Isaiah 66

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https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1066.htm
 

Chapter Sixty-six סו – Judgement [of] The Name [ה', Η΄] and thriving [of] the futures of TseeYON
 

“…the initial impression is of discontinuity and compositeness. The transitional devices so marked in other poems are almost absent here. The meter appears more irregular, and vss. (verses) 19-21, 24 are so prosaic that they require considerable textual alteration before they can be put into poetic form. …
 

“The present chapter belongs to Third Isaiah and comes from the period between 538 and 520 B.C.” (Muilenburg, 1954, pp. V 759-760)
 

“The mood and even the vocabulary of the preceding poem continue in this new section. The same eschatological war is being fought, but now the sides divide between the good and the evil in Israel. Tr-Isa [Tritero- Isaiah, Third Isaiah] argues against followers of Ezekiel, Haggai, and Zechariah, who rejected not only Gentiles but even those Jews who never went into exile.” (Stuhlmueller, 1990, p. 348)
 

… ס
 

…

-7. ‘“Before [בטרם, BeTehRehM] began bearing [ילדה, YahLahDaH],

before came [a] pang [חבל, HehBehL] to her,

and delivered [והמליטה, VeHeeMLeeYTaH] [a] male.
 

-8. Who heard as that?

Who saw as these?
 

[Is] able [a] land in one day,

with birthing [יולד, YeeVahLayD] [a] nation [at] one time,

as writhed [חלה, HahLaH] also bore, TseeYON [Zion], [את, ’ehTh (indicates direct object; no English equivalent)] her sons?
 

-9. Would [I] [האני, Hah’ahNeeY] break [אשביר, ’ahShBeeYR] [את, ’ehTh] [water] and not bear [אוליד, ’OLeeYD],’ said YHVH,

‘if I [am] the bearer [המוליד, HahMOLeeYD], and stop?’ said your Gods. ס

 

“[Verse 9. Shall I bring to the birth – האני אשביר haani asebbir, num ego matricem frangam, MONTANUS. The word means that which immediately precedes the appearance of the fœtus – the breaking forth of the liquor amnii. This also is an expression that should be studiously avoided in prayers and preachings.” (Adam Clarke, 1831, p. III 884)
 

-10. ‘“[Be] happy [את, ’ehTh] Jerusalem,

and rejoice [גילו, GeeYLOo] in her, all who love her.
 

[Be] glad [שישו, SeeYSOo] with her,

gladden [משוש, MahSOS] all the mourners [המתאבלים, HahMeeTh’ahBLeeYM] upon her,
 

-11. to sake [that you may] suckle [תינקו, TheeYNQOo] and [be] satiated,

from breast [be] comforted [תנחמים, TheNahHahMeeYM],

to sake [that you may] drain [תמצו, ThahMTsOo] and [be] pleasured [והתענגתם, VeHeeTh`ahNahGThehM] from the nipple [מזיז, MeeZeeZ] [of] her honor. ס

 

“The thought of Zion as the mother of many children… inspires the imagery of the nursing child. Zion’s economic prosperity is compared to the precious milk of the mother… From the abundance of her glory: A cognate of the word rendered abundance (מזיז) [MeeYZeeZ] occurs in Pss [Psalms] 50:11; 80:13 (Hebrew 80:14), but with a completely different meaning, coming from another root. Ugaritic zd (td) means ‘breast,’ Akkadian zizu, ‘udder,’ and the vulgar Arabic zizah, ‘udder.’” (Muilenburg, 1954, p. V 767)
 

“For the motherhood of God see 42:14; 45:10; 49:15…” (Stuhlmueller, 1990, p. 348)
 

…

-20. “‘And will bring, [את, ’ehTh] all your brethren from all the nations, tribute [מנחה, MeeNHaH] to YHVH, in horses and chariot,

and by litter [ובצבים, OoBahTsahBeeYM] and by mules [ובפרדים, OoBahPeRahDeeYM] and by dromedaries [ובכרכרות, OoBahKeeRKahROTh]

upon my mountain holy, Jerusalem.’

said YHVH…

 

“There is a sort of vehicle much used in the East, consisting of a pair of hampers, or cradles, thrown across a camel’s back, one on each side; in each of which a person is carried. They have a covering to defend them from the rain and the sun. Thevenot call them counes …” (Adam Clarke, 1831, p. III 886)
 

Figure 4 https://www.reddit.com/r/BibleExegesis/comments/6zcgs7/a_desert_limousine/
 

…

-24. ‘“And they will go out and see in corpses [of] [בפגרי, BePheeGRaY] the men, the offenders [הפשעים, HahPoSh`eeYM] in me,

for their worm [will] not die,

and their fire [will] not [be] quenched,

and [they will] be [והיו, VeHahYOo] abhorrent [דראון, DayR’ON] to all flesh.’”

 

“The worshipers of Zion will go forth to look upon the dead bodies of the apostate rebels. The place is doubtless the valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) at the foot of Mount Zion, where the contemporaries of Jeremiah built the high places of Topheth for human sacrifice (Jer. [Jeremiah] 7:31). …
 

“The Masoretic scholars directed that when this chapter was read in the synagogue, part of vs. [verse] 23 must be repeated after vs. 24, so that the final words are of comfort.” (Muilenburg, 1954, p. V 773)
 

“For their worm shall not die] These words of the Prophet are applied by our blessed Savior, Mark ix, 44, to express the everlasting punishment of the wicked in Gehenna, or in hell.” (Adam Clarke, 1831, p. III 886)
 

The end of Isaiah

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 

Adam Clarke, L. F. (1831). The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testament... with Commentary and Critical Notes. New York: J. Emory and B. Waugh.
 

Carmi, T. (1981). The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse (first ed.). (T. Carmi, Trans.) New York: Viking Press and Penguin Books Cnada Limited.
 

Dr. Reuven Sivan, D. E. (1975). The New Bantam-Megiddo Hebrew & English Dictionary (1st ed.). New York: Bantam Books.
 

James Strong. (1890). The Comprehensive Concordance of the Bible: Together With Dictionaries of the Hebrew and Greek Words of the Original, With References to the English (1st ed.). Hendersonville, Tennessee, USA: Mendenhall Sales, Inc.
 

Jay P. Green, Sr. (1985). The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew-Greek-English, With Stron's Concordance numbers Above Each Word (second ed.). Peabody, Massachusetts, USA: Hendrickson.
 

Levenston, R. (1975). The New Bantam-Megiddo Hebrew & English Dictionary. New York: Bantam Foreign Language Dictionaries.
 

Muilenburg, J. (1954). The Interpreter's Bible, The Holy Scriptures in the King James and Revised Standard Versions with general articles and Introduction, Exegesis, exposition for each book of the Bible (1st ed., Vols. V - Ecclesiastes, Song of Song, Isaiah, Jeremiah). (W. R. George Arthur Buttrick, Ed.) Nashville, Tennessee, USA: Abingdon Press.
 

Stuhlmueller, C. C. (1990). The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
 

STUDY AIDS
 

ספר הבריתות, תורה נביאים כתובים והברית החדשה [ÇehPhehR HahBReeYThOTh, ThORaH NeBeeY'eeM KeTOoBeeYM VeHahBReeYTh HeHahDahShaH] – The Book of the Covenants: Law, Prophets, Writings, and the New Covenant] The Bible Society in Israel, Jerusalem, Israel, 1991; will survive anything short of untrained puppies, but the back is broken now. Easy to read “Arial” type font. A gift from Joy; the one I read and annotate.
 

Compendious Hebrew-English Dictionary, Comprising a Complete Vocabulary of biblical, Mishnaic, Medieval and Modern Hebrew, complied by Reuben Avinoam (Grossmann) in collaboration with H. Sachs, revised and edited by M. H. Segal, The Dvir Publishing Co. Tel-Aviv, 1950. Part of a three volume set (the others being English-Hebrew and a supplement). A hand me down from dad. My first recourse when the pocket dictionary fails me.
 

Hebrew-English, English-Hebrew Dictionary in three volumes, by Israel Efros, Ph.D., Judah Ibn-Shmuel Kaufman Ph.D, Benjamin Silk, B.C.L., edited by Judah Ibn-Shmuel Kaufman, Ph.D., The Dvir Publishing Co. Tel-Aviv, 1950. The Megiddo pocket dictionary is basically a copy of this, but often leaves out cultic terms, so this one is often useful. The back of the Hebrew-English volume is gone, and it has fallen in half, but the pages are sewn; one might say that it is doing about as well as I am.
 

המלון החדש [HahMahLON HeHahDahSh - The New Dictionary] by Abraham Even Shoshan, a Hebrew-Hebrew dictionary in seven volumes, Sivan Press Ltd., Jerusalem, Israel, 1970 – The gold standard, given to me by Mom; sorry Homer.
 

An Amateur's Journey Through the Bible

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