Isaiah 19:6

19:6 The canals will stink;

the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up;

the bulrushes and reeds will decay,

Isaiah 33:9

33:9 The land dries up and withers away;

the forest of Lebanon shrivels up and decays.

Sharon is like the desert;

Bashan and Carmel are parched.


tn Heb “rivers” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, CEV “streams”; TEV “channels.”

tn The verb form appears as a Hiphil in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa; the form in MT may be a so-called “mixed form,” reflecting the Hebrew Hiphil stem and the functionally corresponding Aramaic Aphel stem. See HALOT 276 s.v. I זנח.

tn Or “earth” (KJV); NAB “the country.”

tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. I אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism. See 24:4.

tn Heb “Lebanon is ashamed.” The Hiphil is exhibitive, expressing the idea, “exhibits shame.” In this context the statement alludes to the withering of vegetation.

sn Sharon was a fertile plain along the Mediterranean coast. See 35:2.

tn Or “the Arabah” (NIV). See 35:1.

sn Both of these areas were known for their trees and vegetation. See 2:13; 35:2.

tn Heb “shake off [their leaves]” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB “are stripped bare.”