Thursday 1 February 2024

Glory #Messiah texts Isaiah 40:5

Isaiah 40:5

4. Chorus – And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

וְנִגְלָ֖ה כְּב֣וֹד יְהוָ֑ה
וְרָא֤וּ כָל־בָּשָׂר֙ יַחְדָּ֔ו כִּ֛י פִּ֥י יְהוָ֖ה דִּבֵּֽר פ
And disclosed is the glory of Yahweh,
and all flesh will see together, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.
h vnglh cbod ihvh
vrau cl-bwr ikdiv ci pi ihvh dibr p
7
15
vn/glh cbd ihvh
v/ra\v cl bwr ikd\v ci p\i ihvh dbr

My initial English words in this case are ruinous to Handel, but not so bad here to the pulse and drama of the Hebrew. In either case, the revelation of the glory by the promise of Yahweh is as clear an idea as we can get from this verse. Though we may not know what to expect.

Does English require that speak have a direct object? I doubt that the word it as italicized in the Authorized Version is required. And that other it. וְרָא֤וּ כָל־בָּשָׂר֙ יַחְדָּ֔ו "all flesh will see together" - Glory is not an it. All flesh, (v/ra\v) as a collective noun indicating all people, takes a plural verb - hence the post-clitic vav. The prefixed vav is the usual connector (see vv -- alas I didn't write a summary of vav in last year's brief foray into grammar -- I should do it - vav plays so many roles and they can't be seen in a single place in the concordance the way I designed it).

Is it anthropomorphic to ascribe a mouth to Yahweh? As we have ears, so there is something that speaks to them (if they are open). We are fortunate if we do not believe the falsity that we hear about daily. Remember that the servant brings truth to judgment even to the weak. (Isaiah 42:3 as noted in my initial post on this series.)

I think there is no doubt that the musical motifs in the raw data of the Hebrew texts could provide plenty of material for a Hebrew version of Messiah.


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