In a recent blog I told you I was working on a project to restore five fragments of an ancient Nazarene Commentary on Isaiah, from five Latin fragments preserved in quotations in Jerome’s Commentary on Isaiah.
Here is the second of the five fragments (On Isaiah 8:19-22) restored to Hebrew with an English translation:
וכי־יאמרו אליכם דרשו אל־האבות ואל־הידענים המצפצפים והמהגים הלוא־עם אל־אלהיו ידרש בעד החיים אל־המתים׃ לתורה ולתעודה אם־לא יאמרו כדבר הזה אשר אין־לו שחר׃ ועבר בה נקשה ורעב והיה כי־ירעב והתקצף וקלל במלכו ובאלהיו ופנה למעלה׃ ואל־ארץ יביט והנה צרה וחשכה מעוף צוקה ואפלה מנדח׃
פשרו וכי הסופרים והפרושים יאמרו אליכם לשמוע אותם, אנשים שעושים הכל למען אהבת הבטן, ואשר המצפצפים והמהגים כדרך הידענים לרמות אותך. תאמרכם להם לא מפתיע אם אתה ממלא אחר גזרתכם כי כל עם שאל עצביהם. לכן אסור לנו שאל המתיכם על החיים. אלוהים נתן לנו את התורה ואת עדות הכתובים. אם לא תמלא אותם ולא יהיה לך אור. והחושך תעוק אותך עד עולם. יעבור דרך אדמתך ולמידתך. כאשר הם רואים שטעתם אותם בטעות וכאשר הם רעבים לאמת הם יהיו עצובים או התקצפים. והם יקללו אתכם החושבים שאתם אלים ומלכים. ולשווא הם מסתכלים אל השמים והארץ כי הם תמיד בחושך והם לא יכולים לברוח למוקשיכם
19 And because they shall say unto you: ‘Seek unto the mediums and to the wizards, of whisperings and mutterings; should not a people seek unto their Elohim? [not] about the living to the dead.
20 For Torah and for testimony? If they speak not according to this word, there is no light in them.
21 And they shall pass this way that are sore bestead and hungry; and it shall come to pass that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse by their king and by their Elohim, and, when they turn their faces upward,
22 or look unto the earth, behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and outspread thick darkness.
(Isaiah 8:19-22 HRV)
Its interpretation (pesher): And when the Scribes and Pharisees tell you to listen to them, men who do everything for the love of the belly and who chirp and mutter in the way of wizards in order to deceive you, you must answer them like this: “It is not strange if you follow your decrees since every nation consults its own idols. We must not, therefore, consult your dead about the living ones. God has given us the Torah and the testimonies of the scriptures. If you are not willing to follow them you shall not have light, and the darkness will always oppress you. It will pass over your land and your teaching so that, when they see that you have deceived them with error and they are hungry for the truth, they will then be sad or enraged. And they shall curse you who think you are gods and kings. And in vain they look to the heavens and the earth, And let them look at the heaven and the earth in vain since they are always in darkness and they cannot flee away from your snares.
Notes:
“who chirp and mutter” prior English versions have had “hiss in their incantations” based on the Latin stridunt in incantationibus, but this is actually Jerome’s translation of הַֽמְצַפְצְפִ֖ים וְהַמַּהְגִּ֑ים as shown by comparing Jerome’s Latin Vulgate in Isaiah 8:19.
We must still raise at least $786 by Tuesday night, or our account will go into the negative.
Donations in April were very, very low. This is common each year with tax time taking a bite out of people’s pocket books. Unfortunately, our expenses have not decreased during the tax season.
This work takes hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is very ill, and I spend most of my time at home as her caretaker. I work at a desk less than six feet from her bed. So I am in a position to dedicate many hours to this important work that I have been directed to do.
But I also realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.
Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org.
Donations can also be made out to “Nazarene Judaism” and sent to:
Nazarene Judaism
PO Box 471
Hurst, TX 76053
