Discovery BoxIsaiah 17:1
Context17:1 Here is a message about Damascus:
“Look, Damascus is no longer a city,
it is a heap of ruins!
Isaiah 21:1
Context21:1 Here is a message about the Desert by the Sea: 1
Like strong winds blowing in the south, 2
one invades from the desert,
from a land that is feared.
Isaiah 21:11
Context21:11 Here is a message about Dumah: 3
Someone calls to me from Seir, 4
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?” 5
Isaiah 22:1
Context22:1 Here is a message about the Valley of Vision: 6
What is the reason 7
that all of you go up to the rooftops?
Isaiah 46:1-2
ContextNebo 9 bends low.
Their images weigh down animals and beasts. 10
Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. 11
46:2 Together they bend low and kneel down;
they are unable to rescue the images; 12
[21:1] 1 sn The phrase is quite cryptic, at least to the modern reader. Verse 9 seems to indicate that this message pertains to Babylon. Southern Mesopotamia was known as the Sealand in ancient times, because of its proximity to the Persian Gulf. Perhaps the reference to Babylon as a “desert” foreshadows the destruction that would overtake the city, making it like a desolate desert.
[21:1] 2 tn Or “in the Negev” (NASB).
[21:11] 1 tn The noun דּוּמָה (dumah) means “silence,” but here it is a proper name, probably referring to a site in northern Arabia or to the nation of Edom. See BDB 189 s.v. II דּוּמָה. If Dumah was an area in northern Arabia, it would be of interest to the Edomites because of its strategic position on trade routes which they used. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:398.
[21:11] 2 sn Seir is another name for Edom. See BDB 973 s.v. שֵׂעִיר.
[21:11] 3 sn The “night” probably here symbolizes distress and difficult times. See BDB 539 s.v. לַיְלָה.
[22:1] 1 sn The following message pertains to Jerusalem. The significance of referring to the city as the Valley of Vision is uncertain. Perhaps the Hinnom Valley is in view, but why it is associated with a prophetic revelatory “vision” is not entirely clear. Maybe the Hinnom Valley is called this because the destruction that will take place there is the focal point of this prophetic message (see v. 5).
[22:1] 2 tn Heb “What to you, then?”
[46:1] 1 sn Bel was the name of a Babylonian god. The name was originally associated with Enlil, but later was applied to Marduk. See HALOT 132 s.v. בֵּל.
[46:1] 2 sn Nebo is a variation of the name of the Babylonian god Nabu.
[46:1] 3 tn Heb “their images belong to animals and beasts”; NIV “their idols are borne by beasts of burden”; NLT “are being hauled away.”
[46:1] 4 tn Heb “your loads are carried [as] a burden by a weary [animal].”
[46:2] 1 tn Heb “[the] burden,” i.e., their images, the heavy burden carried by the animals.
[46:2] 2 tn נַפְשָׁם (nafsham, “their souls/lives”) is equivalent here to a third masculine plural suffix, but the third feminine singular verb הָלָכָה (halakhah, “they go”) agrees with the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, life”).
[46:2] 3 sn The downfall of Babylon is depicted here. The idols are carried off by the victorious enemy; the gods are likened to defeated captives who cower before the enemy and are taken into exile.
