaff, something that is easily ignited.

your breath is fire From your body shall emanate breath of fire and will consume the chaff and the stubble.

severed (כְּסוּחִים) Comp. (Lev. 25:4) “You shall not prune.” Onkelos renders: לָא תִכְסָח.

you far-off ones Those who believe in Me and do My will from their youth.

you near ones Repentant sinners who have recently drawn near to Me.

Sinners in Zion were afraid How they would find an opening to repent.

Who will stand up for us against a consuming fire? (lit., Who will live for us a consuming fire?) I.e., who will stand up for us to appease burning wrath? Alternatively, who among us will dwell, i.e., who among us will dwell in Zion with the Rock, Who is a consuming fire? And he replies, “He who walks righteously, etc.”

He who walks righteously Who will be found? One who walks righteously.

who shakes his hands (eskot in O.F.).

closes his ear (אֹטֵם) Comp. (I Kings 6:4) “transparent but closed (אֲטֻמִים).”

and closes (וְעֹצֵם) Comp. (supra 29:10) “And He has closed (וַיְעַצֵּם) your eyes.”

his bread shall be given He will not seek bread, for it will be supplied to him from heaven.

his water sure The source of his water will not fail. I.e., his seed will become great, and all his wants will be supplied.

The King in His beauty shall your eyes behold (The Holy One, blessed be He, Who is a King, Him you shall see from a distant land where you are standing. You shall see the miracles and the greatness that I will perform for you, and a people of a strange tongue, of obscure speech, shall not see the Shechinah of the King in His beauty. [This does not appear in many editions.])

The King in His beauty shall your eyes behold. To you, O righteous man, I say that you shall merit to see the splendor of the Shechinah of the Omnipresent.

they shall see [from] a distant land Jonathan renders: You shall look and see those who go down to the land of Gehinnom.

Your heart shall meditate [in] fear When you see the princes and the savants of the heathens, who ruled during their lifetime, and who are now being judged in Gehinnom, your heart will meditate in terror, and you will say, “Where is the wisdom and the greatness of these men? Where is the one who, during his lifetime, would count and weigh every word of wisdom, for they would ask him every counsel of the kingdom?

Where is he who counts the towers This too is a matter of the kingdom. He is appointed over the houses of the kingdom, how many they are, and how many towers a certain city requires. Comp. (Ps. 48:13) “Encircle Zion and surround it, count its towers,” how many towers it requires.

A people of a strange tongue (נוֹעָז) like לוֹעֵז. These are all the heathens, whose language is not the holy tongue. ([Other editions read:] These are Assyria and Babylon, whose language is not the holy tongue.) ([Manuscripts read:] These are all the nations whose language is not the holy tongue.)

you shall not see You shall not esteem in your heart, for they shall all be dark and humble.

speech... obscure (שָׂפָה, lit. lip.) Comp. (Gen. 11:1) “And all the land was one speech (שָׂפָה).”

of stammering tongue (נִלְעָג לָשׁוֹן). Comp. (32:4) “The tongue of the stammerers (לְשׁוֹן עִלְּגִים),” (and of obscure speech. All this is a foreign language, for they do not understand the holy tongue.)

See Zion But whom will you see in your heart to be regarded as a kingdom and a ruling power? Zion, which is the city of our meeting place.

that shall not fall (יִצְעָן) shall not be lowered. Comp. (Jud. 4:11) “Elon-bezaanannim (אֵלוֹן בְּצַעֲנַנִּים),” which is rendered as: the plain of pits (מִישׁוֹר אַגְנַיָּא), which are pits in the fields, called kombes in O.F. Comp. (Baba Kamma 61b) “The pits of the earth (אַגְנֵי דְאַרְעָא) they are considered,” where water gathers from the mountains and the hills. I believe that the ‘beth’ of the word בְּצַעֲנַנִּים is not radical, but is a prefix.

whose pegs shall never be moved (יִסַּע) The pegs with which they tie the ropes of the tent he shall not move them from the earth, from the place into which they are thrust. Comp. (I Kings 5:31) “And they quarried (וַיַּסִּעוּ) great stones.” Also (Jud. 16:3), “And he plucked them (וַיִּסּעֵם) together with the bolt,” an expression of uprooting.

But there ‘But’ refers back to ‘whose pegs shall never be moved,’ and ‘shall not be torn.’ The evil shall not be, only the good. There the Lord shall be mighty for us, and the city shall be a place of rivers and streams, in the manner it is said in Ezekiel (47:4f.): “And He measured a thousand (cubits), and He led me...a stream that I could not cross.” And so did Joel prophesy (4:18) “And a spring shall emanate from the house of the Lord,” that it shall become progressively stronger.

a galley with oars a ship that floats on the water.

and a great ship (וְצִי אַדִּיר) and a great ship [from Jonathan].

For the Lord is our judge Our prince and judge.

Your ropes that draw the ship, you sinful city. ([Mss. yield:] you, sinful Rome.)

properly prepared well.

a sail Heb. נס, the sail of a ship.

they did not spread out a sail They will not be able to spread the sail that guides the boat.

then plunder [and] booty were divided (עד) related to עֲדָאָה, plunder, in Aramaic.

by many Many will divide the plunder of the heathens. ([Mss. yield:] the plunder of Edom.) ([Others:] the nations.) ([Still others:] Sennacherib.)

lame Israel, who were weak until now.

And the neighbor shall not say (I.e., the neighbor of) Israel.

“I am sick” Because of this nation, this misfortune has befallen me, for The people Israel, who is called a people, that dwells in Jerusalem, shall be forgiven of sin.