Isaiah 16:7

16:7 So Moab wails over its demise ¹  –

they all wail!

Completely devastated, they moan

about what has happened to the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth. ² 

Isaiah 23:6

23:6 Travel to Tarshish!

Wail, you residents of the coast!

Isaiah 23:14

23:14 Wail, you large ships, ³ 

for your fortress is destroyed!

Isaiah 13:6

13:6 Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment ⁴  is near;

it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. ⁵ 

Isaiah 15:3

15:3 In their streets they wear sackcloth;

on their roofs and in their town squares

all of them wail,

they fall down weeping.

Isaiah 65:14

65:14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! ⁶ 

But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; ⁷ 

you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. ⁸ 

Isaiah 14:31

14:31 Wail, O city gate!

Cry out, O city!

Melt with fear, ⁹  all you Philistines!

For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke,

and there are no stragglers in its ranks. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 15:2

15:2 They went up to the temple, ¹¹ 

the people of Dibon went up to the high places to lament. ¹² 

Because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba, ¹³  Moab wails.

Every head is shaved bare,

every beard is trimmed off. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 23:1

The Lord Will Judge Tyre

23:1 Here is a message about Tyre:

Wail, you large ships, ¹⁵ 

for the port is too devastated to enter! ¹⁶ 

From the land of Cyprus ¹⁷  this news is announced to them.

Isaiah 52:5

52:5 And now, what do we have here?” ¹⁸  says the Lord.

“Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing,

those who rule over them taunt,” ¹⁹  says the Lord,

“and my name is constantly slandered ²⁰  all day long.

[16:7]  ¹ tn Heb “So Moab wails for Moab.”

[16:7]  ² tn The Hebrew text has, “for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth you [masculine plural] moan, surely destroyed.” The “raisin cakes” could have cultic significance (see Hos 3:1), but the next verse focuses on agricultural disaster, so here the raisin cakes are mentioned as an example of the fine foods that are no longer available (see 2 Sam 6:19; Song 2:5) because the vines have been destroyed by the invader (see v. 8). Some prefer to take אֲשִׁישֵׁי (’ashishe, “raisin cakes of”) as “men of” (see HALOT 95 s.v. *אָשִׁישׁ; cf. NIV). The verb form תֶהְגּוּ (tehgu, “you moan”) is probably the result of dittography (note that the preceding word ends in tav [ת]) and should be emended to הגו (a perfect, third plural form), “they moan.”

[23:14]  ³ tn Heb “ships of Tarshish.” See the note at v. 1.

[13:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “the day of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB).

[13:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “like destruction from the sovereign judge it comes.” The comparative preposition (כְּ, kÿ) has here the rhetorical nuance, “in every way like.” The point is that the destruction unleashed will have all the earmarks of divine judgment. One could paraphrase, “it comes as only destructive divine judgment can.” On this use of the preposition in general, see GKC 376 §118.x.

[65:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the good of the heart.”

[65:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “from the pain of the heart.”

[65:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “from the breaking of the spirit.”

[14:31]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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.

[15:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house.”

[15:2]  ¹² tn Heb “even Dibon [to] the high places to weep.” The verb “went up” does double duty in the parallel structure.

[15:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “over [or “for”] Nebo and over [or “for”] Medeba.”

[15:2]  ¹⁴ sn Shaving the head and beard were outward signs of mourning and grief.

[23:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.

[23:1]  ¹⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for it is destroyed, from a house, from entering.” The translation assumes that the mem (מ) on בַּיִת (bayit) was originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. This assumption allows one to take בַּיִת as the subject of the preceding verb. It is used in a metaphorical sense for the port city of Tyre. The preposition min (מִן) prefixed to בּוֹא (bo’) indicates negative consequence: “so that no one can enter.” See BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b.

[23:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the Kittim,” a designation for the people of Cyprus. See HALOT 504-05 s.v. כִּתִּיִּים.

[52:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and now what [following the marginal reading (Qere)] to me here?”

[52:5]  ¹⁶ tn The verb appears to be a Hiphil form from the root יָלַל (yalal, “howl”), perhaps here in the sense of “mock.” Some emend the form to יְהוֹלָּלוֹ (yÿhollalo) and understand a Polel form of the root הָלַל meaning here “mock, taunt.”

[52:5]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is apparently a Hitpolal form (with assimilated tav, ת) from the root נָאַץ (na’ats), but GKC 151-52 §55.b explains it as a mixed form, combining Pual and Hitpolel readings.