מעוז צור

Prepare a slaughtering block for his sons
Because of the guilt of their father.
Let them not arise to possess the earth!
Then the world’s face shall be covered with towns.

The lookouts are blind, all of them,
They perceive nothing.
They are all dumb dogs
That cannot bark;
They lie sprawling,
They love to drowse.

Egypt is a handsome heifer—
A gadfly from the north is coming, coming!

I had no repose, no quiet, no rest,
And trouble came.

“Come, eat my food
And drink the wine that I have mixed;

Scarcely had I passed them
When I found the one I love.
I held him fast, I would not let him go
Till I brought him to my mother’s house,
To the chamber of her who conceived me

Instead of the brier, a cypress shall rise;
Instead of the nettle, a myrtle shall rise.
These shall stand as a testimony to GOD,
As an everlasting sign that shall not perish.

The next section of the verse discusses what will replace the thorns, i.e., Haman: “Shall the cypress [berosh] come up”; this is Mordecai. Why is he called a cypress [berosh]? Because he was called the chief [rosh] of all the spices, as it is stated: “Take you also to yourself the chief spices, of pure myrrh [mar deror]” (Exodus 30:23), and we translate “pure myrrh,” into Aramaic as mari dakhei. Mordecai was like mari dakhi, the chief [rosh] of spices, and therefore he is called berosh.

And that shall afford safety.
Should Assyria invade our land
And tread upon our fortresses,
We will set up over that nation seven shepherds,
Eight princes of other nations,