3:2 the mighty men and warriors,
judges and prophets,
omen readers and leaders, 1
5:22 Those who are champions 2 at drinking wine are as good as dead, 3
who display great courage when mixing strong drinks.
49:24 Can spoils be taken from a warrior,
or captives be rescued from a conqueror? 5
1 tn Heb “elder” (so ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NCV “older leaders.”
2 tn The language used here is quite sarcastic and paves the way for the shocking description of the enemy army in vv. 25-30. The rich leaders of Judah are nothing but “party animals” who are totally incapable of withstanding real warriors.
3 tn Heb “Woe [to]….” See the note at v. 8.
3 tn The referent of אֵל גִּבּוֹר (’el gibbor, “mighty God”) is uncertain. The title appears only here and in 9:6, where it is one of the royal titles of the coming ideal Davidic king. (Similar titles appear in Deut 10:17 and Neh 9:32 [“the great, mighty, and awesome God”] and in Jer 32:18 [“the great and mighty God”]. Both titles refer to God.) Though Hos 3:5 pictures Israel someday seeking “David their king,” and provides some support for a messianic interpretation of Isa 10:21, the Davidic king is not mentioned in the immediate context of Isa 10:21 (see Isa 11, however). The preceding verse mentions Israel relying on the Lord, so it is likely that the title refers to God here.
4 tc The Hebrew text has צָדִיק (tsadiq, “a righteous [one]”), but this makes no sense in the parallelism. The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa reads correctly עריץ (“violent [one], tyrant”; see v. 25).