Rashi on TanakhIsaiah 11

And a shoot shall spring forth from the stem of Jesse And if you say, ‘Here are consolations for Hezekiah and his people, that they shall not fall into his hands. Now what will be with the exile that was exiled to Halah and Habor, is their hope lost?’ It is not lost! Eventually, the King Messiah shall come and redeem them.

a shoot [This is symbolic of] the royal scepter.

and a twig an expression of a sapling.

and a twig shall sprout from its roots and the entire section, and at the end (v. 11), “And it shall come to pass, that on that day, the Lord shall apply His hand again...[from Assyria]...Hence, [it is obvious] that this prophecy was said to console those exiled to Assyria.

And he shall be animated by the fear of the Lord He shall be filled with the fear of the Lord. [ed enos mera il luy in O.F., and He shall be enlivened.]

and neither with the sight of his eyes shall he judge For, with the wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is within him, will he know and understand who is innocent and who is guilty.

with equity This is an expression of mildness and tenderness.

and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth As the Targum states: And he shall smite the sinful of the earth.

and with the breath of his lips Jonathan [renders:] And with the speech of his lips.

And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins Jonathan [renders:] And the righteous shall surround him; i.e., they will cleave to him like a girdle.

and a fatling a fattened ox [following Jonathan].

shall play Heb. וְשִׁעֲשַׁע, shall play.

over the hole of an old snake over a hole in the ground in which the snake makes its nest [krot in O.F.], a cave. an old snake פֶּתֶן. A snake, when it ages, becomes deaf and is called פֶּתֶן. From then on, it cannot be charmed; as it is said (Psalms 58:6): “Who will not hearken to the voice of charmers.”

and over the eyeball of a venomous snake Jonathan renders: the eyeballs of venomous snakes [מְאוּרַת from אוֹר, light]. Menahem (Machbereth Menachem p. 32) interpreted it as an expression of a hole, namely holes in the ground. Comp. (Gen. 11:28) “The valley of the Chaldees (אוּר)”; (infra 24:15) “In the valleys (בָּאוּרִים) honor the Lord.”

a weaned child a child weaned from his mother’s breasts.

shall stretch forth his hand Heb. הָדָה. Jonathan renders: shall stretch forth his hands (sic). Comp. (Ezekiel 7:7) “The joyful call (הֵד) of the mountains, also (infra 16: 9) “The cry (הֵידָד),” which is an expression of raising the voice. This, too, is an expression of raising, and the final [letter] ‘heh’ appears in it as a radical which sometimes falls out, like עָשָׂה (made), בָּנָה (built), קָנָה (acquired).

knowledge of the Lord [lit.] to know the Lord.

as a banner for peoples that peoples should raise a banner to gather to him.

a second time Just as he acquired them from Egypt, when their redemption was absolute, without subjugation, but the redemption preceding the building of the Second Temple is not counted, since they were subjugated to Cyrus.

and from the islands of the sea the islands of the Kittim, the Romans, the descendants of Esau.

And he shall raise a banner Perka, perche in O.F. [i.e., the verse is literally referring to the pole upon which the banner is attached.] And it shall be for a sign to gather to him and to bring the exiles of Israel to Him as a present.

Ephraim shall not envy Judah The Messiah, the son of David, and the Messiah, the son of Joseph, shall not envy each other.

And they shall fly of one accord against the Philistines in the west Heb. בְכָתֵף. Israel will fly and run of one accord against the Philistines who are in the west of Eretz Israel and conquer their land. [כָּתֵף, lit. a shoulder, is used in this case to denote unity. The word שֶׁכֶם, also lit. a shoulder, is used in a similar sense.] Comp. (Hoshea 6:9) “They murder on the way in unison (שֶׁכְמָה)”; (Zeph. 3:9) “One accord (שְׁכֶם אֶחָד).” And so did Jonathan render it: And they shall join in one accord to smite the Philistines who are in the west.

and the children of Ammon shall obey them As the Targum states: Will hearken to them. They will accept their commandments over them.

And...shall dry up [lit. shall cut off] to dry it, so that the exiles of Israel will pass through it from Egypt.

over the river The Euphrates River, for the exiles from Assyria to cross.

with the strength of His wind Heb. בַּעְיָם. This is hapax legomenon in Scripture, and according to the context it can be interpreted as “with the strength of His wind.”

into seven streams into seven segments, for the aforementioned seven exiles: from Assyria and from Egypt, etc. Those from the islands of the sea are not from that side.

and He shall lead the exiles within it.

with shoes on dry land.

And there shall be a highway in the midst of the water for the remnant of His people.