19:11 Its boughs were strong, fit 1 for rulers’ scepters; it reached up into the clouds.
It stood out because of its height and its many branches. 2
19:12 But it was plucked up in anger; it was thrown down to the ground.
The east wind 3 dried up its fruit;
its strong branches broke off and withered –
a fire consumed them.
15:7 For this reason what they have made and stored up,
they carry over the Stream of the Poplars.
44:4 They will sprout up like a tree in the grass, 4
like poplars beside channels of water.
1 tn The word “fit” does not occur in the Hebrew text.
2 tn Heb “and it was seen by its height and by the abundance of its branches.”
3 sn The east wind symbolizes the Babylonians.
4 tn The Hebrew term בֵין (ven) is usually taken as a preposition, in which case one might translate, “among the grass.” But בֵין is probably the name of a tree (cf. C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 133). If one alters the preposition bet (בְּ) to kaf (כְּ), one can then read, “like a binu-tree.” (The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa supports this reading.) This forms a nice parallel to “like poplars” in the next line. חָצִיר (khatsir) is functioning as an adverbial accusative of location.