| 1. Hear now what the Lord says; Rise; contend with the mountains, and may the hills hear My voice. |
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| with the mountains: with the Patriarchs. |
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| the hills: the Matriarchs. |
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| 2. Hear ye, O mountains, the controversy of the Lord; and you mighty ones, the foundations of the earth; for the Lord has a controversy with His people, and with Israel He shall contend. |
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| 3. O My people, what have I done, and how have I wearied you? Testify against Me. |
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| what have I done for you: Put your heart to recognizing what benefit I have done for you. |
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| and how have I wearied you: with My worship? |
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| Testify against Me: |
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| Missing: |
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| For I brought you up: Although I bestowed all this benefit upon you, I did not weary you with much worship or with large sacrifices. |
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| Moses, Aaron, and Miriam: Jonathan paraphrases: Moses to teach the transmission of the laws, Aaron to atone for the people, and Miriam to instruct the women. |
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| 4. For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. |
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| 5. My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab planned, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him. From Shittim to Gilgal, may you recognize the righteous deeds of the Lord. |
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| and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him: (Num. 23:8) “How shall I be angry if God is not angry?” for I did not become angry all those days. [from Berachot 4a] |
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| from Shittim: where you sinned before Me. You should recognize My righteous deeds, for I did not withhold My kindness and My assistance from you until I brought you to Gilgal, and I conquered the land before you. |
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| 6. With what shall I come before the Lord, bow before the Most High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? |
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| bow: I will be humbled. |
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| 7. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with myriad streams of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? |
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| streams of oil: for meal offerings. |
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| Shall I give my firstborn?: as a sacrifice for my transgression. |
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| 8. He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord demands of you; but to do justice, to love loving-kindness, and to walk discreetly with your God. |
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| He has told: The Holy One, blessed be He, has told you what is good for you to do. |
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| and to walk discreetly: Jonathan renders: Walk discreetly in the fear of your God. Another explanation: And walk discreetly. The standard of flesh and blood is not like the standard of the Holy One, blessed be He. The standard of flesh and blood is: If one man embarrasses his fellow and comes to placate him, the fellow says to him, “I will not accept your apology until so and so and so and so, before whom you disgraced me, come.” But the Holy One, blessed be He, desires only that the man’s return to Him be between the two of them. [from Pesikta d’Rav Kahana 163b] |
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| 9. The voice of the Lord calls out to the city, and the wisdom of the Torah, the one who sees Your name; hearken to the staff and Who appointed it. |
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| The voice of the Lord calls out in the city: The voice of the prophets of the Lord calling out, calling them [the people] to repentance. [from Jonathan] |
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| and the wisdom of the Torah, the one who sees Your name: The prophet who sees Your name calls out the wisdom of the Torah; i.e., the one who puts his heart to contemplate and to see your ways. The word וְתוּשִׁיּה refers to the verse above it. |
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| hearken to the staff and Who appointed it: Bend your ears, and hearken to the staff of retribution that will punish you, concerning which the prophets warn you; and hearken to who it is Who appointed that retribution, whether He has the ability to fulfill what He decreed. But Jonathan did not render in this manner. |
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| and the wisdom of Torah, the one who sees Your name: From here we deduce that whoever recites daily a verse beginning [with the letter] and ending [with the letter] as his name begins and ends, the Torah saves him from Gehinnom. |
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| 10. Does the house of the wicked last long, [or do] the treasures of wickedness? And an ephah of leanness is condemned. |
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| Does the house of the wicked last long, [or do] the treasures of wickedness?: The “hey” of הַאִשׁ is vowelized with a “pattach” [not a kamatz] because it denotes a question. And this is its meaning: עוֹד is an expression of longevity. הַאִשׁ is like הֲיֵשׁ, is there. In I Chronicles (2:13) we find: “Ishai the father of David,” instead of “Yishai.” Here, too, is אִשׁ instead of יֵשׁ. And so in II Samuel (14:19): “If anyone can (אִשׁ) turn to the right or to the left.” [This is identical to] “If anyone can (יֵשׁ) turn to the right or to the left.” So did Jonathan render it: Is there. Will it enter your mind that the house of the wicked will last long, and the treasures of wickedness? |
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| And an ephah of leanness is condemned: A small measure with which your wealthy deceive the poor and bring them to leanness - that is condemned by the wrath of the Holy One, blessed be He. |
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| 11. Will I merit with scales of wickedness or with a bag of deceitful weights? |
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| 12. For the wealthy thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof speak lies, and their tongue is guile in their mouth. |
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| 13. Therefore I, too, will smite you with sore wounds and make [you] desolate because of your sins. |
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| I will smite you with sore wounds: I have made your wounds sore - strong and ill and incurable. |
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| and make [you] desolate: Heb. הַשְׁמֵם, to make you desolate because of your sins. |
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| 14. You shall eat and not be sated, and it shall bend you over in your innards; and you shall overtake, but you shall not rescue, and those whom you rescue I will deliver to the sword. |
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| and it shall bend you over in your innards: Heb. וְיֶשְׁחֲ. The food that you eat - I will bring a curse into it within your intestines, and it will cause you illness, that you will be ill and walk bent over. So it is explained in Sifre : How do we know that, even within the intestines? Scripture states: “And it shall bend you over in your innards.” In the parashah of Ekev, in expounding (Deut. 11: 12) “The eyes of the Lord your God are upon it,” Jonathan , too, renders [our verse] in this manner: And it shall be to you for illness and a wound in your intestines. |
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| and you shall overtake: your enemies who lead your sons and daughters away, into captivity; but you shall not rescue them, and if you rescue them, their end will be to the sword. In the name of Rabbi Menahem I heard: You shall gain your desire for sexual intercourse, but you shall not ejaculate. You shall not have the strength to ejaculate semen; and, if you do ejaculate them [and beget children], their end will be that I will deliver them to the sword [of the enemy]. |
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| 15. You shall sow, but you shall not reap; you shall tread the olives, but you shall not anoint yourself with oil; and the must; but you shall not drink wine. |
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טו. |
| 16. And the statutes of Omri shall be observed, and every deed of the house of Ahab; and you shall walk in their counsels, in order that I make you an astonishment, and its inhabitants a hissing; and the disgrace of My people you shall bear. |
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| And the statutes of Omri shall be observed: I know that you will not obey Me, but through you and your children will all the statutes of Omri and Ahab [the evil kings of Israel] be observed. |
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| and the disgrace of My people you shall bear: You shall bear the iniquity for the disgrace that the peoples of the world deride My people, for the Torah admonished them concerning (Deut. 25:14): “You shall not have in your house two kinds of ephah,” but they do not keep it. |