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
28:1 HOY ATERET GE'UT SHIKOREY EPHRAYIM VE TSITS NOVEL TSEVI TIPH'ARTO ASHER AL ROSH GEY SHEMANIM HA LUMEY YAYIN
הוֹי עֲטֶרֶת גֵּאוּת שִׁכֹּרֵי אֶפְרַיִם וְצִיץ נֹבֵל צְבִי תִפְאַרְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עַל רֹאשׁ גֵּיא שְׁמָנִים הֲלוּמֵי יָיִן
KJ (King James translation): Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
BN (BibleNet translation): Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephrayim, and to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which are flourishing across the fat head of the valley of those who are debauched with wine!
28:2 HINEH CHAZAK VE AMITS LA ADONAI KE ZEREM BARAD SA'AR KATEV KE ZEREM MAYIM KABIYRIM SHOTPHIM HINIYACH LA ARETS BE YAD
KJ: Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
KJ: And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
YAYIN...SHECHAR: For the distinction between wine and spirits, and the law governing them in relation to the priesthood and the Temple, see Leviticus 10:9.
KJ: For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
KJ: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
BN: Therefore thus says my Lord YHVH: "Behold, I have set up in Tsi'on a foundation-stone, a stone that has already been tested, a rare and precious corner-stone that will provide a sure foundation; he who believes will not feel pressured into hurrying.
Is this irony, or pure caustic? Drunk yahoos and mobs on the football terraces! A land spoiled into greed and indulgence by its own prosperity. The fall of Ephrayim predicted, or perhaps retro-described, and with still more vineyard imagery – so have we again moved back in time, because Ephrayim fell with Sennacherib, no later than 722 BCE; and therefore, again, the feeling that either this anthology has not been gathered chronologically, or we have been misunderstanding the nature of Prophetcy these past 2000 years.
Is this a new oracle, or are we still in the same one that began several chapters ago? The opening seems like a new piece, but verse 5 will return us to the refrain which is also the title of the previous: "On That Day...!"
Is this a new oracle, or are we still in the same one that began several chapters ago? The opening seems like a new piece, but verse 5 will return us to the refrain which is also the title of the previous: "On That Day...!"
28:2 HINEH CHAZAK VE AMITS LA ADONAI KE ZEREM BARAD SA'AR KATEV KE ZEREM MAYIM KABIYRIM SHOTPHIM HINIYACH LA ARETS BE YAD
הִנֵּה חָזָק וְאַמִּץ לַאדֹנָי כְּזֶרֶם בָּרָד שַׂעַר קָטֶב כְּזֶרֶם מַיִם כַּבִּירִים שֹׁטְפִים הִנִּיחַ לָאָרֶץ בְּיָד
BN: Be aware, my Lord has great might and strength, like a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, like a storm of mighty waters overflowing, which his hand pours down violently upon the Earth.
Destruction will come like a flood – a phrase that will be very evocative to the Beney Yisra-El, for whom the No'ach story is potently familiar. Though we should also note that, after the fall of the Northern Kingdom, also known as Ephrayim, the land became filled with garrison-soldiers and settlers from the conquering Ashurim, people who came to be known as the Shomronim (Samaritans), and who came from precisely the region where that No'ach tale took place. And then still more from the same region, this time transported as a conquered people, when the Babylonians empired the region and took the last of the Yehudim into captivity in Bavel, around 586 BCE.
28:3 BE RAGLAYIM TERAMASNAH ATERET GE'UT SHIKOREY EPHRAYIM
KJ: The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
28:4 VE HAYETAH TSIYTSAT NOVEL TSEVI TIPH'ARTO ASHER AL ROSH GEY SHEMANIM KE VIKURAH BE TEREM KAYITS ASHER YIR'EH HA RO'EH OTAH BE ODAH BE CHAPO YIVLA'ENAH
KJ: And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
28:3 BE RAGLAYIM TERAMASNAH ATERET GE'UT SHIKOREY EPHRAYIM
בְּרַגְלַיִם תֵּרָמַסְנָה עֲטֶרֶת גֵּאוּת שִׁכּוֹרֵי אֶפְרָיִם
BN: The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephrayim, shall be trodden underfoot;
"The drunkards of Ephrayim": the northern kingdom, rather than just the one tribal area. So again this has to be pre 720 BCE, when they disappeared from history.
BE RAGLAYIM: And yet again the image of things being trodden or trampled underfoot that we have witnessed repeatedly these past several chapters.
"The drunkards of Ephrayim": the northern kingdom, rather than just the one tribal area. So again this has to be pre 720 BCE, when they disappeared from history.
BE RAGLAYIM: And yet again the image of things being trodden or trampled underfoot that we have witnessed repeatedly these past several chapters.
28:4 VE HAYETAH TSIYTSAT NOVEL TSEVI TIPH'ARTO ASHER AL ROSH GEY SHEMANIM KE VIKURAH BE TEREM KAYITS ASHER YIR'EH HA RO'EH OTAH BE ODAH BE CHAPO YIVLA'ENAH
וְהָיְתָה צִיצַת נֹבֵל צְבִי תִפְאַרְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עַל רֹאשׁ גֵּיא שְׁמָנִים כְּבִכּוּרָהּ בְּטֶרֶם קַיִץ אֲשֶׁר יִרְאֶה הָרֹאֶה אוֹתָהּ בְּעוֹדָהּ בְּכַפּוֹ יִבְלָעֶנָּה
BN: And the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is flourishing across the fat head of the valley, shall be like the first ripe fig before the summer, which, even as one looks at it, even when it is still in his hand, he eats it up. {S}
The imagery repeats verse 1 at first, but then changes.
28:5 BA YOM HA HU YIHEYEH YHVH TSEVA'OT LA ATERET TSEVI VE LITSPHIYRAT TIPH'ARAH LI SHE'AR AMO
KJ: In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
BN: On that day shall YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, serve as a crown of glory, and as a diadem of beauty, for the remnant of his people...
YHVH TSEVA'OT: This too provides us with a means of dating these pieces; Y-Y is still a believer in the polytheon at this time; we have seen hints of the coup by YHVH that will establish him as the Omnideity, and we have seen texts that seem to suggest it has taken place, or at least predicting it; but it will not become reality until after the return from exile in Bavel, which is to say until the oracles of the very last of the Rashey Yeshivah who have the title Yesha-Yah.
ATERET TSEVI: Confirmation that it is Exodus 28:36 and Leviticus 8:9 to which Y-Y is alluding here.
The imagery repeats verse 1 at first, but then changes.
TSIYTSAT: The choice of TSITS for "flower", rather than the more common PERACH, cannot be overlooked. See Exodus 28:36 and Leviticus 8:9 for the probable intention here; however, if this were a much later text, post-Biblical, I would read it very differently: see my notes at Numbers 17:23 and then Deuteronomy 22:12 for this.
28:5 BA YOM HA HU YIHEYEH YHVH TSEVA'OT LA ATERET TSEVI VE LITSPHIYRAT TIPH'ARAH LI SHE'AR AMO
בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת לַעֲטֶרֶת צְבִי וְלִצְפִירַת תִּפְאָרָה לִשְׁאָר עַמּוֹ
BN: On that day shall YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, serve as a crown of glory, and as a diadem of beauty, for the remnant of his people...
YHVH TSEVA'OT: This too provides us with a means of dating these pieces; Y-Y is still a believer in the polytheon at this time; we have seen hints of the coup by YHVH that will establish him as the Omnideity, and we have seen texts that seem to suggest it has taken place, or at least predicting it; but it will not become reality until after the return from exile in Bavel, which is to say until the oracles of the very last of the Rashey Yeshivah who have the title Yesha-Yah.
ATERET TSEVI: Confirmation that it is Exodus 28:36 and Leviticus 8:9 to which Y-Y is alluding here.
28:6 U LE RU'ACH MISHPAT LA YOSHEV AL HA MISHPAT VE LIGVURAH MESHIYVEY MILCHAMAH SHA'RAH
וּלְרוּחַ מִשְׁפָּט לַיּוֹשֵׁב עַל הַמִּשְׁפָּט וְלִגְבוּרָה מְשִׁיבֵי מִלְחָמָה שָׁעְרָה
BN: ...and as a benchmark of justice for he who sits in judgment, and as an inspiration to he who turns back the battle at the gate. {S}
KJ: But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
BN: But these too are affected by too much wine, making mistakes because of strong drink. The priest and the prophet are confounded by strong drink and rendered foolish by wine; strong drink causes them to make errors; they are bewildered by what they see, and falter in their judgment.
28:7 VE GAM ELEH BA YAYIN SHAGU U VA SHECHAR TA'U KOHEN VE NAVI SHAGU VA SHECHAR NIVLE'U MIN HA YAYIN TA'U MIN HA SHECHAR SHAGU BA RO'EH PAKU PELIYLIYAH
וְגַם אֵלֶּה בַּיַּיִן שָׁגוּ וּבַשֵּׁכָר תָּעוּ כֹּהֵן וְנָבִיא שָׁגוּ בַשֵּׁכָר נִבְלְעוּ מִן הַיַּיִן תָּעוּ מִן הַשֵּׁכָר שָׁגוּ בָּרֹאֶה פָּקוּ פְּלִילִיָּה
BN: But these too are affected by too much wine, making mistakes because of strong drink. The priest and the prophet are confounded by strong drink and rendered foolish by wine; strong drink causes them to make errors; they are bewildered by what they see, and falter in their judgment.
28:8 KI KOL SHULCHANOT MAL'U KI TSO'AH BELI MAKOM
כִּי כָּל שֻׁלְחָנוֹת מָלְאוּ קִיא צֹאָה בְּלִי מָקוֹם
BN: For every table is covered in the filth of vomit, and cleanliness cannot find a place. {P}
In vomit and filth, both literal and metaphorical... but I am fairly certain that the translations have simply got this wrong: BELI MAKOM means "without a place", so it isn't that "no place is clean" but that "cleanliness cannot find a place". The first is a matter of hygiene, the second of moral and ethical philosophy.
28:9 ET MI YOREH DE'AH VE ET MI YAVIN SHEMU'AH GEMULEY ME CHALAV ATIYKEY MI SHADAYIM
KJ: Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
In vomit and filth, both literal and metaphorical... but I am fairly certain that the translations have simply got this wrong: BELI MAKOM means "without a place", so it isn't that "no place is clean" but that "cleanliness cannot find a place". The first is a matter of hygiene, the second of moral and ethical philosophy.
28:9 ET MI YOREH DE'AH VE ET MI YAVIN SHEMU'AH GEMULEY ME CHALAV ATIYKEY MI SHADAYIM
אֶת מִי יוֹרֶה דֵעָה וְאֶת מִי יָבִין שְׁמוּעָה גְּמוּלֵי מֵחָלָב עַתִּיקֵי מִשָּׁדָיִם
BN: To whom should one reveal knowledge? And to whom should one make what they hear comprehensible ? They who have been weaned from the milk, they who have been withdrawn from the breasts.
Which surely means everybody? (I don't think they had bottle-feeding in those days; if the mother couldn't, or didn't want to, they brought in wet-nurses).
28:10 KI TSAV LA TSAV TSAV LA TSAV KAV LA KAV KAV LA KAV ZE'EYR SHAM ZE'EYR SHAM
KJ: For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
The first overt reference to a system of learning, and it goes back to the 613 commandments; which of course is self-contradictory, because a significant portion of those 613 deal with the sacrifices that are now rejected; though another significant portion detail the social contract which Y-Y clearly approves.
KJ: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
BN: For with stammering lips and with a strange tongue shall it be spoken to this people...
Which surely means everybody? (I don't think they had bottle-feeding in those days; if the mother couldn't, or didn't want to, they brought in wet-nurses).
This does sound rather like the message I used to hear from Bible-bashing evangelicals among the school heads in America, at every education conference I ever attended: "Get them while they're young and you've got them for life".
YOREH: The root of YOREH is OR, which is "light", as in "enlightenment", but it also provides the root for Torah, which is Jewish Enlightenment. And in a modern school, a teacher could be either a MELAMED or a MOREH, depending on how far they are simply passing on already-known information (MELAMED) or assisting the students in achieving knowledge through their own endeavours (MOREH).
YOREH: The root of YOREH is OR, which is "light", as in "enlightenment", but it also provides the root for Torah, which is Jewish Enlightenment. And in a modern school, a teacher could be either a MELAMED or a MOREH, depending on how far they are simply passing on already-known information (MELAMED) or assisting the students in achieving knowledge through their own endeavours (MOREH).
SHEMU'AH: Nor is this word chosen randomly - and see verse 4, where its repetition confirms this. From SHAM'A (שָׁמַע), "to hear"; but the point isn't that, it's Deuteronomy 6:4.
28:10 KI TSAV LA TSAV TSAV LA TSAV KAV LA KAV KAV LA KAV ZE'EYR SHAM ZE'EYR SHAM
כִּי צַו לָצָו צַו לָצָו קַו לָקָו קַו לָקָו זְעֵיר שָׁם זְעֵיר שָׁם
KJ: For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
BN: For it is precept by precept, precept by precept, line by line, line by line; here a little, there a little.
But forget the meaning for a moment. Frame that verse as an illustration and hang it in an art gallery! (though verse 13 is even better!)
28:11 KI BE LA'AGEY SAPHAH U VE LASHON ACHERET YEDABER EL HA AM HA ZEH
28:11 KI BE LA'AGEY SAPHAH U VE LASHON ACHERET YEDABER EL HA AM HA ZEH
כִּי בְּלַעֲגֵי שָׂפָה וּבְלָשׁוֹן אַחֶרֶת יְדַבֵּר אֶל הָעָם הַזֶּה
BN: For with stammering lips and with a strange tongue shall it be spoken to this people...
Not clear to me who the "He" is here in the KJ translation; but note the "stammering lips", like Mosheh's in the face of Pharaoh (Exodus 4:10), and Y-Y's own in 6:5 of this book - only the phrasing there was slightly different, so is it correct to make it appear the same in English?
LASHON ACHERET: Also "another tongue". Which one? The tongue of exile? Ironic if yes, because that would be Aramaic, which they would then bring back with them from Bavel, and find the relocated Shomronim speaking, and then the complaint [Nehemiah 13:24) that this had become the national tongue and no one could speak Yehudit any longer... as indeed it would remain, right through to the end of the epoch and beyond; until the 1880s indeed, when Eliezer Ben Yehuda was mocked for trying to revive it.
And it matters - ask the Irish, who were at last able to recover theirs in 1922. Then ask anyone you know of African slave descent: a person's roots lie in history, culture, geography and language, and the first is the least important, because it is always written by the victors, and you who lost your roots were the victims; and the second is in constant flux anyway, because food and clothing and music move on with the fashions and the times: so geography and language are the real roots, and you cannnot recover from your victimhood if you are deprived of both - which is why the Babylonians carted the Jews off into exile, and forced them to read, write and speak in Aramaic when they got there.
28:12 ASHER AMAR ALEYHEM ZOT HA MENUCHAH HANIYCHU LE AYEPH VE ZOT HA MARGE'AH VE LO AVU SHEMO'A
28:13 VE HAYAH LAHEM DEVAR YHVH TSAV LE TSAV TSAV LE TSAV KAV LE KAV KAV LE KAV ZE'EYR SHAM ZE'EYR SHAM LEMA'AN YELCHU VE CHASHLU ACHOR VE NISHBARU VE NOKSHU VE NILKADU
KJ: But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
KJ: Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
LASHON ACHERET: Also "another tongue". Which one? The tongue of exile? Ironic if yes, because that would be Aramaic, which they would then bring back with them from Bavel, and find the relocated Shomronim speaking, and then the complaint [Nehemiah 13:24) that this had become the national tongue and no one could speak Yehudit any longer... as indeed it would remain, right through to the end of the epoch and beyond; until the 1880s indeed, when Eliezer Ben Yehuda was mocked for trying to revive it.
And it matters - ask the Irish, who were at last able to recover theirs in 1922. Then ask anyone you know of African slave descent: a person's roots lie in history, culture, geography and language, and the first is the least important, because it is always written by the victors, and you who lost your roots were the victims; and the second is in constant flux anyway, because food and clothing and music move on with the fashions and the times: so geography and language are the real roots, and you cannnot recover from your victimhood if you are deprived of both - which is why the Babylonians carted the Jews off into exile, and forced them to read, write and speak in Aramaic when they got there.
28:12 ASHER AMAR ALEYHEM ZOT HA MENUCHAH HANIYCHU LE AYEPH VE ZOT HA MARGE'AH VE LO AVU SHEMO'A
אֲשֶׁר אָמַר אֲלֵיהֶם זֹאת הַמְּנוּחָה הָנִיחוּ לֶעָיֵף וְזֹאת הַמַּרְגֵּעָה וְלֹא אָבוּא שְׁמוֹעַ
KJ: To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
BN: To whom it was said: "This is the rest. Give rest to the weary. And this is the refreshing." But they were not willing to hear.
BN: To whom it was said: "This is the rest. Give rest to the weary. And this is the refreshing." But they were not willing to hear.
28:13 VE HAYAH LAHEM DEVAR YHVH TSAV LE TSAV TSAV LE TSAV KAV LE KAV KAV LE KAV ZE'EYR SHAM ZE'EYR SHAM LEMA'AN YELCHU VE CHASHLU ACHOR VE NISHBARU VE NOKSHU VE NILKADU
וְהָיָה לָהֶם דְּבַר יְהוָה צַו לָצָו צַו לָצָו קַו לָקָו קַו לָקָו זְעֵיר שָׁם זְעֵיר שָׁם לְמַעַן יֵלְכוּ וְכָשְׁלוּ אָחוֹר וְנִשְׁבָּרוּ וְנוֹקְשׁוּ וְנִלְכָּדוּ
KJ: But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
BN: And so the word of YHVH is given to them precept by precept, precept by precept, line by line, line by line; here a little, there a little; that they may go one step forward, one step back, and give up entirely, and be persuaded to return, but finally enraptured. {P}
So much depends as a translator on how one chooses to render the words in English! Every part of the KJ translation is defensible from other usages elsewhere in the Tanach; and ditto for mine. So which is it? The key words are repeats and expansions of 28:10, but surely, based on what we have learned of Y-Y until now, the goal is not to teach them so much as to convince them that they want the self-educating, and then a teacher to facilitate and support the process. Whereas the KJ translation sounds coercive, like those clergy I have sat in meetings with down the years, urging congregants to fund the nursery and primary schools on the grounds that "if we get them young, we've got them for life". Trapped by brainwashing!
28:14 LACHEN SHIM'U DEVAR YHVH ANSHEY LATSON MOSHLEY HA AM HA ZEH ASHER BIYRU-SHALA'IM
28:14 LACHEN SHIM'U DEVAR YHVH ANSHEY LATSON MOSHLEY HA AM HA ZEH ASHER BIYRU-SHALA'IM
לָכֵן שִׁמְעוּ דְבַר יְהוָה אַנְשֵׁי לָצוֹן מֹשְׁלֵי הָעָם הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר בִּירוּשָׁלִָם
BN: Therefore hear the word of YHVH, you scoffers, who rule this people that inhabits Yeru-Shala'im.
KJ: Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
BIYRU-SHALA'IM: is an odd way of phrasing this, unless he is specifically delivering the oracle in the capital, and to or at least for its residents. As the national Prophet we would expect him to say - to use a modern equivalent - "the people that inhabits Great Britain and the Commonwealth", for his widest reach, whereas many will feel excluded, even marginalised, or be angry at the here-we-go-again it's all about the Oxford-Cambridge-BBC crowd and the rest of us don't count, if he narrows it, as Y-Y does here, exclusively to London. Why not Ya'akov, or Yisra-El, as he does many times previously?
28:15 KI AMARTEM KARATNU VERIT ET MAVET VE IM SHE'OL ASIYNU CHOZEH SHIYT (SHOT) SHOTEPH KI AVAR (YA'AVOR) LO YEVO'ENU KI SAMNU CHAZAV MACHSENU U VA SHEKER NISTARNU
כִּי אֲמַרְתֶּם כָּרַתְנוּ בְרִית אֶת מָוֶת וְעִם שְׁאוֹל עָשִׂינוּ חֹזֶה שיט (שׁוֹט) שׁוֹטֵף כִּי עבר (יַעֲבֹר) לֹא יְבוֹאֵנוּ כִּי שַׂמְנוּ כָזָב מַחְסֵנוּ וּבַשֶּׁקֶר נִסְתָּרְנוּ
BN: Because you have said: "We have made a covenant with death, and we have signed an agreement with She'ol; when the Great Flood passes through and inundates the world, it shall not come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and concealed ourselves in falsehoods". {P}
By making a covenant with death and She'ol, they believe that this will make them immune to the "scourge"; which of course is exactly the same argument the other way around: both are deceits.
And I think we can state that Y-Y is fully aware of this: if not, why would he choose CHOZEH for "agreement", when CHOZEH... see the opening word of the opening chapter of this book, here... and then triple the word-play with CHAZAV later in the same verse?
SHOT...SHOTEPH: Two completely different roots, being played with in a manner that does not easily translate into English. SHOT is really "a whip", of which a "scourge" is one type; though metaphorically "a scourge" could as well be COVID or the bubonic plague, Idi Amin or the Emperor Nero. SHOTEPH means "to flow", though frequently it is used for excessive flowing, including full-scale flooding (cf Psalm 69:3, Job 14:9, many others).
SHOT...SHOTEPH: Two completely different roots, being played with in a manner that does not easily translate into English. SHOT is really "a whip", of which a "scourge" is one type; though metaphorically "a scourge" could as well be COVID or the bubonic plague, Idi Amin or the Emperor Nero. SHOTEPH means "to flow", though frequently it is used for excessive flowing, including full-scale flooding (cf Psalm 69:3, Job 14:9, many others).
For the bracketed pieces, see verse 18, where many repetitions occur, but without the need for brackets.
28:16 LACHEN KOH AMAR ADONAI YHVH HINENI YISAD BE TSI'ON AVEN EVEN BOCHAN PINAT YIKRAT MUSAD MUSAD HA MA'AMIN LO YACHISH
28:16 LACHEN KOH AMAR ADONAI YHVH HINENI YISAD BE TSI'ON AVEN EVEN BOCHAN PINAT YIKRAT MUSAD MUSAD HA MA'AMIN LO YACHISH
לָכֵן כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה הִנְנִי יִסַּד בְּצִיּוֹן אָבֶן אֶבֶן בֹּחַן פִּנַּת יִקְרַת מוּסָד מוּסָּד הַמַּאֲמִין לֹא יָחִישׁ
BN: Therefore thus says my Lord YHVH: "Behold, I have set up in Tsi'on a foundation-stone, a stone that has already been tested, a rare and precious corner-stone that will provide a sure foundation; he who believes will not feel pressured into hurrying.
Two questions though: a) will that corner-stone, that foundation-stone, be hewn or unhewn? And b) is it okay if, taking our time to go through the quarries to find exactly the right stone, we eventually choose one which the builders had previously rejected?
Answers to these questions can be found at Psalm 118, around verse 122; though of course the corner-stone here isn't really a physical stone at all, biut a metaphorical one, the Torah itself.
BE TSI'ON: BIYRU-SHALA'IM two verses ago, but that was the general geographical location, whereas this is TSI'ON, where the king and the deity are enpalaced. Ironically, it narrows the geography even more - this is not just Greater London, but specifically Thorney Island, where Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament are located; but by doing so it also universalises far wider than either Ya'akov or Yisra-El, because it includes the spiritual, the political and the Cosmic, all at once.
28:18 VE CHUPAR BERIYT'CHEM ET MAVET VE CHAZUT'CHEM ET SHE'OL LO TAKUM SHOT SHOTEPH KI YA'AVOR VI HEYITEM LO LE MIRMAS
KJ: And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
Compare this verse with verse 15; the "refuges" and "hiding-places" from that verse have already been dealt with, at verse 17.
28:19 MIDEY AVRO YIKACH ET'CHEM KI VA BOKER BA BOKER YA'AVOR BA YOM U VA LAILAH VE HAYAH RAK ZEVA'AH HAVIN SHEMU'AH
KJ: From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
BN: As often as it passes through, it shall take you; for morning by morning it shall pass through, by day and by night, and only the fear of it will enable you to understand what you are hearing.
BOKER BA BOKER: Repetitions of words, or sounds, in this manner appears to be the technique of the chapter. KATSAR... MATS'A etc in the next verse take it even further.
28:20 KI KATSAR HA MATS'A ME HISTARE'A VE HA MASECHAH TSARAH KE HITKANES
KJ: For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
BN: For the bed is too short for a man to stretch himself out on it; and the blanket is too narrow for him to wrap himself in it.
28:21 KI CHE HAR PERATSIM YAKUM YHVH KE EMEK BE GIV-ON YIRGAZ LA'ASOT MA'ASEHU ZAR MA'ASEHU VE LA'AVOD AVODATO NACHRIYAH AVODATO
KJ: For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
BN: For YHVH will rise up, as on Mount Peratsim. He will be angry, as in the valley of Giv-On. That he may do his work - strange is his work - and bring to pass his act (strange is his act).
PERATSIM: rendered in most English translations as Perazim, but that isn't what is written in the Yehudit; it's a Tsade (צ), not a Zayin (ז). And either way, there is no such place at Mount Peratsim in Yisra-El; the name is a metaphorical invention of Y-Y's, for an explanation of which see my notes on Parets ben Yehudah. But note also, which I need to go back and add there, that the line of descent traced by King David goes back to Parets.
GIV-ON: where Gev is sometimes a hill, here the ON, which means "place", ties it to the Egyptian father-deity Geb, whose name, meaning "hill" or "mountain", may very well be the El Shadai of Av-Raham. But why the reference here? It was the Beney Giv-On (different link) who saved themselves from conquest by sending their leaders to Yehoshu'a at Gil-Gal (Joshua 9:3 ff), pretending to be delegates from the far east, inviting him into a league, and then enslaved when their trick was discovered; this would have huge ramifications over the next several hundred years, especially at the time of David, when they became the Guardians of the Ark. But there is also the hanging of the seven surviving sons of Sha'ul in 2 Samuel 27, and you can catch up the history between Gil-Gal and David by reading that chapter, or read it in much fuller in my novel "City of Peace".
MA'ASEHU... AVODATO: The word-play here is complex, and the translations don't do justice to it. We need to go back to Genesis 1 and 2, and see the words that were used for Creation: BARA at 1:1, YA'AS at 1:7, YAVDEL, also at 1:7, YITEN at 1:17, and then look again at AVODAH = "slavery" in Exodus, but AVODAH = "worship" everywhere else.
28:22 VE ATAH AL TITLOTSATSU PEN YECHZEKU MOSREYCHEM KI CHALAH VE NECHERATSAH SHAMA'TI ME ET ADONAI YHVH TSEVA'OT AL KOL HA ARETS
KJ: Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
BN: Now therefore do not scoff, lest your fetters be made tighter; for I have heard from my Lord YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, that an extermination of the whole land is being planned and will be carried out. {P}
28:23 HA'AZIYNU VE SHIM'U KOLI HAKSHIYVU VE SHIM'U IMARTI
KJ: Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
BN: Give ye ear, and hear my voice; attend, and hear my speech.
28:27 KI LO VECHARUTS YUDASH KETSACH VE OPHAN AGALAH AL KAMON YUSAV KI VA MATEH YECHAVET KETSACH VE CHAMON BA SHAVET
KJ: For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
BN: For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing-sledge, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the black cummin is beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
This verse is really two; split (alexandrine?) down the middle (caesura? actually there are 15 then 17 syllables, so not quite down the middle), the two halves ending with a rhyme (YEDUSHENU-YEDUKENU)
28:29 GAM ZOT ME IM YHVH TSEVA'OT YATSA'AH HIPHL'I ETSAH HIGDIL TUSHIYAH
KJ: This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
BN: This too comes from the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens: Wonderful is his counsel, and great his wisdom. {P}
28:17 VE SAMTI MISHPAT LE KAV U TSEDAKAH LE MISHKALET VE A'AH VARAD MACHSEH CHAZAV VE SETER MAYIM YISHTEPHU
KJ: Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
BN: And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the measure; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. {S}
KAV...MISHKALET: All codes require benchmarks, as school rubrics do, and staff assessments. What criteria are we using to determine pass or fail, let alone grades and targets? So, here, the KAV is the "boundary-line", denoting the outer limits of the code, while the MISHKALET - and yes, you are right to recognise the word SHEKEL in the root: coinage too requires "just weights, just measures" (for which quote see Leviticus 19:35/36, or Deuteronomy 25:13/16).
וְשַׂמְתִּי מִשְׁפָּט לְקָו וּצְדָקָה לְמִשְׁקָלֶת וְיָעָה בָרָד מַחְסֵה כָזָב וְסֵתֶר מַיִם יִשְׁטֹפוּ
KJ: Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
BN: And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the measure; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. {S}
KAV...MISHKALET: All codes require benchmarks, as school rubrics do, and staff assessments. What criteria are we using to determine pass or fail, let alone grades and targets? So, here, the KAV is the "boundary-line", denoting the outer limits of the code, while the MISHKALET - and yes, you are right to recognise the word SHEKEL in the root: coinage too requires "just weights, just measures" (for which quote see Leviticus 19:35/36, or Deuteronomy 25:13/16).
Note that the method of dealing with this requires both the human (VA YOMER) and the "divine" (DAVAR) - these concepts have been explained in previous chapters. How does it work? The deity, being Nature and the elements, can not formally define the "line" and the "weight"; that requires the human. And when people try to cheat and get away with it, the only retribution available to the deity is likewise Nature and the elements: hail and flooding. If humans want a form of retribution, they will have to "line" and "weight" that too themselves.
Fundamental principals of Isaiac philosophy, and a long, long way from those of later Christianity.
Fundamental principals of Isaiac philosophy, and a long, long way from those of later Christianity.
28:18 VE CHUPAR BERIYT'CHEM ET MAVET VE CHAZUT'CHEM ET SHE'OL LO TAKUM SHOT SHOTEPH KI YA'AVOR VI HEYITEM LO LE MIRMAS
וְכֻפַּר בְּרִיתְכֶם אֶת מָוֶת וְחָזוּתְכֶם אֶת שְׁאוֹל לֹא תָקוּם שׁוֹט שׁוֹטֵף כִּי יַעֲבֹר וִהְיִיתֶם לוֹ לְמִרְמָס
KJ: And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
BN: And your covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with She'ol shall not stand; when the Great Flood passes through and inundates the world, you shall indeed be trodden down by it.
Compare this verse with verse 15; the "refuges" and "hiding-places" from that verse have already been dealt with, at verse 17.
28:19 MIDEY AVRO YIKACH ET'CHEM KI VA BOKER BA BOKER YA'AVOR BA YOM U VA LAILAH VE HAYAH RAK ZEVA'AH HAVIN SHEMU'AH
מִדֵּי עָבְרוֹ יִקַּח אֶתְכֶם כִּי בַבֹּקֶר בַּבֹּקֶר יַעֲבֹר בַּיּוֹם וּבַלָּיְלָה וְהָיָה רַק זְוָעָה הָבִין שְׁמוּעָה
KJ: From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
BN: As often as it passes through, it shall take you; for morning by morning it shall pass through, by day and by night, and only the fear of it will enable you to understand what you are hearing.
MIDEY: Difficult to know what precisely this word is meant to mean. "Often", or at least a sense of "frequency", in 1 Samuel 1:7 and 1 Samuel 7:16, but the root is MADAH and has to do with "measuring" - so yes, the idea of "measuring time" yields "often", but we have just had "just weights and just measures", so clearly there is more to the play on words than this. Exodus 26:2 and 8 use the "measure" for curtain material, while Exodus 36:5 uses it for every one of the items needed for the building of the MISHKAN.
BOKER BA BOKER: Repetitions of words, or sounds, in this manner appears to be the technique of the chapter. KATSAR... MATS'A etc in the next verse take it even further.
28:20 KI KATSAR HA MATS'A ME HISTARE'A VE HA MASECHAH TSARAH KE HITKANES
כִּי קָצַר הַמַּצָּע מֵהִשְׂתָּרֵעַ וְהַמַּסֵּכָה צָרָה כְּהִתְכַּנֵּס
KJ: For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
BN: For the bed is too short for a man to stretch himself out on it; and the blanket is too narrow for him to wrap himself in it.
T, K (or softened to CH) and S or TS sounds, in virtually every word. Has anybody ever tried singing these verses?
KATSAR: The measurements are wrong! The bed too short, the blanket too narrow. Get the measurements wrong and... as I stated at verse 17, "All codes require benchmarks...". And again the choice of vocabulary here. At first this seems such a bizarre analogy. But then:
KATSAR: The measurements are wrong! The bed too short, the blanket too narrow. Get the measurements wrong and... as I stated at verse 17, "All codes require benchmarks...". And again the choice of vocabulary here. At first this seems such a bizarre analogy. But then:
MASECHAH: isn't really a blanket, as I have rendered it; that would normally be SEMICHAH (שְׂמִיכָה); but SEMICHAH then contains unavoidable word-plays of an entirely irrelevant kind. But is he just avoiding those word-plays, or has he chosen this word deliberately? MASECHAH may be translated as "veil", the sort that women in the Middle East have worn for millennia, but also the one that just got referenced with MIDEY, the measuring of "curtain material" I called it then, which was naughty, but I didn't want to jump too fast, and this is the place to put this. The "curtain material" in question was the protective covering for the MISHKAN, as per Exodus 26:1: "Next, you shall build the tabernacle, with ten curtains of fine twined linen, in blue and purple and scarlet, and you shall adorn them with keruvim made by the hand of a skilled artisan." But Exodus 35:17 will also use the root for the screen for the gate to the Court, while Exodus 39:38 and 40:5 will do the same for the screen for the door of the Tent... So, eventually, every essential piece of the Mishkan, or the Ohel Mo'ed, and later the Solomonic Temple with its MASECHAH in the form of the DEVIR, will have its precise measure, and every human need will fit inside that covering, though it will require the humans to determine the measures, to tailor them, and to wear them at all times.
28:21 KI CHE HAR PERATSIM YAKUM YHVH KE EMEK BE GIV-ON YIRGAZ LA'ASOT MA'ASEHU ZAR MA'ASEHU VE LA'AVOD AVODATO NACHRIYAH AVODATO
כִּי כְהַר פְּרָצִים יָקוּם יְהוָה כְּעֵמֶק בְּגִבְעוֹן יִרְגָּז לַעֲשׂוֹת מַעֲשֵׂהוּ זָר מַעֲשֵׂהוּ וְלַעֲבֹד עֲבֹדָתוֹ נָכְרִיָּה עֲבֹדָתוֹ
KJ: For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
BN: For YHVH will rise up, as on Mount Peratsim. He will be angry, as in the valley of Giv-On. That he may do his work - strange is his work - and bring to pass his act (strange is his act).
PERATSIM: rendered in most English translations as Perazim, but that isn't what is written in the Yehudit; it's a Tsade (צ), not a Zayin (ז). And either way, there is no such place at Mount Peratsim in Yisra-El; the name is a metaphorical invention of Y-Y's, for an explanation of which see my notes on Parets ben Yehudah. But note also, which I need to go back and add there, that the line of descent traced by King David goes back to Parets.
GIV-ON: where Gev is sometimes a hill, here the ON, which means "place", ties it to the Egyptian father-deity Geb, whose name, meaning "hill" or "mountain", may very well be the El Shadai of Av-Raham. But why the reference here? It was the Beney Giv-On (different link) who saved themselves from conquest by sending their leaders to Yehoshu'a at Gil-Gal (Joshua 9:3 ff), pretending to be delegates from the far east, inviting him into a league, and then enslaved when their trick was discovered; this would have huge ramifications over the next several hundred years, especially at the time of David, when they became the Guardians of the Ark. But there is also the hanging of the seven surviving sons of Sha'ul in 2 Samuel 27, and you can catch up the history between Gil-Gal and David by reading that chapter, or read it in much fuller in my novel "City of Peace".
MA'ASEHU... AVODATO: The word-play here is complex, and the translations don't do justice to it. We need to go back to Genesis 1 and 2, and see the words that were used for Creation: BARA at 1:1, YA'AS at 1:7, YAVDEL, also at 1:7, YITEN at 1:17, and then look again at AVODAH = "slavery" in Exodus, but AVODAH = "worship" everywhere else.
ZAR...NACHRIYAH: KJ and others (myself among them, because I like the poetic variation even though what follows in this note applies to me as well) translate both as "strange", but they are different words in Yehudit, so they require different words in English too. ZAR is "strange" in the sense of "foreign", "a stranger" (as at Exodus 30:33), though the intention here is probably closer to that of Numbers 3:4. A NACHRI is also "a foreigner", as in Exodus 2:22, which verse also uses the word GER for yet a third way of saying something very similar. For a fuller account of these variants, see my page, here.
28:22 VE ATAH AL TITLOTSATSU PEN YECHZEKU MOSREYCHEM KI CHALAH VE NECHERATSAH SHAMA'TI ME ET ADONAI YHVH TSEVA'OT AL KOL HA ARETS
וְעַתָּה אַל תִּתְלוֹצָצוּ פֶּן יֶחְזְקוּ מוֹסְרֵיכֶם כִּי כָלָה וְנֶחֱרָצָה שָׁמַעְתִּי מֵאֵת אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה צְבָאוֹת עַל כָּל הָאָרֶץ
KJ: Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
BN: Now therefore do not scoff, lest your fetters be made tighter; for I have heard from my Lord YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, that an extermination of the whole land is being planned and will be carried out. {P}
Do not mock, says Y-Y, or it will be even worse – the kind of bullying strategy that despots and ideologues always use; think of the Mohammed cartoons or that German comic who "insulted" Turkey's Erdogan.
MOSREYCHEM: But what kind of "bands" or "bonds" does Y-Y intend here? The fetters of a slave, as in Psalm 2:3, or the reins that control a donkey, as in Job 39:5? Two very different levels of control. At 52:2 Y-Y definitely uses the word to mean a "slave-collar", but does that mean it has to be as strong as that here?
ADONAI YHVH TSEVA'OT: I can't state this every time, but need to occasionally, as a reminder: Y-Y's deity is always given by this name, and it is a very specific concept of the deity, not by any means the same as the Mosaic in the wilderness, nor the Davidic in the Psalms. For Mosheh there is only YHVH, a male god, who lives on and in the volcano; in that infertile wilderness, what other deities could there be? For David it is the trinity of male sun-god, female moon-goddess and Adonis, the ever-dying ever-reborn god of Planet Earth, its vegetation, and the Underworld, with a Valhalla of Elohim and star-messengers to complete the polytheon and King Sha'ul ruling the Underworld. But for Y-Y it is the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens (which are the infinite skies and not a place beyond them called Heaven in the singular), those hosts being the planets, the constellations, and the occasional comets, an Arthurian round table at whose sun-head sits YHVH Tseva'ot, and at his right hand (Bin-Yamin) his youngest son who is his heir. None of these are the deity of Talmudic Judaism.
ADONAI YHVH TSEVA'OT: I can't state this every time, but need to occasionally, as a reminder: Y-Y's deity is always given by this name, and it is a very specific concept of the deity, not by any means the same as the Mosaic in the wilderness, nor the Davidic in the Psalms. For Mosheh there is only YHVH, a male god, who lives on and in the volcano; in that infertile wilderness, what other deities could there be? For David it is the trinity of male sun-god, female moon-goddess and Adonis, the ever-dying ever-reborn god of Planet Earth, its vegetation, and the Underworld, with a Valhalla of Elohim and star-messengers to complete the polytheon and King Sha'ul ruling the Underworld. But for Y-Y it is the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens (which are the infinite skies and not a place beyond them called Heaven in the singular), those hosts being the planets, the constellations, and the occasional comets, an Arthurian round table at whose sun-head sits YHVH Tseva'ot, and at his right hand (Bin-Yamin) his youngest son who is his heir. None of these are the deity of Talmudic Judaism.
28:23 HA'AZIYNU VE SHIM'U KOLI HAKSHIYVU VE SHIM'U IMARTI
הַאֲזִינוּ וְשִׁמְעוּ קוֹלִי הַקְשִׁיבוּ וְשִׁמְעוּ אִמְרָתִי
KJ: Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
BN: Give ye ear, and hear my voice; attend, and hear my speech.
HA'AZIYNU: We have encountered this before with Y-Y, right at the opening of the book indeed (Isaiah 1:2), and noted then that he was "borrowing" from Mosheh's farewell song at Sukot, Deuteronomy 32. It came up again at 8:9, but with very different resonances. Nonetheless the purpose is self-evident: by quoting this most famous piece of oratory, he is making clear which set of laws and values he himself is following.
28:24 HA CHOL HA YOM YACHAROSH HA CHORESH LIZRO'A YIPHTACH VIYSADED ADMATO
KJ: Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
BN: Is the plowman never done with plowing to sow, with the opening and harrowing of his ground?
28:24 HA CHOL HA YOM YACHAROSH HA CHORESH LIZRO'A YIPHTACH VIYSADED ADMATO
הֲכֹל הַיּוֹם יַחֲרֹשׁ הַחֹרֵשׁ לִזְרֹעַ יְפַתַּח וִישַׂדֵּד אַדְמָתוֹ
KJ: Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
BN: Is the plowman never done with plowing to sow, with the opening and harrowing of his ground?
This image of the plowman turning the soil and breaking the clods provides a rather poetic variation on John the Baptist and "prepare ye the way of the Lord" (which is actually Isaiah 40:3); but it also provides the imagery for the "70 disciples" in Luke 10 (see my notes to "The Gospel of the Seventy")
28:25 HA LO IM SHIVAH PHANEYHA VE HEPHITS KETSACH VE CHAMON YIZROK VE SAM CHITAH SORAH U SE'ORAH NISMAN VE CHUSEMET GEVULATO
KJ: When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
BN: When he has made its face plain, does he not cast abroad the black cummin, and scatter the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows, and the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its border?
28:25 HA LO IM SHIVAH PHANEYHA VE HEPHITS KETSACH VE CHAMON YIZROK VE SAM CHITAH SORAH U SE'ORAH NISMAN VE CHUSEMET GEVULATO
הֲלוֹא אִם שִׁוָּה פָנֶיהָ וְהֵפִיץ קֶצַח וְכַמֹּן יִזְרֹק וְשָׂם חִטָּה שׂוֹרָה וּשְׂעֹרָה נִסְמָן וְכֻסֶּמֶת גְּבֻלָתו
KJ: When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
BN: When he has made its face plain, does he not cast abroad the black cummin, and scatter the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows, and the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its border?
This is where allegories become risky: the person using them has to be sure that the basic allegory is understood by the reader/listener before adding layers of cmplexity to it. So the act of cultivation by the farmer can be transferred to the cultivation of the child in school. In verse 24: "Is it simply a matter of having a school, and then it doesn't matter what we teach? If we have opened the child's mind, shouldn't that be sufficient?" And then, in verse 25: "first you have to teach the basics of literacy and numeracy, but also teach out the inherited falsehoods, and enable the child to arrange and organise, evaluate and assess..."
28:26 VE YISRU LA MISHPAT ELOHAV YORENU
KJ: For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.
BN: For he instructs him correctly; his gods teach him.
And this verse the reason why I chose education as my analogy to explain his analogy.
28:26 VE YISRU LA MISHPAT ELOHAV YORENU
וְיִסְּרוֹ לַמִּשְׁפָּט אֱלֹהָיו יוֹרֶנּוּ
KJ: For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.
BN: For he instructs him correctly; his gods teach him.
And this verse the reason why I chose education as my analogy to explain his analogy.
MISHPAT...YORENU: Key words, used again here. MISHPAT I have commented on several times in this book: "legal judgement" at the end of a trial, but also "philosophical judgement" at the end of a process of investigation: though Y-Y, like the committee on Bloom's Taxonomy and the one that came up with the motto of the Royal Academy of Science, would probably insist that the two processes are in fact the same. YORENU comes from the same root that yields TORAH.
28:27 KI LO VECHARUTS YUDASH KETSACH VE OPHAN AGALAH AL KAMON YUSAV KI VA MATEH YECHAVET KETSACH VE CHAMON BA SHAVET
כִּי לֹא בֶחָרוּץ יוּדַשׁ קֶצַח וְאוֹפַן עֲגָלָה עַל כַּמֹּן יוּסָּב כִּי בַמַּטֶּה יֵחָבֶט קֶצַח וְכַמֹּן בַּשָּׁבֶט
KJ: For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
BN: For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing-sledge, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the black cummin is beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
Yet again this image of the threshing-floor, central to the cult of Tammuz, which will become the cult of Jesus later on - Jesus, as I have pointed out repeatedly, being the Greekified Isaiah rendered in Latin.
There is method, which works, and brute force, which does not (is that too intended ironically, given the nature of this deity?).
But Y-Y could have chosen any image to make that point, and he has chosen this one; no one who uses language with the sort of care and precision and fastidiousness that we have witnessed throughout these pages, chooses such an obscure and complex image without it having a deeper meaning, and I think it is that distinction between the MATEH and the SHAVET that this is really all about. To try to create a parallel, I would suggest that the Prime Minister does better when placing his or her chess-set in a cabinet than staying home to play chequers all alone. When not a "staff", a Mateh is a tribe; when not a "rod", a Shavet is a settlement. Something about leadership structures, something about the nomadic versus the life of towns and cities.
28:28 LECHEM YUDAK KI LO LA NETSACH ADOSH YEDUSHENU VE HAMAM GILGAL EGLATO U PHARASHAV LO YEDUKENU
KJ: Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
But Y-Y could have chosen any image to make that point, and he has chosen this one; no one who uses language with the sort of care and precision and fastidiousness that we have witnessed throughout these pages, chooses such an obscure and complex image without it having a deeper meaning, and I think it is that distinction between the MATEH and the SHAVET that this is really all about. To try to create a parallel, I would suggest that the Prime Minister does better when placing his or her chess-set in a cabinet than staying home to play chequers all alone. When not a "staff", a Mateh is a tribe; when not a "rod", a Shavet is a settlement. Something about leadership structures, something about the nomadic versus the life of towns and cities.
28:28 LECHEM YUDAK KI LO LA NETSACH ADOSH YEDUSHENU VE HAMAM GILGAL EGLATO U PHARASHAV LO YEDUKENU
לֶחֶם יוּדָק כִּי לֹא לָנֶצַח אָדוֹשׁ יְדוּשֶׁנּוּ וְהָמַם גִּלְגַּל עֶגְלָתוֹ וּפָרָשָׁיו לֹא יְדֻקֶּנּוּ
KJ: Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
BN: Is bread corn crushed? No, he will never be threshing it; and though the roller of his wagon and its sharp edges move noisily, he does not crush it.
Nonetheless, you still have to beat and grind and cudgel it, though today, on children's school reports anyway, it is expected that the teachers will also find positives, and set monitorable targets!
And of course we have building towards this for several chapters now: constant allusions to the threshing-floor, of things, corn or metaphors, being trampled, trodden down, threshed, winnowed, even turned into scarecrows and burned in the bonfire at the autumn harvest: the entire cycle of the corn-god, who is also the earth-god: Tammuz, David, Bran, Jesus...
And of course we have building towards this for several chapters now: constant allusions to the threshing-floor, of things, corn or metaphors, being trampled, trodden down, threshed, winnowed, even turned into scarecrows and burned in the bonfire at the autumn harvest: the entire cycle of the corn-god, who is also the earth-god: Tammuz, David, Bran, Jesus...
GILGAL: Is this not GALGAL, = "a wheel". How odd that the Masoretic pointer has consciously chosen to make the connection to this shrine that likewise just keeps on getting alluded to!
This verse is really two; split (alexandrine?) down the middle (caesura? actually there are 15 then 17 syllables, so not quite down the middle), the two halves ending with a rhyme (YEDUSHENU-YEDUKENU)
28:29 GAM ZOT ME IM YHVH TSEVA'OT YATSA'AH HIPHL'I ETSAH HIGDIL TUSHIYAH
גַּם זֹאת מֵעִם יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת יָצָאָה הִפְלִא עֵצָה הִגְדִּיל תּוּשִׁיָּה
KJ: This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
BN: This too comes from the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens: Wonderful is his counsel, and great his wisdom. {P}
Ah, but there is so much to be learned from the deity!
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
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