1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
2 In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
5 And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.
6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.
<html>And they shall take hold of. <b>Now seven women shall take hold of one man</b> because of the many widows. <b>take away</b> Heb. אסף [lit., gather in,] hide our reproach, similar to (Deut. 22:2): “And you shall gather it (ואספתו) into your house.” For the woman, when she is married, will not be dealt with licentiously. According to Midrash Aggadah, (Lamentations Rabbah 5:11) Nebuchadnezzar commanded (or decreed upon) [his armies] not to have relations with married women, lest they be punished. They, therefore, begged to be nominally married.</html>
<html><b>On that day</b> After the beauty of the ornaments of the adulteresses and the wanton women is curtailed, the glory of My people and the beauty of their honor will no longer depend upon these things. <b>the sprout of the Lord shall be</b> to you for beauty. <b>for beauty and for honor</b> They are the righteous who remain among them, and the sages, the students of the Torah; upon them will they depend the beauty of their honor. <b>and the fruit of the land</b> They are the children of the righteous, the fruit of the Tree of Life. They shall be for greatness and glory, for the survivors of Israel will boast and praise themselves with them. צְבִי means ‘beauty,’ an object of desire, for there is desire in it.</html>
<html><b>And it shall come to pass, that every survivor</b> among them will settle in Zion. <b>and whoever is left</b> anywhere, shall dwell in Jerusalem. <b>“holy” shall be said of him</b> All of them will be righteous. Now lest you say that the righteous who died prior to this day have lost their honor, the Scripture states: “anyone inscribed for life,” in the Hereafter, will be in Jerusalem.In this manner, Jonathan translates it.</html>
<html><b>When the Lord shall have washed away</b> Heb. אִם [usually “if.”] When the Lord shall have washed away. There are instances of אִם being used in this manner in the usage of כִּי ; and so (Job 8:18): “But when (אִם) men destroy him from his place,” is [equivalent to] כִּי יְבַלְּעֶנּוּ. Also (Gen. 24:9): “Until when (אִם) they will have finished drinking.” <b>filth</b> Defilement, as its Aramaic translation; i.e. to say, when He will remove their iniquity through chastening and purging from the world. <b>He shall rinse</b> Heb. יָדִיחַ, an expression of ‘washing’ in the language of the Mishnah, and in Scripture (Ezek. 40:38): “There they will rinse (יָדִיחוּ) the burnt offering.” <b>with a spirit of judgment</b> through chastening. ‘spirit’ [is equivalent] to talant in O.F. When He so desires to judge them. <b>and with a spirit of purging</b> to purge them from the world, בָּעֵר is like לְבָעֵר, to purge, descombrement in O.F., an expression of doing, going.</html>
<html><b>וְעַל מִקְרָאֶהָ</b> and over those summoned therein. <b>a cloud by day and smoke</b> to protect them from the nations. <b>for, in addition to every honor</b> stated to them, shall be a shelter, for I will cause My Shechinah to cover them. Seven chupoth [shelters or canopies] are [mentioned here]: cloud, smoke, splendor, fire, flame, shelter, Shechinah.</html>
<html><b>And a tabernacle shall be for shade…from heat</b> to protect from the burning of the future sun, as it is said in regard to the wicked (Malachi 3:19): “And the coming sun shall set them ablaze,” for the Holy One, blessed be He, will take the sun out of its case, and cause it to burn them. <b>and for a shelter</b> Heb. וּלְמַחְסֶה. [This is] an expression of covering. <b>and for a covert</b> in which to hide. <b>from stream</b> of fire gushing forth from the river of fire on the wicked in Gehinnom, as it is said (Jeremiah 23:19): “On the heads of the wicked it shall rest.” [This is found] in Tractate Chagigah 13b. <b>and from rain</b> the rain that falls on the wicked, as in the manner stated in Psalms 11:6: “He rains on the wicked burning coals.”</html>