Isaiah 14:31

14:31 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 64:7

64:7 No one invokes ³  your name,

or makes an effort ⁴  to take hold of you.

For you have rejected us ⁵ 

and handed us over to our own sins. ⁶ 

[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.

[64:7]  ³ tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”

[64:7]  ⁴ tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”

[64:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”

[64:7]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vattÿmugenu) is a Qal preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vattÿmogÿgenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vattÿmaggÿnenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the verbal root מִגֵּן (miggen, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.