Scriptures for the Whole House of Israel
CHAPTER 21

1. The oracle [concerning] the uninhabited land in the west: "Just as the windstorms in the Negev start up afresh, from the wilderness it comes, from a fearsome land!

  Uninhabited land: wilderness or pasture-land, but possibly another reference to Bavel on the mystery level, referring prophetically to another nation that shares Babylon's characteristics and is decimated by the lands described below, yet is in the west, unlike literal Bavel. That western land was largely uninhabited in Yeshayahu's day. West: or "seaward". Fearsome: or "dreadful".

2. "A severe vision is made known to me: the treacherous one deals treacherously, and the devastator devastates. Ascend, O Eylam! Begin a siege, O Madai! I have made all her groaning to cease.

  Eylam: descendants of Shem's oldest son. Madai: the Medes, a Yafethite people who became, in league with the Persians, the next great regional empire after Babel. Under the rule of Zimri, the fifth king of Israel, the Northern Kingdom was allied with both Eylam and Madai. (Yirm. 25:25) Both of these lands are in present-day Iraq, east of what was then Ashur and Babylonia. Eylam had a substantial coastlien on the Persian Gulf. Prophecies about its downfall fill Yirmiyahu 49 and Y'hezq'el 32. Ascend...: in Yeshayahu 13:17, it is Babylon that Eylam and Madai are attacking.

3. "This is why my abdomen is filled with pain. Pangs have taken hold of me, like the birthpangs of a woman in labor. I writhed when I heard it, and was alarmed when I saw it.

  Abdomen: same word as "waist" in 20:2. Writhed: was bent over, distorted, or twisted. I.e., doubled over in initial shock. But may relate to Babylon's giving birth to wind, unexpectedly. (26:18; see note on 13:8)

4. "My heart staggered; I was overtaken with trembling. He has turned the twilight of the thing I desired into anxious concern for me. 

  Twilight:or "festive evening"; from a root word meaning "blowing". The much sought-after lover has proven treacherous. (v. 2)

5. "Set the table in order; keep watch in the watchtower! Eat, drink, rise up, princes, and anoint a shield,

  In context, it seems that this refers to the night when King Belshazzar saw the handwriting on the wall. (Daniel 5) But the first 19 times this term "table" is used in Scripture (and every time it appears in the Torah) it refers to the Table of Showbread, which represents the unity of the 12 tribes of Israel. So this may be a command to put the twelve tribes back in their proper place, just as Yosef set his brothers in their birth order when he came to dine with them. Anoint: the word from which "Messiah" is derived. Since this is taking place with all twelve tribes present, it is probably in the set-apart place where Israel is hidden during the time of Yaaqov's Trouble. (16:1-5; Y'hezq'el 37:24) Shield: what YHWH said He would be to Avraham. (Gen. 15:1) It is often a symbol of YHWH's trustworthy protection of those He loves. Psalm 84:9 links the two again: "Behold our shield, O Elohim, and pay attention to Your anointed. There it is linked with ascending to the Temple. "Shield" is actually what the "star" of David is called in Hebrew. It is derived from the shape of the pomegranate blossom at the end of David's scepter, and hence is related to the Messianic throne.

6. "because this is what YHWH has told me: ‘Go, station a watchman; let him report what he sees!'

7. "Now [what] he sees [is] a chariot with a team of war-horses, a chariot of a donkey, a chariot of camels. So he listened carefully with intense attention,

8. "and he will proclaim, ‘A lion! Adonai, I myself always stand at the lookout-post by day, and I am on duty at my post every night,

  Lion: or "plucker", "gatherer". Babylon is likened to a winged lion in Daniel 7:4, and this was the insignia on Babylon's Ishtar gates.

9. "‘and here, indeed, comes a man's chariot [with] a pair of war-horses!' So he replied, saying, ‘Babylon has fallen! It has fallen! And all the carved images of its mighty ones He has dashed to the earth!'

  Yochanan echoes this and expands on it in Revelation chapters 17 and 18. So this vision is also for the end times. In a sense," Babylon" sums up the evils of all of the other nations mentioned here. (cf. Zech. 5:5-11)

10. "O that which I have treaded out, and sons of My threshing-floor! What I have heard from YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel [is what] I have made known to you."

  Threshing-floor: where Boaz, a prototype of the Messiah, was winnowing barley the night Ruth, a picture of the returning tribes of Israel, presented herself to him. (Ruth 3:2) The site of the Temple Mount was also a threshing-floor before David bought it. (2 Shmuel 24:16ff; 1 Chron. 21) So these "sons of My threshing-floor" are "children of the Temple" and of the Messiah. There are many parallels to this passage. Yesh. 28:27-28 tells about how different plants are threshed, and this relates to the way grain is made into bread, a picture of how YHWH uses our different gifts to build up His Body (Eph. 4). Then, after being chastised for their sins and bound together, when the nations come against him, Efrayim will have become one that loves to read out grain. (Hos. 10:11) At the time of the Daughter of Tsion's birthpangs, she will be snatched back from Bavel, and the nations that are gathered against her to look upon her to defile her will themselves 
be threshed by the Daughter of Tsion. (Micha 4:9-13)

11. The oracle [concerning] Dumah: "He calls to me from Seir, ‘O watchman! What [is the news] of the night? O watchman! What [is the news] of the night?'

  Dumah: a son of Yishmael. (Gen. 25:14) Watchman: or guard.

12. "A watchman says, ‘The morning is arriving, but also the night! If you will inquire, [then] inquire. Turn back! Come!'"

  Morning...also night: Compare Zecharyah 14:7, where all nations gather against Yerushalayim on this unique day when it is neither day nor night, but it is dark at noon. 


13. The oracle on the Arab: "You shall spend the night in the forest in Arabia, O Dedanite caravans.

  Dedan: one of Kush's sons. Dedan had a son named Ashurim, the plural form of Ashur, which is a Semitic race. This is a picture of how Hebraic truth may be imitated and even multiplied by the Bavel system. (Bavel was also founded by a Kushite, Nimrod.)

14. "The inhabitants of the land of Theyma have brought water to the one who is thirsty; they met the fugitive with their bread,

  Theyma: "desert"; possibly the same as Theyman, which is the Hebrew name for Yemen, and a grandson of Esau.(Gen. 36:11) Its people were known for their wisdom. (Yirm. 49:7) Again, perhaps this oracle indicates hope that a small remnant will be salvaged for YHWH even from the Muslim world.

15. "because they were fleeing from the face of swords, from before drawn swords, and from the presence of the bow bent [by the feet], and from the presence of the weight of battle.

16. "Because this is what Adonai has told me: ‘Still, within a year, according to the year of a hired worker, all the splendor of Qedar will come to an end,

  Qedar: a son of Yishmael. The name means "dark". These people were known for their tents.

17. "and the ones left of those who were counted archers--the mighty men of the sons of Qedar--will be few, because YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, has spoken."


CHAPTER 22

1. The oracle [concerning] the Valley of [Prophetic] Vision: "Now then, what have you got, since all of you have gone up to the housetops?

  Valley of Vision: possibly the Valley of Hinnom outside Yerushalayim, also called the Valley of Decision.

2. "Rumblings fill a boisterous city, a rejoicing city. Your slain are not mortally wounded by the sword, nor have they died in battle.

3. "All of your commanders have retreated together, taken prisoner by a bow; all that are found within you are bound together, having fled from distant 
lands.

4. "Therefore I said, ‘Look away from Me; I will be bitter with weeping. Do not feel pressured to console me, because of the devastation of the daughter of my people,

5. "because [it is] a day of turmoil, [desecration by] trampling down, and perplexity for the Master, YHWH of Armies, in the Valley of [Prophetic] Vision--of breaking down walls and crying to the mountains for help.

  Crying to the mountains for help: compare Psalm 121. This is the same Hebrew term used for the Holocaust.

6. "But Eylam carried the quiver on a chariot of human horsemen, and Qir unveiled the shield.

  Eylam: sometimes a synonym for Persia. Qir: in Mesopotamia (Babylonia); its name means "wall".

7. "And what will take place is that your choicest valleys have been filled with chariots, and the horsemen are indeed stationed at the gate, 

8. "and He has removed Yehudah's covering, and in that day you will look to the weapons of the House of the Forest.

  Yerushalayim realizes she needs to prepare for war. Their last resort is the House of the Forest of Levanon, where King Shlomo stored 300 shields, but still they feel confident that this will be enough. They are looking to their own resources for protection.

9. "You have also noticed that the breaches in the City of David are many, and you will gather the waters of the lower pool,

10. "So you have taken account of the houses of Yerushalayim, and pulled down the houses to reinforce the wall.

  They have promised the owners that they will rebuild their houses after they use their stones for defense. They see it only as a temporary setback.

11. "Then you made a reservoir between both walls for the water of the old pool, but you have not looked to its Maker, nor paid attention to the one who originally formed it long ago.

  Reservoir: Heb., miqvah, the same word as for the ritual immersion pool. The word is based on the word for "hope". Old pool: probably the “upper pool” of 2 Kings 18. Compare Yirmiyahu/Jer. 17:13. They believe they are ready for war, but have left something out of the equation--YHWH!

12. "For in that day YHWH of Armies will summon to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, and to putting on burlap,

  Burlap: or sackcloth, traditionally worn when mourning. Baldness: i.e., shaving of the head in mourning. He has set aside a time for these things: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

13. "yet [what I find] here is joy and gladness, slaying oxen, slaughtering sheep, eating meat, and drinking wine: ‘To eat and to drink, because tomorrow we will die!'

  They are out of season, acting as if it were Purim when it is Yom Kippur. Instead of "afflicting their souls" (Lev. 16:29), they celebrate, feeling they have to resign themselves to their "fate", rather than humbling themselves and admitting they need His help.  

14. "Then YHWH of Armies was revealed in my ears: ‘If this crookedness were to be covered over for you until you die...!', says YHWH of Armies.

  "If...": i.e., they never will; this is one format of swearing an oath in Hebrew. Can these really be His people? Then they come under a stronger condemnation for having known better.

15. "Thus says YHWH of Armies: ‘Go ahead in to this steward, Shevna, who is in charge of the house, [and say],

  Shevna (meaning "vigor") was King Hizqiyahu's secretary.

16. "‘"What belongs to you here? And who do you have here, that you have dug out a tomb for yourself here, hewing out his tomb in an elevated place, and cutting out a dwelling place for himself in a cliff?

  Having some connection with royalty, he thought he deserved to be treated like a king himself. Thus he is a picture of the haSatan, and by extension, the Counterfeit Messiah, in contrast with Y’shua, who only borrowed someone else's tomb. Yet he is literally digging his own grave, and indeed he will need one!

17. "‘"Mark my words: YHWH will throw you with a great hurling, and will certainly cover you up.

  Revelation 19:20 tells us that the Counterfeit Messiah and his false prophet will both be thrown alive into the Lake of Fire (probably the Dead Sea, which used to have bitumin seepage that was set ablaze by lightning until the fissures were sealed off by an earthquake; but the earthquake at Y’shua's return will probably open them back up again.  

18. "He will wind you together violently and whirl you like a ball into a country of broad hands. There you will die, and there are the chariots of your reputation, the disgrace of your master's house.

  Of broad hands: i.e., liberal or vast.

19. "Then I will drive you from your office, and he will pull you down from your position.

20. "And what will take place in that Day is that I will summon My servant, Elyaqim the son of Chilqiyahu,

  Elyaqim means "Elohim raises [him] up." Chilqiyahu means "YHWH is my portion". He was a high priest. (2 Kings 22:8-10; 2 Chron. 34) YHWH's portion is a tithe of the tithe, which He then gives back to the priests for their sustenance.  

21. "and I have dressed him in your tunic and will strengthen him with your waistband, and I will commit your authority into his hand, and He will come to serve as a father to the inhabitants of Yerushalayim and to the House of Yehudah,

  In contrast to the Counterfeit Messiah, YHWH will be in full support of the one He has raised up. It is becoming clearer that this is speaking of the true Messiah. Waistband: one of the priestly garments, and part of the description of the glorified Y'shua in Rev. 1:13. Thus He is King and Priest, after the order of Melchitzedeq.  

22. "and I will set the key of the House of David on his shoulder, so that what he opens no one is closing, and what he closes no one is opening.

  Yeshua quotes this in Rev. 3:7, stating that he is the one to whom this is referring. I.e., he will rule with a rod of iron; what He binds will not be loosed. "Key" also relates to music in Hebrew as in English, and specifically is used in relation to the music of the Temple.

23. "And I will drive him [fast] like a nail into a sturdy place, and he will provide a throne of honor to his ancestor's household, 

  His ancestor: David. Sturdy: reliable; Yeshua's kingdom is stable and firmly established. (2:2; 16:5)

24. "and they will hang on him all the honor of his ancestor's household--the offspring and the offshoots, the vessels for small matters, from ritual bowl-utensils to all the pitcher-utensils. 

25. "‘In that Day', declares YHWH of Armies, ‘the nail that is driven into a sturdy place will give way, break off, and fall down, and the load that was on it will be cut off', because YHWH has spoken.

  This verse seems to refer to Shevna, not Elyaqim, the one already in place and appearing firmly so, while in reality he is not.


CHAPTER 23

1. The oracle [concerning] Tzur: "Howl, shipmen of Tarshish, because it has been violently destroyed, without house, without entrance; from the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.

  Tzur: Tyre, whose king is likened to haSatan in Y'chezq'el 28, a passage that parallels chapter 14 above in regard to Bavel. But Babylon eventually destroyed Tzur, just as we see the Beast's system in Revelation turning on and destroying the harlot--which is exactly how Tzur is described below. Tzur's name means "rock", because it was built offshore for a better harbor. It was small, but became one of the most powerful seaports in the then-known world because of its willingness to transport other people's goods. This trade made them very wealthy. Kittim: meaning "bruisers", it refers specifically to one of the sons of Yawan, ancestor of the Greeks, but in particular Cyprus or other islands of the northern Mediterranean. Later it became a euphemism for Rome. (See v. 12) But the term is also sometimes associated with Rome in Jewish tradition. Tarshish: a Phoenician colony in the Western Mediterranean or perhaps further west.

2. "Be silent, you island-dwellers; the traffickers of Tzidon who cross the sea have replenished you,

  Island-dwellers: or "residents of the coastland". Tzidon: often called Sidon, on the levant of the Mediterranean north of Israel near Tzur. It was the hometown of Izabel (Jezebel), who acquired wealth for Israel's king, whom she married, but also dominated him. Compare the way Israel (Yehudah) today waits for permission from the United States tbefore making any major tactical decision. But the United States is also enslaved to the Babylon system which is unifying the world's economy, and if "Babylon" ever turns on her, our system, which, like Tzur's, is based on no substance of its own anymore, will have no foot to stand on. On the end-times prophetic level, this is probably (at least in part) what is being described here.

3. "and by great waters, the seed of Shikhor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue, and she was a merchant of nations.

  This is nearly identical to what is said of Babylon in Rev. 17, 18. Merchant: could also read "bazaar" or "mall". Shikhor means "darkness", and was the name of one of the branches or canals of the Nile. On one level, in our day, the United States of America are in the same position, seemingly undefeatable like a rock (Tzur) and both master of the seas and of trade.

4. "Be ashamed, Tzidon, because a sea has answered the safe harbor of the sea, saying, ‘I do not go into labor or give birth; neither do I cause young men to grow up, nor raise maidens.

  The sea is often a picture of the Gentile nations, where Efrayim and Menashe, whom Yaaqov said would "multiply like fishes" (Gen. 48:16), have been hidden. Christianity's symbol has been a fish since Y’shua told His disciples to go like fishermen to find them (echoing Yirmiyahu 16:16). But it was in the midst of the Land (after they return) that they would become great, not in the sea; they are meant to be brought back to their land, because this "sea" does not bring Israel's children to maturity. She only derives revenue from them; they are not hers, and what she provides is empty.

5. "Like the report to Egypt, they will also writhe in pain according to the report of Tzur.

6. "Pass over to Tarshish! Howl, island-dwellers!  

7. "Is this your triumphant city, whose antiquity is from ancient days? Her own feet carry her far away to live as a sojourner.

  As a sojourner: can connote "in fear". While prior to this she was a colonizer, she will now be a refugee. Feet: a term linked with the pilgrimage festivals in Hebrew, and indeed the festivals substituted for YHWH's have carried people far away from the truth--the reason Efrayim is in exile.

8. "Who has devised this plan against Tzur, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honored ones of the earth?

9. "YHWH of Armies [is the one who] has devised it, to dishonor the pride of all glory, and to make of little account all the ones in the earth who are gaining glory.

10. "Pass through your land like a [mighty] river, O daughter of Tarshish; there is nothing left to hold it back.

11. "He stretched out his hand over the sea; He disturbed kingdoms. YHWH has given a command against Kanaan, to annihilate its safe harbors,

  Kanaan: means "merchant", "trafficker", but also the region where Tzur and Tzidon lay.

12. "and He has said, ‘You will never again be triumphant, O maiden daughter of Tzidon who is pressed down! Rise up and cross over to Kittim, but there is no rest for you even there.'

  Cross over to Kittim: Rome calls her "separated brethren" back to her, and some will indeed heed that call back to the "original church", and form one church again, but those who are true Israelites will find no satisfaction there. This is how YHWH will expose its emptiness, and many may realize that they truly belong to Israel instead, though but that time they will need to suffer much for having realized it so late.

13. "Behold, the land of the Chasdim! This is the people who never existed! Ashur founded it for the desert-dwellers. They set up its watchtowers, and they have laid bare its palaces, and made it a ruin.

  Chasdim: Chaldeans, an area that includes Babylon, the city that builds its system on a lie, and so is an "unreal" place. The American colonies, likewise, were originally founded for trade purposes, and were built out of fragments of many nations which were not a particular ethnic grouping prior to this. "Out of many, one" is her motto, but this means she is in a sense an "artificial nation". Its money now is not solid wealth, but nearly all computer software, thus with no real backing--based on the Law of Admiralty, which is the law of the sea, where much is based on credit rather than real wealth.

14. "Wail, O shipmen of Tarshish, because your place of refuge is devastated!

15. "And what will take place in that Day [is that] Tzur will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king; from the end of the seventy years it will be for Tzur like the song of a prostitute.

  Days of one king: David lived seventy years. Song of a prostitute: the system that made her wealthy will turn and destroy her after she is "used up". (Rev. 17:16)

16. "Take up a harp; walk around the city, you forgotten prostitute! Play the stringed instrument beautifully; enlarge your [repertoire of] songs, so that you may be remembered!

  She needs to attract business in other ways than through her beauty, being old, unlike Sarah, the mother of Israel, who remained beautiful in old age.

17. "Then what will take place at the end of the seventy years is that YHWH will punish Tzur, and she will return to her hire-price, and commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the earth on the surface of the ground.

18. "But her profits and her hire-price will be set apart to YHWH; it will not be stored up or hoarded, because her profits will be for those who remain in the presence of YHWH, to eat to [their] satisfaction and for splendid covering."

  She will again be a merchant, but the wealth of the wicked will be laid up for the righteous. When Bavel betrays Tzur, the profits go to Israel, her erstwhile ally. Splendid: durable, eminent, surpassing. Yet a harlot's hire could not be brought into the Temple, and no priest may marry one. (Lev. 21:14)


CHAPTER 24

1. Behold, YHWH is emptying out the Land and making it a wasteland! He has changed the shape of its face, and has caused its inhabitants to be scattered abroad.

2. And the priest has come to be just like the people, the master just like the servant, the mistress just like the maidservant, the seller just like the buyer, the borrower just like the lender, and the debtor just like the creditor.

3. The land will be utterly emptied out and plundered, because YHWH has spoken this word.

  The same is said of Bavel/Babylon. (Rev. 18:19)

4. The Land has mourned and withered away; the civilized world has been exhausted and the people elevated [over all the others] are drooping.

5. Even the Land is profaned under its inhabitants, because they have crossed the line [in regard to] instructions and overstepped a limit, and violated an eternal covenant.

6. Therefore a curse has devoured the Land, and its inhabitants are [left] desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the Land are scorched, and a trifling few are left [alive].

7. The new wine is mourning, the vine is drooping, and the joyful of heart are groaning.

8. The rejoicing of tambourines has stopped; the uproar of those who are triumphant has come to an end. The mirth of the harp has ceased.

9. With a song they will not drink wine; intoxicating drink will be bitter to its drinkers.

10. The city of unreality is wrecked; every house has been tightly shut so there can be no entering.

  Unreality: emptiness, shame, formlessness, or confusion--which is what results from assimilating many peoples. On the largest scale, this is "Babylon", the counterfeit of Yerushalayim, which gains all its "reality" from being a mimicry of it. Wrecked: maimed or broken down.

11. An outcry for wine is in the streets. All joy is mixed; the rejoicing of the land is removed.  

  Wine: a symbol of joy. Mixed: or darkened as at evening. Removed: or uncovered, rendered naked, shown to be without substance.

12.What is left in the city is appalment and ruins; the gates are shattered,

13. because this is how it will come to be in the heart of the Land, among the peoples, like the shaking around an olive tree, and like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is finished.

  Shaking around an olive tree: i.e., that causes the last of the olives to drop off.

14. They will lift up their voice; they will shout for joy at the majesty of YHWH. They will give a shrill cry from the sea.

  Shrill cry: with the connotation of brightness, like the Song of Moshe and Miryam after coming from the Reed Sea. But "from the sea" here may also refer to the time after the Land is made desolate again when the Counterfeit Messiah takes it over and is conquered, many Israelites will come from outside the Land, praising YHWH for defeating the Babylonian system and re-peopling the Land with the truly obedient. (v. 16)

15. So cause YHWH to be heavily honored in the light of fire, the name of YHWH the Elohim of Israel on the seacoasts!

  Lights of fire: Urim, so possibly referring to the articles by which the High Priest discerns YHWH's will.

16. From the corners of the earth, we have heard songs of praise: "Honor to the righteous!" But I said, "Leanness for me! Leanness for me! Woe to me! The treacherous have betrayed me with deceit! The treacherous have betrayed me!"

  Corners: literally, "wings". Treacherous: the Counterfeit Messiah and his system.

17. Terror, the pit, and a snare-trap are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!  

  There is a word play here. In Hebrew, "Terror" is pachad, "pit" is pachath, and "snare-trap" is pach. They turn out to have the same effect. Inhabitant of the earth: perhaps those who call themselves "citizens of the world".

18. Because those who escape from the noise of the terror will fall into the pit, and the one who climbs up from within the pit will be captured in the snare-trap, because the lattices from on high have been thrown open, and the foundations of the earth will shake! 

  Lattices: windows in the ceiling without glass to let smoke out or sluices to let rain in, but the word comes from "to lie in ambush", connoting a place from which a surprise attack can come. There is no way out.

19. The earth has completely broken itself up! The earth is cracked all the way through! The earth is slipping and tottering!

  Is...broken up: or "has become utterly evil".  

20. The earth will reel back and forth, staggering like a drunkard, and has been swaying like a hut! The punishment for its transgression will be heavy upon it. Then it will fall, and never rise again!

21. And what will take place on that day is that YHWH will muster the army of the heights on the heights and the kings of the earth on the ground for review,

22. and they have been gathered together as prisoners are gathered into a dungeon, and they have been locked up in the prison, and will be visited [with punishment] after many days.

  Perhaps this correlates with haSatan being bound for 1,000 years. (Rev. 20)

23. Then the moon will blush and the sun will be ashamed when YHWH of Armies reigns on Mount Tsion and in Yerushalayim, and His glorious elders in front [of Him].

  The sun and the moon will diminish in importance. (Rev. 21:23) They have even been worshipped in the past, but will become "has-beens". If we stand in awe of anything besides YHWH, we are not truly standing in awe of Him. Yosef's dream linked the sun with his father and the moon with his mother. The mother of Yosef's children is now for the most part the Church, which will diminish greatly after its purpose of preserving Israel in exile has been served. These elders may be the 24 elders around His throne (Revelation 4, 5, 11, 19).


CHAPTER 25

1. O YHWH! You are my Elohim! I will extol You! I will praise Your Name, for You have accomplished an extraordinary thing! [Your] purposes from long ago are steadfastness and reliability,

  Long ago: or "far away". Reliability: firmly rooted, so that we need not waver or be "tossed around by every wind of doctrine".

2. because You have made a heap of stones out of a city; a fortified town [You have made] into a fallen ruin; [You have taken] from a citadel of foreigners [the status of being] a city, never to be rebuilt forever.

  Aramaic: "A temple of Gentiles will never be built in the city of Yerushalayim!"

3. Therefore a fierce people will honor You; a town of the ruthless Gentiles will fear You,

  Ruthless: or "terrifying".

4. because You have been a refuge for the poor, a place of protection for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm, a source of shade from the dry heat, when the wind of the ruthless is like a storm [which beats against] a wall.

  Needy: one especially subject to oppression. Wind: blast, breath, or spirit.

5. Like the heat in a parched land,You will bring down the roar of those alienated--[and bring relief in] dry heat by the shadow of a cloud; the song of the ruthless will be answered.

  Like the heat in a parched land: actually two words that double as proper names, so this could read, "[It is] like Chorev [Mt. Sinai] in Tsion". Both are called "the mountain of Elohim/YHWH". (e.g., Ex. 3:1; Micha 4:2; Yoel 2:1) Mystically this is also borne out by the fact that the numeric value of "Sinai" in Hebrew is the same as "stairway"--what Yaaqov saw in his dream/vision on Mt. Moryah, which is physically connected to Mt. Tsion. 

6. Then YHWH of Armies will prepare for all the peoples a feast of the finest [foods], a feast of the dregs of wine--the finest [foods] full of marrow, [and] the dregs of refined wine.

  Full of marrow: or "blotted out".

7. And on this mountain He has engulfed the face of the covering that envelops all peoples, and the web that is woven over all nations.

  Aramaic, "The face of the great one who is master over all peoples, the face of the king who rules all nations will be annihilated on this mountain." I.e., the Counterfeit Messiah will be destroyed on Mt. Tsion (v. 5). Web: or veil. Nations: or "Gentiles". On Mt. Moryah, which is connected to Tsion and thus considered one with it, Y’shua was crucified, and the veil of His flesh (Heb. 10:20) was torn, at which time Gentile soldiers became aware that He was Elohim's Son. (Matt. 27:51ff) Nearby, after His resurrection, it was a "face covering" that convinced His disciples that He had indeed risen from the dead. (Yochanan 20:7) Moshe had to put a veil over his face to hide the fact that the evidence of having been in YHWH's presence was fading away. (2 Cor. 3:11-14) Paul, who was blinded by a view of the unfading face of Y’shua, says the same type of veil remains over anyone who reads the Hebrew Scriptures until people turn to the Messiah. Another kind of eye-covering is to be removed when the Northern Kingdom returns to the covenant. (Rom. 11:25) He longs to reveal YHWH's presence to us, but this will not occur magically, just as when the veil in the Temple was torn, a way was opened into the Holy Place where we can serve YHWH, but we still have to enter in. Through Y'shua, we are free to look behind the veil at the treasures YHWH hid for kings to search out. We have been made kings and priests (Rev. 1:6), but most choose not to do so, because they do not wish to look into the depths of the Hebrew Scriptures or the Temple, which both give us multitudes of details about who He is (Luk. 24:44) and who we can now be through Him--one new man. We are called to be that man, and no longer walk like Gentiles who have a darkened understanding. (Eph. 4:17ff). Priests and kings in Israel are servants, not overlords.  

8. He has swallowed up death in everlasting victory! And Adonai YHWH will wipe away tears from off every face, and He will remove the reproach of His people from off all the earth, because YHWH has spoken.

  Everlasting victory: endurance, perpetuity, or simply "everlastingness". Aramaic, "They will forget death forever." Paul describes this as being "further clothed" like having a tent enclosed by a building (2 Cor. 5:4)--the "sukkah" that is in the Holy of Holies. (Psalm 18:11) Scientists might describe it as taking on added dimensions of existence which are no longer mortal. Wipe away: or "obliterate".

9. And in that Day [someone] will say, "Behold, this is our Elohim! We have lingered, waiting eagerly for Him, and He will deliver us! This is YHWH! We have lingered, waiting eagerly for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation!"

10. Because YHWH's hand will rest on this mountain, and Moav will be trodden down under Him just as straw is trampled into the water of the manure pile.

  Hand will rest: Aramaic, "might will be revealed".

11. And He has spread out His hands in its midst as the swimmer spreads out his hands to swim, and He has humbled its pride along with the tricks of their hands,

12. and the inaccessibility of the secure height of your walls He has caused to bow down, laid low, and caused to touch the ground until [they are] dust.


CHAPTER 26

1. In that Day this song will be sung in the Land of Yehudah: "We have a strong city! Salvation will constitute walls and ramparts!

2. "Open [the] gates, so a righteous nation that keeps faith may enter!" 

  A righteous nation: Rabbinical teaching identifies this as the "lost tribes" of the Northern Kingdom--once they again constitute a nation. That is the task for today. Keeps faith: or "gives heed to the truth", "treasures up faithfulness", "protects trust". We guard the faith by laying down our lives for one another. To be ready to go to war, one must first be able to trust the one who will be beside him in the foxhole. We must thus become trustworthy to one another.

3. You will blockade in perfect soundness the mind that is rested upon You, because he has bold confidence in You.

  Perfect soundness: both words are "shalom" in Hebrew. Mind that is rested upon You: literally, "framework [that is] supported [on] You." Aramaic, "on Your Memra", i.e., Y’shua, YHWH's "Word that was made flesh" . "Framework" is also the word for "inclination" and is used in Hebrew for our inclinations toward good or evil. We must "lean" both of them on Him--surrender to Him not just our propensity to do wrong, but our ideas of what is right. When Yeshayahu was commanded to walk naked to communicate a prophecy, it certainly went against his sense of what was right, yet YHWH had commanded it. When YHWH told Israel to destroy even the women and children of Kanaan, it would not seem right to the natural mind, but YHWH had His reason for it. Our own hearts are not trustworthy foundations on which to rest our inclinations. (Yirmiyahu 17:9)

4. Have bold confidence in YHWH continuously forever, because in Yah YHWH is an eternal rock,

  Rock: i.e., strength; a sure foundation.

5. because He causes those who dwell [on] the heights to be bowed down; He will lay low the town that is set securely in an inaccessible place! He will cause it to be humbled [all the way] to the ground; He will cause it to hit the dust.

  Set securely: with the connotation of smugness and hostility.

6. The foot will trample it down--the foot of the afflicted, and the footfalls of the needy.

7. The pathway for the righteous is [one] of levelness. [O You who have been] upright, may You level out the track of the righteous!  

  Pathway: the picture is one of piers being built to support a highway. Levelness: uprightness, straightness, evenness, smoothness, equity, correctness. It gives us the sense of being balanced between all the virtues; if we have more of one than another, we become deformed. We all need each other to balance each other out, because none of us has all the characteristics of what YHWH wants in their fullness. Track: from a word for "round", thus hinting at the pathway around the year, through the festival calendar of appointments with YHWH.

8. Oh, the pathway of Your legal proceedings, YHWH! We have been eagerly lingering in expectation of You! The longing of our soul is for Your Name and for what we remember of You!

  Eagerly lingering: at root, the term means "binding together". The highway is built through our binding ourselves together on the basis of justice, judgment, and the order of authority that YHWH has established. What we remember of You: our longing is to be back in His presence--the essence of Eden.

9. With my passion I have craved You by night; even more, with my spirit in my innermost being will I seek You earnestly, because when Your [just] legal proceedings [come] to the earth, those who remain of the civilized world will learn righteousness.

  Earnestly: or early. Learn righteousness: it is not just something we inherit by virtue of being in Messiah, but something that one must learn (which in Hebrew means be prodded or goaded to do).  

10. The guilty one has been given grace; yet he has not learned righteousness. Even in a land where everything is the way it should be, he will [still] deviate, and will still not perceive the excellency of YHWH.  

  In a land where...: or "in a land of honesty", "rightness", "straightness". In Y’shua's Kingdom, where all is indeed put right, and there is no injustice or any reason to complain, there will still be some who test His resolve (Zech. 14:18) and who rebel at the end when haSatan is loosed and their true colors show up (Rev. 20:7ff), though suppressed for a thousand years!  

11. O YHWH, Your hand is lifted high, yet still they cannot perceive, but they will see and be ashamed of their jealous ardor against the people. In fact, the fire of Your oppressors will devour them.

12. O YHWH, You will set total well-being in place for us, because You have worked into us all our achievements as well.

  The Renewed Covenant echoes this: Many people are familiar with the verses, "By [YHWH's] added provision we are rescued, through faith, and [even] that is not from ourselves; it is YHWH's gift, so that no one may boast", and rightly think that this excludes "works-salvation". But the following verse brings the balance: "...because we are His workmanship, created in Messiah unto [particular] good works, which YHWH has ordained in advance for us to walk in." (Eph. 2:10) Many think that if we do "good works" we must not have faith, but this is very unscriptural; it is only a matter of who receives the credit. "It is YHWH who is operative in you, both [making you] want to and [also] prove it by carrying out the good things that please Him." (Phil. 2:13) As His intent was for Pharaoh's heart to be hard in order to accomplish His purposes, He has put it within the hearts of the righteous to do what is right, so that He ultimately gets all the credit, being All in all. In other words, it is Y’shua in us who initiates and makes the works possible (as v. 13 echoes), and we only participate in them, but by all means YHWH desires the works! 

13. O YHWH, our Elohim, [other] masters besides You have lorded it over us, [but] only in You will we cause Your name to be remembered.

  In the past we have used other names for YHWH as well, and many of them turn out to have been the names of pagan deities after all. Though our hearts were right, we were actually giving honor to others. But now we have only one Name for YHWH; we need not have any others on our lips. Cause...to be remembered: or "make mention of..."

14. Being dead, they will never live; having sunk down, they will never arise, so You have mustered them for review, and will annihilate them, and cause all memory of them to vanish.

  When the books are opened, by tradition, those who are in the "Book of the Wicked" will be blotted out of YHWH's memory--and if He has no memory of them, how can they exist at all? They were extra "stage props" created only to teach and sharpen the righteous and accomplish other purposes of YHWH's.

15. You have added to the nation; You have gained honor! You have far extended all the borders of the Land.

  You have added to: Aramaic, "You were revealed to gather the dispersed of..."

16. O YHWH, in tight spots they [began to] miss You. They poured out a whisper; they had Your chastening.

  Miss You: or "seek You in vain". Poured out a whisper: or "pressed out a whispered prayer".  

17. Just as a pregnant woman whose delivery is drawing near writhes in pain and cries for help, so have we become from before Your face, O YHWH.

  The setting is clearly "the Birthpangs of the Messiah". We have become: Aramaic, "because we are sinners before You."

18. We have conceived; we have been having birthpangs, as if we were giving birth to wind! We have not brought about any deliverance in the Land; the ‘citizens of the world' have not fallen, either!

  Wind: perhaps merely indigestion from eating non-kosher foods, an empty thing--or perhaps "spirit", as in the spirit of the Torah without the letter, without the actions. Aram., "whose time to deliver speeds as the wind". Deliverance: Heb., yeshuah. It seems as if our prayers and our efforts to become the people of Israel, united under one King, have been in vain, because the enemy (the one-world order) still presses in upon us and has hemmed us in!

19. Your dying ones will be restored to life! My fallen ones will arise! Wake up and give an overcoming shout of joy, O you who are settling into the dust, because night mist is the daybreak of your dew, and the earth will cause the slackers to fall!

  My fallen ones: those who have dropped, languished, drooped, withered, or faded. Dew: associated in Hebrew lore with the resurrection, based on this verse. Cause the slackers to fall: some render it, "cast out the dead". Aramaic, "They have not done wonders, nor will they be able to."

20. Come, My people! Enter into your [innermost] chambers, and shut your doors behind you; withdraw [and keep yourself hidden] for just a moment until the Indignation has passed over,

  Innermost chambers: Like the Holy of Holies, but this term has a special meaning in regard to the nuptial chamber of a bride and groom, for while YHWH's wrath overthrows the wicked, the Messiah, our bridegroom, will bring us into the wedding chamber He has built in His Father's house. (Yochanan 14:6) Shut your doors: Leave outside whatever is not holy unto YHWH, retiring further from the rest of the world to be closer to Him (Psalm 31:19), just as on the Sabbath we leave everything else undone. We affect the spirit realm by the doors we open or shut through our very words, speech, attitudes, and even thoughts. (Mat. 5:28) We are commanded to always be joyful (not happy) in YHWH at all times, so it is possible to decide what our attitude is going to be. The Indignation: a special term for YHWH's final overthrow of Babylon when the tables are turned to prepare for Y’shua's Kingdom. This appears to be just like the first Passover in Egypt, when YHWH hid Israel indoors--in Egypt--while He destroyed Egypt. (Compare Psalm 91:7-8) Only this time it will overshadow it in magnitude so greatly that Yirmiyahu 16:14 says we will no longer even remember the first one! We rehearse it now when we keep the feast, but we are preparing to be (corporately) a Holy of Holies in which He can dwell. As at the Temple, it is entered by putting off self and ascending to greater degrees of holiness.

21. because here comes YHWH out from His place to punish the occupiers of the Land for their perversity, and the earth will lay bare her blood, and no longer conceal her slain.

  The bloodguilt of millennia will all come to light, and those guilty will be summoned [another translation of "punish"] before the Kinsman Redeemer as He fulfills His other role--that of the avenger of blood for His murdered relatives. The scenario appears to be that the enemies have hemmed Israel in while we are again encamped in the wilderness with all tribes together, so all stand to be slaughtered at once. (v. 18) Then, having led them into a trap, YHWH's fire suddenly bursts forth from His tabernacle, a surprise attack that destroys them all. Yeshua's blood needs to be on our "lintel" to escape His judgment this time.  


CHAPTER 27

1. In that Day YHWH will punish Livyathan, the fleeing serpent, with His unbending, great, and mighty sword--Livyathan, the distorted serpent--and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

  Fleeing serpent: like Hydra, the constellation that tells its story. (See also Revelation 12) Aramaic: "the king who exalts himself like Pharaoh the first king (cf. Y'hezq'el/Ez. 29:3), and the king who prides himself like Sennacheriv, the second", i.e., the Counterfeit Messiah. But the root word for Livyathan is "to join" or "unite", so we could call it "the Great Uniting", reminiscent of the early U.S. flag that said "Join or Die" and depicted fragments of a snake. Today Livyathan aims to join all nations together into one, hinted at by the description in Revelation 12, 13, and 17 where it has seven heads, not just one. Distorted serpent: the one who was once magnificent but became crooked, twisted, "bent out of shape". In contrast, His sword (His Word, Eph. 6:17) does not bend; it is straight and stiff, and severe to the one who does not measure up. (66:16)

2. In that Day--a vineyard of pure, foamy red wine! Be busy for it!

  Be busy for it! Or possibly, "Sing to it!" The Aramaic targum identifies the vineyard as Israel. (Ch. 5)

3. "I, YHWH, am watching over it. I will irrigate it moment by moment, lest anyone pay it attention. Night and day I will guard it.

  Watching over it: guarding it, hedging it about. Pay it attention: seek it out (perhaps with the intent to damage it), come across it, or attend to it. (It is His and He is the shepherd; He will have no hireling do the job again.) Or, "number it" (i.e., count it as one of the nations, as if they owned it).

4. "I have no fiery wrath; who would set briar of thornbush against Me in battle? I would march through them! I would set them all ablaze together!

  He would like to just burn the whole field off since there are so many tares, but He has discovered a healthy vine in its midst, and will therefore pause to transplant it before carrying out His justice.

5. "Or let him tightly take hold of my place of protection that He may make peace with Me; let him make peace with Me!"

  He would prefer this outcome. "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live!" (Y'hezq'el 33:11) "Mercy triumphs against judgment", but there are conditions for this: 

6. Those who come in, He will cause to become the root of Yaaqov; Israel will blossom when it has sent out shoots, and it will fill the face of the inhabited world with [fruitful] increase.

  Come in: i.e., surrender to His terms (v. 5). Those who were not Avraham's physical descendants can still be grafted into him, and become as much Israelites as any others. (See Yeshua's parable of the laborers in Matithyahu 20.)  But this does not just “happen”; it must be a deliberate choice.  

7. Has He caused him to be beaten like the blows [given to] the one who was attacking him? Or has He been killed as His slain were killed?

  I.e., did YHWH strike Israel as hard as He struck those who came against Israel? No, He showed Israel more pity.

8. By measure, by sending away, will you contend with her; He will drive out His fierce wind in the day of the east wind.

  By measure: i.e., according to the measure of her sin. Aramaic, "by the measure you were measuring with they will measure against you." (Compare Mark 4:24) By sending away: reminiscent of Hagar. East wind: or "confrontation".

9. Therefore, this is how Yaaqov's guilt will be completely covered, and this is all the fruit to cause His sin to depart: in making all the altar-stones like pulverized limestone; neither consorting-groves for the goddess nor sun-pillars may remain,

  There are steps Israel must take in order to be atoned for. The altar-stones spoken of here are not those of YHWH's altar, but of the pagan altars they have built to other idols.

10. because the inaccessible city [will become] isolated, a meadow forsaken and left to become like a wilderness. There the calf will graze, and there he will stretch out and use up all its branches.

  What becomes of this city seems to parallel the judgment on Babylon (Rev. 18:2). It probably refers to the "united city" of v. 1. YHWH tells Israel, “Do not hesitate to destroy its images, because it is a has-been anyway.” Thankfully, that is not the end of the story.   The calf: a description of the repentant Efrayim in Yirmiyahu 31:18.

11. When its boughs dry up, they will be broken off; women come and light them [on fire], because it is a people with no discernment. Therefore He who made them will have no pity on them, and He who fashioned them will give them no grace.

  Boughs...broken off: Paul appears to be alluding to this in Romans 11 when he says the grafted-in branches could yet be broken off if they were not fruitful. A people of no discernment: describes Israel in 1:3; Deut. 32:28; Yirmiyahu 8:8; Hos. 4:6. Without the right kind of discrimination, we will end up no better than the nations who do not have the Torah. Once Israel was called "Lo-Ammi" (not My people) and "Lo-Ruhamah" (Not Pitied), but YHWH has reversed this (Hos. 1:10), and now it is the ones who counted on "grace" who will be "Lo Am-Binoth" and "Lo-y'Rahamenu"; He uses the same terminology, without the personal relationship.  

12. But what will take place in that Day is that YHWH will thresh from the flowing of the river to the wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, O descendants of Israel.

  The flowing of the river: the Aramaic identifies it as the Ferath/Euphrates, which never dries up except on one special occasion. These borders delineate the Land of Israel. (Gen. 15:18) Thresh...Gathered up: picked up as when gleaning, separating the wheat from the tares. Aramaic, "brought near". One by one: compare Yirm./Jer. 3:14. We are experiencing this in its infancy stages now.

13. Then what will occur in that Day is that a great shofar will be blown, and those who [were] perishing in the land of Ashur will come along with those who [were] outcasts in the land of Egypt and prostrate themselves to YHWH on the Mountain of Holiness in Yerushalayim!

  Great shofar: an element of Yom Kippur ceremonies. Perishing: or being exterminated. Outcasts: those thrust out, or those banished. From what follows, it is clear this is speaking about the Northern Kingdom.


CHAPTER 28

1. Alas [for the] crown of pride of Efrayim's drunkards and the shining head-plate [that is] fading, the decoration of his rank which is on the head of the valley of fatness of those who are overcome with wine!

Drunkards: LXX, hirelings. Head-plate: Aramaic, turban. Fading: or "drooping", "dropping down".

2. Behold! Adonai has a strong and courageous one, like a hailstorm or a terror of destruction, like a flood of powerful, overflowing waters [that] He lets down onto the Land by hand.

  Hailstorm: or possibly a meteorite shower. Overflowing: or "washing off, rinsing", as in cleaning it up. The Aramaic targum's interpretation is that this refers to a Gentile army.

3. The crown of pride of Efrayim's drunkards will be trampled underfoot,

4. along with the shining head-plate [that is] fading, the decoration of his rank which is on the head of the valley of fatness, like the firstfruit before the summer, which the inspector looks at; he swallows it while it is still in the palm of his hand.

5. In that Day YHWH of Armies will become the crown of decoration and the diadem of rank for the remnant of His people,  

  No one will boast about rank once He demonstrates how much weightier He is than all of them.

6. and a spirit of justice for the one who sits on the court of judgment, and bravery for those who turn back the battle at the gate.

  Bravery…at the gate: a literal promise, but also, metaphorically, the strength He gives us to battle temptation at our own "eye gate", "ears gate", etc. (Gen. 4:7) 

7. But even these have swerved into error through wine, and wandered off course due to intoxicating liquor. Cohen and prophet have swerved into error due to intoxicating liquor; they have been swallowed up because of wine. They have wandered off course due to strong drink. They meander in [their] prophetic vision; they stumble when reasoning out a verdict, 

   Intoxicating beverage is not forbidden (Ps. 104:5; Prov. 31:6), but we need to weight he profit of using it, for it can deceive us. Drinking “on the job” appears to have been the downfall of the first two cohanim under Aharon, his eldest sons. (Lev. 10) When we need to be clear-headed, not just for our own sakes, but for the sake of the people of Israel, it may not be wise. (Prov. 20:1; 23:31; 31:4) Interestingly, wine was not drunk in the wilderness, and YHWH tied that to knowing Him. (Deut. 29:5-6) Even the prophets are caught up in the paganism of this Bacchanalia.

8. because every table is full of vomit and excrement, without a place [excluded].

  LXX: "A curse will devour this counsel, since it is counsel for the sake of covetousness." The rabbis teach that a table is full of vomit if we eat at it without recognizing YHWH as providing our food.

9. To whom should He direct knowledge? And to whom should He explain the message? To those being weaned from milk, [who are] moving on from the breasts.

Direct: or teach, impart. Moving on: ready to advance beyond the basics--those who are grown up.  

10. Because [it is], "Tzav l'tzav, tzav l'tzav, qav l'qav, qav l'qav", a little there, a little [over] there,

Possibly, "command for command, line to line", if taken in a positive sense. But if the other shoe fits, it is saying that since none of them is mature enough to explain the Torah to the people, and they are too drunk to listen, the Torah sounds like babbling or baby-talk to them, because he is having to keep repeating the most basic precepts and cannot move on to its other applications, because they aren’t even paying attention to the simplest, most literal commands. This appears to be the equivalent of the modern idiom, “blah, blah, blah…” (a corruption of a Latin-based word for “talk”):

11. because with mocking lips and a different language will this people be spoken to, 

Because they parroted the prophet’s words back to him to make fun of him,YHWH will mock them back, confounding them with the unintelligible languages of the peoples to whose lands they will be exiled, to see if they still think so smugly of themselves.

12. to whom He had said, "This is the restingplace; give rest to the weary! This is the refreshing!" But they were not willing to listen.

This seems to be the “message” v. 9 refers to. Restingplace: an area designated for leaving the wearying aspects of life behind, where we can feel at home. Rest: or relaxation. Refreshing: or relief. There are different levels of rest described here, and rituals such as those used to begin the Sabbath can help us progress through them and enter into the relaxation. Sometimes rest is more important than what we want to accomplish, and sometimes mental rest, in which we are assured that though the battle may continue, there is a solution accessible to us, is more important even than physical rest. A parent cannot fully rest until he sees that his children have learned enough of the lessons we want them to learn in order to be prepared to do greater things to repair the world.

13. So YHWH's word to them was , "Tzav l'tzav, tzav l'tzav, qav l'qav, qav l'qav, a little there, a little [over] there", in order that they may proceed, then stumble backward, and be crippled, then ensnared, then captured. 

14. So listen to what YHWH says, you arrogant scoffers who govern this people who are in Yerushalayim!

  Now Judah is acting like the Northern Kingdom did.

15. Because you have been saying, "We have made a covenant with death, and have cut a deal with the grave: when the overwhelming scourge passes by, it will not come upon us, because we have set up a lie as our shelter [something], and have hidden ourselves within what is fraudulent."

  A lie: or "what will disappoint us". This sounds like "selling one's soul to the devil" in exchange for great riches, or taking the idea of resurrection as meaning that it does not matter if we fail to accomplish all we could in this life. Egypt's focus was on death, while the Torah focuses on life, so much so that the High Priest may never touch any dead body.

16. Therefore, this is what the Master YHWH says: "Here I am, laying as a foundation in Tzion a building stone--a stone [that has been] tested and proven, a cornerstone appraised at high value, a well-established foundation; whoever firmly trusts will not act [so] hastily.

  The Aramaic targum says this "stone" is a "great, mighty, and terrifying king. Compare "The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone" (Ps. 118). It is the Messiah. Act hastily: Aramaic, "be shaken when distress comes".

17. "Then I will appoint justice as the measuring line, and righteousness as the plumb-bob, and hail will sweep away the disappointing shelter, and the waters will wash away your hiding place.

  As the measuring line: Heb., "l'qav", one of the phrases they used above in drunken mockery. Plumb-bob: righteousness thus "hangs" on justice, or a system of right ways to rule in court, based on Torah, which upholds it. Righteousness cannot be complete in isolation.

18. "Then your covenant with death will be buried, and your deal cut with the grave will never be ratified. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be directly in its path.

  Buried: or "void, annulled". Ratified: or "established", but in this context it is somewhat sarcastically used, because the word is also commonly used for "resurrected". Directly in its path: literally, "the place for it to trample" or "stampede upon". 

19. Every time it passes through, it will take you, because morning after morning it will pass through, both by day and by night, and making the message understood will be pure horror,

  Making the message understood: LXX, "Understanding this report". Aramaic, "Before the moment of the curse comes, you will consider the sayings of the prophets."

20. because the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the cover is too narrow to wrap oneself in.

  I.e., Egypt is inadequate; you will find no rest in her. If you are not listening to My word, you will remain cold. You will not have a covering (atonement), because faith without works is dead.

21. For YHWH will rise up like Mount Pratzim, and he will be stirred up like the Valley of Giv'on to accomplish His work--His strange work--and to bring about His servitude--His foreign servitude.

  Mt. Pratzim ["breaches"]: Possibly Baal-Pratzim, the scene of David's victory over the Filistines in the Valley of Refayim between Yerushalayim and Beyth Lechem. However, the targum identifies this as "the day the mountains shook when YHWH's glory was revealed in the days of Uzziyahu the king", which would be in the memory of those listening to Yeshayahu's prophecy. Valley of Giv'on: Giv'on is in the mountains, but was the place Y'hoshua told the sun to stand still while he was fighting in the Valley--of the Ayalon. The targum identifies this reference with that time "when YHWH listened to a man" (Y'shoshua 10:14).

22. So now, do not show yourselves to be scorners, lest the bonds [of your chastening] be made severe, because a complete destruction and one that is decisive, is what I have heard from YHWH of Armies in regard to the whole Land.

  I.e., "Your punishment is guaranteed to come, but it can be minimized. Do not prove to be unteachable."

23. Cup your ear and listen to my voice! Pay attention, and listen to what I am saying!

 24. Does the plowman plow all day in order to sow? Does he loosen and break the clods of his ground?

  LXX: "Or will he prepare the seed beforehand, before he tills the soil?" The Aramaic targum identifies the plowman with the prophet and asked what could be done for sinners (the "clods") if they would only listen. 

25. When he has made its surface level, doesn't he scatter the black cummin abroad, then toss the cummin, then set the wheat in straight rows, and mark off the barley with spelt as its border?  

  Black cummin: a plant with small black, acrid seeds used as a spice. Aramaic: "If the House of Israel set their face to perform the Torah, would He not turn back and gather them from among the Gentiles, among whom they are scattered, as dill and cummin which are strewn?"

26. He has even corrected it so it is fitting, as his Elohim directs him, 

  LXX: "So you will be chastened by your Elohim's judgment, and will rejoice." The Aramaic interpretation is similar: YHWH teaches them the correct way through judgment.

27. because black cummin is not threshed with something sharp, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin, since black cummin is to be beaten out with a branch, and cummin with a club.

  Different types of grain are prepared in different ways, and likewise different congregations have different purposes, and different people must be brought to fruitfulness through different means and methods. YHWH has made us all unique, and we each have a unique part to play in His overall plan, but all must be working toward the same goals, as in Hebraic dance we have to lean so far in one direction as to be unbalanced alone, but we hold each other up. But some people are ideal for dealing with one type of problem, or one type of person, but not for another.  

28. Grain is crushed, yet one does not always trample on it to thresh it, but impels it forward with the wheel of his cart, but his horse-team does not pulverize it.

  Discernment is a must. If you want the right result, you need to use more than just one tool. One is used to get the grain to the first stage, then another to deal with the next. You can thresh all day, but you will not have flour until it is also ground, roasted, etc. Preaching the Gospel over and over will not bring someone to maturity. We need everyone's gifts in place in order to build maturity, each in the right measure and at the right time. But unlike grain, a person has to also consent to be threshed. 

29. This, too, emanates from YHWH of Armies, who has brought an extraordinary plan into being, and caused sound knowledge to increase.


CHAPTER 29

1. Alas, Ariel! Ariel! The town where David abode! Add year upon year; let the festivals run their circuit.

  Ariel: "Lion of Elohim", another name for Yerushalayim, perhaps because the Temple appeared like a stylized lion from a distance, with its front facade higher than the rear part and the altar like its paws stretched in front of it. The Aramaic substitutes the word "altar". Run their circuit: i.e., one full year.

2. Then I will press Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation, and it will be like Ariel to Me.

  Compare how YHWH says He will be like a lion to both Efrayim and Yehudah until they repent. (Hos. 5:14; 13:8-9)

3. So I will encamp like a circle over you, and impose a siege on you [with] entrenchment, and raise up ramparts against you. 

  Encamp: the same word as "abode" in v. 1. Ramparts: or battle-towers (the Assyrian style which were attached to battering rams). 

4. Then you will be brought down, and will speak out of the earth, and your voice will be muffled by the dust. Your voice will come from the ground like a spiritist, and your speech will whisper from the dust.

  Muffled: or "humbled", "laid low", "reduced".

5. And the great number of your enemies will be like fine dust, and the vast number of ruthless ones like the chaff that passes through, and it will come suddenly, as a surprise.

  Enemies: literally, "strangers", "aliens"; the targum identifies them as "your dispersed".

6. You will be visited by YHWH of Armies, with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise, whirlwind, storm, and a flame of devouring fire.

7. And the vast number of all the nations who fight against Ariel--those who swell up against her and her stronghold--will become like a prophetic dream and an oracular vision at night.

8. It will even be like when a hungry man dreams that he is eating, but then he wakes up and his appetite is in vain, or like when a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but then he wakes up and is fainting [from thirst] after all. This is how it will be for all the vast numbers of Gentiles who fight against Mount Tsion.

9. Linger and be dumbfounded! Smear your eyes shut and be blind! They are drunken, but it is not wine; they stagger, but it is not intoxicating beverage,

10. because YHWH has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and will cause your eyes to be tightly shut. He has caused the prophets and your heads, the seers, to be concealed.

  Spirit of deep sleep: insensibility, intense shock, dulled senses; Aramaic, "deception". The original Hebrew uses the same word as for the "deep slumber" that YHWH brought over Adam when He wished to create Chavvah/Eve (Gen. 2:21); In Romans 11, Paul quotes this verse and explains how He again uses this method to produce a bride by "putting Israel to sleep"! Compare1 Sh'muel 26:12; Yochanan/John 11:11ff; 1 Thess. 4:14.

11. So the whole vision has become for you like the words of a sealed book, which they give to one who is literate, saying, "Please read this", but he says, "I cannot, because it is sealed."

  Is literate: Literally, "knows books". Only Y’shua can break the seal on a scroll in Revelation 5, which is probably the deed to the earth which Adam "sold". But it may also refer to the proper understanding of the Torah.

12. Then the book is given to one who does not know book[s], saying, "Please read this", but he says, "I am illiterate." 

  I am illiterate: literally, "I do not know books": But perhaps in this case it is because the book is in Hebrew, and they have already begun to think like Gentiles.

13. So YHWH says, "On account of the fact that this people has come close to Me with their mouth and honored Me with their lips, but have removed their heart far away from Me, and their respect for Me is drilled into them by the commandments of mortal men.

  Y’shua quoted this in Matithyahu 15 in regard to the P'rushim (Pharisees). He quotes it as "teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (quoting from the LXX, but in a slightly altered order). We have seen many other examples of that since, such as the Roman Catholic Church as well as some Jewish rabbis, who both say they can overrule the Scriptures for the sake of human traditions. (Mark 7:13) Hoshea was told that the remedy for this is to bring words back to YHWH as the sacrifice of our lips. (14:2)

14. "So here I am, once more doing something hard to understand with this people--something hard to understand and extraordinary--because the wisdom of their learned men has been lost, and the discernment of those who have insight will hide itself.

  Doing something hard: Aramaic, "striking with comprehensive strokes."

15. Woe to those who go down to the depths to conceal their motives from YHWH, and have done their business in dark places, saying, "Who notices us?" or "Who [will] recognize us?"

  Compare Psalm 94:7-15 and Y'hezq'el/Ezk. 8:12ff.

16. Your turning things upside down will be considered like the potter's clay. For will the thing that is made say of its maker, "He did not make me"? Or will what is formed say of the one forming it, "He has no understanding"?

  Or, "You are turning things upside down; will the clay be esteemed like the potter?" No understanding: the Aramaic targum adds, "of me". 

17. Isn't it only a very short while until Levanon returns to being an orchard, and the orchard will be counted as a forest? 

  Will be counted: Aramaic, "will cause many cities to be inhabited".

18. And in that Day, the deaf will hear the words of a book, and out of unresponsiveness and darkness, the eyes of the blind, will see! 

  This is one of the verses Y’shua alluded to when Yochanan the Immerser asked Him (Luk. 7:19) whether He or another like Him was the one who is to come--i.e., if He was both the first and the second Messiah (i.e., "Son of Yosef", the suffering Servant, and the "Son of David", the conquering King). He answered by telling him of the miracles He was performing as signs, because they all foreshadowed the Kingdom when such healings would be the norm. Romans 11 tells us that the full understanding will not be restored to Israel until the "fullness of the Gentiles" (which is Efrayim's seed, Gen. 48:19) begins to return.

19. Then in YHWH the afflicted will again end up having joy, and the abused of humanity will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel, 

  Abused of humanity: literally, the "poor/needy of Adam".

20. because the ruthless has been brought to nothing, the boastful one has proven to be a failure, and all those who look for [opportunities to make] trouble have been cut off--

  The boastful one: broadly, a generic term, but specifically the Counterfeit Messiah.

21. those who induce a man to sin with a word, or lay a snare for one who convicts [them] in the gate, or cause the righteous to be turned aside by a fabrication.

  Convicts: or reproves. In the gate: where the city's seat of judgment is, like a courtroom. Lay a snare: we saw the religious order trying over and over to do this to Y’shua. The righteous: Aramaic, "the innocent". Turned aside: either to change their minds about the verdict, or thrust aside, i.e., to have their case thrown out due to an "empty plea", defrauding them of their rights by "a meaningless argument", or literally, "that which is unreal".

22. Therefore this is what YHWH--the One who redeemed Avraham--says to the House of Yaaqov: "Yaaqov will not be disappointed now, nor will his face grow pale now!

  Be disappointed: or "blush from shame".

23. "Because when he sees his children, the product of My hands, approaching him, they will be treating My Name as sacred, having come to regard the Holy One of Yaaqov as in a class of His own, and they will regard the Elohim of Israel with awe.

  He will provide shepherds who do His will and truly feed His sheep. (Yirmiyahu 3:15-18) Efrayim will then say, "What do we have to do with idols?" (Hos. 14:8-9)

24. "And those who go astray [in] spirit [will] have learned discernment by experience, and those who talk back will learn to take [control of their] words."

  Take control of their words: or "accept instruction", "insight", “persuasiveness”.  


CHAPTER 30

1. Woe [to the] children insistent on making plans, but not from Me, and pouring out a libation, but not of My spirit, in order to heap sin upon sin;

  Insistent: "stubborn" or "rebellious". Pouring out a libation: possibly a customary part of making an alliance. But not of My spirit: Aram., "but do not ask of My prophets.

2. who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking My advice, to be secure in Pharaoh's stronghold, and to seek refuge in the shadow of Egypt.

  Seek refuge: from the threat of Sennacheriv of Assyria. It was all right for Yaaqov, Yaravam (Jeroboam), and even Y’shua's family to seek refuge there, since that was YHWH's will, but do not do so on your own. Egypt is often a picture of the church as sold out to the world system as opposed to being a continuum with the Temple. By doing so, it accepts rulers that are not of YHWH. Israel today is becoming more dependent on Christians and the United States, and therefore making compromises so as to survive economically and find ways around United Nations treaty "solutions". 

3. So Pharaoh's stronghold will become an embarrassment to you, and the refuge in Egypt's shadow, a disgrace,

4. because his princes were in Tsoan, and his messengers will reach Chanes.

  Tsoan: Tanis, the capital of the Hyksos dynasty in Egypt. Chanes: possibly Tahpanhes, a fortified city on Egypt's eastern frontier.

5. They were all dried up on account of a people who could not profit them--neither help nor profit--because [they brought] shame and even scorn. 

6. A burden of beasts of [the] Negev is in the land of distress and pressure, a young lion and a crushing lion, a hissing snake and a fiery flying serpent. They will carry their wealth on the shoulders of 
donkey-colts, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who will not benefit them--

  Burden: "what they bear" (as the Aramaic takes it), but also perhaps "oracle", according to Yeshayahu's pattern (as the LXX renders it). Land of distress: Heb., tzarah, which forms part of the name of Egypt (Mitzrayim, or "two distresses", "two narrow places", perhaps referring to the two green strips between the Nile and the desert, but perhaps also alluding to two occasions when Israel was or will be in straits there).

7. that is, Egypt: in vain and idly they will help. That is why I have called this proud bustling crowd [to] stop.

  In vain: "like a vapor" or "breath"--the same as the name of Hevel, Adam and Chavvah's son. I have summoned this proud bustling crowd to cease: or, "I have cried out concerning this: their strength is to sit still!" I.e., as at the Red Sea, if they would only quiet down and watch, they would see YHWH's deliverance. (Compare v. 15) The word for "proud" or "strength" is Rahav, which is a legendary sea-monster associated with Egypt as well. In this context, it could read, "I have summoned this noisy Rahav to cessation." Or, "I called them Rahav". Stop: that is, abandon your trek to Egypt.

8. Now come, write it on a slab near them and inscribe it in a book so that it may be for the lattermost day, so it continues to exist forever,

  Forever: literally, "all the way up to the age", i.e., the Messianic Kingdom or the age to come following it.. So it continues to exist: Aramaic, "for a witness to me".

9. because this is a rebellious people--deceptive sons, children who will not consent to listen to YHWH's instruction,

  Instruction: Heb., torah.  

10. who tell the visionaries, "Do not have a vision!", and to the seers, "Do not have a straightforward perception for us; proclaim smooth things to us! Prophesy illusions!

  Straightforward: or "correct". Smooth: slippery, flattering. Illusions: or "trifles", "deceit". In other words, present an unrealistic pipe dream, but give it the seal of authoritativeness by your office, so that we can imagine there is hope of it coming true. This sounds very much like today's "Visualize World Peace".

11. "Turn aside from the path; stretch out from [that] way of life. Have the Holy One of Israel take a break from being in our face!"

12. Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "On account of your rejecting this word, so that you may have bold confidence in extortion and devious ways, and may support yourselves on that,

13. "this is what will happen to you: this crookedness [will be] like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a secure, high wall, whose crack comes upon [you] as a sudden surprise.

14. "And its rupture will be like a jar that the potters have broken in pieces. He will not have pity, so there will not be found among its fragments a shard [big enough] to snatch fire from a hearth or to skim water 
from a cistern."

15. For this is what Adonai YHWH, the Holy One of Israel, says: "By repenting and quieting down will you be delivered; your strength will be in being tranquil and trusting." But you were not willing,

  Repenting: or "withdrawing", "turning back", i.e., from their journey from Egypt. It is not about how much noise we can make, but about returning to YHWH, and listening to Him. He doesn't need the press, but He will allow us to participate in His plan, on His terms.

16. and you said, "No, we can flee on horseback!" So you will [indeed need to] flee. And [you said], "We will mount and ride the fleet-footed!" Therefore your pursuers will [also] be light-footed.

  They want fleshly solutions, so they will have to test their natural strength against other natural powers that are superior to their own, and, as with Shimshon (Samson), their added supernatural strength would not be available once they decided to disobey.

17. One thousand [will flee] from the presence of one's roar; you will flee from before the roar of five, until you have been left like a flagpole on the top of a mountain, or like a signpost on top of the hill.

  One thousand will flee: compare Psalm 91. Flagpole: or "beacon". Signpost: or "rallying-point".

18. YHWH will wait, longing to show you favor, and for this He will rise up to have mercy on you, because YHWH is an Elohim of justice; happy are those who wait for Him,

  Gen. 49:17-18 contrasts the "snake" of Dan (a picture of the Counterfeit Messiah, whose ruse many will fall for) with waiting just a little longer for YHWH's true salvation (Heb., yeshuah).  

19. because the people in Tzion will dwell in Yerushalayim. You will no longer cry tears; He will indeed show you pity at the sound of your cry for help, and as [soon as] He hears, He will answer you.

20. Though Adonai has given you the bread of affliction and the waters of oppression, your teachers will no longer be hidden away in a corner; but instead your eyes will see your teachers,

  Your teachers: Aramaic, "the Sh'kinah in the sanctuary".

21. and your ears will hear a word from behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk on it", when you turn right or go left.

  From behind: the direction from which a teacher goads one on. The way: the earliest disciples' name for the maner of "walking out the Torah" as taught by Y’shua.

22. Then you will you will declare the metal plating of your silver engraved images and the decorative covering of your golden cast images to be defiled; you will throw them away like a menstruous cloth, and you will tell it, "Get out!"

  This is the first thing He had told them upon entering the Land, but they went back and rebuilt them.

23. Then He will [certainly] provide the rain [for] your seed, so you can sow the ground, and the bread of the yield of the ground, and it will be robust and plentiful. In that Day your cattle will graze spacious pastures!

24. Likewise, the oxen and young donkeys that work the soil will eat seasoned fodder that is winnowed with the shovel and the pitchfork.

  I.e., they will not just eat the provender that humans would not eat, but choice grain will be plentiful enough for the animals to enjoy as well.

25. Then on every high mountain and on every uplifted hill there will be [channeled] rivulets and [irrigated] streams of water in a day of abundant slaughter, when towers fall.

26. Then the light of the moon will be like the light of the hot sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times as [bright], like the light of the seven days, on the day when YHWH binds up the fracture of His people, and heals a severe wound [from] His blow.

  Binds up the fracture: or "restrains the breach" (as in vv. 13-14). 

27. Behold, the Name of YHWH comes from far away; His anger has been kindled, and its burden is heavy. His lips are full of rage, and His tongue like a devouring fire!

  Its burden is heavy: or "its uplift is vehement".

28. His breath also is like a torrent that sweeps in up to the neck. He will divide nations to sift [them] in the sieve of worthlessness, and a halter in the jaws of peoples that leads them off course.

29. The song you will have will be like the night when a feast is consecrated, and gladness of heart like one who marches with a flute to the Mountain of YHWH, toward the Rock of Israel.

  These are customs from the feast of Sukkoth.

30. Then YHWH will make the majesty of His voice heard, and will make the lowering of His arm to be seen with [the] rage of [the] nostril, with the flame of a devouring fire, with cloudburst and flood and hailstone,

  Hailstone: or a meteorite.

31. for by the voice of YHWH the Assyrian who was attacking with a club will be shattered.

32. And every [time] the foundation-laying rod which YHWH will lay on it passes over, it will be with tambourines and harps, and with battles of brandishing He has waged war,

  Tambourines: or any percussion instruments. Harps: any stringed instruments that "twang". Brandishing: the same word for "wave offerings". So a spiritual battle is carried out through music and worship. (Note the example of this in 2 Chron. 20.)

33. because Tofeth is being prepared in advance; indeed, it is being made ready for the King! He has made it deep and broad; its burning-pyre [is] piled high with wood. [The blast of] YHWH's breath burns it up like a seam of brimstone!

  Tofeth: the site of this future judgment at the confluence of the Hinnom Valley [Ge-henna] and the Qidron (known as the "Valley of the Shadow of Death").

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
Yeshayahu 
(Isaiah)

Introduction:

Yeshayahu means "YHWH is salvation"--the same meaning as Yehoshua, but with the phrasing in the reverse order. Yeshayahu was probably from the tribe of Yehudah. A contemporary of Micha and Hoshea, he prophesied more than 200 years after the division of Israel, beginning c. 740 B.C.E. (Just prior to King Uzziyahu's death in 739), or about 18 years prior to the fall of the Northern Kingdom. But he mainly addresses the southern kingdom of Yehudah, which was now in decline as well, following the same pattern of apostasy that Israel had taken. Since he records the death of Sennakheriv, it is estimated that he continued to prophesy for some 60 years, until about 680B.C.E., when by tradition he was executed by being sawn in two. As with all the prophets, his main theme is, "Come back to the Torah!" 
                  Chapters 1-10        Chapters 11-20      

        Chapter 21            Chapter 22             Chapter 23

        Chapter 24            Chapter 25            Chapter 26    

        Chapter 27            Chapter 28            Chapter 29

                Chapter 30                         Chapters 31-40        

 Chapters 41-50        Chapters 51-60        Chapters 61-66
PART 3: Chapters 21-30
27:6-28:13 is a haftarah 
(companion passage) to 
Torah Portion Shemoth
29:22-23 is a haftarah 
(companion passage) to 
Torah Portion Shemoth