Isaiah 1:21

Purifying Judgment

1:21 How tragic that the once-faithful city

has become a prostitute! ¹ 

She was once a center of ²  justice,

fairness resided in her,

but now only murderers. ³ 

Isaiah 23:15-16

23:15 At that time ⁴  Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, ⁵  the typical life span of a king. ⁶  At the end of seventy years Tyre will try to attract attention again, like the prostitute in the popular song: ⁷ 

23:16 “Take the harp,

go through the city,

forgotten prostitute!

Play it well,

play lots of songs,

so you’ll be noticed!” ⁸ 

Jeremiah 3:1

3:1 “If a man divorces his wife

and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,

he may not take her back again. ⁹ 

Doing that would utterly defile the land. ¹⁰ 

But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. ¹¹ 

So what makes you think you can return to me?” ¹² 

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 3:6-8

3:6 When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. ¹³  You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods. ¹⁴  3:7 Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. ¹⁵  But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. ¹⁶  3:8 She also saw ¹⁷  that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. ¹⁸  Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, ¹⁹  she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. ²⁰ 

Hosea 2:5

2:5 For their mother has committed adultery;

she who conceived them has acted shamefully.

For she said, “I will seek out ²¹  my lovers; ²² 

they are the ones who give me my bread and my water,

my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine. ²³ 

Nahum 3:4

Taunt against the Harlot City

3:4 “Because ²⁴  you have acted like a wanton prostitute ²⁵  –

a seductive mistress who practices sorcery, ²⁶ 

who ²⁷  enslaves ²⁸  nations by her harlotry, ²⁹ 

and entices peoples by her sorcery ³⁰  –

John 4:10

4:10 Jesus answered ³¹  her, “If you had known ³²  the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water ³³  to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ³⁴ 

John 4:18

4:18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with ³⁵  now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!”

Revelation 17:5

17:5 On ³⁶  her forehead was written a name, a mystery: ³⁷  “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.”

[1:21]  ¹ tn Heb “How she has become a prostitute, the faithful city!” The exclamatory אֵיכָה (’ekhah, “how!”) is used several times as the beginning of a lament (see Lam 1:1; 2;1; 4:1-2). Unlike a number of other OT passages that link references to Israel’s harlotry to idolatry, Isaiah here makes the connection with social and moral violations.

[1:21]  ² tn Heb “filled with.”

[1:21]  ³ tn Or “assassins.” This refers to the oppressive rich and/or their henchmen. R. Ortlund (Whoredom, 78) posits that it serves as a synecdoche for all varieties of criminals, the worst being mentioned to imply all lesser ones. Since Isaiah often addressed his strongest rebuke to the rulers and leaders of Israel, he may have in mind the officials who bore the responsibility to uphold justice and righteousness.

[23:15]  ⁴ tn Or “in that day” (KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[23:15]  ⁵ sn The number seventy is probably used in a stereotypical, nonliteral sense here to indicate a long period of time that satisfies completely the demands of God’s judgment.

[23:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “like the days of a king.”

[23:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “At the end of seventy years it will be for Tyre like the song of the prostitute.”

[23:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “so you will be remembered.”

[3:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “May he go back to her again?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[3:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Would the land not be utterly defiled?” The stative is here rendered actively to connect better with the preceding. The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[3:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “But you have played the prostitute with many lovers.”

[3:1]  ¹² tn Heb “Returning to me.” The form is the bare infinitive which the KJV and ASV have interpreted as an imperative “Yet, return to me!” However, it is more likely that a question is intended, expressing surprise in the light of the law alluded to and the facts cited. For the use of the infinitive absolute in the place of a finite verb, cf. GKC 346 §113.ee. For the introduction of a question without a question marker, cf. GKC 473 §150.a.

[3:6]  ¹³ tn “Have you seen…” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[3:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.

[3:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “I said to her, ‘Come back to me!’” The verb אָמַר (’amar) usually means “to say,” but here it means “to think,” of an assumption that turns out to be wrong (so HALOT 66.4 s.v. אמר); cf. Gen 44:28; Jer 3:19; Pss 82:6; 139:11; Job 29:18; Ruth 4:4; Lam 3:18.

[3:7]  ¹⁶ tn The words “what she did” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:8]  ¹⁷ tc Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew ms, some Greek mss, and the Syriac version. The MT reads “I saw” which may be a case of attraction to the verb at the beginning of the previous verse.

[3:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.

[3:8]  ¹⁹ tn The words “Even after her unfaithful sister, Judah, had seen this” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied for clarification.

[3:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.

[2:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “I will go after” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[2:5]  ²² sn This statement alludes to the practice of sexual rites in the Canaanite fertility cult which attempted to secure agricultural fertility from the Canaanite gods (note the following reference to wool, flax, olive oil, and wine).

[2:5]  ²³ tn Heb “my drinks.” Many English versions use the singular “drink” here, but cf. NCV, TEV, CEV “wine.”

[3:4]  ²⁴ tn The preposition מִן (min) on מֵרֹב (merov; Heb “from the abundance of harlotries”) is causal: “because of; in consequence of” (HALOT 598 מִן 6; BDB 579-80 s.v. מִן 2.e). See, e.g., Exod 2:23; 15:23; Deut 7:7; 2 Sam 3:11, 37; Job 22:4; Isa 6:4; 43:4; 53:5; Ezek 28:5, 18; Nah 1:5; Zech 2:8; see also IBHS 213 §11.2.11.d; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 58, §319. The causal sense is supported by the LXX’s ἀπό (apo, “from, because of”). Most English versions adopt the causal sense (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NJPS).

[3:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Because of the many harlotries of the harlot.” The MT connects v. 4 with vv. 5-6; however, the LXX connects v. 4 with vv. 1-3. The Masoretic division is followed by NRSV and NJPS; the LXX division is followed by KJV and NIV; and the NASB division equivocates on the issue. It is best to connect v. 4 with vv. 5-6 (following the MT) because: (1) vv. 1-3 constitute a self-contained woe-oracle; and (2) the theme of the harlot unifies vv. 4-6: the accusation against the harlot (v. 4) and the stereotypical punishment of the harlot (vv. 5-6).

[3:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “fair of form, a mistress of sorceries.”

[3:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “she.” This has been translated as a relative pronoun for stylistic reasons. The shift from 2nd person feminine singular (“you”) to 3rd person feminine singular (“she”) is an example of heterosis of persons, a common literary/poetic device used in Hebrew poetry and prophetic literature.

[3:4]  ²⁸ tc The MT reads the Qal participle הַמֹּכֶרֶת (hammokheret) which is derived from מָכַר (makhar, “to sell, to betray”): “the one who sells/betrays [nations].” The MT is supported by the LXX. The Dead Sea Scrolls read הממכרת (4QpNah 2:7): “the one who sells/betrays [nations]” (see DJD 5:38). Dahood repoints the MT as a Hophal participle, הַמֻּכֶּרֶת (hammukkeret) from נָכַר (nakhar, “to know, to recognize”): “the one who is known [by the nations for her harlotries]” (M. Dahood, “Causal Beth and the Root NKR in Nahum 3.4,” Bib 52 [1971]: 395-96). The BHS editors suggest emending the MT, due to metathesis, to הַכֹּמֶרֶת (hakkomeret) from II כמר (“to ensnare”; HALOT 482 s.v. II כמר) which is related to Assyrian kamaru [A] (“to ensnare”): “The one who ensnares [nations].” The related nouns “snare; net” (מִכְמָר, mikhmar) and “net” (מִכְמֶרֶת, mikhmeret) are used as metaphors of the wicked destroying their victims (Ps 141:10; Isa 51:20; Hab 1:15, 16). This approach is adopted by NJPS: “who ensnared nations.” Others suggest emending to the Qal participle הַכֹּמֶרֶת from III כמר (“to destroy, to overthrow”; BDB 485 s.v. III כמר) related to Assyrian kamaru [B] (“to destroy; to annihilate”): “the one who destroys nations.” The MT may be retained due to strong external support (LXX and 4QpNah) and adequate internal support; the conjectural emendations are unnecessary.

[3:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the one who sells nations by her harlotries.”

[3:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and clans by her sorceries.”

[4:10]  ³¹ tn Grk “answered and said to her.”

[4:10]  ³² tn Or “if you knew.”

[4:10]  ³³ tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).

[4:10]  ³⁴ tn This is a second class conditional sentence in Greek.

[4:18]  ³⁵ tn Grk “the one you have.”

[17:5]  ³⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:5]  ³⁷ tn Some translations consider the word μυστήριον (musthrion, “mystery”) a part of the name written (“Mystery Babylon the Great,” so KJV, NIV), but the gender of both ὄνομα (onoma, “name”) and μυστήριον are neuter, while the gender of “Babylon” is feminine. This strongly suggests that μυστήριον should be understood as an appositive to ὄνομα (“a name, i.e., a mystery”).