18:1 The land of buzzing wings is as good as dead, 2
the one beyond the rivers of Cush,
32:8 An honorable man makes honorable plans;
his honorable character gives him security. 3
32:12 Mourn over the field, 4
over the delightful fields
and the fruitful vine!
43:11 I, I am the Lord,
and there is no deliverer besides me.
65:22 No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, 5
or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, 6
for my people will live as long as trees, 7
and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. 8
1 tn Heb “houses of breath.” HALOT 124 s.v. בַּיִת defines them as “scent-bottles”; cf. NAB, NRSV “perfume boxes.”
2 tn Heb “Woe [to] the land of buzzing wings.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.
3 tn Heb “and he upon honorable things stands.”
4 tc The Hebrew text has “over mourning breasts.” The reference to “breasts” would make sense in light of v. 11, which refers to the practice of women baring their breasts as a sign of sorrow (see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:585). However, one expects the preposition עַל (’al) to introduce the source or reason for mourning (see vv. 12b-13a) and the participle סֹפְדִים (sofedim, “mourning”) seems odd modifying “breasts.” The translation above assumes a twofold emendation: (1) שָׁדַיִם (shadayim, “breasts”) is emended to [ם]שָׂדַי (saday[m], “field,” a term that also appears in Isa 56:9). The final mem (ם) would be enclitic in this case, not a plural indicator. (The Hebrew noun שָׂדֶה (sadeh, “field”) forms its plural with an וֹת- [-ot] ending). (2) The plural participle סֹפְדִים is emended to סְפֹדָה (sÿfodah), a lengthened imperatival form, meaning “mourn.” For an overview of various suggestions that have been made for this difficult line, see Oswalt, 586, n. 12).
5 tn Heb “they will not build, and another live [in it].”
6 tn Heb “they will not plant, and another eat.”
7 tn Heb “for like the days of the tree [will be] the days of my people.”
8 tn Heb “the work of their hands” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “their hard-won gains.”