Isaiah 3:9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them,
&c.] The word translated "shew" is only used in this place. Some derive it from (rkn) , "to know", in the conjugations Piel and Hiphil; and render it, "the knowledge of their countenance" F6; that is, that which may be known by their countenances; the countenance oftentimes shows what is in the heart, the cruel disposition of the mind, the pride and vanity of it, the uncleanness and lasciviousness that is in it; to this our version agrees, and which is confirmed by the Chaldee paraphrase,
``the knowledge of their countenance in judgment doth testify against them;''
as they appear there, so it may be judged of them; their guilt flies in their face, and fills them with shame and confusion; and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "the shame of their face"; but others derive it from (
rkh) , which has the signification of hardness in the Arabic language, and as it is thought by some to have in (
Job 19:3 ) and render it, "the hardness of their countenance"; so R. Joseph Kimchi, and others
F7, meaning their impudence
F8; not only their words and actions, but their impudent looks, show what they are; which agrees with what follows:
and they declare their sin as Sodom,
and
hide [it] not;
commit it openly, without fear or shame; glory in it, and boast of it, as the Jews did in their crucifixion of Christ, and their evil treatment of him:
woe to their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves;
they have brought upon themselves, soul and body, the just recompence of reward; they have been the cause of their own ruin, and have wronged their own souls.
FOOTNOTES:
F6 (Myhynp trkh) "cognitio vultus eorum", Munster, Vatablus, V. L.
F7 "Obfermatio", Janius & Tremellius; "durities", Piscator.
F8 So Schindler renders the Arabic word , "hacar", impudence. Vid. Castel. Lexic. col. 846.