Isaiah 7:24

7:24 With bow and arrow ¹  men will hunt ²  there, for the whole land will be covered ³  with thorns and briers.

Isaiah 27:4

27:4 I am not angry.

I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!

Then I would march against them ⁴  for battle;

I would set them ⁵  all on fire,

Isaiah 5:6

5:6 I will make it a wasteland;

no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, ⁶ 

and thorns and briers will grow there.

I will order the clouds

not to drop any rain on it.

Isaiah 7:25

7:25 They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. ⁷  Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them. ⁸ 

Isaiah 9:18

9:18 For ⁹  evil burned like a fire, ¹⁰ 

it consumed thorns and briers;

it burned up the thickets of the forest,

and they went up in smoke. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 32:13

32:13 Mourn ¹²  over the land of my people,

which is overgrown with thorns and briers,

and over all the once-happy houses ¹³ 

in the city filled with revelry. ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “with arrows and a bow.” The more common English idiom is “bow[s] and arrow[s].”

² tn Heb “go” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “go hunting.”

³ tn Heb “will be” (so NASB, NRSV).

⁴ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense. For other examples of a cohortative expressing resolve after a hypothetical statement introduced by נָתַן with מִי (miwith natan), see Judg 9:29; Jer 9:1-2; Ps 55:6.

⁵ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense.

⁷ tn Heb “it will not be pruned or hoed” (so NASB); ASV and NRSV both similar.

¹⁰ tn Heb “and all the hills which were hoed with a hoe, you will not go there [for] fear of the thorns and briers.”

¹¹ tn Heb “and it will become a pasture for cattle and a trampling place for sheep.”

¹³ tn Or “Indeed” (cf. NIV “Surely”). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

¹⁴ sn Evil was uncontrollable and destructive, and so can be compared to a forest fire.

¹⁵ tn Heb “and they swirled [with] the rising of the smoke” (cf. NRSV).

¹⁶ tn “Mourn” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.

¹⁷ tn Heb “indeed, over all the houses of joy.” It is not certain if this refers to individual homes or to places where parties and celebrations were held.

¹⁸ sn This same phrase is used in 22:2.