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This chapter is a continuation of the previous. In the Yehudit there is no chapter break.
This chapter is a continuation of the previous. In the Yehudit there is no chapter break.
10:1 SHA'ALU ME YHVH MATAR BE ET MALKOSH YHVH OSEH CHAZIYZIM U METAR GESHEM YITEN LAHEM LE ISH ESEV BA SADEH
שַׁאֲלוּ מֵיְהוָה מָטָר בְּעֵת מַלְקוֹשׁ יְהוָה עֹשֶׂה חֲזִיזִים וּמְטַר גֶּשֶׁם יִתֵּן לָהֶם לְאִישׁ עֵשֶׂב בַּשָּׂדֶה
KJ (King James translation): Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
BN (BibleNet translation): Petition YHVH for rain at the season of the gathering of the late harvest, and YHVH will send lightning, and showers of rain, for every man who cultivates a field.
MALKOSH: In Job 24:6 the word is used for the time of gathering of the late fruit, and the root, LAKASH, has more to do with the hay and the gleaning than with the rain of that season; whence my preferred translation.
CHAZIYZIM: Word-games! Really a CHAZIZ is an arrow, though poets have long used arrows as figures of speech for the rain, the hail, the lightning. Here it connects to the KESHET that we encountered twice in the last chapter, and which is about to become a key image again in verse 4 - the "arrows" of YHVH working in partnership with the literal arrows of Ephrayim (see my notes to 9:13 for the Psalmic allusion).
Is this sarcastic? Because obviously, if you pray for rain in the middle of winter, rain will not require a miracle. Or is it simply a description of the Nature of the deity? No, the next verse makes clear that Zechar-Yah is mocking.
MALKOSH: In Job 24:6 the word is used for the time of gathering of the late fruit, and the root, LAKASH, has more to do with the hay and the gleaning than with the rain of that season; whence my preferred translation.
CHAZIYZIM: Word-games! Really a CHAZIZ is an arrow, though poets have long used arrows as figures of speech for the rain, the hail, the lightning. Here it connects to the KESHET that we encountered twice in the last chapter, and which is about to become a key image again in verse 4 - the "arrows" of YHVH working in partnership with the literal arrows of Ephrayim (see my notes to 9:13 for the Psalmic allusion).
Is this sarcastic? Because obviously, if you pray for rain in the middle of winter, rain will not require a miracle. Or is it simply a description of the Nature of the deity? No, the next verse makes clear that Zechar-Yah is mocking.
10:2 KI HA TERAPHIM DIBRU AVEN VE HA KOSMIM CHAZU SHEKER VA CHALOMOT HA SHAV YEDABERU HEVEL YENACHEMUN AL KEN NAS'U CHEMO TSON YA'ANU KI EYN RO'EH
כִּי הַתְּרָפִים דִּבְּרוּ אָוֶן וְהַקּוֹסְמִים חָזוּ שֶׁקֶר וַחֲלֹמוֹת הַשָּׁוא יְדַבֵּרוּ הֶבֶל יְנַחֵמוּן עַל כֵּן נָסְעוּ כְמוֹ צֹאן יַעֲנוּ כִּי אֵין רֹעֶה
KJ: For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
BN: Your teraphim have deceived you, and your palm-and-horoscope readers have been "seeing" lies and making up fantasies. The comfort they offer you is worthless. So you wander about like sheep, lost and troubled, because there is no shepherd.
BN: Your teraphim have deceived you, and your palm-and-horoscope readers have been "seeing" lies and making up fantasies. The comfort they offer you is worthless. So you wander about like sheep, lost and troubled, because there is no shepherd.
And you thought my comment at 9:3 was completely unmerited and irreverent and out-of-place! But the dividing line is very narrow, between the metaphorical use of these constructs to make a philosophical point, and taking them literally and seriously as genuinely readable tea-leaves. And indeed, speaking of that dividing line:
TERAPHIM: Translating them as idols imposes a theological dogma upon them. They are holy ikons, to those who believe in them.
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10:3 AL HA RO'IM CHARAH API VE AL HA ATUDIM EPHKOD KI PHAKAD YHVH TSEVA'OT ET EDRO ET BEIT YEHUDAH VE SAM OTAM KE SUS HODO BA MILCHAMAH
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10:3 AL HA RO'IM CHARAH API VE AL HA ATUDIM EPHKOD KI PHAKAD YHVH TSEVA'OT ET EDRO ET BEIT YEHUDAH VE SAM OTAM KE SUS HODO BA MILCHAMAH
עַל הָרֹעִים חָרָה אַפִּי וְעַל הָעַתּוּדִים אֶפְקוֹד כִּי פָקַד יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת אֶת עֶדְרוֹ אֶת בֵּית יְהוּדָה וְשָׂם אוֹתָם כְּסוּס הוֹדוֹ בַּמִּלְחָמָה
KJ: Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
BN: "My anger has been kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats"; for YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, has visited his flock, the house of Yehudah, and he will make them like his best horse in the battle.
CHARAH...EPHKOD: Past tense followed by future tense.
API: Why is this API and not APHAI - check the "original" (we can't, alas, we don't have one!) but this may be a Masoretic error.
BN: "My anger has been kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats"; for YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, has visited his flock, the house of Yehudah, and he will make them like his best horse in the battle.
CHARAH...EPHKOD: Past tense followed by future tense.
API: Why is this API and not APHAI - check the "original" (we can't, alas, we don't have one!) but this may be a Masoretic error.
Also note that this has switched, as Zechar-Yah often does, between himself speaking, and him "quoting" the deity, but without telling us he is doing so.
RO'IM...ATUDIM...SUS: Not like Zechar-Yah to mix up his metaphors in quite such a messy way. The RO'IM are only "shepherds" in the way that the spiritual and secular leaders of a community "oversee" their flock. The ATUDIM, as we know from Pharaoh's dream in Genesis 31:10, are cattle, not sheep or goats (the confusion of sheep and goats in the Ya'akov story, in Genesis 30:32 ff, is about NAKOD VE TALU, not ATUDIM, and the standard translation of the word as "he-goats" in Jeremiah 51:40 is based on the same error as here; Isaiah 14:9 is a better place to go to find the word used metaphorically to mean "leaders"); though how either of these suddenly turn into horses and cavalrymen suggests an apprentice who still has some work to do if he wants to equal his master
10:4 MIMENU PINAH MIMENU YATED MIMENU KESHET MILCHAMAH MIMENU YETS'E CHOL NOGESH YACHDAV
מִמֶּנּוּ פִנָּה מִמֶּנּוּ יָתֵד מִמֶּנּוּ קֶשֶׁת מִלְחָמָה מִמֶּנּוּ יֵצֵא כָל נוֹגֵשׂ יַחְדָּו
KJ: Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
BN: From him shall come forth the corner-stone, from him the nail, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together.
MIMENU: Who is this him, this shepherd? Presumably he means the secular Zeru-Bavel rather than the clerical Yeho-Tsadak, as "from him every ruler together" requires more than just the priesthood.
PINAH: A recurrent image for both Chagai and Zechar-Yah as they campaign together to get the building of the Temple restarted. The Pinah is the cornerstone - see Psalm 118:22 - which both have alluded to repeatedly: cf Zechar-Yah 4:7 and Chagai 2:18.
KESHET: And at least the third time for this bow, which started as the defeat of Ephrayim in the last chapter, but then turned into the victory of Yehudah, as it is here.
10:5 VE HAYU CHE GIBORIM BOSIM BE TIYT CHUTSOT BA MILCHAMAH VE NILCHAMU KI YHVH IMAM VE HOVIYSHU ROCHVEY SUSIM
וְהָיוּ כְגִבֹּרִים בּוֹסִים בְּטִיט חוּצוֹת בַּמִּלְחָמָה וְנִלְחֲמוּ כִּי יְהוָה עִמָּם וְהֹבִישׁוּ רֹכְבֵי סוּסִים
KJ: And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
BN: And they shall be like mighty warriors, treading down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle; and they shall fight, because YHVH is with them; and the cavalry shall be confounded.
10:6 VE GIBARTI ET BEIT YEHUDAH VE ET BEIT YOSEPH OSIY'A VE HOSHVOTIM KI RICHAMTIM VE HAYU KA ASHER LO ZENACHTIM KI ANI YHVH ELOHEYHEM VE E'ENEM
וְגִבַּרְתִּי אֶת בֵּית יְהוּדָה וְאֶת בֵּית יוֹסֵף אוֹשִׁיעַ וְהוֹשְׁבוֹתִים כִּי רִחַמְתִּים וְהָיוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר לֹא זְנַחְתִּים כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיהֶם וְאֶעֱנֵם
KJ: And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.
BN: "And I will strengthen the house of Yehudah, and I will save the house of Yoseph, and I will bring them back; for I have mercy upon them; and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am YHVH their god, and I will hear them...
Again the unannounced switch from 3rd person (Zechar-Yah) to 1st person ("quoting" YHVH).
BEIT YOSEPH: At first sight the term seems somewhat odd, because the House of Yoseph was the tribes of his two sons, Ephrayim and Menasheh. East Menasheh was absorbed into Mo-Av and Amon centuries before, while West Menasheh and the tribal territory of Ephrayim were absorbed into the northern kingdom of Yisra-El, later known as Ephrayim, at the time of the civil war that followed the death of Shelomoh (Solomon) - and the northern kingdom disappeared into captivity, and thence oblivion, in 720 BCE. The suggestion of this verse is that, when the Messiah comes, the lost Ephrayimites will be found, and brought back to their homeland.
10:7 VE HAYU CHE GIBOR EPHRAYIM VE SAMACH LIBAM KEMO YAYIN U VENEYHEM YIR'U VE SAMECHU YAGEL LIBAM
וְהָיוּ כְגִבּוֹר אֶפְרַיִם וְשָׂמַח לִבָּם כְּמוֹ יָיִן וּבְנֵיהֶם יִרְאוּ וְשָׂמֵחוּ יָגֵל לִבָּם בַּיהוָה
KJ: And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.
BN: "And Ephrayim too shall be like the warrior, and their hearts shall rejoice as through wine, and their children shall see it, and be happy; their hearts shall rejoice in YHVH...
10:8 ESHREKAH LAHEM VA AKABTSEM KI PHEDIYTIM VE RAVU KEMO RAVU
אֶשְׁרְקָה לָהֶם וַאֲקַבְּצֵם כִּי פְדִיתִים וְרָבוּ כְּמוֹ רָבוּ
KJ: I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.
BN: "I will hiss for them, and gather them in; for I have redeemed them; and they shall increase as they have increased...
ESHREKAH: But not in the sense of "booing". Like the primordial serpent, the one that wrapped itself around the Ophic egg, the one which, in the Babylonian version, Mardukhttp://thebiblenet.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/marduk.html bifurcated like a Hydra to enable the oestrus to enter the world through the hatching of the egg. Fertility restored! But also a clear indication that Zechar-Yah still inhabits the Mythological Age (we know that anyway, from YHVH Tseva'ot, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens). I do like the inference of this, as well - that, just like Chavah in 9:11, the primoridal serpent, he who was condemned to crawl in the dust eternally at the closure of Eden, he too will be redeemed, and no need for a shophar to triumph the occasion when he can hiss that loud!
BN: "I will hiss for them, and gather them in; for I have redeemed them; and they shall increase as they have increased...
ESHREKAH: But not in the sense of "booing". Like the primordial serpent, the one that wrapped itself around the Ophic egg, the one which, in the Babylonian version, Mardukhttp://thebiblenet.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/marduk.html bifurcated like a Hydra to enable the oestrus to enter the world through the hatching of the egg. Fertility restored! But also a clear indication that Zechar-Yah still inhabits the Mythological Age (we know that anyway, from YHVH Tseva'ot, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens). I do like the inference of this, as well - that, just like Chavah in 9:11, the primoridal serpent, he who was condemned to crawl in the dust eternally at the closure of Eden, he too will be redeemed, and no need for a shophar to triumph the occasion when he can hiss that loud!
AKABTSEM: From the root EKEV by any chance, which also yields the name Ya'akov - Jacob? No, that would require an Ayin (ע). Worth checking though.
10:9 VE EZRA'EM BA AMIM U VA MERCHAKIM YIZKERUNI VE HAYU ET BENEYHEM VA SHAVU
וְאֶזְרָעֵם בָּעַמִּים וּבַמֶּרְחַקִּים יִזְכְּרוּנִי וְחָיוּ אֶת בְּנֵיהֶם וָשָׁבוּ
KJ: And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.
BN: "And I will sow them among the people; and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and shall return...
EZRA'EM: Nothing to do with the name Ezra, meaning "helper", though it is as hard to avoid hearing it as was Ya'akov in the previous verse. This is from ZER'A = seed - yet more fertility - though what exactly the EM refers to, given that no noun has been used previously, is difficult to say; possibly he will sow the people of Yehudah among the other nations, through intermarriage.
10:10 VE HASHIYVOTIM ME ERETS MITSRAYIM U ME ASHUR AKABTSEM VE EL ERETS GIL'AD U LEVANON AVIY'EM VE LO YIMATS'E LAHEM
וַהֲשִׁיבוֹתִים מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם וּמֵאַשּׁוּר אֲקַבְּצֵם וְאֶל אֶרֶץ גִּלְעָד וּלְבָנוֹן אֲבִיאֵם וְלֹא יִמָּצֵא לָהֶם
KJ: I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.
BN: "And I will bring them back from the land of Mitsrayim, and gather them out of Ashur; and I will bring them into the land of Gil'ad, and Levanon; but there will not be sufficient room for them...
MITSRAYIM: Exactly how many Yehudim were living in Egypt at that time is unknown, but likely very few. A hundred years after Zechar-Yah, when Alexander of Macedon built Alexandria in Egypt, large numbers of Jews were among its founding population, and it quickly became a major centre of Jewish life, including the translation of the Tanach into the form known as the Septuagint, somewhere around 300 BCE.
ASHUR: The ones to be gathered out of Assyria must surely have been the remnants of the six and a half tribes, taken away by Sennacherib in the conquest of 720 BCE, for the most part disappeared into oblivion for all that anyone has heard of them - the exception being the tribe of Dan, for whom see my essay on "The Leprachauns of Palestine".
GIL'AD: LEVANON: See my notes at the link to Gil'ad, which it seems to me endorse the comment in the last paragraph here: Gil'ad was the tribal region of the two and a half tribes who chose to live east of the river Yarden after the Yehoshu'aic conquest.
LEVANON: takes its name from the "white mountain", Mount Chermon, which dominates that region; but Biblically it is also connected to the white sheep and tribal domain (Genesis 31:21 ff and especially 31:44 ff) of Ya'akov's father-in-law, whose name was LAVAN, likewise meaning "white", and probably the moon god in the earliest form of that tale. However, despite close associations between the Kena'anim and the Phoinikim, through the centuries of the linen-and-dye trades and especially at the time of the building of the First Temple, the nearest the Tanach ever gets to including Beney Yisra-El among its population is when Dan moved to La'ish; so why Zechar-Yah would think of resettling vast numbers of Yehudim there requires an explanation which, other than a possible hint of future imperialism, I do not have. In his day, what we now call Lebanon was completely under Greek rule.
10:11 VE AVAR BA YAM TSARAH VE HIKAH VA YAM GALIM VE HOVIYSHU KOL METSULOT YE'OR VE HURAD GE'ON ASHUR VE SHEVET MITSRAYIM YASUR
וְעָבַר בַּיָּם צָרָה וְהִכָּה בַיָּם גַּלִּים וְהֹבִישׁוּ כֹּל מְצוּלוֹת יְאֹר וְהוּרַד גְּאוֹן אַשּׁוּר וְשֵׁבֶט מִצְרַיִם יָסוּר
KJ: And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.
BN: "And I will pass through the Sea of Affliction, and smite the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up; and the pride of Ashur shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Mitsrayim shall depart..."
AVAR: Unless Zechar-Yah has yet again switched voice without telling us, this cannot be "he", if it is a continuation of the previous verse, because that was "they". KJ, like most translators, assume it is this, but I think it is more likely a continuation of the first person singular, just in a new sentence. The problem derives from the error in the verb, which needs either an Aleph (for the first person) or a Yud (for the third person) between the Vav (possibly just a prefictual conjunction, but more likely the Vav consecutive) and the Ayin.
The form and wording of the following verse appears to confirm my reading, though that too is a convulted sentence, which switches voice in mid-stream - unless YHVH is continuously referring to himself in the third person.
YAM TSARAH: "The Sea of Tsurus" - already jested in a previous verse; see my notes to Zechar-Yah 8:10.
YE'OR: The Yehudit name for the Nile, it literally means "The River", as opposed to "the river". The other major waterway, the Euphrates, is always named.
10:12 VE GIBARTIM BA YHVH U VISHMO YIT'HALCHU NE'UM YHVH
וְגִבַּרְתִּים בַּיהוָה וּבִשְׁמוֹ יִתְהַלָּכוּ נְאֻם יְהוָה
KJ: And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD.
BN: And I will make heroes of them through YHVH; "and they will walk up and down in his name," says YHVH.
GIBARTIM: Translating this as "strengthen" is problematic (a euphemism for "bad practice", because we have had LECHAZEK repeatedly, with its very clear allusions, and the reader-in-translation who has no knowledge of the original will be unable to see that it is a different word, with very different allusions. This is drawing us to GIBORIM, the "champions" of the sporting contests, King David's personal bodyguard, the "mighty ones" like Nimrod; deep allusions too, but very different meanings to them.
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