Isaiah 14:14

14:14 I will climb up to the tops ¹  of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High!” ² 

Isaiah 60:8

60:8 Who are these who float along ³  like a cloud,

who fly like doves to their shelters? ⁴ 

Isaiah 25:5

25:5 like heat ⁵  in a dry land,

you humble the boasting foreigners. ⁶ 

Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, ⁷ 

so he causes the song of tyrants to cease. ⁸ 

Isaiah 44:22

44:22 I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud,

the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. ⁹ 

Come back to me, for I protect ¹⁰  you.”

Isaiah 5:6

5:6 I will make it a wasteland;

no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, ¹¹ 

and thorns and briers will grow there.

I will order the clouds

not to drop any rain on it.

Isaiah 18:4

18:4 For this is what the Lord has told me:

“I will wait ¹²  and watch from my place,

like scorching heat produced by the sunlight, ¹³ 

like a cloud of mist ¹⁴  in the heat ¹⁵  of harvest.” ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 19:1

The Lord Will Judge Egypt

19:1 Here is a message about Egypt:

Look, the Lord rides on a swift-moving cloud

and approaches Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him;

the Egyptians lose their courage. ¹⁷ 

[14:14]  ¹ tn Heb “the high places.” This word often refers to the high places where pagan worship was conducted, but here it probably refers to the “backs” or tops of the clouds. See HALOT 136 s.v. בָּמָה.

[14:14]  ² sn Normally in the OT the title “Most High” belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El.

[60:8]  ³ tn Heb “fly” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NAB, NIV “fly along.”

[60:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “to their windows,” i.e., to the openings in their coops. See HALOT 83 s.v. אֲרֻבָּה.

[25:5]  ⁵ tn Or “drought” (TEV).

[25:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “the tumult of foreigners.”

[25:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “[like] heat in the shadow of a cloud.”

[25:5]  ⁸ tn The translation assumes that the verb יַעֲנֶה (ya’aneh) is a Hiphil imperfect from עָנָה (’anah, “be afflicted, humiliated”). In this context with “song” as object it means to “quiet” (see HALOT 853-54 s.v. II ענה). Some prefer to emend the form to the second person singular, so that it will agree with the second person verb earlier in the verse. BDB 776 s.v. III עָנָה Qal.1 understands the form as Qal, with “song” as subject, in which case one might translate “the song of tyrants will be silent.” An emendation of the form to a Niphal (יֵעָנֶה, ye’aneh) would yield the same translation.

[44:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “I blot out like a cloud your rebellious deeds, and like a cloud your sins.” “Rebellious deeds” and “sins” stand by metonymy for the guilt they produce. Both עָב (’av) and עָנָן (’anan) refer to the clouds in the sky. It is tempting for stylistic purposes to translate the second with “fog” or “mist” (cf. NAB, NRSV “cloud…mist”; NIV “cloud…morning mist”; NLT “morning mists…clouds”), but this distinction between the synonyms is unwarranted here. The point of the simile seems to be this: The Lord forgives their sins, causing them to vanish just as clouds disappear from the sky (see Job 7:9; 30:15).

[44:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “redeem.” See the note at 41:14.

[5:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “it will not be pruned or hoed” (so NASB); ASV and NRSV both similar.

[18:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “be quiet, inactive”; NIV “will remain quiet.”

[18:4]  ¹² tn Heb “like the glowing heat because of light.” The precise meaning of the line is uncertain.

[18:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “a cloud of dew,” or “a cloud of light rain.”

[18:4]  ¹⁴ tc Some medieval Hebrew mss, with support from the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Latin Vulgate, read “the day.”

[18:4]  ¹⁵ sn It is unclear how the comparisons in v. 4b relate to the preceding statement. How is waiting and watching similar to heat or a cloud? For a discussion of interpretive options, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:362.

[19:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the heart of Egypt melts within it.”