FOR I LIFT UP MY HAND TO HEAVEN. By way of the plain meaning of Scripture this is an oath by His throne. He states I lift up, for whoever takes an oath raises his hand and touches the object by which he swears. And by way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala], during the time of the exile He hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel.⁠¹ He, therefore states that now in an acceptable time² He will lift His hand to the highest heavens, the reference being to the great hand³ that fights on behalf of Israel. And this is the sense of the expression, And I say: As I live forever,⁠⁴ for I make My strong hand active when I whet the lightning of My sword⁵ and support it [My hand] to prevail for the justice of Israel [which, until then, had been cast down to the earth]⁠⁶ and to recompense them that hate Me,⁠⁷ for then will G-d's Name be full and the throne perfect.⁠⁸ The student learned in the mysteries of the Cabala will understand.
Now this Song, which is our true and faithful testimony, tells us clearly all that will happen to us. It mentions first the mercy that the Holy One, blessed be He, bestowed upon us from the time He took us to be His portion. It mentions the favors that He did for us in the wilderness, and that He caused us to possess the lands of great and mighty nations, and the abundant good, wealth, and honor that He made us inherit there. Yet despite the abundance of all good, they rebelled against G-d to worship the idols, and it mentions how He was provoked by them until He visited upon them in their country pestilence, famine, the evil beast, and the sword, and then He dispersed them in every direction and corner. It is known that all this has been fulfilled, and it was so. And the Song states that ultimately He will render vengeance to His adversaries⁹ and will recompense them that hate Him.⁠¹⁰ The reason [for their punishment] is that they inflicted all these evils upon us out of their hatred of the Holy One, blessed be He: because they do not hate Israel for having made idols like theirs, but only because they do not imitate their deeds. Instead they serve the Holy One, blessed be He, and observe His commandments, neither intermarrying with them nor eating of their slaughterings, and they [Israel] hold their idol in contempt and remove it from their places, similar to what [the psalmist] said, but for Thy sake are we killed all the day.⁠¹¹ If so, it is because of their hatred of the Holy One, blessed be He, that they inflict all these evils upon us; they are thus His adversaries and His enemies, and it is for Him to wreak vengeance upon them. And it is clear, that He assures [Israel] concerning the future redemption, for, during the construction of the Second Temple, the nations did not rejoice with His people,⁠¹² but mocked them: What are these feeble Jews doing?¹³ And their leaders were servants in the palace of the king of Babylon¹⁴ and all the Jews were subject to him. In those days He did not render vengeance to His adversaries and He did not make expiation for the land of His people.⁠¹⁵
Now, in this Song there is no condition of repentance or service [of G-d as a prerequisite for the coming redemption], but it is a testamentary document that the evils will come and that we will endure them, and that He, blessed be He, will do with us in furious rebukes¹⁶ — but He will not destroy our memory. Rather, He will return and be comforted and will punish the enemies with His sore and great and strong sword,⁠¹⁷ and forgive our sins, for His Name's sake.⁠¹⁸ If so, this Song is a clear-promise of the future redemption — the infidels notwithstanding. And so the Rabbis mentioned in the Sifre:⁠¹⁹ "Great is this Song, for there is in it the present, the past, the future, and there is in it this world and the World to Come.⁠" It is to this that Scripture alludes in saying, And Moses came and spoke all the words of this Song in the ears of the people.⁠²⁰ It mentions all ['all' the words] in order to indicate that the Song contains everything that is to come upon them although it is brief in words, for Moses explained its many subjects to them.
Now, if this Song had been written by one of the astrologers declaring the end from the beginning²¹ it would have earned belief therein because all its words have been fulfilled by now, not one thing hath failed.⁠²² Certainly we shall continue to believe and look forward with all our heart for the word of G-d by the mouth of His prophet, the most trusted in all His house,⁠²³ [and like unto him] was there no one before him, neither after him²⁴ — peace be upon him!