80:11 Its branches reached the Mediterranean Sea, 1
and its shoots the Euphrates River. 2
80:12 Why did you break down its walls, 3
so that all who pass by pluck its fruit? 4
80:13 The wild boars of the forest ruin it; 5
the insects 6 of the field feed on it.
80:14 O God, invincible warrior, 7 come back!
Look down from heaven and take notice!
Take care of this vine,
80:15 the root 8 your right hand planted,
the shoot you made to grow! 9
80:16 It is burned 10 and cut down.
They die because you are displeased with them. 11
9:14 So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,
both the shoots and stalk 12 in one day.
18:5 For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted,
and the ripening fruit appears, 13
he will cut off the unproductive shoots 14 with pruning knives;
he will prune the tendrils. 15
27:10 For the fortified city 16 is left alone;
it is a deserted settlement
and abandoned like the desert.
Calves 17 graze there;
they lie down there
and eat its branches bare. 18
15:6 “Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Like the wood of the vine is among the trees of the forest which I have provided as fuel for the fire – so I will provide the residents of Jerusalem 21 as fuel. 22 15:7 I will set 23 my face against them – although they have escaped from the fire, 24 the fire will still consume them! Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.
4:1 (3:19) 27 “For indeed the day 28 is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord who rules over all. “It 29 will not leave even a root or branch.
1 tn Heb “to [the] sea.” The “sea” refers here to the Mediterranean Sea.
2 tn Heb “to [the] river.” The “river” is the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia. Israel expanded both to the west and to the east.
3 sn The protective walls of the metaphorical vineyard are in view here (see Isa 5:5).
4 tn Heb “pluck it.”
5 tn The Hebrew verb כִּרְסֵם (kirsem, “to eat away; to ruin”) occurs only here in the OT.
6 tn The precise referent of the Hebrew word translated “insects,” which occurs only here and in Ps 50:11, is uncertain. Aramaic, Arabic, and Akkadian cognates refer to insects, such as locusts or crickets.
7 tn Heb “O God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot, “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. See also vv. 4, 7 for a similar construction.
8 tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT. HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן emends the form to כַּנָּהּ (kannah, “its shoot”).
9 tn Heb “and upon a son you strengthened for yourself.” In this context, where the extended metaphor of the vine dominates, בֵּן (ben, “son”) probably refers to the shoots that grow from the vine. Cf. Gen 49:22.
10 tn Heb “burned with fire.”
11 tn Heb “because of the rebuke of your face they perish.”
12 sn The metaphor in this line is that of a reed being cut down.
13 tn Heb “and the unripe, ripening fruit is maturing.”
14 tn On the meaning of זַלְזַל (zalzal, “shoot [of the vine] without fruit buds”) see HALOT 272 s.v. *זַלְזַל.
15 tn Heb “the tendrils he will remove, he will cut off.”
16 sn The identity of this city is uncertain. The context suggests that an Israelite city, perhaps Samaria or Jerusalem, is in view. For discussions of interpretive options see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:496-97, and Paul L. Redditt, “Once Again, the City in Isaiah 24-27,” HAR 10 (1986), 332.
17 tn The singular form in the text is probably collective.
18 tn Heb “and destroy her branches.” The city is the antecedent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix. Apparently the city is here compared to a tree. See also v. 11.
19 tn Most modern translations take the statement as a comparison (“how is vine wood better than any forest wood?”) based on the preposition מִן (min). But a comparison should have a word as an adjective or stative verb designating a quality, i.e., a word for “good/better” is lacking. The preposition is translated above in its partitive sense.
20 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws one’s attention to something. Sometimes it may be translated as a verb of perception; here it is treated as a particle that fits the context (so also in v. 5, but with a different English word).
21 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
22 tn The words “as fuel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
23 tn The word translated “set” is the same Hebrew word translated as “provide” in the previous verse.
24 sn This escape refers to the exile of Ezekiel and others in 597
25 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
26 tn Fire also appears as a form of judgment in Ezek 15:4-7; 19:12, 14.
27 sn Beginning with 4:1, the verse numbers through 4:6 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 4:1 ET = 3:19 HT, 4:2 ET = 3:20 HT, etc., through 4:6 ET = 3:24 HT. Thus the book of Malachi in the Hebrew Bible has only three chapters, with 24 verses in ch. 3.
28 sn This day is the well-known “day of the
29 tn Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.