CHAPTER LIX _This chapter contains a more general reproof of the wickedness_ _of the Jews_, 1-8. _After this they are represented confessing their sins, and_ _deploring the unhappy consequences of them_, 9-15. _On this act of humiliation God, ever ready to pardon the_ _penitent, promises that... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:2. _HIS FACE_] For פנים _panim, faces_, I read _panaiv, his_ _face_. So the _Syriac, Septuagint, Alexandrian, Arabic_, and _Vulgate._ פני panai, MS. Forte legendum פני _panai_, nam מ _mem_, sequitur, et loquitur Deus; confer cap. lviii. 14. "We should perhaps read פני _panai_; for מ... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:3. _YOUR TONGUE _- "And your tongue"] An ancient MS., and the _Septuagint_ and _Vulgate_, add the conjunction.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:4. _THEY CONCEIVE MISCHIEF, AND BRING FORTH INIQUITY._] There is a curious propriety in this mode of expression; a thought or purpose is compared to _conception_; a word or act, which is the consequence of it, to the _birth of a child_. From the _third_ to the _fifteenth_ verse inclu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:8. _WHOSOEVER GOETH THEREIN SHALL NOT KNOW PEACE_ - "Whoever goeth in them knoweth not peace"] For בה _bah_, singular, read בם _bam_, plural, with the _Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate_, and _Chaldee_. The ה _he_ is upon a rasure in one MS. Or, for נתיבתיהם _nethibotheyhem_, plural, we mu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:10. _WE STUMBLE AT NOON DAY AS IN THE NIGHT _- "We stumble at mid-day, as in the twilight"] I adopt here an emendation of Houbigant, נשגגה _nishgegah_, instead of the second, נגששה _negasheshah_, the repetition of which has a poverty and inelegance extremely unworthy of the prophet,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:11. But _IT IS FAR OFF FROM US _- "And it is far distant from us."] The conjunction ו _vau_ must necessarily be prefixed to the verb, as the _Syriac, Chaldee_, and _Vulgate_ found it in their copies; ורחקה _verachakah_, "and far off.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:14. _JUSTICE STANDETH AFAR OFF_] צדקה _tsedakah,_ _righteousness_, put here, says _Kimchi_, for _alms to the poor_. This casts some light on Matthew 6:1: "Take heed that you do not your alms," ελεημοσυνην. But the best copies have δικαιοσυνην, _righteousness_; the former having been... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:15. _AND THE LORD SAW IT _- "And JEHOVAH saw it -----"] This third line of the stanza appears manifestly to me to be imperfect by the loss of a phrase. The reader will perhaps more perfectly conceive my idea of the matter if I endeavour to supply the supposed defect, I imagine it mig... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:16. _AND WONDERED THAT_ THERE WAS _NO INTERCESSOR_] This and the following verses some of the most eminent rabbins understand as spoken of the Messiah. Kimchi says that Rabbi Joshua ben Levi proposes this objection: "It is written, 'Behold, he will come in the clouds of heaven as th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:17. FOR _CLOTHING _- "For his clothing"] תלבשת _tilbosheth_. "I cannot but think that this word, תלבשת _tilbosheth_, is an interpolation. 1. It is in no one ancient version. 2. It is redundant in the sense, as it is before expressed in בגדי _bigdey_. 3. It makes the hemistich just... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:18. _ACCORDING TO_ THEIR _DEEDS, ACCORDINGLY HE WILL_ _REPAY_ - "He is mighty to recompense; he that is mighty to recompense will requite"] The former part of this verse, as it stands at present in the Hebrew text, seems to me to be very imperfect, and absolutely unintelligible. The... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:19. _WHEN THE ENEMY SHALL COME IN LIKE A FLOOD_] This all the rabbins refer to the coming of the Messiah. If ye see a generation which endures much tribulation, then (say they) expect him, according to what is written: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lor... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:20. _UNTO THEM THAT TURN FROM TRANSGRESSION IN JACOB _- "And shall turn away iniquity from Jacob"] So the _Septuagint_ and St. Paul, Romans 11:26, reading instead of לשבי _leshabey_ and ביעקב _beyaacob_, והשיב veheshib and מיעקב _meyaacob_. The _Syriac_ likewise reads והשיב _veheshib... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 59:21. _THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM_ - "This is the covenant which I make with them"] For אותם _otham, them_, twenty-four MSS., (four ancient,) and nine editions have אתם _ittam, with them_. _MY SPIRIT THAT_ IS _UPON THEE_] This seems to be an address to the _Messiah; Kimchi_ says it... [ Continue Reading ]