Discovery BoxIsaiah 14:31
Context14:31 Wail, O city gate!
Cry out, O city!
Melt with fear, 1 all you Philistines!
For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke,
and there are no stragglers in its ranks. 2
Isaiah 29:23
Context29:23 For when they see their children,
whom I will produce among them, 3
they will honor 4 my name.
They will honor the Holy One of Jacob; 5
they will respect 6 the God of Israel.
Isaiah 40:9
Context40:9 Go up on a high mountain, O herald Zion!
Shout out loudly, O herald Jerusalem! 7
Shout, don’t be afraid!
Say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
[14:31] 1 tn Or “despair” (see HALOT 555 s.v. מוג). The form נָמוֹג (namog) should be taken here as an infinitive absolute functioning as an imperative. See GKC 199-200 §72.v.
[14:31] 2 tn Heb “and there is no one going alone in his appointed places.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. בּוֹדֵד (boded) appears to be a participle from בָּדַד (badad, “be separate”; see BDB 94 s.v. בָּדַד). מוֹעָד (mo’ad) may mean “assembly” or, by extension, “multitude” (see HALOT 558 s.v. *מוֹעָד), but the referent of the third masculine pronominal suffix attached to the noun is unclear. It probably refers to the “nation” mentioned in the next line.
[29:23] 3 tn Heb “for when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst.”
[29:23] 4 tn Or “treat as holy” (also in the following line); NASB, NRSV “will sanctify.”
[29:23] 5 sn Holy One of Jacob is similar to the phrase “Holy One of Israel” common throughout Isaiah; see the sn at Isa 1:4.
[29:23] 6 tn Or “fear,” in the sense of “stand in awe of.”
[40:9] 5 tn The second feminine singular imperatives are addressed to personified Zion/Jerusalem, who is here told to ascend a high hill and proclaim the good news of the Lord’s return to the other towns of Judah. Isa 41:27 and 52:7 speak of a herald sent to Zion, but the masculine singular form מְבַשֵּׂר (mÿvaser) is used in these verses, in contrast to the feminine singular form מְבַשֶּׂרֶת (mÿvaseret) employed in 40:9, where Zion is addressed as a herald.
