salvation

The noun takes a tzere in יָצָאתָ לְיֵשַׁע עַמֶּךָ (Chavakuk 3:13), You went out for the deliverance of Your people; a segol in וְיֶשְֽׁעֲךָ תִּתֶּן־לָֽנוּ (Tehillim 85:8), and grant us Your deliverance; and a chirik under the yud in כִּֽי־כָל־ יִשְׁעִי וְכָל־חֵפֶץ כִּי־לֹא יַצְמִֽיחַ (Shmuel II 23:5), for all my deliverance and all desire, will He not make it grow?

וַֽיְהִי־לִי לִֽישׁוּעָה (Shemos 15:2), and He became my deliverance; אֱמֹר לְנַפְשִׁי יְֽשֻֽׁעָתֵךְ אָֽנִי (Tehillim 35:3), say to my soul, I am your deliverance. With a tav added and the first letter of the root falling away: תְּשׁוּעָה גְדוֹלָה (Shmuel I 19:5), a great deliverance; הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה לַמְּלָכִים (Tehillim 144:10), who gives deliverance to kings; וּתְשׁוּעָה בְּרֹב יוֹעֵֽץ (Mishlei 11:14), and deliverance in many counsellors; שֶׁקֶר הַסּוּס לִתְשׁוּעָה (Tehillim 33:17), a horse is a false thing for deliverance; and הַתְּשׁוּעָֽה (Mishlei 21:31), deliverance, which the pasuk gives to Hashem.

His father takes אִם־בְּפִידוֹ לָהֶן שֽׁוּעַ (Iyov 30:24), if in his פיד they have deliverance, from this sense. That is, in the פיד, which is the day of death, there is deliverance for those whose strength was worn out in life, as it says וְשָׁם יָנוּחוּ יְגִיעֵי כֹֽחַ (Iyov 3:17), and there the weary of strength rest. On that reading שֽׁוּעַ is from יָשַׁע with the first letter of the root missing, as בוּל הָרִים (Iyov 40:20), the produce of the hills, is like יְבוּל with its first letter missing.

הוֹשִׁיעַ (Tehillim 20:7), Hashem has saved His anointed; וַיְהִי לָהֶם לְמוֹשִֽׁיעַ (Yeshayahu 63:8), and He became a saviour to them; הוֹשַׁע (Yirmiyahu 31:7), save, Hashem, Your people; הֽוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵנוּ (Divrei HaYamim I 16:35), save us, God of our deliverance; and the noun מוֹשָׁעָה, deliverance, with the plural in הָאֵל לָנוּ אֵל לְֽמוֹשָׁעוֹת (Tehillim 68:21), God is to us a God of deliverances.

יִשְׂרָאֵל נוֹשַׁע (Yeshayahu 45:17), Israel was saved, and עַם נוֹשַׁע (Devarim 33:29), a people that was saved, take a patach, since they are past verbs; אֵין הַמֶּלֶךְ נוֹשָׁע בְּרָב־חָיִל, the king is not saved by a great army, takes a kamatz, since it is עומד, standing, and not a past verb. וְנֽוֹשַׁעְתֶּם מֵאֹֽיְבֵיכֶֽם (Bamidbar 10:9), and you will be saved from your enemies.

וַֽאֲמַרְתֶּם נִצַּלְנוּ (Yirmiyahu 7:10), and you say, we are saved; אֲשֶׁר־ יִנָּצֵל אֵלֶיךָ (Devarim 23:16), who escapes to you; לְהִנָּצֵל מִפְּנֵי מֶלֶךְ אַשּׁוּר (Yeshayahu 20:6), to be delivered from the king of Ashur; הֵמָּה בְצִדְקָתָם יְנַצְּלוּ נַפְשָׁם (Yechezkel 14:14), they by their righteousness will deliver their own soul.

וְהַצֵּל לֹֽא־ הִצַּלְתָּ אֶת־עַמֶּֽךָ (Shemos 5:23), and you have not delivered your people at all; וְהִצַּלְתֶּם אֶת־נַפְשֹׁתֵינוּ (Yehoshua 2:13), and you shall save our lives; לְמַעַן הַצִּיל אֹתוֹ (Bereishis 37:22), in order to save him; כְּאוּד מֻצָּל מִשְּׂרֵפָה (Amos 4:11), like a brand pulled out of the burning; הֲלוֹא זֶה אוּד מֻצָּל מֵאֵֽשׁ (Zecharyah 3:2), is this not a brand pulled out of the fire; and the noun רֶוַח וְהַצָּלָה (Esther 4:14), relief and deliverance.

אֲשֶׁר הִצִּיל אֱלֹהִים מֵֽאָבִינוּ (Bereishis 31:16), which Hashem took away from our father, and וַיַּצֵּל אֱלֹהִים אֶת־מִקְנֵה אֲבִיכֶם (Bereishis 31:9), Hashem took away your father's cattle. וְהִצִּיל עֵינֵֽנוּ (Shmuel II 20:6), and take away our eye, he reads as his taking away our sight and the view of our eyes by entering one of the places; and וְאַל־ תַּצֵּל מִפִּי דְבַר־אֱמֶת עַד־מְאֹד (Tehillim 119:43), and do not take the word of truth out of my mouth utterly.

Close in sense to rescue: וְנִצַּלְתֶּם אֶת־מִצְרָֽיִם (Shemos 3:22), and you will strip Egypt, and וַיְנַצְּלוּ לָהֶם לְאֵין מַשָּׂא (Divrei HaYamim II 20:25), they stripped for themselves more than they could carry. וַיִּתְנַצְּלוּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־עֶדְיָם מֵהַר חוֹרֵֽב (Shemos 33:6), the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Chorev, he reads as their taking the ornaments off and wearing them no more. The sense is removal and stripping away, and the first sense falls under it too, since a rescue is a removal from the one who takes him.

וּפָֽרַקְתָּ עֻלּוֹ מֵעַל צַוָּארֶֽךָ (Bereishis 27:40), you will break his yoke off your neck; פֹּרֵק וְאֵין מַצִּֽיל (Tehillim 7:3), tearing with none to rescue; פָּֽרְקוּ נִזְמֵי הַזָּהָב (Shemos 32:2), break off the golden rings; וּפַרְסֵיהֶן יְפָרֵֽק (Zecharyah 11:16), he will tear off their hooves; מְפָרֵק הָרִים (Melachim I 19:11), breaking the mountains. All of it is breaking, and the parting of one thing from another.

הִתְפָּרָקוּ וַיִּתְּנוּ־לִי (Shemos 32:24), they took them off and gave them to me, and וַיִּֽתְפָּֽרְקוּ כָּל־הָעָם (Shemos 32:3), and all the people took them off, mean that they broke themselves free of the golden rings in their ears. The form that turns the act back on the doer is used because they did it with great eagerness, wanting to be rid of their rings and have them no longer. The same form stands in הִתְפָּרְקוּ וְיָבֵשׁוּ (Yechezkel 19:12), they were broken off and dried up.

The noun is a breaking: כַּחַשׁ פֶּרֶק מְלֵאָה (Nachum 3:1), full of lying and of breaking. וְאַֽל־תַּֽעֲמֹד עַל־ הַפֶּרֶק in Ovadiah, do not stand at the perek, means that you should not have stood over the breaking that came upon Yisrael, but should have saved them if you could, in the way of לֹא תַֽעֲמֹד עַל־דַּם רֵעֶךָ (Vayikra 19:16), do not stand by your fellow's blood. Some explain על הפרק as at the head of the roads, the place where the roads part: there you stood and told the Bavliim which way the fugitive had gone.

וַתִּשָּׁבֵר מַפְרַקְתּוֹ (Shmuel I 4:18), his mafrekes was broken, is the bone of the neck. So Chazal say, ודילמא בעצם המפרקה איפגים (Chullin 10b), perhaps it was the neck bone that was nicked. It is called so because it is made of joint upon joint.

A sense close to the first: וַיִּפְרְקֵנוּ מִצָּרֵינוּ (Tehillim 136:24), He tore us free from our foes; פֹּרֵק אֵין מִיָּדָֽם (Eichah 5:8), there is none to tear us out of their hand; and the Targum of וַיּוֹשַׁע (Shemos 14:30), and He saved, is וּפְרַק.

הִנֵּה־קוֹל שַֽׁוְעַת בַּת־עַמִּי (Yirmiyahu 8:19), behold the sound of the cry of the daughter of my people, and וְשַׁוְעָתִי לְפָנָיו תָּבוֹא בְאָזְנָֽיו (Tehillim 18:7), and my cry before Him came into His ears. The verb: שִׁוַּעְתִּי שָׁמַעְתָּ קוֹלִֽי (Yonah 2:3), I cried out and You heard my voice; יְשַׁוְּעוּ וְאֵין מוֹשִׁיעַ (Tehillim 18:42), they cry out and there is none to save; and קַמְתִּי בַקָּהָל אֲשַׁוֵּֽעַ (Iyov 30:28), I stood up in the assembly and cried out. Their sense is crying out.

Some explain הֲיַֽעֲרֹךְ שׁוּֽעֲךָ לֹא בְצָר (Iyov 36:19), will your cry avail you without distress, in this sense; and Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Yonah brought alongside them אִם־בְּפִידוֹ לָהֶן שֽׁוּעַ (Iyov 30:24), whether in his calamity there is a cry for them. The two of them also brought under this root and this sense הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה לַמְּלָכִים (Tehillim 144:10), who gives salvation to kings.

His father too wrote it so in Sefer HaGalui, and said that the sense of תשועה, salvation, in Arabic is א"ל גאת"ה, which is the receiving of a cry. Radak has written of it already under the root יָשַׁע.

From this root, וְעֵינָיו הָשַׁע (Yeshayahu 6:10), and shut his eyes, that is, close his eyes so that he not see. The Targum of וְטָח אֶת־הַבָּֽיִת (Vayikra 14:42), and he shall plaster the house, is וִישׁוּעַ יָת בֵּיתָא, the same words in Aramaic.

His father takes וּבְמַיִם לֹֽא־רֻחַצְתְּ לְמִשְׁעִי (Yechezkel 16:4), and in water you were not washed לְמִשְׁעִי, from this sense, its sense being like anointing, since the plastering of a house is done by drawing the hand over it as anointing is; the yod stands for a hei. It may also be read as carrying the sense of smoothness, the yod in לְמִשְׁעִי standing for the doubled letter and the root being שָׁעַע, from the Targum of חֶלְקַת צַוָּארָֽיו (Bereishis 27:16), the smooth of his neck, which is שְׁעִיעוּת צַוְרֵיהּ, and of וְאָֽנֹכִי אִישׁ חָלָֽק (Bereishis 27:11), and I am a smooth man, which is גבר שעיע; so the pasuk would mean, to make your flesh smooth, since washing in water smooths the flesh and makes it soft. His father writes a further reading, for cleansing, since in Arabic טהרה, cleanness, is א"ל תמשי"ע.

Rabbi Yonah explains הָשַׁע מִמֶּנִּי וְאַבְלִיגָה (Tehillim 39:14), הָשַׁע from me and I will recover, from the sense of shutting the eyes: shut your eyes from me, as though it said, cease from me. Others read it as, let go of me, like שְׁעֵה מֵעָלָיו וְיֶחְדָּל (Iyov 14:6), let go of him that he may cease, holding שוע and שעה to be one sense.

הִשְׁתַּֽעַשְׁעוּ וָשֹׁעוּ (Yeshayahu 29:9) is from this root and from the first sense, that is, they cried out and cried aloud; and so וְשׁוֹעַ אֶל־הָהָֽר (Yeshayahu 22:5), and crying out to the mountain. His father explains them from the sense of וְעֵינָיו הָשַׁע, shutting the eyes, as the pasuk after it says, וַיְעַצֵּם אֶת־עֵֽינֵיכֶם, and He has closed your eyes, which is said of the false prophet. On that reading הִשְׁתַּֽעַשְׁעוּ is past tense, and so is וְשֹׁעוּ, on the pattern of מַה־ טֹּבוּ אֹֽהָלֶיךָ (Bamidbar 24:5), how goodly are your tents; and the meaning is that the false prophets blinded themselves and blinded others.

Another sense: וּלְכִילַי לֹא יֵֽאָמֵר שֽׁוֹעַ (Yeshayahu 32:5), and of the churl it shall not be said, open handed. This is the honoured man, very open handed with his money, who gives more than is fitting for him. The noun from this is הֲיַֽעֲרֹךְ שׁוּֽעֲךָ לֹא בְצָר (Iyov 36:19), that is, will your money arrange that you not be in distress, and וְכֹל מַֽאֲמַצֵּי־כֹֽחַ, and all the forces of strength: money and strength cannot save you from the trouble that is due to come upon you.