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
32:1 HEN LE TSEDEK YIMLACH MELECH U LE SARIM LE MISHPAT YASORU
הֵן לְצֶדֶק יִמְלָךְ מֶלֶךְ וּלְשָׂרִים לְמִשְׁפָּט יָשֹׂרוּ
BN: Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and as for princes, they shall rule in justice.
Prophesy of a Messianic king and a just world, or an instruction to those in power at the time to behave better?
HEN: Not HINEH, which he normally uses. There is obviously a difference, and both are used with equal frequency (click here for examples of HEN), but I am unable to explain what that differnce might be. Lots of theories among the scholars, for which see the same link.
YIMLACH MELECH is not without significance on Mount Tsi'on. Not only did David conquer the city from the Yevusim, but he took over the name of its god, Moloch, and gave it for all time to the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest: Tsadok ben Avi-Melech, as well as applying the title, as Sha'ul had already, to himself and his successors.
32:2 VE HAYAH ISH KE MACHAV'E RU'ACH VE SETER ZAREM KE PHALGEY MAYIM BETSAYON KE TSEL SEL'A KAVED BE ERETS AYEPHAH
וְהָיָה אִישׁ כְּמַחֲבֵא רוּחַ וְסֵתֶר זָרֶם כְּפַלְגֵי מַיִם בְּצָיוֹן כְּצֵל סֶלַע כָּבֵד בְּאֶרֶץ עֲיֵפָה
BN: And a man shall be as in a shelter from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as by the watercourses in a dry place, as in the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
Eliot's rock, again - the opening stanza of the first chorus especially, which could be a conscious summary of the teachings of Y-Y. But also a powerful hint at what precisely he means by "righteousness" and "justice" in verse 1. The source, as we have been told repeatedly, is the deity, who metaphors the effective (which requires both the creative and the destructive) working of the Cosmos, and which humans need to emulate in order to be equally effectively in its "likeness and image". And the attributes of the deity are stated clearly in the Torah for which Y-Y is constantly advocating. "A man in a shelter" takes us back to the uterus, the safe protection of the womb, which is how and why we all build our homes, and why we focus so much attention on the nuclear and the extended family, even the tribe, and why we have laws, and need to have a Charter of Responsibilities as well as Rights. "Womb" in Yehudit is RACHUM (Islam does precisely the same whenever it names al-Lah). Now go to Exodus 34, verses 6 and 7 (and note, at verse 5, that this is YHVH "descending in the cloud", so we are still very much with the volcano-god who dominated the last several chapters).
32:3 VE LO TISH'EYNAH EYNEY RO'IM VE AZNEY SHOM'IM TIKSHAVNAH
KJ: And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.
Eliot's rock, again - the opening stanza of the first chorus especially, which could be a conscious summary of the teachings of Y-Y. But also a powerful hint at what precisely he means by "righteousness" and "justice" in verse 1. The source, as we have been told repeatedly, is the deity, who metaphors the effective (which requires both the creative and the destructive) working of the Cosmos, and which humans need to emulate in order to be equally effectively in its "likeness and image". And the attributes of the deity are stated clearly in the Torah for which Y-Y is constantly advocating. "A man in a shelter" takes us back to the uterus, the safe protection of the womb, which is how and why we all build our homes, and why we focus so much attention on the nuclear and the extended family, even the tribe, and why we have laws, and need to have a Charter of Responsibilities as well as Rights. "Womb" in Yehudit is RACHUM (Islam does precisely the same whenever it names al-Lah). Now go to Exodus 34, verses 6 and 7 (and note, at verse 5, that this is YHVH "descending in the cloud", so we are still very much with the volcano-god who dominated the last several chapters).
32:3 VE LO TISH'EYNAH EYNEY RO'IM VE AZNEY SHOM'IM TIKSHAVNAH
וְלֹא תִשְׁעֶינָה עֵינֵי רֹאִים וְאָזְנֵי שֹׁמְעִים תִּקְשַׁבְנָה
BN: And the eyes of those who see shall not be closed, and the ears of those who listen shall hear.
SHOM'IM TIKSHAVNAH: I have turned this around in my translation, thinking back to several occasions where Y-Y has made this same point, using the same imagery, to make precisely the distinction that Eliot makes in "The Rock":
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to God.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
So a person may listen, even attentively, but to hear requires cognition, and pre-conditioned dogma is an obstacle to that, just as teacher's handout is not the same as enquiry-based self-learning. So, ditto, for looking and seeing. Education, education, education! The same slogan, endlessly repeated (including the recongition that it has to be that way, because there is no end of education).
32:4 U LEVAV NIMHARIM YAVIN LA DA'AT U LESHON ILGIM TEMAHER LEDABER TSACHOT
וּלְבַב נִמְהָרִים יָבִין לָדָעַת וּלְשׁוֹן עִלְּגִים תְּמַהֵר לְדַבֵּר צָחוֹת
BN: Even he who rushes over-animatedly, even he shall reach an understanding of knowledge, while the tongue of the stammerers shall be capable of speaking clearly.
LEVAV: I have commented on this many times, that it seems to me the difference between LEV and LEVAV is that the former is always subjective, while the latter at least tries to be objective: one the heart, the other, in today's parlance, the brain. Verse 6 has LIBO, but used in a manner that describes a man's inner desires, rather than his mental contrivances or actual deeds.
LESHON ILGIM...TSACHOT: See Exodus 4:10 - both the text, and further links in my notes, including one to Isaiah 6:5. "Stammering", as in the sense of a speech impediment, may not, however, be the intention here: this is more about the capacity to elucidate articulately and coherently. The same for TSACHOT, which is about clarity, as in a glowing light or an unclouded pool of water.
32:5 LO YIKAR'E OD LE NAVAL NADIV U LE CHIYLAI LO YE'AMER SHO'A
לֹא יִקָּרֵא עוֹד לְנָבָל נָדִיב וּלְכִילַי לֹא יֵאָמֵר שׁוֹעַ
BN: The foolish person shall no longer be false-named as "generous", nor shall the man who runs a Ponzi scheme find himself described as a philanthropist.
NAVAL: Most famous as the brutal husband of Avi-Gayil, for which tale see 1 Samuel 25.
CHIYLAI...SHO'A: Yes, I know, I have somewhat extended and modernised this. I might also draw your attention to Job 34:16-19, the latter verse of which also uses SHO'A in this manner, and says very much the same thing. And especially to the word-play with CHIYLAI in verse 7, below.
32:6 KI NAVAL NEVALAH YEDABER VE LIBO YA'ASEH AVEN LA'ASOT CHONEPH U LEDABER EL YHVH TO'AH LEHARIK NEPHESH RA'EV U MASHKEH TSAM'E YACHSIR
כִּי נָבָל נְבָלָה יְדַבֵּר וְלִבּוֹ יַעֲשֶׂה אָוֶן לַעֲשׂוֹת חֹנֶף וּלְדַבֵּר אֶל יְהוָה תּוֹעָה לְהָרִיק נֶפֶשׁ רָעֵב וּמַשְׁקֶה צָמֵא יַחְסִיר
BN: For the foolish person will speak foolishnesses, and his heart will fantasise sins, in the hope of carrying out profanities, and mutter his error to YHVH as a way of emptying his ravished soul, while still failing to quench his thirst.
YA'ASEH...LA'ASOT: He "does" in his heart in order to "do" in actuality, but gets no further than "speaking" the deed in the form of a confession: pure fantasy, as per my closing note at verse 4.
NEPHESH RA'EV: I do like my rendition of this and am sure Y-Y would approve: the double word-play on "ravished": "hungry" but also "wrecked".
But I do think KJ has got this entirely the wrong way around.
32:7 VE CHELAI KELAV RA'IM HU ZIMOT YA'ATS LECHABEL ANIYIM BE IMREY SHEKER U VE DABER EVYON MISHPAT
וְכֵלַי כֵּלָיו רָעִים הוּא זִמּוֹת יָעָץ לְחַבֵּל ענוים (עֲנִיִּים) בְּאִמְרֵי שֶׁקֶר וּבְדַבֵּר אֶבְיוֹן מִשְׁפָּט
BN: The instruments of the rogue are evil; he devises wicked schemes to take in the vulnerable, and manipulates language to deny justice to the needy.
KJ: But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.
CHELAI KELAV: Goes with CHIYLAI at verse 5, but doubles-up here. CHELAI for the rogue, KELAV for the instruments he uses for his roguery: two completely different words, yet spelled the same, an open invitation to a poet (if he were a musician rather than a poet I would bow to his bow-playing in much the same manner).
YA'ATS: Politicians (the king and princes of verse 1) who are "economical with the truth", who manoeuvre language to make you think they are saying one thing when in fact they are saying nothing at all, or something entirely different; or the company that tells you "we are the company that cares", and you think that means they care about you, the customer, but all they really care about, and passionately, is how to maximise profit, and which tax haven to hide it in.
32:8 VE NADIV NEDIYVOT YA'ATS VE HU AL NEDIYVOT YAKUM
וְנָדִיב נְדִיבוֹת יָעָץ וְהוּא עַל נְדִיבוֹת יָקוּם
BN: But the true lover of Mankind makes his arrangements philanthropically, and those generosities will be his posterity. {S}
YAKUM: The use of the future seems to require this translation, because it infers both that these will be the things "by which he will stand", but also that they will be the reason why he will be remembered.
32:9 NASHIM SHA'ANANOT KOMNAH SHEMA'NAH KOLI BANOT BOT'CHOT HA'ZENAH IMARTI
נָשִׁים שַׁאֲנַנּוֹת קֹמְנָה שְׁמַעְנָה קוֹלִי בָּנוֹת בֹּטְחוֹת הַאְזֵנָּה אִמְרָתִי
BN: Women who live in a state of affluent comfort, hear my voice; and their complacent daughters, listen to what I have to say.
SHA'ANANOT: The root suggests a state of quietude, though whether this means the calm of spiritual harmony and balance (Job 3:18 or 12:5 for example), or the complacent arrogance of bourgeois comfort (2 Kings 19:28), depends entirely on context.
KOMNAH: Is this a scribal error or a translation error in the KJ and others? If he is calling them to "rise up" from their state of comfort, then this should be KUMU NA, two words, the first in the 3rd person feminine plural. But this is presented as a single word, and the feminine ending (Hey - ה) leaves the root KAMAN, not KAM. Is there a root KAMAN? There is a town in Gil'ad, mentioned in Judges 10:5, named KAMON, meaning "rich in grain", which definitely veers the "ease" towards the bourgeois comfort and away from the spiritual harmony.
HA'ZENAH: the same as HA'AZIYNU, just in a different part of the declension (though really it should be TA'ZENAH if he is only addressing women).
32:10 YAMIM AL SHANAH TIRGAZNAH BOT'CHOT KI KALAH VATSIR OSEPH BELI YAV'O
32:10 YAMIM AL SHANAH TIRGAZNAH BOT'CHOT KI KALAH VATSIR OSEPH BELI YAV'O
יָמִים עַל שָׁנָה תִּרְגַּזְנָה בֹּטְחוֹת כִּי כָּלָה בָצִיר אֹסֶף בְּלִי יָבוֹא
BN: For many days and many years you shall be perturbed, you arrogant creatures; for the vintage shall fail, the harvest shall not be gathered.
32:11 CHIRDU SHA'ANANOT REGAZAH BOT'CHOT PESHOTAH VE ORAH VA CHAGORAH AL CHALATSAYIM
חִרְדוּ שַׁאֲנַנּוֹת רְגָזָה בֹּטְחוֹת פְּשֹׁטָה וְעֹרָה וַחֲגוֹרָה עַל חֲלָצָיִם
BN: Tremble, you women who sit so smugly; be troubled, you arrogant creatures; strip yourselves naked and put sackcloth on your loins.
32:12 AL SHADAYIM SOPHDIM AL SEDEY CHEMED AL GEPHEN PORIYAH
עַל שָׁדַיִם סֹפְדִים עַל שְׂדֵי חֶמֶד עַל גֶּפֶן פֹּרִיָּה
BN: Weep for your empty breasts, your once bounteous fields, the no-longer-fruitful vine...
Are these references to fertility rites, or just to successful fertility? See again my "womb" comment at verse 2.
32:13 AL ADMAT AMI KOTS SHAMIR TA'ALEH KI AL KOL BATEY MASOS KIRYAH ALIYZAH
32:13 AL ADMAT AMI KOTS SHAMIR TA'ALEH KI AL KOL BATEY MASOS KIRYAH ALIYZAH
עַל אַדְמַת עַמִּי קוֹץ שָׁמִיר תַּעֲלֶה כִּי עַל כָּל בָּתֵּי מָשׂוֹשׂ קִרְיָה עַלִּיזָה
BN: ...for the land of my people on which thorns and briers shall grow up; because all the grand houses in the prosperous city...
…more of those thorns and briers we heard about in 27:4, metaphorically now, in the cities.
MASOS: Sounds to me as if he's thinking of Deuteronomy 28:63. And with ALIYZAH too, "rejoice" for the former, "exalt" for the latter, because they have been recipients of divine bounty, so it is simply a Prophet's way of describing the grandeur of affluence.
32:14 KI ARMON NUTASH HAMON IR UZAV OPHEL VA VACHAN HAYAH VE'AD ME'AROT AD OLAM MESOS PERA'IM MIR'EH ADARIM
כִּי אַרְמוֹן נֻטָּשׁ הֲמוֹן עִיר עֻזָּב עֹפֶל וָבַחַן הָיָה בְעַד מְעָרוֹת עַד עוֹלָם מְשׂוֹשׂ פְּרָאִים מִרְעֵה עֲדָרִים
BN: ...because the citadel shall be abandoned; the city with its bustling crowds shall be deserted; the fortress of Ophel and its watchtower shall become mere caves for ever, a place for wild asses to rejoice, a pasture where the flocks can be exaltant...
ARMON is singular, and comes without a definite article; this is not the palace but the citadel of which the palace and the Temple were the Whitehall and the Westminster.
OPHEL: See the link.
32:15 AD YE'AREH ALEYNU RU'ACH MI MAROM VE HAYAH MIDBAR LA KARM-EL VE KARM-EL LA YA'AR YECHASHEV
עַד יֵעָרֶה עָלֵינוּ רוּחַ מִמָּרוֹם וְהָיָה מִדְבָּר לַכַּרְמֶל וכרמל (וְהַכַּרְמֶל) לַיַּעַר יֵחָשֵׁב
BN: Until the time comes when the spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes again a fruitful field, and the field so fruitful it is thought of as a grove.
YA'AR: I think we have to translate this as "grove", not "wood" or "forest", because the intention is the Teshuvah of the land caused by the Teshuvah of the people, and in that ancient world the copses dedicated to the deities were always "groves".
32:16 VE SHACHAN BA MIDBAR MISHPAT U TSEDAKAH BA KARM-EL TESHEV
KJ: Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
32:16 VE SHACHAN BA MIDBAR MISHPAT U TSEDAKAH BA KARM-EL TESHEV
וְשָׁכַן בַּמִּדְבָּר מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה בַּכַּרְמֶל תֵּשֵׁב
BN: Then justice shall inhabit the desert, and righteousness shall occupy the fruitful field.
32:17 VE HAYAH MA'ASEH HA TSEDAKAH SHALOM VA AVODAT HA TSEDAKAH HASHKET VA VETACH AD OLAM
וְהָיָה מַעֲשֵׂה הַצְּדָקָה שָׁלוֹם וַעֲבֹדַת הַצְּדָקָה הַשְׁקֵט וָבֶטַח עַד עוֹלָם
BN: And the outcome work of righteousness shall be peace; and the consequence of righteousness peace and security for ever.
32:18 VE YASHAV AMI BINVEH SHALOM U VE MISHKENOT MIVTACHIM U VI MENUCHOT SHA'ANANOT
וְיָשַׁב עַמִּי בִּנְוֵה שָׁלוֹם וּבְמִשְׁכְּנוֹת מִבְטַחִים וּבִמְנוּחֹת שַׁאֲנַנּוֹת
BN: And my people shall reside in a peaceful habitation, and in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.
32:19 U VARAD BE REDET HA YA'AR U VA SHIPHLAH TISHPAL HA IR
וּבָרַד בְּרֶדֶת הַיָּעַר וּבַשִּׁפְלָה תִּשְׁפַּל הָעִיר
BN: And it shall hail, at the time of the tearing down of the forest, and the city shall be reduced to nothingness.
The hail came up as a symbol of divine judgement in chapters 28 and 30. Note in my notes there what is also happening here: the "good" and the "bad" combined in the same source, both divine, because in the world of Y-Y there is no separation of Good and Evil, but only the lens through which it is perceived. So the liberation of the Habiru by Mosheh was also the drowning of the entire Egyptian army and the collapse of its economy because nobody was left to do the work. So the re-establishment of a peaceful Yisra-El, powerful enough to protect itself from would-be enemies, is also the loss of homeland sovereignty by the other indigenous peoples.
32:20 ASHREYCHEM ZOR'EY AL KOL MAYIM MESHALCHEY REGEL HA SHOR VE HA CHAMOR
אַשְׁרֵיכֶם זֹרְעֵי עַל כָּל מָיִם מְשַׁלְּחֵי רֶגֶל הַשּׁוֹר וְהַחֲמוֹר
BN: Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who send forth freely the feet of the ox and the ass. {S}
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