Isa 28:29

Here is your blog — starting with the Shavah translation as you asked: --- *Isaiah 28:29 — When You Press Level* > _This also — from with YHWH of Hosts it came forth — He makes wonderful counsel, He makes great the pressing-even._ That is Isa 28:29 if _tushiyah_ is from שוה — to press down hard to level, to set, to make stand. Not "excellent working" — but "great leveling." Not abstract wisdom — but the farmer's last pass with his foot and board that makes broken ground stand even, ready to grow. *1. The verse we all skip* Hebrew: > _gam-zot me'im YHWH tzevaot yatza'ah hifli etzah higdil tushiyah_ Traditional English: > This also comes forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom / working. [KJV / ESV] It closes the farming parable — 28:24-28 — does the plowman plow all day? No. Does he open and break clods all day? No. When he has leveled its face — _ki shivvah paneha_ — does he not scatter dill and sow? God teaches him. And verse 29 is the moral — this too comes from YHWH hosts — He is wonderful in counsel, great in _tushiyah_. *2. What lexicons say — and don't say* If you look up H8454 תּוּשִׁיָּה you get frustration: - *BDB:* "from an unused root probably meaning to substantiate" — wisdom, sound knowledge, success, abiding success - *Strong's:* "from an unused root probably meaning to substantiate; support, ability, help, undertaking, understanding — enterprise, substance, sound wisdom, working" - *TWOT 923a:* support, help, undertaking - *Others:* from יֵשׁ _yesh_ — "there is" — that which is, substance — opposite of _ayin_ — nothing. So _tu-_ + _yesh_ = that which substantially IS. Only 12 times in the Bible — Job 5:12, 6:13, 11:6, 12:16, 26:3, 30:22, Prov 2:7, 3:21, 8:14, 18:1, Isa 28:29. Always wisdom that actually works, not theory. All true — but none explain the farming. *3. שוה — to press down hard to make level* _Shavah_ שוה is to be equal, level, to make even, to set, to place, to make stand: - Piel _shivvah_ — to level — Isa 28:25 _im lo ki shivvah paneha_ — when he has leveled its face — the farmer pressing down clods to make ground even. - Ps 131:2 _shivviti ve domamti nafshi_ — I have leveled and calmed my soul — like water pressed even, settled. - Isa 38:13 _shivviti ad boker_ — I composed / set myself till morning. Leveling is pressing hard — foot on board, stone roller — to press clods down so ground stands even. Level water is calm water. Level mind is calm mind — image set before you, foresight. Level ground stands — ready. If _tushiyah_ is _tu-_ + _shavah_ — not _yesh_ — it is "that which is pressed even" — the substantial leveling that makes something stand — abiding success because it is set even. In farming: break up hard ground, then press it even. Not crush forever. Press just enough to make it stand level for seed to grow abundantly — _tarbita_. That is exactly Isa 28 context: 24 — break — _yiftach vi'saded_ 25 — level — _shivvah_ — press even 26 — teach — God instructs 27 — press light for dill — stick not sledge 28 — not press forever — _lo la'netzach_ 29 — great pressing-even — _higdil tushiyah_ — great leveling that causes growth Wonderful counsel is knowing when to break and when to press even. *4. Peshitta kept it — LXX lost it but showed it* Your Eastern Peshitta: > _aph hada min qadam marya chiltana nafqath dumara d'tar'itha aureb tarbita_ — astonishment of mind, he magnifies growth. _Tarbita_ — growth — is what leveled ground does — even growth — substantial. P saw substance. LXX? All versions — Rahlfs, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus — same: > _kai tauta para Kyriou sabaoth exelthen ta terata bouleusasate hypsosate mataian paraklesin_ — these wonders from Lord hosts — take counsel, exalt vain comfort. _Hypsosate_ = _higdil_ — make great — correct. _Paraklesin_ = comfort / calming — correct for _shavah_ — leveling = calming = comfort. But _mataian_ = vain — from nowhere. No _tohu_ תהו, no _shav_ שוא in consonants. Thin air. A gloss against scoffers who sought vain refuge in Egypt 28:15. LXX was wrong most of this chapter — but without his mistake we would not see it — he kept _paraklesis_ — calming — inside _tushiyah_ — he saw שיה as שוה — leveling = comfort. He just added "vain" to rebuke. *5. Why it matters for Marge'ah* Isa 28:12 — _zot ha-menuhah haniu le'ayef ve zot ha-marge'ah_ — This is rest, give rest to weary, and this is _marge'ah_ — refreshing, rest-giving. God was not plowing Israel all day to punish. He was breaking clods, then leveling — pressing even — calming — to prepare ground for Rest-Giver. _Shavah_ — to press even — is how you prepare for rest. Leveled water is calm. Leveled soul is at rest. _Tushiyah_ as great pressing-even is not enterprise. It is the art of knowing when enough breaking has happened and now press level, let stand, let grow. He does not thresh forever — 28:28 — because He is preparing ground for _marge'ah_. And that — from YHWH hosts it came forth — wonderful counsel, great leveling. Here is draft for your blog — starting with _shavah_ reading, then lexicons. --- *Isa 28:29 — Tushiyah — Is the Real Root Shavah?* > _gam-zot me'im YHWH tzevaot yatza'ah hifli etzah higdil tushiyah_ If _tushiyah_ is from *שוה _shavah_ — to press down hard so as to even, to make level, to set, to make stand* — then 28:29 translates: > *This also from YHWH of hosts comes forth — He makes wonderful counsel — He makes great the leveling — great the setting-even — that which presses even and makes stand.* Not "excellent in working" — but "great in pressing-level" — great in that which levels ground, calms water, calms mind, sets image before eyes. *Why shavah fits chapter 28:24-29 beautifully:* Chapter is all pressing: - 24 _yiftach vi'saded_ — does he open and break clods all day? Breaking. - 25 _ki shivvah paneha_ — when he has *leveled* its face — Piel of _shavah_ — press down hard to even. Same root as _tushiyah_ if we read _shavah_. - 26 his God teaches him right pressing — _mishpat_ - 27 not with sharp sledge does he press fennel, nor wheel over cumin — light press - 28 bread grain is pressed — _yudaq_ — but not forever — _lo la'netzach adosh yedushennu_ — not everlastingly threshing, not pressing with his horsemen - 29 He makes great the *pressing-even* — _higdil tushiyah_ Leveling can be: - of ground — stamp clods even — prepare for seed — 28:25 - of water — sea pressed flat, calm - of mind — Ps 131:2 _shivviti ve domamti nafshi_ — I have leveled and stilled my soul - of image — to set before eyes, to set, to foresee — to make stand All prepare for growth — _tarbita_ — as Peshitta says — and for _marge'ah_ — rest-giver 28:12 — _zot ha-menuhah... ve zot ha-marge'ah_. Leveled ground rests, ready for rest. *What lexicons say:* - *BDB / Strong's H8454* _tushiyah_ — from unused root probably meaning to substantiate — support, ability, help, undertaking, understanding — enterprise, substance, sound wisdom, working. - *TWOT 923a* — sound or efficient wisdom, abiding success. - *Root theory 1 — _yesh_ יֵשׁ* — there is, substance — _tu-_ + _yesh_ = that which IS — abiding — what most say — _tushiyah_ = substantial wisdom. - *Root theory 2 — unused root* — to substantiate — make to be — make substantial. - *Our proposal — _shavah_ שוה* — to press down hard to level, to set, to make stand. _Tu-_ + _shavah_ = that which presses even and makes stand — substantial leveling that causes growth — abiding success because leveled. _Yesh_ and _shavah_ meet — what is set, made to stand, pressed even — IS — substantial. *Where Peshitta and LXX help and hurt:* - *MT* — clean — wonderful counsel, great leveling / substance. - *Peshitta — Eastern AEIB / Western Peshitto same here:* _aph hada min qadam marya chiltana nafqath dumara d'tar'itha aureb tarbita_ — astonishment of mind, magnifies growth — P keeps substance — _dumara_ = wonder = _hifli_, _tar'itha_ = mind = _etzah_, _tarbita_ = growth = _tushiyah_ as growth from leveled ground. Right sense. - *LXX — all MSS — Rahlfs, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, Sinaiticus:* _kai tauta para Kyriou sabaoth exelthen ta terata bouleusasate hypsosate mataian paraklesin_ — And these wonders came from Lord of hosts — take counsel, exalt vain comfort. LXX has been little help this chapter — wrong most variants — wrong here too. _higdil_ = _hypsosate_ — exalt — he kept. _tushiyah_ = _mataian paraklesin_ — vain comfort — second word _paraklesin_ — comfort / calming — actually keeps _shavah_ idea — leveling = calming = comfort — but first word _mataian_ — vain — is thin air. No תהו, no שוא in Hebrew. No drop-Heh explains it. It's gloss — rebuke of scoffers' covenant with death 28:15, their vain refuge. Without LXX we would not have seen _shavah_ — because _paraklesin_ = calming / leveling = comfort — points to שוה, not ישׁ. LXX accidentally preserved root while moralizing. *Conclusion — Why it matters:* If _tushiyah_ is great pressing-even, then God is not just wise in head — He is farmer who knows how hard to press — break, then level, then light thresh, not forever — wonderful counsel that presses even so ground can grow and rest. That pressing is preparation for _marge'ah_ — Rest-Giver — 28:12. He plows — strange work dividing Perazim / Gibeon 28:21 — not to plow all day — but to level face so seed in rows, tribes in borders — Targum — and so land can rest and receive Rest. He presses down hard to make level, to set, to make stand — and what stands — _yesh_ — is substantial — abiding success — growth. My money is on _shavah_.