Isaiah 16:11

16:11 So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp,

my inner being sighs for Kir Hareseth.

Isaiah 48:19

48:19 Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand,

and your children like its granules.

Their name would not have been cut off

and eliminated from my presence.


tn Heb “so my intestines sigh for Moab like a harp.” The word מֵעַי (meay, “intestines”) is used here of the seat of the emotions. English idiom requires the word “heart.” The point of the comparison to a harp is not entirely clear. Perhaps his sighs of mourning resemble a harp in sound, or his constant sighing is like the repetitive strumming of a harp.

tn The verb is supplied in the translation; “sighs” in the preceding line does double duty in the parallel structure.

tn Heb “Kir Heres” (so ASV, NRSV, TEV, CEV), a variant name for “Kir Hareseth” (see v. 7).

tn Heb “like sand”; NCV “as many as the grains of sand.”

tn Heb “and the issue from your inner parts.”

tn Heb “and his name would not be cut off and would not be destroyed from before me.”