44.20
The Book of Isaiah 44.20 · Is this not a lie in my right hand?44.20Is this not a lie in my right hand?
The verdict. He feeds on ashes, led off course by his own heart, and never asks the one question that would free him.
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רֹעֶה1
rōʿeh
He feeds ontending
אֵפֶר2
ʾēp̄er
ashes
; לֵב3
lēḇ
a heart
הוּתַל4
hûtal
deceivedhe was mocked
הִטָּהוּ5
hiṭṭāhû
has led him astrayhe turned him aside
. וְלֹא־6
wə-lōʾ-
And he cannotand not
יַצִּיל7
yaṣṣîl
savehe rescues
אֶת־8
ʾeṯ-
mark of the accusative
נַפְשׁוֹ9
nap̄šô
his soulhis life
, וְלֹא10
wə-lōʾ
norand not
יֹאמַר11
yōʾmar
sayhe says
, הֲלוֹא12
hălôʾ
is it not
שֶׁקֶר13
šeqer
a liefalsehood
בִּימִינִי׃14
bî-mînî
in my right hand
He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has led him astray. He cannot save his soul, nor say, “Is this not a lie in my right hand?”
He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has led him astray. He cannot save his soul, nor say, “Is this not a lie in my right hand?”
57.3
The Book of Isaiah 57.3 · Come here, you children of a sorceress57.3Come here, you children of a sorceress
In the third part of Isaiah, the righteous have just been described as taken away in peace (57:1-2). Now God summons those who have turned to other powers.
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But you, come here, children of a sorceress, offspring of an adulterer and a woman who prostitutes herself.
“He feeds on ashes.” Rōʿeh ʾēp̄er can be read “he grazes on ashes” or “he befriends ashes”; either way he ends with what is left in the stove. The last line is the question the whole satire has been waiting for: “Is this not a lie in my right hand?” The Greek turned it into a direct challenge to the reader: ἴδετε, οὐκ ἐρεῖτε ὅτι Ψεῦδος ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ μου, “see, you will not say: a lie is in my right hand”.