Isaiah: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
We are in the year... but once again it is very difficult to calculate it. Yesh'a-Yah addresses King Chizki-Yah (Hezekiah) in 2 Kings 19 and 20, both before and during the siege of Yeru-Shala'im by Sennacherib; the language there parallels the text here and elsewhere, and is worth quoting in full and then comparing... except that the address to Chizki-Yah is also found in chapters 36 to 39 of this book, so this has to be much earlier; Chizki-Yah will succeed Achaz his father as king, and we have not yet encountered Achaz. So we can say that this must be somewhere between 740 and 720 BCE, during or just after the defeat and obliviation of the Northern Kingdom.
5:1 ASHIYRAH NA LIYDIYDI SHIYRAT DODI LE CHARMO KEREM HAYAH LIYDIYDI BE KEREN BEN SHAMEN
אָשִׁירָה נָּא לִידִידִי שִׁירַת דּוֹדִי לְכַרְמוֹ כֶּרֶם הָיָה לִידִידִי בְּקֶרֶן בֶּן שָׁמֶן
KJ (King James translation): Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
BN (BibleNet translation): Let me sing of my well-beloved, a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a patch of very fertile soil...
LIYDIYDI... DODI: Not just wonderfully musical (why didn't Leonard Cohen sing the chorus of Joan of Arc this way?!), but also deeply allusive. This is the Beloved Son, Yedid-Yah being the full name of the man we know as David, and also the name of his son Shelomoh, before he took Shelomoh as his king-name. "The Beloved of Yah, the moon-goddess" in their case, Tammuz to her Ishtar, Utu-Dumuzi to her Inanna, Jesus to her Mary, and many other similar patterns throughout the world of ancient mythology.
Is there also a deliberate allusion here to the Canticles - the ancient Kena'ani wedding-song that became "attributed" to King Solomon? The "song to my well-beloved" is precisely the form and structure of Canticles, and the image of the vineyard appears as early as verse 6 and recurs throughout. And the reason for such a song in pre-Davidic times: it was a central part of the hierophant-hierodule rites that took place in the sacred groves - for which see my notes at Deuteronomy 23:18 - one of the central objects of Y-Y's sermon throughout these opening chapters.
The symbolism of the vineyard also allows Yesh'a-Yah a parallel of the Garden of Eden, but does so in a way that reflects contemporary Yehudit theology without needing to deal with the irrelevant complications of the Eden story: no serpent, no citrus fruit (by his day, as it remains in ours, Pardes, whence our Paradise, had become the regular word for an orchard of citrus fruits), no tree of knowledge, no "original sin" etc: merely a place of righteous innocence, favoured by the polydeity, and with its produce the eucharistic wine.
CHARMO: whence Karm-El, or Mount Carmel, famous to this day for its wines and vineyards, though the word was not much used in Yehudit, unlike Greek Bacchus and Dionysus; only in No'ach's drunkenness, and the modern Passover connection with Eli-Yah (Elijah), plus abstention in Nazirut.
Who is addressing whom here? This is a difficulty throughout the text because Biblical Yehudit does not use quotation marks, so we can't always be sure if Yesh'a-Yah is preaching a sermon to elaborate whatever was the equivalent of the Mosaic Code in his time, or if the god is speaking through him in a prophetic trance, or if he is offering his own opinions in a piece of fully-conscious and controlled rhetoric that may not always concur with the Mosaic Code; he moves between the first and last of these three all the time (the middle one is a modern fantasy), and different translations will offer different versions according to their preferred readings. However, what this is not is a love-letter from Y-Y to a gay friend, though the addressee is definitely male. The "beloved" is always Yisra-El itself, "married" by covenant to Yah and YHVH.
Note the word-play between KEREM (vineyard) and KEREN: a KEREN is not really a hill at all, though on this occasion the "horn of plenty" probably was a hill, because vineyards prefer them. In Exodus 34:29 Mosheh comes down from his mountain rendezvous with the deity, his face so brightly lit with sunlight and inspiration that he appears to have "horns" - horns of light anyway, though the verse has led to much anti-Semitic art and graffiti in the millennia since. In the sacred grove at Ashterot-Karnayim, on the other hand, they really were depicted as horns, though these two were horns of light, one being the crescent of the waxing, the other the crescent of the waning moon, and Ashterot, a variant of Ishtar, herself the full moon.
5:2 VA YE'AZKEYHU VA YESAKLEYHU VA YITA'EYHU SOREK VA YIVEN MIGDAL BETOCHO VE GAM YEKEV CHATSEV BO VA YEKAV LA'ASOT ANAVIM VA YA'AS BE'USHIM
וַיְעַזְּקֵהוּ וַיְסַקְּלֵהוּ וַיִּטָּעֵהוּ שֹׂרֵק וַיִּבֶן מִגְדָּל בְּתוֹכוֹ וְגַם יֶקֶב חָצֵב בּוֹ וַיְקַו לַעֲשׂוֹת עֲנָבִים וַיַּעַשׂ בְּאֻשִׁים
KJ: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
BN: And he dug it, and cleared it of stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a vat in it; and he planned for it to produce cultivated grapes, but it produced wild grapes.
YE'AZKEYHU: "dug" or "fenced"?
In the previous verse, despite my comment, the vineyard was merely a tale, a simile. Only now does the vineyard becomes fable, parable; and only in the verses that follow will it become fully metaphor, allegory.
VA YE'AZKEYHU: Oh but surely he is being playful, mischievously playful - for is that not, once again, the name of the king, manipulated into the poetry like Shakespeare having Portia and Olivia as tributes to Queen Bess? You can see why I keep questioning the dating?
And remember that he is BEN AMOTS - see my note at the start of chapter 1.
In the previous verse, despite my comment, the vineyard was merely a tale, a simile. Only now does the vineyard becomes fable, parable; and only in the verses that follow will it become fully metaphor, allegory.
VA YE'AZKEYHU: Oh but surely he is being playful, mischievously playful - for is that not, once again, the name of the king, manipulated into the poetry like Shakespeare having Portia and Olivia as tributes to Queen Bess? You can see why I keep questioning the dating?
And remember that he is BEN AMOTS - see my note at the start of chapter 1.
YEKEV (יֶקֶב)... VA YEKAV (וַיְקַו): Homophones, but not homonyms, the former with a Vet, the latter with a Vav.
ANAVIM VA YA'AS BE'USHIM: Metaphors and always still more metaphors. Like Gulliver, he wanted Houyhnhnms, but what he got was Yahoos. Like Bunyan, he wanted righteous pilgrims, but the ones he got turned savage. So what exactly are wild grapes, and how do you get them in a cultivated orchard which you are "watching"? Vine-trimming and pollarding and pruning are part of the process (I have a secne in ther first volume of "City of Peace" where Yah-Natan demonstrates the art to Daoud); so is this about failure to do the job properly, and as such an ironic metaphor for the lack of responsibility in the human world?
5:3 VE ATAH YOSHEV YERU-SHALA'IM VE ISH YEHUDAH SHIPHTU NA BEYNI U VEYN KARMI
KJ: And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
BN: And now, you resident of Yeru-Shala'im and man of Yehudah, judge, I beseech you, between me and my vineyard.
YOSHEV...ISH: why not YOSHVEY, and ANSHEY, plural rather than singular?
Surely the judgement should be between the narrator and the beloved, not the narrator and the vineyard? But the beloved now is the vineyard, allegorically, just as the speaker throughout this fable is the deity, using Yesh'a-Yah as his spokesperson.
Note that Y-Y does not address the whole of Yisra-El, because there no longer is the whole of Yisra-El; this confirms our dating of the text: starting around 720 BCE, the fall of the Northern Kingdom, and nothing left but the tribes of Yehudah and Bin-Yamin, the latter now fully absorbed into the former, an area of land about six miles in radius.
5:4 MAH LA'ASOT OD LE CHARMI VE LO ASIYTI BO MADU'A KIVEYTI LA'ASOT ANAVIM VA YA'AS BE'USHIM
KJ: What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
KJ: And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
KJ: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
BN: And I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned and it shall not be hoed, but briers and thorns will grow wild in it. And I will command the clouds to shed no more rain upon it.
VE ASHITEHU: and suddenly the older sky god is engaged, an anachronism really, given what Y-Y has told us of his god thus far.
KJ: For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
BN: For the vineyard of YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, is the house of Yisra-El, and the men of Yehudah are his favourite plant. And he looked for justice, but there is nothing but violence; for righteousness, but all he hears is shouting.
pey break
5:8 HOY MAGIYEY VAYIT BE VAYIT SADEH VE SADEH YAKRIVU AD EPHES MAKOM VE HOSHAVTEM LEVADCHEM BE KEREV HA ARETS
KJ: Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
BN: Woe unto them who join houses to houses, who join field to field, till there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
This appears to be an attack upon terraced and semi-detached housing; it clearly isn't that, so what is it doing? Has he just explained that this is a metaphor, so that he can then feel free to expand it? Complex intellectual territory, the metaphor. But to then build a second metaphor upon it, and expect your listeners to follow you... but still, what is his sermon? Over-crowding in the cities? Too much density, and a need for the planning authorities to insist on gardens front and back, and alleyways between terraces? Surely not? Y-Y is standing for god, not parliament.
Joining house to house, and field to field, in later Talmudic times, and still today, would have established an Eruv, which is a slightly cheating way to make the observance of the Sabbath laws more flexible, because there are things that you can do at home, and distances you can walk inside an Eruv, for which the prohibitions are either much more relaxed or completely non-existent. So is this, perhaps, an attack, and if not specifically on the Eruv - which may or may not have existed then; we simply don't know - then on similar ways of evading stict observance? In other words, does creating an Eruv infer a diminution of Kavanah?
But then, why would any of this cause you to live alone in the midst of the land? Perhaps this is modern-day San Francisco syndrome: the newly rich forcing out the can't-affords from the over-priced rental properties where once they had rent-control protection, but suddenly it disappeared.
HOY: I must go back and check, but I am sure that he sometimes says Hoy with a Hey and sometimes Oy without one. What is the difference? (What do you mean, what does it matter? Of course it matters. Oi but it matters!)
5:9 BE AZNAI YHVH TSEVA'OT IM LO BATIM RABIM LE SHAMAH YIHEYU GEDOLIM VE TOVIM ME EYN YOSHEV
KJ: In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
BN: In the ears of YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens [I say this]: the simple truth is, that many houses, even the great and the beautiful, shall be left desolate, without inhabitant.
BE AZNAI: This is not the continuation of the previous verse, but the start of a new sentence; and yet the expression leads nowhere. So is it an idiomatic expression, a form of OMG? KJ has made it into speech, and added "said", but neither is there in the Yehudit.
5:10 KI ASERET TSIMDEY CHEREM YA'ASU BAT ECHAT VE ZERA CHOMER YA'ASEH EYYPHAH
KJ: Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
BN: For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one vat, and the seed of an Homer shall yield an ephah.
BAT ECHAT: Is that a bath of the sort in which one bathes, or the description of a vat for the wine that will be pressed and fermented? My question is both rhetorical and ironic.
CHOMER: I have kept the KJ translation because it is so utterly delightful. A Homer as a quantity (the Yehudit is CHOMER). A Homer of odes. Why not? What would the seed of a Virgil yield, or a Dante, a George Eliot? You can find the details of all these measurements, including the rather amusing likelihood of why it is called a Chomer, by clicking here.
samech break
5:11 HOY MASHKIMEY VA BOKER SHECHAR YIRDEPHU ME ACHAREY VA NESHEPH YAYIN YADLIYKEM
KJ: Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
BN: Woe unto those who rise up early in the morning, so that they may follow strong drink; who stay up late into the night, till wine inflame them!
5:12 VE HAYAH CHINOR VA NEVEL TOPH VE CHALIL VA YAYIN MISHTEYHEM VE ET PO'AL YHVH LO YABIYTU U MA'ASEH YADAV LO RA'U
KJ: And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
BN: And the harp and the psaltery, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts; but they pay not heed to the work of YHVH, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
As explained above, the vineyard chosen for the metaphor precisely because it has a sacred value that would be understood by his listeners - where the Edenic citrus orchard or the Greek apple-garden of the Hesperides would be meaningless. The Temple instruments (click here for more on each of them), alongside the eucharistic wine used for the blessings, need to be used in the right quantities, and the right contexts, and with the one word that is still lacking from the sermon – KAVANAH: sincerity, intensity, respect.
5:13 LACHEN GALAH AMI MIBLI DA'AT U CHEVODO METEY RA'AV VA HAMONO TSICHEH TSAM'A
KJ: Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
BN: This is why my people have been taken into captivity, for want of wisdom; and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.
This is why captivity has happened – which now allows us to date and locate the piece even better. Captivity must refer to the 9 tribes, not to Yehudah and Bin-Yamin, though deutero-Isaiah, who writes the latter chapters, clearly does so in Babylon, after the second captivity in 586 BCE.
DA'AT: Coming from the era of Bloom's Taxonomy, I insist on translating this as "wisdom", though I would accept "intelligence"; "knowledge", on the other hand, is what you get from a Wikibot and a teacher-handout, and it is never "knowledge" but only "information". What Y-Y is complaining about here is the human failure to develop information into wisdom, by forming informed opinions, by acting wisely.
5:14 LACHEN HIRCHIYVAH SHE'OL NAPHSHAH U PHA'ARAH PHIHA LIVLI-CHOK VE YARAD HA DARAH VA HA MONAH U SHE'ONAH VE ALEZ BAH
KJ: Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
BN: Therefore She'ol has extended her desire, and opened her mouth infinitely wide; and down goes their glory, and their tumult, and their uproar, and he that rejoices among them.
The captivity is equated with She'ol, the Underworld of the Davidic tradition. But She'ol, please, not Hell. There is no concept of Hell anywhere in Biblical or later Jewish tradition.
KJ: And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
BN: And Humanity will be brought low, and Man will be humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant will be brought low.
YISHPAL... TISHPALNAH: Unusual for him to be so lazy as to use the same verb twice in the same verse after already finding one synonym. Lots of others he could have chosen.
5:16 VA YIGBAH YHVH TSEVA'OT BA MISHPAT VE HA EL HA KADOSH NIKDASH BITS'DAKAH
KJ: But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
BN: But YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, will be exalted through justice, and El the Holy One will be sanctified through righteousness.
"Yitgadal ve yitkadash shemey raboh". The opening words of the Kaddish.
KJ: Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
BN: Then the lambs shall feed as they do in their pasture, and strangers shall feast on the excess unwanted even by the obese.
Obey the rules, stay moderate in everything, and it will lead to prosperity: do the opposite, and look what happened to the rest of Yisra-El.
KJ: Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
BN: Woe unto those who drag themselves into wrongdoing with cords of vanity, and into sin with cart ropes...
And those who witnessed the taking of the nine tribes away into captivity will understand those images very precisely. Hauled off like - like lambs to the slaughter, like grapes to the winepress, like Jews to the Holocaust.
5:19 HA OMRIM YEMAHER YACHIYSHAH MA'ASEHU LEMA'AN NIR'EH VE TIKRAV VE TAVO'AH ATSAT KEDOSH YISRA-EL VE NEDA'AH
KJ: That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
BN: Who say: "Let him get a move on, let him speed up his work, so that we may see it; and let the judgement of the Holy One of Yisra-El be announced and executed, so that we may know it!"
And they still sing this, in the streets of the Me'ah She'arim in Yeru-Shala'im: "Mashiach Achshav! Messiah Now". Click here for the words, here for the tune.
KJ: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
BN: Woe unto those who call evil good, and good evil; who change darkness into light, and light into darkness; who change bitter into sweet, and sweet into bitter!
BN: Woe unto those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
A statement which must, and self-evidently, include the person who makes it. I am fairly confident that Y-Y was self-aware of this.
5:22 HOY GIBORIM LISHTOT YAYIN VE ANSHEY CHAYIL LIMSOCH SHECHAR
KJ: Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
BN: Woe unto those who are the heroes of wine-binges, and men of glory in the world of happy hour.
5:22 …the hedonists… I think by "mighty" he means those yahoos who think that knocking back twelve pints and puking in the gutter is proof of their alpha male machismo; but he is a holy prophet, so he has to say it rather more poetically. My translation goes about half-way.
And have I got the modern equivalents right in my translation? Why do I need a modern equivalent? To balance the "Mashiach Achshav" of verse 19. Because nothing has changed in three thousand years, in either regard. And nor is it likely to, in the next three thousand.
5:23 MATSDIKEY RASHA EKEV SHOCHAD VE TSIDKAT TSADIYKIM YASIYRU MIMENU
KJ: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
KJ: Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame
consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom
shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts,
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
5:25 AL KEN CHARAH APH YHVH BE AMO VA YET YADO ALAV VA YAKEHU VA YIRGEZU HE HARIM VA TEHI NIVLATAM KA SUCHAH BE KEREV CHUTSOT BE CHOL ZOT LO SHAV APO VE OD YADO NETUYAH
KJ: Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his
people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten
them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of
the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is
stretched out still.
KJ: And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
BN: And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth; and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.
NES: surely that is a "miracle", not an "ensign" (what is an ensign in this context anyway?).
Still unsatiated (the deity may not want humans to offer sacrifices any longer, but he is happy to wield his own knife for the purpose). What are the "whistle" and the "banner"? They summon the nation who…
5:27 EYN AYEPH VE EYN KOSHEL BO LO YANUM VE LO YIYSHAN VE LO NIPHTACH EZOR CHALATSAV VE LO NITAK SERUCH NE'ALAV
KJ: None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
BN: None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken.
5:28 ASHER CHITSAV SHENUNIM VE CHOL KASHTOTAV DERUCHOT PARSOT SUSAV KA TSAR NECHSHAVU VE GALGILAV KA SUPHAH
KJ: Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their
horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
BN: Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind
5:29 SHE'AGAH LO KA LAV'I YISHAG KA KEPHIRIM VE YINHOM VE YOCHEZ TEREPH VE YAPHLIT VE EYN MATSIL
KJ: Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
BN: Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions, yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver.
5:30 VE YINHOM ALAV BA YOM HA HU KE NAHAMAT YAM VE NIBAT LA ARETS VE HINEH CHOSHECH TSAR VA OR CHASHACH BA ARIYPHEYHA
KJ: And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.
5:3 VE ATAH YOSHEV YERU-SHALA'IM VE ISH YEHUDAH SHIPHTU NA BEYNI U VEYN KARMI
וְעַתָּה יוֹשֵׁב יְרוּשָׁלִַם וְאִישׁ יְהוּדָה שִׁפְטוּ נָא בֵּינִי וּבֵין כַּרְמִי
KJ: And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
BN: And now, you resident of Yeru-Shala'im and man of Yehudah, judge, I beseech you, between me and my vineyard.
YOSHEV...ISH: why not YOSHVEY, and ANSHEY, plural rather than singular?
Surely the judgement should be between the narrator and the beloved, not the narrator and the vineyard? But the beloved now is the vineyard, allegorically, just as the speaker throughout this fable is the deity, using Yesh'a-Yah as his spokesperson.
Note that Y-Y does not address the whole of Yisra-El, because there no longer is the whole of Yisra-El; this confirms our dating of the text: starting around 720 BCE, the fall of the Northern Kingdom, and nothing left but the tribes of Yehudah and Bin-Yamin, the latter now fully absorbed into the former, an area of land about six miles in radius.
5:4 MAH LA'ASOT OD LE CHARMI VE LO ASIYTI BO MADU'A KIVEYTI LA'ASOT ANAVIM VA YA'AS BE'USHIM
מַה לַּעֲשׂוֹת עוֹד לְכַרְמִי וְלֹא עָשִׂיתִי בּוֹ מַדּוּעַ קִוֵּיתִי לַעֲשׂוֹת עֲנָבִים וַיַּעַשׂ בְּאֻשִׁים
KJ: What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
BN: What more could be done to my vineyard, which I haven't already attempted? Why, when I watch for it to produce wine-grapes, does it produce wild grapes instead?
To which the answer is "husbandry" (or possibly "wifery", in a more egalitarian world!). You only get wild grapes if you let them grow without taking proper care of them. You only get a beautiful garden if you are willing and prepared to dig out the weeds and nettles by the roots.
5:5 VE ATAH ODIY'AH NA ET'CHEM ET ASHER ANI OSEH LE CHARMI HASER MESUKATO VE HAYAH LEVA'ER PAROTS GEDERO VE HAYAH LE MIRMAS
5:5 VE ATAH ODIY'AH NA ET'CHEM ET ASHER ANI OSEH LE CHARMI HASER MESUKATO VE HAYAH LEVA'ER PAROTS GEDERO VE HAYAH LE MIRMAS
וְעַתָּה אוֹדִיעָה נָּא אֶתְכֶם אֵת אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה לְכַרְמִי הָסֵר מְשׂוּכָּתוֹ וְהָיָה לְבָעֵר פָּרֹץ גְּדֵרוֹ וְהָיָה לְמִרְמָס
KJ: And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
BN: And now let me tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard. I shall take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I shall break down its fence, and it will be trodden down.
Which completes the process, the method, by which the Prophets work: literal tale/simile → fable/parable → metaphor/allegory → and finally: prophesy [do I need to explain again the concept of prophecy? logical outcome, the inexorable consequence of action, or usually passivity and inaction; rather than horoscopal or palmist fantasy-readings of an imaginary future: unpalatable truth-sermons... but note that 5:5 states that "it will happen", inferring others, whereas… no, I don't need to, because Y-Y will do this himself, very explicity, later on.]
5:6 VE ASHITEHU VATAH LO YIZAMER VE LO YE'ADER VE ALAH SHAMIR VA SHAYIT VE AL HE AVIM ATSAVEH ME HAMTIR ALAV MATAR
Which completes the process, the method, by which the Prophets work: literal tale/simile → fable/parable → metaphor/allegory → and finally: prophesy [do I need to explain again the concept of prophecy? logical outcome, the inexorable consequence of action, or usually passivity and inaction; rather than horoscopal or palmist fantasy-readings of an imaginary future: unpalatable truth-sermons... but note that 5:5 states that "it will happen", inferring others, whereas… no, I don't need to, because Y-Y will do this himself, very explicity, later on.]
5:6 VE ASHITEHU VATAH LO YIZAMER VE LO YE'ADER VE ALAH SHAMIR VA SHAYIT VE AL HE AVIM ATSAVEH ME HAMTIR ALAV MATAR
וַאֲשִׁיתֵהוּ בָתָה לֹא יִזָּמֵר וְלֹא יֵעָדֵר וְעָלָה שָׁמִיר וָשָׁיִת וְעַל הֶעָבִים אֲצַוֶּה מֵהַמְטִיר עָלָיו מָטָר
KJ: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
BN: And I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned and it shall not be hoed, but briers and thorns will grow wild in it. And I will command the clouds to shed no more rain upon it.
VE ASHITEHU: and suddenly the older sky god is engaged, an anachronism really, given what Y-Y has told us of his god thus far.
But note that, with the reappearance of that particular deity also comes the personality of that deity, the one that we grew so accustomed to in the middle books of Torah that it became a matter of jest and mockery: "oh dear, YHVH's sulking again, he's about to have another tantrum"; which of course is just the author's way of explaining the sultriness of a black-cloud day or the drama of an earthquake or volcanic eruption; yet here it is again: the same voice, the same personality, the same terrible over-reaction. Based on our readings of those middle books of Torah, how long (Y-Y's favourite question, thrown back at him!) how long, before that key-word NICHRETAH makes its appearance in the text?
5:7 KI CHEREM YHVH TSEVA'OT BEIT YISRA-EL VE ISH YEHUDAH NETA SHA'ASHU'AV VA YEKAV LE MISHPAT VE HINEH MISPACH LITSDAKAH VE HINEH TSE'AKAH
5:7 KI CHEREM YHVH TSEVA'OT BEIT YISRA-EL VE ISH YEHUDAH NETA SHA'ASHU'AV VA YEKAV LE MISHPAT VE HINEH MISPACH LITSDAKAH VE HINEH TSE'AKAH
כִּי כֶרֶם יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאִישׁ יְהוּדָה נְטַע שַׁעֲשׁוּעָיו וַיְקַו לְמִשְׁפָּט וְהִנֵּה מִשְׂפָּח לִצְדָקָה וְהִנֵּה צְעָקָה
KJ: For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
BN: For the vineyard of YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, is the house of Yisra-El, and the men of Yehudah are his favourite plant. And he looked for justice, but there is nothing but violence; for righteousness, but all he hears is shouting.
And for the benefit of those who do not understand the methodology of Prophecy, Y-Y now reveals the metaphor (a metaphor is an unextended allegory).
pey break
5:8 HOY MAGIYEY VAYIT BE VAYIT SADEH VE SADEH YAKRIVU AD EPHES MAKOM VE HOSHAVTEM LEVADCHEM BE KEREV HA ARETS
הוֹי מַגִּיעֵי בַיִת בְּבַיִת שָׂדֶה בְשָׂדֶה יַקְרִיבוּ עַד אֶפֶס מָקוֹם וְהוּשַׁבְתֶּם לְבַדְּכֶם בְּקֶרֶב הָאָרֶץ
KJ: Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
BN: Woe unto them who join houses to houses, who join field to field, till there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
This appears to be an attack upon terraced and semi-detached housing; it clearly isn't that, so what is it doing? Has he just explained that this is a metaphor, so that he can then feel free to expand it? Complex intellectual territory, the metaphor. But to then build a second metaphor upon it, and expect your listeners to follow you... but still, what is his sermon? Over-crowding in the cities? Too much density, and a need for the planning authorities to insist on gardens front and back, and alleyways between terraces? Surely not? Y-Y is standing for god, not parliament.
Joining house to house, and field to field, in later Talmudic times, and still today, would have established an Eruv, which is a slightly cheating way to make the observance of the Sabbath laws more flexible, because there are things that you can do at home, and distances you can walk inside an Eruv, for which the prohibitions are either much more relaxed or completely non-existent. So is this, perhaps, an attack, and if not specifically on the Eruv - which may or may not have existed then; we simply don't know - then on similar ways of evading stict observance? In other words, does creating an Eruv infer a diminution of Kavanah?
But then, why would any of this cause you to live alone in the midst of the land? Perhaps this is modern-day San Francisco syndrome: the newly rich forcing out the can't-affords from the over-priced rental properties where once they had rent-control protection, but suddenly it disappeared.
HOY: I must go back and check, but I am sure that he sometimes says Hoy with a Hey and sometimes Oy without one. What is the difference? (What do you mean, what does it matter? Of course it matters. Oi but it matters!)
5:9 BE AZNAI YHVH TSEVA'OT IM LO BATIM RABIM LE SHAMAH YIHEYU GEDOLIM VE TOVIM ME EYN YOSHEV
בְּאָזְנָי יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת אִם לֹא בָּתִּים רַבִּים לְשַׁמָּה יִהְיוּ גְּדֹלִים וְטוֹבִים מֵאֵין יוֹשֵׁב
KJ: In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
BN: In the ears of YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens [I say this]: the simple truth is, that many houses, even the great and the beautiful, shall be left desolate, without inhabitant.
BE AZNAI: This is not the continuation of the previous verse, but the start of a new sentence; and yet the expression leads nowhere. So is it an idiomatic expression, a form of OMG? KJ has made it into speech, and added "said", but neither is there in the Yehudit.
5:10 KI ASERET TSIMDEY CHEREM YA'ASU BAT ECHAT VE ZERA CHOMER YA'ASEH EYYPHAH
כִּי עֲשֶׂרֶת צִמְדֵּי כֶרֶם יַעֲשׂוּ בַּת אֶחָת וְזֶרַע חֹמֶר יַעֲשֶׂה אֵיפָה
KJ: Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
BN: For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one vat, and the seed of an Homer shall yield an ephah.
BAT ECHAT: Is that a bath of the sort in which one bathes, or the description of a vat for the wine that will be pressed and fermented? My question is both rhetorical and ironic.
CHOMER: I have kept the KJ translation because it is so utterly delightful. A Homer as a quantity (the Yehudit is CHOMER). A Homer of odes. Why not? What would the seed of a Virgil yield, or a Dante, a George Eliot? You can find the details of all these measurements, including the rather amusing likelihood of why it is called a Chomer, by clicking here.
samech break
5:11 HOY MASHKIMEY VA BOKER SHECHAR YIRDEPHU ME ACHAREY VA NESHEPH YAYIN YADLIYKEM
הוֹי מַשְׁכִּימֵי בַבֹּקֶר שֵׁכָר יִרְדֹּפוּ מְאַחֲרֵי בַנֶּשֶׁף יַיִן יַדְלִיקֵם
KJ: Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
BN: Woe unto those who rise up early in the morning, so that they may follow strong drink; who stay up late into the night, till wine inflame them!
The wine, misused, now becomes a different metaphor, for wickedness. Or perhaps it would be more precise to say that the sacred kiddush wine is converted into the profanity of booze.
YADLIYKEM: The word-play is not easy to convey in English. LEHADLIK is what one does with a candle, or by putting fuel (DELEK) on a fire, so it is about bringing light; which contrasts with the darkness of night as well as the metaphorical darkness of "wickedness".
YADLIYKEM: The word-play is not easy to convey in English. LEHADLIK is what one does with a candle, or by putting fuel (DELEK) on a fire, so it is about bringing light; which contrasts with the darkness of night as well as the metaphorical darkness of "wickedness".
5:12 VE HAYAH CHINOR VA NEVEL TOPH VE CHALIL VA YAYIN MISHTEYHEM VE ET PO'AL YHVH LO YABIYTU U MA'ASEH YADAV LO RA'U
וְהָיָה כִנּוֹר וָנֶבֶל תֹּף וְחָלִיל וָיַיִן מִשְׁתֵּיהֶם וְאֵת פֹּעַל יְהוָה לֹא יַבִּיטוּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדָיו לֹא רָאוּ
KJ: And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
BN: And the harp and the psaltery, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts; but they pay not heed to the work of YHVH, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
As explained above, the vineyard chosen for the metaphor precisely because it has a sacred value that would be understood by his listeners - where the Edenic citrus orchard or the Greek apple-garden of the Hesperides would be meaningless. The Temple instruments (click here for more on each of them), alongside the eucharistic wine used for the blessings, need to be used in the right quantities, and the right contexts, and with the one word that is still lacking from the sermon – KAVANAH: sincerity, intensity, respect.
5:13 LACHEN GALAH AMI MIBLI DA'AT U CHEVODO METEY RA'AV VA HAMONO TSICHEH TSAM'A
לָכֵן גָּלָה עַמִּי מִבְּלִי-דָעַת וּכְבוֹדוֹ מְתֵי רָעָב וַהֲמוֹנוֹ צִחֵה צָמָא
KJ: Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
BN: This is why my people have been taken into captivity, for want of wisdom; and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.
This is why captivity has happened – which now allows us to date and locate the piece even better. Captivity must refer to the 9 tribes, not to Yehudah and Bin-Yamin, though deutero-Isaiah, who writes the latter chapters, clearly does so in Babylon, after the second captivity in 586 BCE.
DA'AT: Coming from the era of Bloom's Taxonomy, I insist on translating this as "wisdom", though I would accept "intelligence"; "knowledge", on the other hand, is what you get from a Wikibot and a teacher-handout, and it is never "knowledge" but only "information". What Y-Y is complaining about here is the human failure to develop information into wisdom, by forming informed opinions, by acting wisely.
5:14 LACHEN HIRCHIYVAH SHE'OL NAPHSHAH U PHA'ARAH PHIHA LIVLI-CHOK VE YARAD HA DARAH VA HA MONAH U SHE'ONAH VE ALEZ BAH
לָכֵן הִרְחִיבָה שְּׁאוֹל נַפְשָׁהּ וּפָעֲרָה פִיהָ לִבְלִי-חֹק וְיָרַד הֲדָרָהּ וַהֲמוֹנָהּ וּשְׁאוֹנָהּ וְעָלֵז בָּהּ
KJ: Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
BN: Therefore She'ol has extended her desire, and opened her mouth infinitely wide; and down goes their glory, and their tumult, and their uproar, and he that rejoices among them.
The captivity is equated with She'ol, the Underworld of the Davidic tradition. But She'ol, please, not Hell. There is no concept of Hell anywhere in Biblical or later Jewish tradition.
SHE'OL: Interesting to note that the Underworld is feminine; and quite right too: the womb of earth, in which future life is nurtured and nourished, from which it will be born. Very different from the Christian or the Dantesque or the Miltonian idea of Hell.
LIVLI-CHOK: An idiom I have not encountered elsewhere. Literally "BLI" means "without" and "CHOK" is "law", in the sense of human interpretation of the divine; the ancients, we are told, had no concept of infinity - and yet, it would seem, here it is.
5:15 VA YISHACH ADAM VA YISHPAL ISH VE EYNEY GEVOHIM TISHPALNAH
5:15 VA YISHACH ADAM VA YISHPAL ISH VE EYNEY GEVOHIM TISHPALNAH
וַיִּשַּׁח אָדָם וַיִּשְׁפַּל אִישׁ וְעֵינֵי גְבֹהִים תִּשְׁפַּלְנָה
KJ: And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
BN: And Humanity will be brought low, and Man will be humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant will be brought low.
YISHPAL... TISHPALNAH: Unusual for him to be so lazy as to use the same verb twice in the same verse after already finding one synonym. Lots of others he could have chosen.
5:16 VA YIGBAH YHVH TSEVA'OT BA MISHPAT VE HA EL HA KADOSH NIKDASH BITS'DAKAH
וַיִּגְבַּהּ יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת בַּמִּשְׁפָּט וְהָאֵל הַקָּדוֹשׁ נִקְדָּשׁ בִּצְדָקָה
KJ: But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
BN: But YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, will be exalted through justice, and El the Holy One will be sanctified through righteousness.
"Yitgadal ve yitkadash shemey raboh". The opening words of the Kaddish.
EL: See the link, and note the confirmation that we are not yet in the epoch of the Omnideity, nor even of Monotheism: YHVH is still YHVH TSEVA'OT, and EL still has a seat at the Round Table.
5:17 VE RA'U CHEVASIM KE DAVRAM VE CHARVOT MECHIM GARIM YOCHELU
5:17 VE RA'U CHEVASIM KE DAVRAM VE CHARVOT MECHIM GARIM YOCHELU
וְרָעוּ כְבָשִׂים כְּדָבְרָם וְחָרְבוֹת מֵחִים גָּרִים יֹאכֵלוּ
KJ: Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
BN: Then the lambs shall feed as they do in their pasture, and strangers shall feast on the excess unwanted even by the obese.
Obey the rules, stay moderate in everything, and it will lead to prosperity: do the opposite, and look what happened to the rest of Yisra-El.
Remember this lamb, he will play a significant role later on, in Yesh'a-Yah long before Christian Yishai (Jesus).
samech break
5:18 HOY MOSHCHEY HE AVON BE CHAVLEY HA SHAV VE CHA AVOT HA AGALAH CHATA'AH
samech break
5:18 HOY MOSHCHEY HE AVON BE CHAVLEY HA SHAV VE CHA AVOT HA AGALAH CHATA'AH
הוֹי מֹשְׁכֵי הֶעָוֹן בְּחַבְלֵי הַשָּׁוְא וְכַעֲבוֹת הָעֲגָלָה חַטָּאָה
KJ: Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
BN: Woe unto those who drag themselves into wrongdoing with cords of vanity, and into sin with cart ropes...
And those who witnessed the taking of the nine tribes away into captivity will understand those images very precisely. Hauled off like - like lambs to the slaughter, like grapes to the winepress, like Jews to the Holocaust.
5:19 HA OMRIM YEMAHER YACHIYSHAH MA'ASEHU LEMA'AN NIR'EH VE TIKRAV VE TAVO'AH ATSAT KEDOSH YISRA-EL VE NEDA'AH
הָאֹמְרִים יְמַהֵר יָחִישָׁה מַעֲשֵׂהוּ לְמַעַן נִרְאֶה וְתִקְרַב וְתָבוֹאָה עֲצַת קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְנֵדָעָה
KJ: That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
BN: Who say: "Let him get a move on, let him speed up his work, so that we may see it; and let the judgement of the Holy One of Yisra-El be announced and executed, so that we may know it!"
And they still sing this, in the streets of the Me'ah She'arim in Yeru-Shala'im: "Mashiach Achshav! Messiah Now". Click here for the words, here for the tune.
pey break
5:20 HOY HA OMRIM LA RA TOV VE LA TOV RA SAMIM CHOSHECH LE OR VE OR LE CHOSHECH SAMIM MAR LE MATOK U MATOK LE MAR
5:20 HOY HA OMRIM LA RA TOV VE LA TOV RA SAMIM CHOSHECH LE OR VE OR LE CHOSHECH SAMIM MAR LE MATOK U MATOK LE MAR
הוֹי הָאֹמְרִים לָרַע טוֹב וְלַטּוֹב רָע שָׂמִים חֹשֶׁךְ לְאוֹר וְאוֹר לְחֹשֶׁךְ שָׂמִים מַר לְמָתוֹק וּמָתוֹק לְמָר
KJ: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
BN: Woe unto those who call evil good, and good evil; who change darkness into light, and light into darkness; who change bitter into sweet, and sweet into bitter!
samech break
5:21 HOY CHACHAMIM BE EYNEYHEM VE NEGED PENEYHEM NEVONIM
5:21 HOY CHACHAMIM BE EYNEYHEM VE NEGED PENEYHEM NEVONIM
הוֹי חֲכָמִים בְּעֵינֵיהֶם וְנֶגֶד פְּנֵיהֶם נְבֹנִים
KJ: Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent
in their own sight!
BN: Woe unto those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
A statement which must, and self-evidently, include the person who makes it. I am fairly confident that Y-Y was self-aware of this.
5:22 HOY GIBORIM LISHTOT YAYIN VE ANSHEY CHAYIL LIMSOCH SHECHAR
הוֹי גִּבּוֹרִים לִשְׁתּוֹת יָיִן וְאַנְשֵׁי חַיִל לִמְסֹךְ שֵׁכָר
KJ: Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
BN: Woe unto those who are the heroes of wine-binges, and men of glory in the world of happy hour.
5:22 …the hedonists… I think by "mighty" he means those yahoos who think that knocking back twelve pints and puking in the gutter is proof of their alpha male machismo; but he is a holy prophet, so he has to say it rather more poetically. My translation goes about half-way.
And have I got the modern equivalents right in my translation? Why do I need a modern equivalent? To balance the "Mashiach Achshav" of verse 19. Because nothing has changed in three thousand years, in either regard. And nor is it likely to, in the next three thousand.
5:23 MATSDIKEY RASHA EKEV SHOCHAD VE TSIDKAT TSADIYKIM YASIYRU MIMENU
מַצְדִּיקֵי רָשָׁע עֵקֶב שֹׁחַד וְצִדְקַת צַדִּיקִים יָסִירוּ מִמֶּנּוּ
KJ: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
BN: Who will justify the wicked for a back-hander, and rob the righteous of his righteousness!
pey break
5:24 LACHEN KE ECHOL KASH LESHON EYSH VA CHASHASH LEHAVAH YIRPEH SHARSHAM KA MAK YIHEYEH U PHIRCHAM KA AVAK YA'ALEH KI MA'ASU ET TORAT YHVH TSEVA'OT VE ET IMRAT KEDOSH YISRA-EL NI'ETSU
pey break
5:24 LACHEN KE ECHOL KASH LESHON EYSH VA CHASHASH LEHAVAH YIRPEH SHARSHAM KA MAK YIHEYEH U PHIRCHAM KA AVAK YA'ALEH KI MA'ASU ET TORAT YHVH TSEVA'OT VE ET IMRAT KEDOSH YISRA-EL NI'ETSU
לָכֵן כֶּאֱכֹל קַשׁ לְשׁוֹן אֵשׁ וַחֲשַׁשׁ לֶהָבָה יִרְפֶּה שָׁרְשָׁם כַּמָּק יִהְיֶה וּפִרְחָם כָּאָבָק יַעֲלֶה כִּי מָאֲסוּ אֵת תּוֹרַת יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת וְאֵת אִמְרַת קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל נִאֵצוּ
BN: Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the chaff is consumed in the flame, so their root shall rot, and their produce shall go up like dust; because they have rejected the law of YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, and spurned the word of the Holy One of Yisra-El.
All of which takes the vineyard analogy to its end-point, which is the burning of the scarecrow in the post-harvest bonfire. The reborn scarecrow on his wooden pole at the start of the season of fertility, at the spring equinox, the original Guy Faux as here, at the autumn equinox. Pagan rites rejected by Y-Y, but still usable as analogies for sermons.
All of which takes the vineyard analogy to its end-point, which is the burning of the scarecrow in the post-harvest bonfire. The reborn scarecrow on his wooden pole at the start of the season of fertility, at the spring equinox, the original Guy Faux as here, at the autumn equinox. Pagan rites rejected by Y-Y, but still usable as analogies for sermons.
5:25 AL KEN CHARAH APH YHVH BE AMO VA YET YADO ALAV VA YAKEHU VA YIRGEZU HE HARIM VA TEHI NIVLATAM KA SUCHAH BE KEREV CHUTSOT BE CHOL ZOT LO SHAV APO VE OD YADO NETUYAH
עַל כֵּן חָרָה אַף יְהוָה בְּעַמּוֹ וַיֵּט יָדוֹ עָלָיו וַיַּכֵּהוּ וַיִּרְגְּזוּ הֶהָרִים וַתְּהִי נִבְלָתָם כַּסּוּחָה בְּקֶרֶב חוּצוֹת בְּכָל זֹאת לֹא שָׁב אַפּוֹ וְעוֹד יָדוֹ נְטוּיָה
BN: Therefore YHVH's anger was kindled against his people, and he stretched forth his hand against them, and smote them, and the hills quaked, and their carcasses were like refuse in the middle of the streets. But for all this, his anger has not burned out, his hand is still stretched out.
That stretching out of the hand takes us back to Mosheh in the court of Pharaoh, and in the wilderness later on, "with a strong hand and an outstretched arm"... and the same hand will form half of the Yad va Shem, the memorial to those who did not survive the Holocaust, whether Hitler's today or Sennacherib's then.
CHARAH: One of the words, and the most slang-colloquial, for excrement; but which came first, the anger or the excrement? I suspect that it was the former, and that we cannot therefore accuse Y-Y of using vulgar language. Click here for the very many occasions when the word is used in the Tanach, all of them meaning "anger", but note also that anger is something that burns, as in the imagery in the previous verse, and this presumably is why he has chosen this verb on this occasion, rather than the usual verb that goes with the nostrils of the deity when they are inflated - see my notes at Psalm 18:9 and Genesis 4:5.
5:26 VE NASA NES LA GO'IM ME RACHOK VE SHARAK LO MI KETSEH HA ARETS VE HINEH MEHERAH KAL YAVO
That stretching out of the hand takes us back to Mosheh in the court of Pharaoh, and in the wilderness later on, "with a strong hand and an outstretched arm"... and the same hand will form half of the Yad va Shem, the memorial to those who did not survive the Holocaust, whether Hitler's today or Sennacherib's then.
CHARAH: One of the words, and the most slang-colloquial, for excrement; but which came first, the anger or the excrement? I suspect that it was the former, and that we cannot therefore accuse Y-Y of using vulgar language. Click here for the very many occasions when the word is used in the Tanach, all of them meaning "anger", but note also that anger is something that burns, as in the imagery in the previous verse, and this presumably is why he has chosen this verb on this occasion, rather than the usual verb that goes with the nostrils of the deity when they are inflated - see my notes at Psalm 18:9 and Genesis 4:5.
5:26 VE NASA NES LA GO'IM ME RACHOK VE SHARAK LO MI KETSEH HA ARETS VE HINEH MEHERAH KAL YAVO
וְנָשָׂא נֵס לַגּוֹיִם מֵרָחוֹק וְשָׁרַק לוֹ מִקְצֵה הָאָרֶץ וְהִנֵּה מְהֵרָה קַל יָבוֹא
KJ: And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
BN: And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth; and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.
NES: surely that is a "miracle", not an "ensign" (what is an ensign in this context anyway?).
Still unsatiated (the deity may not want humans to offer sacrifices any longer, but he is happy to wield his own knife for the purpose). What are the "whistle" and the "banner"? They summon the nation who…
5:27 EYN AYEPH VE EYN KOSHEL BO LO YANUM VE LO YIYSHAN VE LO NIPHTACH EZOR CHALATSAV VE LO NITAK SERUCH NE'ALAV
אֵין עָיֵף וְאֵין כּוֹשֵׁל בּוֹ לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן וְלֹא נִפְתַּח אֵזוֹר חֲלָצָיו וְלֹא נִתַּק שְׂרוֹךְ נְעָלָיו
KJ: None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
BN: None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken.
5:28 ASHER CHITSAV SHENUNIM VE CHOL KASHTOTAV DERUCHOT PARSOT SUSAV KA TSAR NECHSHAVU VE GALGILAV KA SUPHAH
אֲשֶׁר חִצָּיו שְׁנוּנִים וְכָל קַשְּׁתֹתָיו דְּרֻכוֹת פַּרְסוֹת סוּסָיו כַּצַּר נֶחְשָׁבוּ וְגַלְגִּלָּיו כַּסּוּפָה
BN: Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind
5:29 SHE'AGAH LO KA LAV'I YISHAG KA KEPHIRIM VE YINHOM VE YOCHEZ TEREPH VE YAPHLIT VE EYN MATSIL
שְׁאָגָה לוֹ כַּלָּבִיא ושאג (יִשְׁאַג) כַּכְּפִירִים וְיִנְהֹם וְיֹאחֵז טֶרֶף וְיַפְלִיט וְאֵין מַצִּיל
KJ: Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
BN: Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions, yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver.
5:30 VE YINHOM ALAV BA YOM HA HU KE NAHAMAT YAM VE NIBAT LA ARETS VE HINEH CHOSHECH TSAR VA OR CHASHACH BA ARIYPHEYHA
וְיִנְהֹם עָלָיו בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כְּנַהֲמַת יָם וְנִבַּט לָאָרֶץ וְהִנֵּה חֹשֶׁךְ צַר וָאוֹר חָשַׁךְ בַּעֲרִיפֶיהָ
KJ: And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.
BN: And they shall roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea; and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and distress, and the light is darkened in the skies thereof.
Total annihilation... though still no use of the word Nichretah.
Total annihilation... though still no use of the word Nichretah.
But all this in a sense is only preface; we need to go back and understand who this Yesh'a-Yah was, and how he got to be the Elder of the Guild of Prophets. So the "road to Damascus" moment will be described in Chapter 6 …
pey break
pey break
Isaiah: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
Copyright © 2022 David Prashker
All rights reserved
The Argaman Press
No comments:
Post a Comment