Isaiah 14:19

14:19 But you have been thrown out of your grave

like a shoot that is thrown away. ¹ 

You lie among ²  the slain,

among those who have been slashed by the sword,

among those headed for ³  the stones of the pit, ⁴ 

as if you were a mangled corpse. ⁵ 

Isaiah 25:11

25:11 Moab ⁶  will spread out its hands in the middle of it, ⁷ 

just as a swimmer spreads his hands to swim;

the Lord ⁸  will bring down Moab’s ⁹  pride as it spreads its hands. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 43:14

The Lord Will Do Something New

43:14 This is what the Lord says,

your protector, ¹¹  the Holy One of Israel: ¹² 

“For your sake I send to Babylon

and make them all fugitives, ¹³ 

turning the Babylonians’ joyful shouts into mourning songs. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 60:14

60:14 The children of your oppressors will come bowing to you;

all who treated you with disrespect will bow down at your feet.

They will call you, ‘The City of the Lord,

Zion of the Holy One of Israel.’ ¹⁵ 

[14:19]  ¹ tn Heb “like a shoot that is abhorred.” The simile seems a bit odd; apparently it refers to a small shoot that is trimmed from a plant and tossed away. Some prefer to emend נֵצֶר (netser, “shoot”); some propose נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”). In this case one might paraphrase: “like a horrible-looking fetus that is delivered when a woman miscarries.”

[14:19]  ² tn Heb “are clothed with.”

[14:19]  ³ tn Heb “those going down to.”

[14:19]  ⁴ tn בּוֹר (bor) literally means “cistern”; cisterns were constructed from stones. On the metaphorical use of “cistern” for the underworld, see the note at v. 15.

[14:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “like a trampled corpse.” Some take this line with what follows.

[25:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:11]  ⁷ tn The antecedent of the third masculine singular pronominal suffix is probably the masculine noun מַתְבֵּן (matben, “heap of straw”) in v. 10 rather than the feminine noun מַדְמֵנָה (madmenah, “manure pile”), also in v. 10.

[25:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Moab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:11]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text has, “he will bring down his pride along with the [?] of his hands.” The meaning of אָרְבּוֹת (’arbot), which occurs only here in the OT, is unknown. Some (see BDB 70 s.v. אָרְבָּה) translate “artifice, cleverness,” relating the form to the verbal root אָרָב (’arav, “to lie in wait, ambush”), but this requires some convoluted semantic reasoning. HALOT 83 s.v. *אָרְבָּה suggests the meaning “[nimble] movements.” The translation above, which attempts to relate the form to the preceding context, is purely speculative.

[43:14]  ¹¹ tn Or “kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[43:14]  ¹² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[43:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “and I bring down [as] fugitives all of them.”

[43:14]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “as for the Babylonians, in ships their joyful shout.” This might be paraphrased, “even the Babylonians in the ships [over which] they joyfully shouted.” The point would be that the Lord caused the Babylonians to flee for safety in the ships in which they took such great pride. A slight change in vocalization yields the reading “into mourning songs,” which provides a good contrast with “joyful shout.” The prefixed bet (בְּ) would indicate identity.

[60:14]  ¹⁶ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.