Isaiah 40:24

אַף בַּל־נִטָּעוּ אַף בַּל־זֹרָעוּ אַף בַּל־שֹׁרֵשׁ בָּאָרֶץ גִּזְעָם וְגַם־נָשַׁף בָּהֶם וַיִּבָשׁוּ וּסְעָרָה כַּקַּשׁ תִּשָּׂאֵם׃

24 They are hardly planted; hardly sown; hardly has their stem taken root in the earth, and then he blows on them and they wither; the storm carries them off like stubble.

אַף בַּל־נִטָּעוּ אַף בַּל־זֹרָעוּ They are hardly planted, hardly sown; Outside of Isaiah, Proverbs and the Psalms, בַּל only occurs twice. It's a synonym for לֹא that's almost exclusively found in poetry. Here with the conjunction אַף "also, even," the idea is "hardly, scarcely." Two parallel passive perfects (נִטָּעוּ nifal, זֹרָעוּ pual) are tempered by these particles.

The Mp note for אַף is one of several obscure notes that comment about a certain number of verses that are similar -- here there are twelve verses "similar" in some way. The Mm list (3896) indicates that the similarity is that the first word of the verse in each case is a word that repeats three times in the same verse. The word in Numbers 9:22 is אוֹ, in Judges 5:21 it's נַחַל, etc. Here it's אַף. The full list of verses (this isn't a very useful list for our purposes, but the Masoretes kept records like this for a reason) is: Num. 9:22; Judg. 5:21; Isaiah 33:10; 40:24; 62:11; 66:6; Zeph. 2:2; 2:3; Lam. 2:13; Ezra 4;15; 8:2 and Neh. 6:13.

אַף בַּל־שֹׁרֵשׁ בָּאָרֶץ גִּזְעָם hardly has their stem taken root in the earth, שֹׁרֵשׁ is a poel perfect, 3 masc sg, from שָׁרַשׁ. Normally we think of a poel form simply replacing the more usual piel, but in the case of שָׁרַשׁ, the D-stems each seem to carry a subtly different nuance of the word: piel "uproot" (Psalm 52:7); pual "be uprooted" (Job 31:8); poel "take root" (here in Isaiah 40:24); poal (passive/reflexive of poel) "take root" (Jeremiah 12:2). Moreover, there is a hifil, "send out roots" (Isaiah 27:6; etc.). The root doesn't occur in the qal. Cf. GK§ 55b. גִּזְעָם is the noun "stem, stock." It's more familiar in the phrase "stump of Jesse" (מִגֵּזַע יִשָׁי, Isaiah 11:1).

An Mp note says that שֹׁרֵשׁ occurs only once with this accent (merka). Although the note isn't immediately helpful, perhaps the point is that the other D-stem (piel, pual, etc.) forms all have strong disjunctive accents, whereas this form has a conjunctive accent (this observation does not carry over into the hifil forms).

וְגַם־נָשַׁף בָּהֶם וַיִּבָשׁוּ and then he blows on them and they wither; וְגַם introduces the conclusion to the previous אַף בַּל־ statements: "And then." נָשַׁף, qal perfect, "blows," followed by its masc. plural object בָּהֶם "on them." וַיִּבָשׁוּ is a waw-consecutive imperfect, showing the consequence of the Lord's blowing: they wither (qal stative verb, יָבֵשׁ "be dry, wither").

וּסְעָרָה כַּקַּשׁ תִּשָּׂאֵם the storm carries them off like stubble. סְעָרָה "storm" is a word that occurs throughout Isaiah (29:6; 40:24; 41:16) and is also the " great tempest" of Jonah 1:4. קַּשׁ, "chaff," is not as common as מוֹץ, although they come to the same thing. The main difference is that מוֹץ refers especially to chaff blown by the wind, and קַּשׁ especially highlights the worthlessness of the stuff as it is blown away. An Mp note shows that this form with both preposition and definite article occurs only twice, here and in Exodus 15:7, "[your anger] consumed them like stubble." תִּשָּׂאֵם is a deceptive form. It looks like a nifal imperfect; the vowel pattern and dagesh are exactly right, but it happens to be the qal imperfect of נָשָׂא. In the nifal, the root נָשָׂא retains its nun, and so we would expect a form like תִּנָּשֶׂ֜אנָה.

A setumah (ס) paragraph marker divides this verse from what follows, although the thought carries over.

The upshot of this verse is simple: Even the Gentiles have no excuse for worshiping the creation and not the creator. But the atheist is the one who is the most at fault: the Lord is the one in control of all things.