Isaiah 16:11

16:11 So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp, ¹ 

my inner being sighs ²  for Kir Hareseth. ³ 

Isaiah 48:19

48:19 Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand, ⁴ 

and your children ⁵  like its granules.

Their name would not have been cut off

and eliminated from my presence. ⁶ 

[16:11]  ¹ tn Heb “so my intestines sigh for Moab like a harp.” The word מֵעַי (me’ay, “intestines”) is used here of the seat of the emotions. English idiom requires the word “heart.” The point of the comparison to a harp is not entirely clear. Perhaps his sighs of mourning resemble a harp in sound, or his constant sighing is like the repetitive strumming of a harp.

[16:11]  ² tn The verb is supplied in the translation; “sighs” in the preceding line does double duty in the parallel structure.

[16:11]  ³ tn Heb “Kir Heres” (so ASV, NRSV, TEV, CEV), a variant name for “Kir Hareseth” (see v. 7).

[48:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “like sand”; NCV “as many as the grains of sand.”

[48:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the issue from your inner parts.”

[48:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “and his name would not be cut off and would not be destroyed from before me.”