Isaiah 2:18

2:18 The worthless idols will be completely eliminated. ¹ 

Isaiah 2:20

2:20 At that time ²  men will throw

their silver and gold idols,

which they made for themselves to worship, ³ 

into the caves where rodents and bats live, ⁴ 

[2:18]  ¹ tc The verb “pass away” is singular in the Hebrew text, despite the plural subject (“worthless idols”) that precedes. The verb should be emended to a plural; the final vav (ו) has been accidentally omitted by haplography (note the vav at the beginning of the immediately following form).

[2:20]  ² tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[2:20]  ³ tn Or “bow down to.”

[2:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “to the shrews and to the bats.” On the meaning of חֲפַרְפָּרָה (khafarparah, “shrew”), see HALOT 341 s.v. חֲפַרְפָּרָה. The BHS text as it stands (לַחְפֹּר פֵּרוֹת, perot lakhpor), makes no sense. Based on Theodotion’s transliteration and a similar reading in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, most scholars suggest that the MT mistakenly divided a noun (a hapax legomenon) that should be translated “moles,” “shrews,” or “rodents.”