The verse immediately before Lo Yisa Goy, and the one you will hear in synagogue every week: as the scroll is lifted and carried to the reading desk, the congregation sings its last eight words. It is worth knowing the whole verse, because the famous clause is a conclusion — the peoples say let us go up, and the reason given is that this is where the teaching comes from. Cut the clause loose and it becomes a slogan; leave it attached and it is an argument.
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♪ TuningE A D G B E
Key: Am · 3 chords used ·Am · Dm · E
76 BPM · 4/4 · sung slowly, as the Torah scroll is lifted and carried · only the last clause is sung; the rest of the verse is here so you can see where it comes from · to reset the chord panel:
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And many peoples shall go and say: come, let us go up
אֶל
el
to
הַר
har
the mountain of
יְהֹוָה
a-do-NAY
the LORD
אֶל
el
to
בֵּית
beit
the house of
אֱלֹהֵי
e-lo-HEI
the God of
יַעֲקֹב
ya-a-KOV
Jacob
|Am|E|
to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob;
וְיֹרֵנוּ
ve-yo-re-NU
and He will teach us
מִדְּרָכָיו
mid-ra-CHAV
of His ways
וְנֵלְכָה
ve-nel-CHA
and we will walk
בְּאֹרְחֹתָיו
be-or-cho-TAV
in His paths
|Dm|Am|
and He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths.
כִּי
ki
for
מִצִּיּוֹן
mi-tzi-YON
out of Zion
תֵּצֵא
te-TZE
shall go forth
תוֹרָה
to-RA
teaching / Torah
וּדְבַר
ud-VAR
and the word of
יְהֹוָה
a-do-NAY
the LORD
מִירוּשָׁלִָם
mi-ru-sha-LA-yim
from Jerusalem
|AmDm|EAm|
For out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
The sung clause is a mirror: two halves with the same shape, and the verb stated only once. תֵּצֵא (te-tze) governs both תוֹרָה (to-ra) and וּדְבַר (ud-var) — the word for "shall go forth" is not repeated in the second half, and Hebrew poetry does this constantly. Notice also מִירוּשָׁלִָם (mi-ru-sha-la-yim): the reading is ye-ru-sha-LA-yim although the spelling has no yod before the final letter. That defective spelling is standard in the Masoretic text and it is a place where you cannot sound the word out from the letters alone.
♫ Singing notes
In synagogue only the last clause is sung, twice, once quietly as the scroll is raised and once by everyone as it is carried.
It is slow. Whatever tempo feels right, take a little off it — the singing is timed to someone walking with a heavy scroll.
The natural breath is after תוֹרָה (to-ra). Both halves of the clause then have the same length, which is what makes it sit so well on a tune.
If you are learning it to join in, learn from כִּי (ki) to the end and leave the rest for reading.
♦ About this song
The text
Isaiah 2:3. The chapter opens with nations streaming toward Jerusalem of their own accord, not being brought there, and this verse is what they say when they arrive. The clause about Torah going out is their reasoning, quoted by the prophet.
Torah here does not mean the scroll
תוֹרָה (to-ra) in this verse means teaching or instruction, its ordinary sense, and it is paired with וּדְבַר (ud-var), the spoken word — the two halves of the mirror. The liturgical use, sung at the moment a physical scroll is lifted, reads it as the scroll as well. Both readings are old and neither replaces the other.
Why the verse before matters
Isaiah 2:3 and 2:4 are one movement: the peoples come to learn, and because they have learned, they stop making war. Lo Yisa Goy, on its own page here, is the second half. Learning them together costs almost nothing extra and it is the difference between a slogan and a sentence.
Hebrew: Isaiah 2:3 · Miqra according to the Masorah · CC-BY-SA, via Sefaria, pinned in this repo at content/songs/source/026.json.
English gloss lines authored for this site; the source translation is used as raw material only. Transliteration generated by this site's own engine (assets/translit.js).