CHAPTER XLI _The prophet, having intimated the deliverance from Babylon, and_ _the still greater redemption couched under it, resumes the_ _subject. He begins with the Divine vocation of Abraham, the_ _root of the Israelitish family, and his successful exploits_ _against the idolaters_, 1-7. _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:2. _THE RIGHTEOUS_ MAN] The _Chaldee_ and _Vulgate_ seem to have read צדיק _tsaddik_. But Jerome, though his translation has _justum_, appears to have read צדק _tsedek_; for in his comment he expresses it by _justum, sive justitiam_. However, I think all interpreters understand it o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:3. AND _PASSED SAFELY _- "He passeth in safety"] The preposition seems to have been omitted in the text by mistake; the _Septuagint_ and _Vulgate_ seem to have had it in their copies; εν ειρηνη, _to pace_, בשלום beshalom, "prosperously." It is so in one of _De Rossi's_ MSS.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:4. _WHO HATH WROUGHT AND DONE IT _- "Who hath performed and made these things"] A word is here lost out of the text. It is supplied by an ancient MS., אלה _elleh_, "these things;" and by the _Septuagint_, ταυτα; and by the _Vulgate_, _haec_; and by the _Chaldee_, אלן elin; all of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:5. _WERE AFRAID _- "And they were terrified"] Three MSS. have ויחרדו _vaiyecheridu_, adding the conjunction ו _vau_, which restores the second member of the sentence to its true poetical form.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:7. _THAT IT SHOULD NOT BE MOVED _- "That it shall not move."] Five MSS., (two ancient,) and the ancient Versions, add the conjunction ו _vau_, "and," reading ולא _velo_, "and not," which seems to be right.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:9. _AND CALLED THEE FROM THE CHIEF MEN THEREOF _- "And called from the extremities thereof"] אציל מאציליה _atsil meatsileyha_, signifies _the arm, ascilla, ala_; and is used like כנף _canaph_, "the wing," for any thing extended from the extremity of another, or joined on to it. It is... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:10. _Be not dismayed _- ואל תשתע veal tishta, "AND be not dismayed." The ו _vau_ is added by twenty-one of Dr. _Kennicott's_ MSS., thirty of _De Rossi's_, and one of my own, and three editions. It makes the sense more complete.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:14. _FEAR NOT, THOU WORM JACOB_] In the rabbinical commentary on the five books of Moses, _Yelamedenu_, it is asked, Why are the Israelites called a _worm_? To signify, that as the worm does not smite, that is, _gnaw_ the cedars, but with its mouth, which is very tender, yet it never... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:15. _A NEW SHARP THRESHING INSTRUMENT HAVING TEETH _- "A threshing wain; a new corn-drag armed with pointed teeth"] Isaiah 28:27; _"_Isaiah 28:28_"_. _THOU SHALT THRESH THE MOUNTAINS_] Mountains and hills are here used metaphorically for the kings and princes of the Gentiles. - _Kim... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:19. _I WILL PLANT IN THE WILDERNESS THE CEDAR_] The two preceding verses express God's mercy to them in their passage through the dry deserts, in supplying them with abundant water, when distressed with thirst, in allusion to the exodus. This verse expresses the relief afforded to th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:20. _AND CONSIDER_] The verb ישימו _yasimu_, without לב _leb_ added, cannot signify _to apply the heart_, or _to attend_ to a thing, as _Houbigant_ has observed; he therefore reads ישמו _yashshemu_, they shall _wonder_. The conjecture is ingenious; but it is much more probable that t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:21. _BRING FORTH YOUR STRONG REASONS _- "Produce these your mighty powers"] "Let your idols come forward which you consider to be so very strong." _Hieron_. in loc. I prefer this to all other interpretations of this place; and to _Jerome's_ own translation of it, which he adds immedi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:23. _THAT WE MAY BE DISMAYED, AND BEHOLD_ IT _TOGETHER_ - "Then shall we be struck at once with admiration and terror."] The word ונרא _venere_ is written imperfectly in the _Hebrew_ text; the Masoretes supply ה _he_ at the end; and so it is read in _twenty-two_ MSS. and _four_ editi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:24. _YOUR WORK OF NAUGHT_ - "Your operation is less than naught"] For מאפע _meepha_, read מאפס _meephes_; so the _Chaldee_ and _Vulgate_. A manifest error of the text; compare Isaiah 40:17. The rabbins acknowledge no such error, but say that the former word signifies the same with th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:25. _I HAVE RAISED UP_ ONE _FROM THE NORTH_] "That is," says _Kimchi_, "the Messiah. The king of Assyria placed the ten tribes in Chalach and Chabar by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 2 Kings 17:6, which lands lie northerly and easterly." _HE SHALL COME UPON PRINCES... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:26. _YOUR WORD_] אמרתיכם _imrntheychem_; but, instead of this, one of my most ancient MSS. has דבריכם _dibreychem_. The meaning is nearly the same: but in this reading this MS. is singular.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:27. _THE FIRST_ SHALL SAY _TO ZION, BEHOLD, BEHOLD THEM_ - "I first to Zion _gave the word_, Behold they are here"] This verse is somewhat obscure by the transposition of the parts of the sentence, and the peculiar manner in which it is divided into two parallel lines. The verb at th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 41:28. _AMONG THEM_ - "Among the idols"] For ומאלה _umeelleh_, I read ומאלים _umeellim_, with the _Septuagint_, και απο των ειδωλων, "_and from_ or among the idols." See Exodus 15:11; Isaiah 57:5. _R. D. Kimchi_ has many good observations on this chapter. Bishop _Lowth_ follows him in... [ Continue Reading ]