Isaiah 10:25

10:25 For very soon my fury ¹  will subside, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction.”

Isaiah 29:17

Changes are Coming

29:17 In just a very short time ² 

Lebanon will turn into an orchard,

and the orchard will be considered a forest. ³ 

Isaiah 24:6

24:6 So a treaty curse ⁴  devours the earth;

its inhabitants pay for their guilt. ⁵ 

This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, ⁶ 

and are reduced to just a handful of people. ⁷ 

Isaiah 16:14

16:14 Now the Lord makes this announcement: “Within exactly three years ⁸  Moab’s splendor will disappear, along with all her many people; there will be just a few, insignificant survivors left.” ⁹ 

[10:25]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text has simply “fury,” but the pronominal element can be assumed on the basis of what immediately follows (see “my anger” in the clause). It is possible that the suffixed yod (י) has been accidentally dropped by virtual haplography. Note that a vav (ו) is prefixed to the form that immediately follows; yod and vav are very similar in later script phases.

[29:17]  ² tn The Hebrew text phrases this as a rhetorical question, “Is it not yet a little, a short [time]?”

[29:17]  ³ sn The meaning of this verse is debated, but it seems to depict a reversal in fortunes. The mighty forest of Lebanon (symbolic of the proud and powerful, see 2:13; 10:34) will be changed into a common orchard, while the common orchard (symbolic of the oppressed and lowly) will grow into a great forest. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:538.

[24:6]  ³ sn Ancient Near Eastern treaties often had “curses,” or threatened judgments, attached to them. (See Deut 28 for a biblical example of such curses.) The party or parties taking an oath of allegiance acknowledged that disobedience would activate these curses, which typically threatened loss of agricultural fertility as depicted in the following verses.

[24:6]  ⁴ tn The verb אָשַׁם (’asham, “be guilty”) is here used metonymically to mean “pay, suffer for one’s guilt” (see HALOT 95 s.v. אשׁם).

[24:6]  ⁵ tn BDB 359 s.v. חָרַר derives the verb חָרוּ (kharu) from חָרַר (kharar, “burn”), but HALOT 351 s.v. II חרה understands a hapax legomenon חָרָה (kharah, “to diminish in number,” a homonym of חָרָה) here, relating it to an alleged Arabic cognate meaning “to decrease.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has חורו, perhaps understanding the root as חָוַר (khavar, “grow pale”; see Isa 29:22 and HALOT 299 s.v. I חור).

[24:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “and mankind is left small [in number].”

[16:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “in three years, like the years of a hired worker.” The three years must be reckoned exactly, just as a hired worker would carefully keep track of the time he had agreed to work for an employer in exchange for a predetermined wage.

[16:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the splendor of Moab will be disgraced with all the great multitude, and a small little remnant will not be strong.”