translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ISA

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.” sn In this context “the destroyer” appears to refer collectively to the hostile nations (vv. 3-4 ). Assyria would probably have been primary in the minds of the prophet and his audience.


text: Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי ( hoy , “woe [to]”) does double duty.


text: in reading ככלתך , a Piel infinitival form from the verbal root כָּלָה ( kalah ), meaning “finish.”


text: Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem ( מ ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.


text: Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”


text: Heb “at the sound of tumult the nations run away.”


text: Heb “because of your exaltation the nations scatter.”


text: The pronoun is plural; the statement is addressed to the nations who have stockpiled plunder from their conquests of others.


text: Heb “and your plunder is gathered, the gathering of the locust.”


text: Heb “like a swarm of locusts swarming on it.”


text: Or “elevated”; NCV, NLT “is very great.”


text: Or “for” (KJV, NASB, NIV).


text: Heb “on high” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “in the heavens.”


text: Heb “and he is the stability of your times.”


text: Heb “a rich store of deliverance, wisdom, and knowledge.”


text: Heb “the fear of the Lord, it is his treasure.”


text: The meaning of the Hebrew word is unknown. Proposals include “heroes” (cf. KJV, ASV “valiant ones”; NASB, NIV “brave men”); “priests,” “residents [of Jerusalem].” The present translation assumes that the term is synonymous with “messengers of peace,” with which it corresponds in the parallel structure of the verse.


text: Heb “messengers of peace,” apparently those responsible for negotiating the agreements that have been broken (see v. 8 ).


text: Or “desolate” (NAB, NASB); NIV, NRSV, NLT “deserted.”


text: Heb “the one passing by on the road ceases.”


text: Heb “one breaks a treaty”; NAB “Covenants are broken.”


text: . Confusion of dalet ( ד ) and resh ( ר ) is a well-attested scribal error.


text: Heb “he does not regard human beings.”


text: Or “earth” (KJV); NAB “the country.”


text: Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. I אָבַל ). HALOT 6-7 lists homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism. See 24:4 .


text: Heb “Lebanon is ashamed.” The Hiphil is exhibitive, expressing the idea, “exhibits shame.” In this context the statement alludes to the withering of vegetation.


text: Or “the Arabah” (NIV). See 35:1 .


text: Heb “shake off [their leaves]” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB “are stripped bare.”


text: Or “lift myself up” (KJV); NLT “show my power and might.”


text: The second person verb and pronominal forms in this verse are plural. The hostile nations are the addressed, as the next verse makes clear.


text: Heb “will be a burning to lime.” See Amos 2:1 .


text: Or “trembling” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “shake with fear.”


text: Or “the defiled”; TEV “The sinful people of Zion”; NLT “The sinners in Jerusalem.”


text: The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification.


text: Or “perpetual”; or “everlasting” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).


text: Heb “walks” (so NASB, NIV).


text: Or, possibly, “justly”; NAB “who practices virtue.”


text: Heb “[who] shakes off his hands from grabbing hold of a bribe.”


text: Heb “[who] shuts his ear from listening to bloodshed.”


text: Heb “[who] closes his eyes from seeing evil.”


text: Heb “he [in the] exalted places will live.”


text: Heb “mountain strongholds, cliffs [will be] his elevated place.”


text: Heb “your eyes will see a king in his beauty”; NIV, NRSV “the king.”


text: Heb “a land of distances,” i.e., an extensive land.


text: Heb “your heart will meditate on terror.”


text: The words “and you will ask yourselves” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.


text: The Hebrew form נוֹעָז ( no ’ az ) is a Niphal participle derived from יָעַז ( ya ’ az , an otherwise unattested verb) or from עָזָז (’ azaz , “be strong,” unattested elsewhere in the Niphal). Some prefer to emend the form to לוֹעֵז ( lo ’ ez ) which occurs in Ps 114:1 with the meaning “speak a foreign language.” See HALOT 809 s.v. עזז , 533 s.v. לעז . In this case, one might translate “people who speak a foreign language.”


text: Heb “a people too deep of lip to hear.” The phrase “deep of lip” must be an idiom meaning “lips that speak words that are unfathomable [i.e., incomprehensible].”


text: Heb “derision of tongue there is no understanding.” The Niphal of לָעַג ( la ’ ag ) occurs only here. In the Qal and Hiphil the verb means “to deride, mock.” A related noun is used in 28:11 .


text: Heb “your eyes” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).


text: For location see Map5-B1 ; Map6-F3 ; Map7-E2 ; Map8-F2 ; Map10-B3 ; JP1-F4 ; JP2-F4 ; JP3-F4 ; JP4-F4 .


text: Or “that does not travel”; NASB “which shall not be folded.”


text: Heb “But there [as] a mighty one [will be] the Lord for us.”


text: Heb “a place of rivers, streams wide of hands [i.e., on both sides].”


text: Heb “a ship of rowing will not go into it.”


text: Heb “and a mighty ship will not pass through it.”


text: The words “though at this time” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first half of the verse is addressed to Judah and contrasts the nation’s present weakness with its future prosperity. Judah is compared to a ship that is incapable of sailing.


text: Heb “they do not fasten the base of their mast.” On כֵּן ( ken , “base”) see BDB 487 s.v. III כֵּן and HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן .


text: Or perhaps, “flag.”


text: Heb “then there will be divided up loot of plunder [in] abundance.”


text: The words “of Zion” are supplied in the translation for clarification.