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
33:1 HOY SHODED VE ATAH LO SHADUD U VOGED VE LO VAGDU VO KA HATIM'CHA SHODED TUSHAD KA NELOT'CHA LIVGOD YIVGEDU VACH
הוֹי שׁוֹדֵד וְאַתָּה לֹא שָׁדוּד וּבוֹגֵד וְלֹא בָגְדוּ בוֹ כַּהֲתִמְךָ שׁוֹדֵד תּוּשַּׁד כַּנְּלֹתְךָ לִבְגֹּד יִבְגְּדוּ בָךְ
KJ: Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
BN: Woe to you who bully, but who have never been bullied, you who lie and cheat, but no one has ever treated you that way! When you have finished bullying, you shall be bullied; and when you art tired of lying and cheating, your turn will surely come. {S}
SHODED...SHADUD: The root can mean anything from coercion (Proverbs 21:7), the oppression of the poor (Psalm 12:6), to physical violence (Job 5:22). You will notice, at that last link, that SHAD comes with just one DALET (ד), not the two that we have here. Interesting that! Because the Av-Rahamic name for the deity is also connected, El Shadai, which suggests "god of strength", though from the same root comes SHADAYIM, which are the breasts.
VOGED...VAGDU: See the link.
There is very little mercy or compassion in the tone of this; indeed, it feels like Y-Y is saying, under his breath, "and serves you bloody right". On behalf of YHVH, presumably. And yet, in the very next verse... (though also note that the Masoretes have placed a Samech at the end of this verse, so the next verse may be from a completely different oracle: for an explanation of the Samech see my note at the start of Nehemiah 3).
33:2 YHVH CHANENU LECHA KIVIYNU HEYEH ZERO'AM LA BEKARIM APH YESHU'ATENU BE ET TSARAH
33:2 YHVH CHANENU LECHA KIVIYNU HEYEH ZERO'AM LA BEKARIM APH YESHU'ATENU BE ET TSARAH
יְהוָה חָנֵּנוּ לְךָ קִוִּינוּ הֱיֵה זְרֹעָם לַבְּקָרִים אַף יְשׁוּעָתֵנוּ בְּעֵת צָרָה
BN: YHVH, show mercy to us. We have waited for you. Be their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.
Is this verse an oracle or a prayer? Odd that it switches from "us" to "them" and back again in mid-verse: why is not ZERO'EYNU? Perhaps two different scribes wrote it down, and the final version simply merged them.
CHANENU: Mercy. One of the principal attributes of the deity, Adonai El rachum ve chanun...we had an allusion to the first of those, Rachum, in the previous chapter (32:2). Both come from Exodus 34:6.
YESHU'ATENU: The reason for his own name, or title really, and the ultimate aspiration of his vision.
33:3 MI KOL HAMON NADEDU AMIM ME ROMEMUTECHA NAPHTSU GOYIM
KJ: At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.
KJ: And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.
33:3 MI KOL HAMON NADEDU AMIM ME ROMEMUTECHA NAPHTSU GOYIM
מִקּוֹל הָמוֹן נָדְדוּ עַמִּים מֵרוֹמְמֻתֶךָ נָפְצוּ גּוֹיִם
KJ: At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.
BN: Nations fled from all that noise; up went your arm and the people scattered.
NADEDU: From SHADAD to NADAD. One of his more simple word-plays.
ROMEMUTECHA: You can't say this to a post-Ezraic Jew, with or without the suffixed pronoun ECHA, and not conjure up the reading of the Law: Psalm 99:5 and 9, recited by the chazan as the Torah scrolls are being taken out of the Ark. But this is post-Ezraic - it was Ezra who established the thrice-weekly reading of the Torah, centuries after Y-Y. So would it have had an equivalent resonance in Y-Y's time?
What we can say, based on 30:3 and 31:30, where this image defines the involvement of the deity in the human world, is that what is being "raised up" here is the metaphorical hand or arm, the YAD CHAZAKAH of Exodus 3:19/20 (see my notes at 20 especially).
33:4 VE USAPH SHELALCHEM OSEPH HE CHASIL KE MASHAK GEVIM SHOKEK BO
וְאֻסַּף שְׁלַלְכֶם אֹסֶף הֶחָסִיל כְּמַשַּׁק גֵּבִים שֹׁקֵק בּוֹ
BN: And everything you have stolen by these means shall be gathered in, like the liquid silk in the cocoon of a caterpillar; like locusts leaping on those cocoons, so will you be leapt upon.
This completes the imagery of verse 1, and again leaves me questioning the editing of this chapter: have two completely different oracles become entwined? or is Y-Y trying a new technique, of alternating themes by verse? The next verse definitely belongs with verse 2.
33:5 NISGAV YHVH KI SHOCHEN MAROM MIL'E TSI'ON MISHPAT U TSEDAKAH
KJ: The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.
33:5 NISGAV YHVH KI SHOCHEN MAROM MIL'E TSI'ON MISHPAT U TSEDAKAH
נִשְׂגָּב יְהוָה כִּי שֹׁכֵן מָרוֹם מִלֵּא צִיּוֹן מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה
BN: YHVH is exalted, for he dwells on high. He has filled Tsi'on with justice and righteousness.
This is Psalmic, as are 33:6 and 33:7, and on to the end of the chapter; not Y-Y's usual voice or form, so is this perhaps another change of author, though still bearing the honorary title? "He dwells on high" is not Heaven but Mount Tsi'on, where he lives in a palace called the Temple; and recalls El Elyon in Genesis 14:20.
Justice and righteousness therefore include the settling of scores, the equalising of injustices - and this presumably explains the tone of verse 1. Yet how do Mercy and Compassion fit with "get what you deserve"?
33:6 VE HAYAH EMUNAT ITEYCHA CHOSEN YESHU'OT CHACHMAT VA DA'AT YIRAT YHVH HI OTSARO
וְהָיָה אֱמוּנַת עִתֶּיךָ חֹסֶן יְשׁוּעֹת חָכְמַת וָדָעַת יִרְאַת יְהוָה הִיא אוֹצָרוֹ
KJ: And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.
33:7 HEN ER'ELAM TSA'AKU CHUTSAH MALACHEY SHALOM MAR YIVKAYUN
KJ: Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
BN: Did their great heroes not stand crying outside; the ambassadors of peace wept bitterly.
Relates back to verse 3, YHVH acting against the wicked.
TSA'AKU: Why do the translators keep on transferring the past tense to the future? Y-Y describes past events, and comments on them as analogies for present circumstances, teaching the lessons of history for today's betterment. But no, this is Prophecy, and so he must be predicting some future event - which invariably turns out to be the Messianic arrival of that other Isaiah, Jesus.
33:8 NASHAMU MESILOT SHAVAT OVER ORACH HEPHER BERIT MA'AS ARIM LO CHASHAV ENOSH
KJ: The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.
BN: The highways have been abandoned, the caravans have taken an early Sabbath, the covenant is broken, the cities are despised, no one cares a damn about their fellow Humans.
Which describes the contemporary situation to perfection, then, and still now! So we need Y-Y's lessons from history (so our contemporary Y-Ys keep telling us)
ENOSH: See the link. And note how many key-words Y-Y is playing with in this richly complex verse. NASHAMU homophones negatively with SHEM'A, with a clear sense that nobody is listening, let alone hearing. SHAVAT I have made the same play in my translation. OVER yields IVRIM, the "Hebrews" (see Deuteronomy 15:12). An ORACH hints at OREYACH, which would be "a guest", though clearly no one is being that hospitable here. And the BERIT is plain and straightforwardly the BERIT.
KJ: The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.
Justice and righteousness therefore include the settling of scores, the equalising of injustices - and this presumably explains the tone of verse 1. Yet how do Mercy and Compassion fit with "get what you deserve"?
33:6 VE HAYAH EMUNAT ITEYCHA CHOSEN YESHU'OT CHACHMAT VA DA'AT YIRAT YHVH HI OTSARO
וְהָיָה אֱמוּנַת עִתֶּיךָ חֹסֶן יְשׁוּעֹת חָכְמַת וָדָעַת יִרְאַת יְהוָה הִיא אוֹצָרוֹ
BN: And wisdom and understanding, and the fear of the LORD which is his treasure, shall provide the solid foundation for your world, a treasure-house from which to harvest salvation{P}
Hints at Kabbalah: wisdom and understanding - Chochmah and Da'at. Fear nonetheless remains the primary source of YHVH's power.
EMUNAH: Go back to the twelfth of Maimonides "Thirteen Principles of Faith", or at least to the setting of them in the song "Ani Ma'amin":
EMUNAH: Go back to the twelfth of Maimonides "Thirteen Principles of Faith", or at least to the setting of them in the song "Ani Ma'amin":
Ani ma'amin be emunah shelemah be viyat ha mashiach, ve aph al pi she yitmahme'ah im kol zeh achakeh lo be chol yom she yavo. | אֲנִי מַאֲמִין בֶּאֱמוּנָה שְׁלֵמָה בְּבִיאַת הַמָּשִֽׁיחַ, וְאַף עַל פִּי שֶׁיִּתְמַהְמֵֽהַּ, עִם כָּל זֶה אֲחַכֶּה לּוֹ בְּכָל יוֹם שֶׁיָּבוֹא. |
EMUNAH SHELEMAH = "perfect faith".
33:7 HEN ER'ELAM TSA'AKU CHUTSAH MALACHEY SHALOM MAR YIVKAYUN
הֵן אֶרְאֶלָּם צָעֲקוּ חֻצָה מַלְאֲכֵי שָׁלוֹם מַר יִבְכָּיוּן
KJ: Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
BN: Did their great heroes not stand crying outside; the ambassadors of peace wept bitterly.
Relates back to verse 3, YHVH acting against the wicked.
TSA'AKU: Why do the translators keep on transferring the past tense to the future? Y-Y describes past events, and comments on them as analogies for present circumstances, teaching the lessons of history for today's betterment. But no, this is Prophecy, and so he must be predicting some future event - which invariably turns out to be the Messianic arrival of that other Isaiah, Jesus.
Having said which, the translators do leave verse 3 in the past tense - which actually makes this error even more bizarre.
33:8 NASHAMU MESILOT SHAVAT OVER ORACH HEPHER BERIT MA'AS ARIM LO CHASHAV ENOSH
נָשַׁמּוּ מְסִלּוֹת שָׁבַת עֹבֵר אֹרַח הֵפֵר בְּרִית מָאַס עָרִים לֹא חָשַׁב אֱנוֹשׁ
KJ: The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.
BN: The highways have been abandoned, the caravans have taken an early Sabbath, the covenant is broken, the cities are despised, no one cares a damn about their fellow Humans.
Which describes the contemporary situation to perfection, then, and still now! So we need Y-Y's lessons from history (so our contemporary Y-Ys keep telling us)
ENOSH: See the link. And note how many key-words Y-Y is playing with in this richly complex verse. NASHAMU homophones negatively with SHEM'A, with a clear sense that nobody is listening, let alone hearing. SHAVAT I have made the same play in my translation. OVER yields IVRIM, the "Hebrews" (see Deuteronomy 15:12). An ORACH hints at OREYACH, which would be "a guest", though clearly no one is being that hospitable here. And the BERIT is plain and straightforwardly the BERIT.
That verse sounds an awful lot like the opening of Yeats' "The Second Coming", or is just that I've been influenced by the Yeats in my rendition?
33:9 AVAL UMLELAH ARETS HECHPIR LEVANON KAMAL HAYAH HA SHARON KA ARAVAH VE NO'ER BASHAN VE CHARM-EL
33:9 AVAL UMLELAH ARETS HECHPIR LEVANON KAMAL HAYAH HA SHARON KA ARAVAH VE NO'ER BASHAN VE CHARM-EL
אָבַל אֻמְלְלָה אָרֶץ הֶחְפִּיר לְבָנוֹן קָמַל הָיָה הַשָּׁרוֹן כָּעֲרָבָה וְנֹעֵר בָּשָׁן וְכַרְמֶל
BN: Mourn for the dried-out earth. Levanon is ashamed, and has shrivelled. The Sharon Valley has been transformed into the Wilderness of Aravah. And Bashan and Karm-El are stripped bare. {S}
AVAL: Again we have to look at the grammar and not super-impose comfortable meanings that suit our theological convenience. ARETS, the noun here, is feminine, and UMLELAH reflects that. But AVAL is masculine, so it cannot be directly connected to ARETS, but must be a second person vocative. The only arguments against this are the absence of a preposition (the text translates literally as "mourn a dried-out earth") and word-order (in Yehudit the noun usually comes before the adjective or, in this case, the gerund).
KJ: Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.
33:11 TAHARU CHASHASH TELDU KASH RUCHACHEM ESH TO'CHALCHEM
KJ: Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
33:12 VE HAYU AMIM MISREPHOT SID KOTSIM KE SUCHIM BA ESH YITSATU
KJ: And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.
Wasteland, which is the opposite of fertility.
LEVANON: The land we think of as Lebanon was not called that until modern times. When Ya'akov set out on his Siva-voyage, he went to serve as sacred king to the god of the white mountain, ha Lavanah, known today as Mount Hermon, and the cedar-forests that stretched across the Levant from Hermon to the Mediterranean were known as the Forests of Levanon, from the same root-word. The whiteness in this case was mostly snow.
SHARON: The most fertile land in ancient Kena'an, the place famous for producing the rose of Sharon and the Shoshana, the lily-of-the-valley (Canticles 2:1). And do not, as many do, confuse it with SIRION, which was the Phoenician name for Mount Chermon, and named as such, not mis-named as Sharon, repeatedly in the Tanach (see Psalm 29:6 for the best-known example).
LEVANON: The land we think of as Lebanon was not called that until modern times. When Ya'akov set out on his Siva-voyage, he went to serve as sacred king to the god of the white mountain, ha Lavanah, known today as Mount Hermon, and the cedar-forests that stretched across the Levant from Hermon to the Mediterranean were known as the Forests of Levanon, from the same root-word. The whiteness in this case was mostly snow.
SHARON: The most fertile land in ancient Kena'an, the place famous for producing the rose of Sharon and the Shoshana, the lily-of-the-valley (Canticles 2:1). And do not, as many do, confuse it with SIRION, which was the Phoenician name for Mount Chermon, and named as such, not mis-named as Sharon, repeatedly in the Tanach (see Psalm 29:6 for the best-known example).
ARAVAH: I have slightly extended my translation to make the point that Y-Y appears to be making: the one, as noted above, famous for its fertility, the latter the place where David spent his wilderness years when fleeing from King Sha'ul, the equivalent, poetically, of going down into the Underworld itself.
BASHAN: See the link.
KARM-EL: See the link.
33:10 ATAH AKUM YO'MAR YHVH ATAH EROMAM ATAH ENAS'E
BASHAN: See the link.
KARM-EL: See the link.
33:10 ATAH AKUM YO'MAR YHVH ATAH EROMAM ATAH ENAS'E
עַתָּה אָקוּם יֹאמַר יְהוָה עַתָּה אֵרוֹמָם עַתָּה אֶנָּשֵׂא
KJ: Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.
BN: Now I will arise, says YHVH. Now I will be exalted. Now I will lift myself up.
AKUM...EROMAM...ENAS'E: And now the text does indeed switch to the future tense. With ATAH - "now" - repeated on each occasion, making the switch very clear that there is a reason for it. And even more so when both, and more, are in use in the next verse.
33:11 TAHARU CHASHASH TELDU KASH RUCHACHEM ESH TO'CHALCHEM
תַּהֲרוּ חֲשַׁשׁ תֵּלְדוּ קַשׁ רוּחֲכֶם אֵשׁ תֹּאכַלְכֶם
KJ: Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
BN: You conceived chaff, but you shall bring forth stubble; your breath is a fire that shall devour you.
TAHARU: Past tense... TELDU: future tense...RUCHACHEM ESH: No verb, which infers the present tense... TO'CHALCHEM: future tense.
33:12 VE HAYU AMIM MISREPHOT SID KOTSIM KE SUCHIM BA ESH YITSATU
וְהָיוּ עַמִּים מִשְׂרְפוֹת שִׂיד קוֹצִים כְּסוּחִים בָּאֵשׁ יִצַּתּוּ
BN: And nations will be turned into holocaust-ashes, lime-charcoal, thorns cut down and burned on the bonfire. {P}
VE HAYU: But this time with a prefictual conjunction, so it may very well be that the imperfect is being used to convey the future, following the rule of the Vav Consecutive. With one qualification, that we would expect tit then to be VA YEHIYU.
MISREPHOT: Sadly this is precisely what he means.
33:13 SHIM'U RECHOKIM ASHER ASIYTI U DE'U KEROVIM GEVURATI
שִׁמְעוּ רְחוֹקִים אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתִי וּדְעוּ קְרוֹבִים גְּבֻרָתִי
KJ: Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.
BN: Hear what I have done, you who are far off; and you who are near, know the extent of my power.
SHIM'U: Taking us back to my comment on NASHAMU at verse 8.
DE'U: The DA'AT of verse 6 again; or at least the same root, YAD'A, "to know".
33:14 PACHADU VE TSI'ON CHATA'IM ACHAZAH RE'ADAH CHANEPHIM MI YAGUR LANU ESH OCHELAH MI YAGUR LANU MOKDEY OLAM
פָּחֲדוּ בְצִיּוֹן חַטָּאִים אָחֲזָה רְעָדָה חֲנֵפִים מִי יָגוּר לָנוּ אֵשׁ אוֹכֵלָה מִי יָגוּר לָנוּ מוֹקְדֵי עוֹלָם
BN: The sinners in Tsi'on have been terrified; trembling has seized the ungodly: "Who among us can live alongside such devouring fire? Who among us can live with this perpetual holocaust?"
PACHADU: Back into the past tense - verse 13 was in the present. Though it may be a continuous perfect: Yehudit doesn't actually have such a grammatical form, though it often has that semiotic intention.
33:15 HOLECH TSEDAKOT VE DOVER MEYSHARIM MO'ES BE VETS'A MA'ASHAKOT NO'ER KAPAV MITMOCH BA SHOCHAD OTEM AZNU MI SHEMO'A DAMIM VE OTSEM EYNAV ME RE'OT BE RA
KJ: He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
KJ: He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
BN: ...he shall dwell on high; the fortresses of rocks shall be his places of defence; his bread shall be supplied: he will be able to rely on a regular supply of water.
YISHKON: future tense.
KJ: Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.
ESH...MOKDEY: I find myself wondering whether this is not the Y-Y of the earliest chapters of this book, bewailing the pointlessness of propitiation; after all, Mount Tsi'on was not volcanic, or if it was once it certainly wasn't in Y-Y's time, nor any of the other seven hills. The "perpetual holocaust" was either the Moloch-stove of the pre-Davidic epoch, or the daily sacrifices on the altar of the Temple now.
Having said which, MOKDEY OLAM, translated grammatically-literally, means "the hearths of the Cosmos" or "the stoves of the world" (MOKDIM HA OLAM, but elided), so it could just as well be the generality of fires, volcanos, etc.
33:15 HOLECH TSEDAKOT VE DOVER MEYSHARIM MO'ES BE VETS'A MA'ASHAKOT NO'ER KAPAV MITMOCH BA SHOCHAD OTEM AZNU MI SHEMO'A DAMIM VE OTSEM EYNAV ME RE'OT BE RA
הֹלֵךְ צְדָקוֹת וְדֹבֵר מֵישָׁרִים מֹאֵס בְּבֶצַע מַעֲשַׁקּוֹת נֹעֵר כַּפָּיו מִתְּמֹךְ בַּשֹּׁחַד אֹטֵם אָזְנוֹ מִשְּׁמֹעַ דָּמִים וְעֹצֵם עֵינָיו מֵרְאוֹת בְּרָע
KJ: He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
BN: He who follows the many paths of righteousness, and speaks in an upright manner, who despises the profits made by exploitation, who makes clear with his hands that he refuses to take bribes, who stops his ears to avoid hearing about bloodshed and closes his eyes rather than looking upon evil...
HOLECH: And back into the present tense.
TSEDAKOT: Feminine plural.
Really this is all that Y-Y, or YHVH, want: a world in which people behave morally and ethically, and apply mercy and compassion empathetically.
Though I do find it odd that he includes those who shut their eyes and ears against bloodshed and wickedness, because surely that is a turning away from truth by turning away from, by refusing to acknowledge, reality; and we will never make the garden beautiful if we refuse to notice the weeds and nettles, let alone uproot them.
Though I do find it odd that he includes those who shut their eyes and ears against bloodshed and wickedness, because surely that is a turning away from truth by turning away from, by refusing to acknowledge, reality; and we will never make the garden beautiful if we refuse to notice the weeds and nettles, let alone uproot them.
33:16 HU MEROMIM YISHKON METSADOT SELA'IM MISGABO LACHMO NITAN MEYMAV NE'EMANIM
הוּא מְרוֹמִים יִשְׁכֹּן מְצָדוֹת סְלָעִים מִשְׂגַּבּוֹ לַחְמוֹ נִתָּן מֵימָיו נֶאֱמָנִים
KJ: He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
BN: ...he shall dwell on high; the fortresses of rocks shall be his places of defence; his bread shall be supplied: he will be able to rely on a regular supply of water.
YISHKON: future tense.
33:17 MELECH BE YAPHAV TECHEZEYNAH EYNEYCHA TIREYNAH ERETS MARCHIKIM
מֶלֶךְ בְּיָפְיוֹ תֶּחֱזֶינָה עֵינֶיךָ תִּרְאֶינָה אֶרֶץ מַרְחַקִּים
BN: Your eyes shall see the king in his finery; they shall behold a land stretching to infinity.
33:18 LIBCHA YEHGEH EYMAH AYEH SOPHER AYEH SHOKEL AYEH SOPHER ET HA MIGDALIM
לִבְּךָ יֶהְגֶּה אֵימָה אַיֵּה סֹפֵר אַיֵּה שֹׁקֵל אַיֵּה סֹפֵר אֶת הַמִּגְדָּלִים
KJ: Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
BN: Your heart shall give voice to awe: "Where is the man to write this down? Where is the man to weigh his worth? Where is the man to measure the scale of his greatness?"
EYMAH: I believe Y-Y is using this word, not to mean "terror" in the way that we think of it today, bombers in the human, volcanoes in the Cosmic, but as in Proverbs 20:2: "The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion: he who provokes him to anger will forfeit his life."
SOPHER: He who counts, or he who tells the tale? Both come from the same root, SAPHAR.
MIGDAL: is indeed a tower, from the root GADAL, which means "great".
33:19 ET AM NO'AZ LO TIR'EH AM IMKEY SAPHAH MI SHEMO'A NIL'AG LASHON EYN BIYNAH
אֶת עַם נוֹעָז לֹא תִרְאֶה עַם עִמְקֵי שָׂפָה מִשְּׁמוֹעַ נִלְעַג לָשׁוֹן אֵין בִּינָה
KJ: Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
BN: You shall not see a weak people, a people who speak a language so obscure that you cannot comprehend it, whose tongues stammer meaningless vacuities.
ET AM: Unusual to have the accusative-connector before a noun that does not also have a definite article (see my note at Genesis 1:1).
BN: You shall not see a weak people, a people who speak a language so obscure that you cannot comprehend it, whose tongues stammer meaningless vacuities.
ET AM: Unusual to have the accusative-connector before a noun that does not also have a definite article (see my note at Genesis 1:1).
NO'AZ: There is a root, YAZAZ (יזז), found at Judges 3:10 and 6:2, Ecclesiastes 7:19, elsewhere, which has the sense of "strengthening", even of "prevailing"; but if you look at the Yehudit, you will see that the second Zayin is generally dropped. That root also leads to the name UZI-EL, for whom see Exodus 6:18 or Numbers 3:19, and King Uzi-Yah, for whom see Isaiah 1:1. But there is also a root YA'AZ (יעז), which yields the name YA'AZI-EL in 1 Chronicles 19:18, and the name AZI-EL at Numbers 3:27, and which is understood to mean "weak", or at least "in need of comforting". So which do we have here? The rest of the sentence clearly warrants the latter.
NIL'AG: Elsewhere the root, LO'EG, is used to mean "mockery" and "derision", and that is very much the way it is used in modern Ivrit. Psalm 79:4 and Ezekiel 23:32 definitely have that intention. But here the phrase that follows, EYN BIYNAH, does not allow that reading; rather it takes us back to the source-word, which is Syriac-Chaldean LA'AG, and suggests either "to speak in a barbarous tongue", or, quite literally "to stammer". Note also the Talmudic phrase LASHON AG'AH (see under "Rishonim" 2 and 6 at the link).
33:20 CHAZEH TSI'ON KIRYAT MO'ADENU EYNEYCHA TIR'EYNAH YERU-SHALA'IM NAVEH SHA'ANAN OHEL BAL YITS'AN BAL YIS'A YETEDOTAV LA NETSACH VE CHOL CHAVALAV BAL YINATEKU
חֲזֵה צִיּוֹן קִרְיַת מוֹעֲדֵנוּ עֵינֶיךָ תִרְאֶינָה יְרוּשָׁלִַם נָוֶה שַׁאֲנָן אֹהֶל בַּל יִצְעָן בַּל יִסַּע יְתֵדֹתָיו לָנֶצַח וְכָל חֲבָלָיו בַּל יִנָּתֵקוּ
KJ: Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.
BN: Look upon Tsi'on, the city of our appointed fasts and feats; your eyes shall see Yeru-Shala'im as a habitation at ease with itself, a tent that shall never be taken down, whose groundpegs shall never be dug up, nor shall any of its cords be snapped.
CHAZEH: The same root that gives CHAZON, Y-Y's word for his "vision" (cf Isaiah 1:1).
NAVEH: Like YHVH and CHAVAH, there is NAVEH and there is NO'ACH, the tiniest variation on that final letter, so that in a badly-calligraphed scroll it is hard to be sure whether it is a Hey (ה) or a Chet (ח). And such similar meanings too, both places of rest, NAVEH specifically a pasture in Zephaniah 2:6, but see also Psalm 68:13 or even better Exodus 15:13, which is Y-Y's intention here.
OHEL: Very specific choice of word, the OHEL, not the MISHKAN (click here for an explanation of the difference).
33:21 KI IM SHAM ADIR YHVH LANU MEKOM NEHARIM YE'ORIM RACHAVEY YADAYIM BAL TELECH BO ANI SHAYIT VE TSI ADIR LO YA'AVRENU
כִּי אִם שָׁם אַדִּיר יְהוָה לָנוּ מְקוֹם נְהָרִים יְאֹרִים רַחֲבֵי יָדָיִם בַּל תֵּלֶךְ בּוֹ אֳנִי שַׁיִט וְצִי אַדִּיר לֹא יַעַבְרֶנּוּ
BN: But there YHVH will be with us in majesty, in a place of broad rivers and streams; in which no galley with oars shall go, nor majestic ship pass by there.
33:22 KI YHVH SHOPHTENU YHVH MECHOKEKENU YHVH MALKENU HU YOSHIY'ENU
KJ: For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
BN: For YHVH is our judge, YHVH is our lawgiver, YHVH is our king; he will save us.
But note once again the final phrase here: YHVH is the Messiah - not Jesus, not Theodor Herzl or David Ben Gurion or the Lubavitcher Rebbe... not even Yesha-Yah himself, though he bears the name.
33:23 NIT'SHU CHAVALAYICH BAL YECHAZKU CHEN TARNAM BAL PARSHU NES AZ CHULAK AD SHALAL MARBEH PISCHIM BAZEZU VAZ
KJ: Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.
NIT'SHU: So many variant usages of this root (click here to see them all), but only one official meaning: "to spread out" (see my note at Numbers 11:31). And the CHAVLAYICH are obviously the same "cords" that we saw at verse 20, except that there they were the cords of a tent. Next comes TARNAM, and the TOREN when last we encountered it, at Isaiah 30:17, had nothing to do with masts, but was some kind of obelisk set up as a beacon on a hill; from which we could perfectly well read it in this verse as the central pole holding up the tent. Which leaves NES, which has absolutely nothing to do with sails unless you have decided to translate this verse this way. A NES is a "banner" at Exodus 17:15, and quite specifically a banner "set on a pole" at Numbers 21:8 and 9. So let us go back and look again at the translation, which is not about the ships of verse 21 at all, but is about the tent of verse 20.
PISCHIM: But these are not simply "the lame", even though that is the strict meaning of the word. See my notes at Genesis 41:46 and Deuteronomy 15:21, though this has already come up in Isaiah, at 31:5.
33:24 U VAL YOMAR SHACHEN CHALIYTI HA AM HA YOSHEV BAH NES'U AVON
KJ: And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.
ADIR: Y-Y repeats ADIR, so it seems to me to be incumbent on the translator to do the same. He is comparing forms of majesty after all, throughout this chapter.
ANI...TSI: Strange to find Y-Y using imagery of ships, because, let's be honest, no one in ancient Yisra-El knew anything at all about ships, or if they did it was because they had gone with the Phoinikim as traders, but they were few and far between. Asher occupied the north-west coast, but Asher was long disappeared into oblivion by Y-Y's time; Dan, even earlier, had inhabited the Mediterranean coast, but got pushed out by the Pelishtim and transferred to deeply inland La'ish, while maps showing both Menasheh and Ephrayim extending westwards to the Med is a statement of political idealism rather more than physical reality: it too was land settled by the Pelishtim from very early on. Fishing boats on Genaseret (the Sea of Galilee) were about the nearest northerners would ever have got to seeing any kind of boat; and that was a great deal more than anyone in Yehudah or Bin Yamin could even have imagined.
ANI was the word used in 1 Kings 10 for the ships of King Hiram - the trading ships I mentioned above. TSI occurs in Numbers 24:24 and is clearly the military armada of (most likely) the Hyksos or (but later than the Numbers passage) the Pelishtim.
33:22 KI YHVH SHOPHTENU YHVH MECHOKEKENU YHVH MALKENU HU YOSHIY'ENU
כִּי יְהוָה שֹׁפְטֵנוּ יְהוָה מְחֹקְקֵנוּ יְהוָה מַלְכֵּנוּ הוּא יוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ
KJ: For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
BN: For YHVH is our judge, YHVH is our lawgiver, YHVH is our king; he will save us.
This verse is in parentheses in my Gideon Bible, but not in any other version I have looked at since. Does Gideon think that this is simply an aside or perhaps an afterthought?
And isn't there something just like this in the Yom Kippur liturgy? And also a famous chant in the Amidah - except that the words to that are not precisely the same as these. "Hu Adoneynu", for another example, part of the Shabat liturgy, for which click here; and there is the song "Ein Keloheynu", which you can find here; but "Ki anu amecha" is the one I am thinking of. Though I guess the sobrqiuets are repeated throughout both liturgy and scripture, so Y-Y does not have to be quoting here.
And isn't there something just like this in the Yom Kippur liturgy? And also a famous chant in the Amidah - except that the words to that are not precisely the same as these. "Hu Adoneynu", for another example, part of the Shabat liturgy, for which click here; and there is the song "Ein Keloheynu", which you can find here; but "Ki anu amecha" is the one I am thinking of. Though I guess the sobrqiuets are repeated throughout both liturgy and scripture, so Y-Y does not have to be quoting here.
But note once again the final phrase here: YHVH is the Messiah - not Jesus, not Theodor Herzl or David Ben Gurion or the Lubavitcher Rebbe... not even Yesha-Yah himself, though he bears the name.
33:23 NIT'SHU CHAVALAYICH BAL YECHAZKU CHEN TARNAM BAL PARSHU NES AZ CHULAK AD SHALAL MARBEH PISCHIM BAZEZU VAZ
נִטְּשׁוּ חֲבָלָיִךְ בַּל יְחַזְּקוּ כֵן תָּרְנָם בַּל פָּרְשׂוּ נֵס אָז חֻלַּק עַד שָׁלָל מַרְבֶּה פִּסְחִים בָּזְזוּ בַז
KJ: Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.
BN: Your tent-flaps have come loose; they could not keep a grip on their tent-pole; the banner could not communicate its message; so what should have been a treasure has ended up divided; the lame have taken it as plunder.
This verse is apparently [I shall return to that statement shortly] a continuation of verse 21, which makes me wonder if, perhaps, verse 22 is an error - or, less likely but why not, that this was recited as some form of liturgy, or mantra, and the students/disciples/listeners responded with verse 22?
And if so, does that also explain why the Gideon Bible placed verse 22 in parentheses?
And if so, does that also explain why the Gideon Bible placed verse 22 in parentheses?
But what if it isn't a continuation of verse 21, and the translators have mixed up their ships with their tents?
NIT'SHU: So many variant usages of this root (click here to see them all), but only one official meaning: "to spread out" (see my note at Numbers 11:31). And the CHAVLAYICH are obviously the same "cords" that we saw at verse 20, except that there they were the cords of a tent. Next comes TARNAM, and the TOREN when last we encountered it, at Isaiah 30:17, had nothing to do with masts, but was some kind of obelisk set up as a beacon on a hill; from which we could perfectly well read it in this verse as the central pole holding up the tent. Which leaves NES, which has absolutely nothing to do with sails unless you have decided to translate this verse this way. A NES is a "banner" at Exodus 17:15, and quite specifically a banner "set on a pole" at Numbers 21:8 and 9. So let us go back and look again at the translation, which is not about the ships of verse 21 at all, but is about the tent of verse 20.
PISCHIM: But these are not simply "the lame", even though that is the strict meaning of the word. See my notes at Genesis 41:46 and Deuteronomy 15:21, though this has already come up in Isaiah, at 31:5.
33:24 U VAL YOMAR SHACHEN CHALIYTI HA AM HA YOSHEV BAH NES'U AVON
וּבַל יֹאמַר שָׁכֵן חָלִיתִי הָעָם הַיֹּשֵׁב בָּהּ נְשֻׂא עָוֹן
BN: And the inhabitant shall not say: "I have fallen sick"; the people who dwell there shall be forgiven their iniquity. {S}
No more complaining, and forgiveness for all sins (requiring, of course, the belief that all sickness is the consequence of sin).
Isaiah:
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