Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Isaiah 43:8

הוֹצִ֥יא עַם־עִוֵּר֭ וְעֵינַ֣יִם יֵ֑שׁ וְחֵרְשִׁי֭ם וְאָזְנַ֣יִם לָֽמוֹ׃

8 Bring out the blind that have eyes and the deaf that have ears.

הוֹצִיא עַם־עִוֵּר וְעֵינַיִם יֵשׁ Bring out the blind that have eyes. הוֹצִיא hifil imperative (יָצָא), although the form should really be הֺוצֵא (note the apparatus and references to the two Qumran Isaiah scrolls). The Vulgate has the present imperative 2nd sg. educ (educere). The particle יֵשׁ is a substantive here to be treated like a form of "to be" or a relative pronoun. עִוֵּר can be a person blind in one or both eyes; here it is an entire people (עַם). Mp: הוֹצִיא occurs twice at the beginning of a verse (cf. Jer 51:10).

וְחֵרְשִׁים וְאָזְנַיִם לָמוֹ׃ and the deaf that have ears. לָמוֹ begins with a lamed of advantage. These are people who have the organs for sight and sound but who refuse to look or listen.

Verse 9 will continue this thought.

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