| JPS | Alter | Fox | Friedman | Hebrew | |
| 15 |
So Jeshurun grew fat and kicked-- You grew fat and gross and coarse-- He forsook the God who made him And spurned the Rock of his support. |
And Jeshurun fattened and kicked-- you fattened, you thickened, grew gross-- and abandoned the God who had made him and despised the Rock of his rescue. |
But Yeshurun grew fat and kicked, you were fat, you were gross, you were gorged, he forsook the God that made him, and treated-like-a-fool the Rock of his deliverance. |
And Jeshurun got fat and kicked --you got fat, you got wide, you got stuffed!-- and it left God who made it and took its saving rock for |
וַיִּשְׁמַ֤ן יְשֻׁרוּן֙ וַיִּבְעָ֔ט שָׁמַ֖נְתָּ עָבִ֣יתָ כָּשִׂ֑יתָ וַיִּטֹּשׁ֙ אֱל֣וֹהַ עָשָׂ֔הוּ וַיְנַבֵּ֖ל צ֥וּר יְשֻׁעָתֽוֹ׃ |
| 16 |
They incensed Him with alien things, Vexed Him with abominations. |
He provoked Him with strangers, with abhorrences he did vex Him. |
The made-him-jealous with alien (gods), with abominations they vexed him. |
They made Him jealous with outsiders. With offensive things they made him angry. |
יַקְנִאֻ֖הוּ בְּזָרִ֑ים בְּתוֹעֵבֹ֖ת יַכְעִיסֻֽהוּ׃ |
| 17 |
They sacrificed to demons, no-gods, Gods they had never known, New ones, who came but lately, Who stirred not your fathers' fears. |
They sacrificed to the demons, the ungods, gods they had not known, new ones just come lately, whom their fathers had not feared. |
They slaughtered (offerings) to demons, no-gods, gods they had not known; new-ones from nearby came, of whom your fathers had no idea. |
They sacrificed to demons, a non-god, gods they hadn't known; new ones, they came of late; your fathers hadn't been acquainted with them. |
יִזְבְּח֗וּ לַשֵּׁדִים֙ לֹ֣א אֱלֹ֔הַ אֱלֹהִ֖ים לֹ֣א יְדָע֑וּם חֲדָשִׁים֙ מִקָּרֹ֣ב בָּ֔אוּ לֹ֥א שְׂעָר֖וּם אֲבֹתֵיכֶֽם׃ |
| 18 |
You neglected the Rock that begot you, Forgot the God who brought you forth. |
The Rock your bearer you neglected you forgot the God who gave you birth. |
The Rock that birthed you, you neglected, you forgot the God that produced-you-in-labor. |
The rock that fathered you, you ignored, and you forgot God who bore you. |
צ֥וּר יְלָדְךָ֖ תֶּ֑שִׁי וַתִּשְׁכַּ֖ח אֵ֥ל מְחֹלְלֶֽךָ׃ |
Israel's Disloyalty (vv. 15-18)
Having grown fat on God's bounty, Israel forgot the source of its well-being and turned to alien gods. (JPS)
Having grown fat on God's bounty, Israel forgot the source of its well-being and turned to alien gods. (JPS)
Verse 15
So Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. The epithet "Jeshurun" (Hebrew. yeshurun, "the Upright," from yashar, "upright") alludes to "Israel" (yisra'el) and sounds something like it. Although normally used honorifically (God Himself is called yashar in verse 4), here it is used ironically, underscoring how Israel has failed to live up to its expected character. (JPS)
kicked. Like an unruly, rebellious animal. Instead of being satisfied and docile from being fed, Israel rejected Him who fed it. (JPS)
you grew fat and gross and coarse.
rock of his support.
So Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. The epithet "Jeshurun" (Hebrew. yeshurun, "the Upright," from yashar, "upright") alludes to "Israel" (yisra'el) and sounds something like it. Although normally used honorifically (God Himself is called yashar in verse 4), here it is used ironically, underscoring how Israel has failed to live up to its expected character. (JPS)
kicked. Like an unruly, rebellious animal. Instead of being satisfied and docile from being fed, Israel rejected Him who fed it. (JPS)
you grew fat and gross and coarse.
- Here the poet addresses Israel directly. The precise meaning of the word rendered "coarse" (kasita) is uncertain. (JPS)
- This is a pun. The Hebrew consonants ysmn are the same as in the word "desert" (yeshimon) in verse 10. But the wordplay is that the same words consonantally have nearly opposite meanings: the people ironically go from a desert (ysmn) to getting fat (ysmn). (Friedman)
- Some read Hebrew casita as nashita, "forgot." (Fox)
- עבית has the meaning of “thickness” (stoutness), it therefore means: “ Thou hast waxed fat”. (Rashi)
- כשית is the same as כסית (ס and ש interchanging). It has the same meaning as in Job 15:27 “Because he hath covered (כסה) his face with his fatness”— like a person who is full of fat inside and whose flanks therefore lie in folds outside, as it goes on to state, (Job 15:27) “and be made folds of fat on his flanks”. (Rashi)
- כשית — There exists a Kal form (as is this word) in the sense of covering, as (Proverbs 12:16) “And a prudent man is covered with (וְכֹסָה) shame”. If it had written כִּשִּׂיתָ with a dagesh in the ש. it would imply, “Thou hast covered others (or other things)” (i.e., it would be transitive), as in the text already quoted, “For he hath covered (כִסָּה) his face”. (Rashi)
- שמנת עבית כשית, you, the elite of the people, preferred to concentrate on the physical enjoyments offered by a life of leisure, and by doing so עבית, you became too gross to understand the finer points of the teachings of the Torah, the only truth. (Sforno)
rock of his support.
- Rather, "the Rock who delivered him," who protected him from danger. (JPS)
- וינבל צור ישועתו, despising the Rock of its salvation, i.e. sliding from bad to worse in their lifestyles. (Sforno)
Verse 16
JPS. By worshiping other gods Israel provoked the indignant rage that God warned about in the Decalogue. "Incensed" is derived from the rool k-n-', the same root underlying kanna', "impassioned" in 4:24 and 5:9.
Hebrew kanna' combines the meanings of "jealous" and "zealous" (the two English words themselves have a common origin).
Etymologically, kanna' is similar to "fervent" and "incensed," which come from words referring to heat and fire. The root k-n-' apparently means "become dark red." It is often associated with fire (4:24) and refers primarily to fiery passions such as love, anger, indignation, and jealousy, particularly "the resentful rage of one who prerogatives have been usurped by, or given to, another" (M. Greenberg).
In the Torah the Lord's kin'ah is provoked by the worship of idols and other gods....Israel must restrict her fidelity to one God, just as a wife owes exclusive fidelity to her husband; worship of other gods is thus as repugnant as adultery, and God's reaction to such an offense, like that of an aggrieved husband, is jealousy.
Alien things...abominations. Alien gods (v. 12) and idols. (JPS)
JPS. By worshiping other gods Israel provoked the indignant rage that God warned about in the Decalogue. "Incensed" is derived from the rool k-n-', the same root underlying kanna', "impassioned" in 4:24 and 5:9.
Hebrew kanna' combines the meanings of "jealous" and "zealous" (the two English words themselves have a common origin).
Etymologically, kanna' is similar to "fervent" and "incensed," which come from words referring to heat and fire. The root k-n-' apparently means "become dark red." It is often associated with fire (4:24) and refers primarily to fiery passions such as love, anger, indignation, and jealousy, particularly "the resentful rage of one who prerogatives have been usurped by, or given to, another" (M. Greenberg).
In the Torah the Lord's kin'ah is provoked by the worship of idols and other gods....Israel must restrict her fidelity to one God, just as a wife owes exclusive fidelity to her husband; worship of other gods is thus as repugnant as adultery, and God's reaction to such an offense, like that of an aggrieved husband, is jealousy.
Alien things...abominations. Alien gods (v. 12) and idols. (JPS)
Verse 17
JPS. This verse disparages the gods Israel worshiped. It does not argue that Israel worshiped nonexistent beings, mere statues, but that it worship nondivine beings, beings that lack effective power and are unworthy of worship.
demons. Rather, "spirits." ...The beings Israel worshiped are mere spirits, not gods.(JPS)
no-gods.
That is, "gods who have not proved themselves to you." The Lord's claim on Israel's loyalty is based on the fact that He alone has acted on Israel's behalf. From other gods Israel has experienced nothing.... In the Bible the "gods" referred to are the celestial or supernatural beings that surround the Lord in the manner of a royal court--that is, the "host of heaven," including the sun, moon, and stars, spirits, winds, fiery flames, seraphs, angels and the chief of God's heavenly army....These are not what we would call "gods" today. Biblical Hebrew...used words meaning "god" ('el/'elim and 'elohim) in several senses: God, angels, ghosts, and even idols and foreign gods. The latter two senses simply reflect customary ancient usage; in the biblical view the "gods" of the nations were nothing but impotent statues or spirits, not gods. A modern writer might have put quotation marks around the word "gods" in such passages, but since Hebrew-speaking audiences knew taht 'el/'elim and 'elohim did not necessarily refer to truly divine beings, a monotheistic text like Deut. could use this motif to express the incomparability of God without fear of being misunderstood....Although the poem has just denied their divinity, it continues to use the word 'elohim for these beings. This is due to the ambiguity of the word. Possibly 'elohim is used for "spirits" here, or else the word is used as if in quotation marks, meaning "so-called gods." (JPS)
new ones. Compare Judges 5:8: "When they chose new gods...." The term is dismissive: these are dieties-come-lately. Unlike the Lord, who has acted on behalf of Israel since its beginning, these beings have no record of achievement or reliability. In the ancient world antiquity was a hallmark of authenticity, and these new beings lacked it. The Lord, in contrast, is "the ancient God" whose benefactions to Israel are "From of old." (JPS)
had not feared.
JPS. This verse disparages the gods Israel worshiped. It does not argue that Israel worshiped nonexistent beings, mere statues, but that it worship nondivine beings, beings that lack effective power and are unworthy of worship.
demons. Rather, "spirits." ...The beings Israel worshiped are mere spirits, not gods.(JPS)
no-gods.
- Beings called "gods" but undeservedly, pseudo-gods. (JPS)
- The Hebrew is lo' 'eloha. One of the distinctive stylistic traits of this poem is the fondness it exhibits for such negative prefixes. (Alter)
- לא אלה — Understand this as the Targum does: They sacrifice unto devils in which is no utility, for if there were at least any utility in them to the world (as e.g:, the sun, moon and stars) God’s jealousy would not have been so intense (lit. — doubled) as it is now. (Siphre). (Rashi)
That is, "gods who have not proved themselves to you." The Lord's claim on Israel's loyalty is based on the fact that He alone has acted on Israel's behalf. From other gods Israel has experienced nothing.... In the Bible the "gods" referred to are the celestial or supernatural beings that surround the Lord in the manner of a royal court--that is, the "host of heaven," including the sun, moon, and stars, spirits, winds, fiery flames, seraphs, angels and the chief of God's heavenly army....These are not what we would call "gods" today. Biblical Hebrew...used words meaning "god" ('el/'elim and 'elohim) in several senses: God, angels, ghosts, and even idols and foreign gods. The latter two senses simply reflect customary ancient usage; in the biblical view the "gods" of the nations were nothing but impotent statues or spirits, not gods. A modern writer might have put quotation marks around the word "gods" in such passages, but since Hebrew-speaking audiences knew taht 'el/'elim and 'elohim did not necessarily refer to truly divine beings, a monotheistic text like Deut. could use this motif to express the incomparability of God without fear of being misunderstood....Although the poem has just denied their divinity, it continues to use the word 'elohim for these beings. This is due to the ambiguity of the word. Possibly 'elohim is used for "spirits" here, or else the word is used as if in quotation marks, meaning "so-called gods." (JPS)
new ones. Compare Judges 5:8: "When they chose new gods...." The term is dismissive: these are dieties-come-lately. Unlike the Lord, who has acted on behalf of Israel since its beginning, these beings have no record of achievement or reliability. In the ancient world antiquity was a hallmark of authenticity, and these new beings lacked it. The Lord, in contrast, is "the ancient God" whose benefactions to Israel are "From of old." (JPS)
had not feared.
- The verb se'arum is unique to this text and its meaning is disputed. One interesting suggestion is that it plays on the noun se'irim, "demons" or perhaps "goat-gods," an approximate synonym for shedim, "demons," in this verse. (Alter)
- Driver suggests "did not shudder" (Fox).
- לא שערום אבתיכם — This means, which your fathers feared not; more literally it means: Their hair (שער) did not stand up on end because of them — for it is the nature of a person’s hair to stand up out of fear. Thus is it (the word שערום) explained in Siphre. But it is also possible to explain it as being connected with the noun in (Isaiah 13:21) “And שעירים shall dance there”; שעירים are demons (satyrs), and the meaning of our verse would then be: your fathers never made these satyrs. (Rashi)
Verse 18
Again the poem turns directly to Isarel and exclaims that it is guilty of the most unnatural behavior, forgetting its own parent. (JPS)
neglected. תשי means THOU HAST FORGOTTEN. But our Rabbis explained it thus: whenever He was about to bestow good upon you, you provoked Him to anger and, as it were, weakened (תש) His power so that He could not do you good (Siphre). (Rashi)
begot...brought forth. Although verse 6 describes God as Israel's father, the verbs yalad and holel may have been chosen to suggest the image of a mother. The first is used far more often for giving birth than for fathering, and the second refers literally to the mother's labor pains. The image of forgetting one's mother would cast Israel's behavior in the most unnatural light and, combined with the father image, would suggest that Israel owes its existence totally to God, its father and mother. (JPS)
Again the poem turns directly to Isarel and exclaims that it is guilty of the most unnatural behavior, forgetting its own parent. (JPS)
neglected. תשי means THOU HAST FORGOTTEN. But our Rabbis explained it thus: whenever He was about to bestow good upon you, you provoked Him to anger and, as it were, weakened (תש) His power so that He could not do you good (Siphre). (Rashi)
begot...brought forth. Although verse 6 describes God as Israel's father, the verbs yalad and holel may have been chosen to suggest the image of a mother. The first is used far more often for giving birth than for fathering, and the second refers literally to the mother's labor pains. The image of forgetting one's mother would cast Israel's behavior in the most unnatural light and, combined with the father image, would suggest that Israel owes its existence totally to God, its father and mother. (JPS)