Text -- Isaiah 25:3-12 (NET)

25:3 So a strong nation will extol you; the towns of powerful nations will fear you. 25:4 For you are a protector for the poor, a protector for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm, a shade from the heat. Though the breath of tyrants is like a winter rainstorm, 25:5 like heat in a dry land, you humble the boasting foreigners. Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, so he causes the song of tyrants to cease. 25:6 The Lord who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine– tender meat and choicest wine. 25:7 On this mountain he will swallow up the shroud that is over all the peoples, the woven covering that is over all the nations; 25:8 he will swallow up death permanently. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face, and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. Indeed, the Lord has announced it! 25:9 At that time they will say, “Look, here is our God! We waited for him and he delivered us. Here is the Lord! We waited for him. Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!” 25:10 For the Lord’s power will make this mountain secure. Moab will be trampled down where it stands, as a heap of straw is trampled down in a manure pile. 25:11 Moab will spread out its hands in the middle of it, just as a swimmer spreads his hands to swim; the Lord will bring down Moab’s pride as it spreads its hands. 25:12 The fortified city (along with the very tops of your walls) he will knock down, he will bring it down, he will throw it down to the dusty ground.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 25:3

¹ tn The Hebrew text has a singular form, but it should be emended to a plural or eliminated altogether. The noun may have been accidentally copied from the preceding verse.

NET Notes: Isa 25:4

¹ tn Or perhaps, “the violent”; NIV, NRSV “the ruthless.”

² tc The Hebrew text has, “like a rainstorm of a wall,” which might be interpreted to mean, “like a rainstorm battering against a wall.” The translation assumes an emendation of קִיר (qir, “wall”) to קֹר (qor, “cold, winter”; cf. Gen 8:22). See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:457, n. 6, for discussion.

NET Notes: Isa 25:5

¹ tn Or “drought” (TEV).

² tn Heb “the tumult of foreigners.”

³ tn Heb “[like] heat in the shadow of a cloud.”

⁴ tn The translation assumes that the verb יַעֲנֶה (ya’aneh) is a Hiphil imperfect from עָנָה (’anah, “be afflicted, humiliated”). In this context with “song” as object it means to “quiet” (see HALOT 853-54 s.v. II ענה). Some prefer to emend the form to the second person singular, so that it will agree with the second person verb earlier in the verse. BDB 776 s.v. III עָנָה Qal.1 understands the form as Qal, with “song” as subject, in which case one might translate “the song of tyrants will be silent.” An emendation of the form to a Niphal (יֵעָנֶה, ye’aneh) would yield the same translation.

NET Notes: Isa 25:6

¹ sn That is, Mount Zion (see 24:23); cf. TEV; NLT “In Jerusalem.”

² tn Heb “And the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] will make for all the nations on this mountain a banquet of meats, a banquet of wine dregs, meats filled with marrow, dregs that are filtered.”

NET Notes: Isa 25:7

¹ tn The Hebrew text reads, “the face of the shroud, the shroud over all the nations.” Some emend the second הַלּוֹט (hallot) to a passive participle הַלּוּט (hallut, “that is wrapped”).

² sn The point of the imagery is unclear. Perhaps the shroud/covering referred to was associated with death in some way (see v. 8).

NET Notes: Isa 25:8

¹ sn The image of the Lord “swallowing” death would be especially powerful, for death was viewed in Canaanite mythology and culture as a hungry enemy that swallows its victims. See the note at 5:14.

² tn Heb “has spoken” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

NET Notes: Isa 25:9

¹ tn Heb “and one will say in that day.”

² tn Heb “this [one].”

³ tn Heb “this [one].”

NET Notes: Isa 25:10

¹ tn Heb “for the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain”; TEV “will protect Mount Zion”; NCV “will protect (rest on NLT) Jerusalem.”

² tn Heb “under him,” i.e., “in his place.”

³ tc The marginal reading (Qere) is בְּמוֹ (bÿmo, “in”). The consonantal text (Kethib) has בְּמִי (bÿmi, “in the water of”).

NET Notes: Isa 25:11

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The antecedent of the third masculine singular pronominal suffix is probably the masculine noun מַתְבֵּן (matben, “heap of straw”) in v. 10 rather than the feminine noun מַדְמֵנָה (madmenah, “manure pile”), also in v. 10.

³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Moab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn The Hebrew text has, “he will bring down his pride along with the [?] of his hands.” The meaning of אָרְבּוֹת (’arbot), which occurs only here in the OT, is unknown. Some (see BDB 70 s.v. אָרְבָּה) translate “artifice, cleverness,” relating the form to the verbal root אָרָב (’arav, “to lie in wait, ambush”), but this requires some convoluted semantic reasoning. HALOT 83 s.v. *אָרְבָּה suggests the meaning “[nimble] movements.” The translation above, which attempts to relate the form to the preceding context, is purely speculative.

NET Notes: Isa 25:12

¹ sn Moab is addressed.

² tn Heb “a fortification, the high point of your walls.”

³ tn Heb “he will bring [it] down, he will make [it] touch the ground, even to the dust.”