27:10 For the fortified city 3 is left alone;
it is a deserted settlement
and abandoned like the desert.
Calves 4 graze there;
they lie down there
and eat its branches bare. 5
27:11 When its branches get brittle, 6 they break;
women come and use them for kindling. 7
For these people lack understanding, 8
therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;
the one who formed them has no mercy on them.
15:6 “Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Like the wood of the vine is among the trees of the forest which I have provided as fuel for the fire – so I will provide the residents of Jerusalem 11 as fuel. 12 15:7 I will set 13 my face against them – although they have escaped from the fire, 14 the fire will still consume them! Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.
4:1 (3:19) 17 “For indeed the day 18 is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord who rules over all. “It 19 will not leave even a root or branch.
25:41 “Then he will say 21 to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!
1 tn Grk “zeal,” recalling God’s jealous protection of his holiness and honor (cf. Exod 20:5).
2 tn Grk “the enemies.”
3 sn The identity of this city is uncertain. The context suggests that an Israelite city, perhaps Samaria or Jerusalem, is in view. For discussions of interpretive options see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:496-97, and Paul L. Redditt, “Once Again, the City in Isaiah 24-27,” HAR 10 (1986), 332.
4 tn The singular form in the text is probably collective.
5 tn Heb “and destroy her branches.” The city is the antecedent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix. Apparently the city is here compared to a tree. See also v. 11.
6 tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
7 tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.
8 tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”
9 tn Most modern translations take the statement as a comparison (“how is vine wood better than any forest wood?”) based on the preposition מִן (min). But a comparison should have a word as an adjective or stative verb designating a quality, i.e., a word for “good/better” is lacking. The preposition is translated above in its partitive sense.
10 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws one’s attention to something. Sometimes it may be translated as a verb of perception; here it is treated as a particle that fits the context (so also in v. 5, but with a different English word).
11 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
12 tn The words “as fuel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
13 tn The word translated “set” is the same Hebrew word translated as “provide” in the previous verse.
14 sn This escape refers to the exile of Ezekiel and others in 597
15 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
16 tn Fire also appears as a form of judgment in Ezek 15:4-7; 19:12, 14.
17 sn Beginning with 4:1, the verse numbers through 4:6 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 4:1 ET = 3:19 HT, 4:2 ET = 3:20 HT, etc., through 4:6 ET = 3:24 HT. Thus the book of Malachi in the Hebrew Bible has only three chapters, with 24 verses in ch. 3.
18 sn This day is the well-known “day of the
19 tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.
20 sn Laid at the root. That is, placed and aimed, ready to begin cutting.
21 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
22 tn Or “reside.”
23 sn Such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire. The author does not tell who it is who does the gathering and throwing into the fire. Although some claim that realized eschatology is so prevalent in the Fourth Gospel that no references to final eschatology appear at all, the fate of these branches seems to point to the opposite. The imagery is almost certainly that of eschatological judgment, and recalls some of the OT vine imagery which involves divine rejection and judgment of disobedient Israel (Ezek 15:4-6, 19:12).
24 tn Grk “they gather them up and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
25 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
26 tn The word “name” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
27 tn Grk “he”; the pronoun has been intensified by translating as “that person.”