ישעיהו א

Give ear, O heavens, let me speak;
Let the earth hear the words I utter!

I have previously informed you that the Gaon says that the meaning of heavens is the angels and the meaning of the earth is the people of the earth. On the other hand, its meaning might be that the rain that comes down from heaven and the fruit which the earth produces are called to bear witness. I believe that the correct interpretation is that Moses called heaven and earth to witness because they last forever. Similarly Hear, O ye mountains (Micah 6:2) and also Joshua’s stone. Scripture there writes that the stone heard. I have hinted to you that man’s soul is intermediary between the upper and lower worlds. The soul compares all things to its body. It certainly does so when speaking to other human beings. It therefore elevates the low and lowers the high.

והאזיני And give ear. Sometimes verbs are derived from nouns, as האזיני, ‘give ear,’ from אׂזֶן ‘ ear.’ .There is in reality no difference between שמע ‘to hear’ and האזן ‘to give ear.’—Isaiah begins his prophecy, by addressing those witnesses, that have been pointed out to Israel by Moses, when he said I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall soon utterly perish (Deut. 4:26); the time, foretold by Moses, had then come.

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth And Moses said, “Give ear, O heavens,...and may the earth hear” (Deut. 32:1). Why did Isaiah change the wording? Our masters taught concerning this matter, [and] many midrashim [are] in the section entitled “Ha’azinu” in Sifrei, but the Sages disagreed with them and said: A matter is not so unless witnesses come and testify. If their words coincide, their testimony is fulfilled; if not, their testimony is not fulfilled. Had Isaiah not addressed the heavens with giving ear and the earth with hearing, the heavens would testify and say, ‘When we were called to this testimony in Moses’ time, when he said, (Deut. 30:19) “I call heaven and earth to witness against you,” we heard with an expression of giving ear,’ and the earth would testify, ‘I was called with an expression of hearing,’ hence their testimony would not coincide. [Therefore,] Isaiah came and reversed the matter. Consequently, both are found to testify with an expression of giving ear and with an expression of hearing.

And ה׳ said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me, and how long will they have no faith in Me despite all the signs that I have performed in their midst?

But if ה׳ brings about something unheard-of, so that the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, you shall know that those involved have spurned ה׳.”

The sin of the young men against the LORD was very great, for the men treated the LORD’s offerings impiously.

ינאצני means [HOW LONG] WILL THEY PROVOKE ME TO ANGER.

DESPISE ME. Yena’atzuni (despise me) means anger me. It has many cognates in Scripture.

they drew backwards [The root נְזִירָה,] wherever it appears, is only an expression of separation. Similarly, Scripture states: “And they shall separate (וְיִנָּזְרוּ) from the holy things of the children of Israel” (Lev. 22:2), “the one separated (נְזִיר) from his brothers” (Gen. 49:26). Here too, they drew away from being near the Omnipresent.

And the daughter of Zion shall be left devoid of its inhabitants, for they will be exiled from its midst, as a hut in a vineyard, made by a watchman, and when the produce of the vineyard is gathered, he leaves his hut and goes away, after they gather it.

like a lodge in a cucumber field As the lodge, which the watchman made at the end of a cucumber field, to watch its cucumber, is left, for after it is gathered, he leaves it and goes away; the one in the vineyard is called a hut since he lives in it day and night; by day, he guards it from the birds and by night from the thieves, b ut cucumbers are hard, and there is no fear of the birds, and one need not watch them by day. It is, therefore, called a lodge since it is a place of lodging at night. Jonathan renders: Like a bed in a lodge (again repeated in Hebrew), [in] a cucumber field, in a cucumber field after it has been picked (בָּתַר דְאַבְעָיוּהִי), after it has been picked. [This is the expression of the Mishnah] (Peah 4:5): “There are three gatherings (אַבְעָיוֹת) a day.”

like a besieged city Like a city which was besieged, and they make huts around it to hide the troops, and when they give up the siege [lit., when they go away from it], they leave them and go away. All this is Jonathan’s translation.

I am weary. A figurative expression.