Vayelech: I know their Nature

 

 

כא וְהָיָה כִּי-תִמְצֶאןָ אֹתוֹ רָעוֹת רַבּוֹת וְצָרוֹת וְעָנְתָה הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת לְפָנָיו לְעֵד כִּי לֹא תִשָּׁכַח מִפִּי זַרְעוֹ  כִּי יָדַעְתִּי אֶת-יִצְרוֹ אֲשֶׁר הוּא עֹשֶׂה הַיּוֹם בְּטֶרֶם אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֶל-הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי.

 

21 then it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are come upon them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed; for I know their imagination how they do even now, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.'  (JPS)

 

I don't like the punctuation, it removes the ambiguity.  Does Gd know their imagination in that they will sin ( certainly that is part of it).  But does the verse also mean that Gd knows their nature, that they will not lose the song.

The nature of Jews - scholars, they don't lose their writings, they maintain their writings intact ( in the original language and song)  [ they are so cheap, they won't throw away a scrap of parchment]

The trope mark on yitzro is a revii, a sign that links the word to the phrase before and the phrase after.

 

There is also a shared tzadi raish between yitzro and tzaroth in this pasuk.   The nature is a product of their being drawn through the processes that created them ( Mitzraim).  That is why they won't throw away the [formative] curses.

 

------------------------------