Isaiah 17:11

17:11 The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow; ¹ 

the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout.

Yet the harvest will disappear ²  in the day of disease

and incurable pain.

Isaiah 5:7

5:7 Indeed ³  Israel ⁴  is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies,

the people ⁵  of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight.

He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! ⁶ 

He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help! ⁷ 

Isaiah 17:10

17:10 For you ignore ⁸  the God who rescues you;

you pay no attention to your strong protector. ⁹ 

So this is what happens:

You cultivate beautiful plants

and plant exotic vines. ¹⁰ 

[17:11]  ¹ tn Heb “in the day of your planting you [?].” The precise meaning of the verb תְּשַׂגְשֵׂגִי (tÿsagsegi) is unclear. It is sometimes derived from שׂוּג/סוּג (sug, “to fence in”; see BDB 691 s.v. II סוּג). In this case one could translate “you build a protective fence.” However, the parallelism is tighter if one derives the form from שָׂגָא/שָׂגָה (saga’/sagah, “to grow”); see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:351, n. 4. For this verb, see BDB 960 s.v. שָׂגָא.

[17:11]  ² tc The Hebrew text has, “a heap of harvest.” However, better sense is achieved if נֵד (ned, “heap”) is emended to a verb. Options include נַד (nad, Qal perfect third masculine singular from נָדַד [nadad, “flee, depart”]), נָדַד (Qal perfect third masculine singular from נָדַד), נֹדֵד (noded, Qal active participle from נָדַד), and נָד (nad, Qal perfect third masculine singular, or participle masculine singular, from נוּד [nud, “wander, flutter”]). See BDB 626 s.v. נוּד and HALOT 672 s.v. I נדד. One could translate literally: “[the harvest] departs,” or “[the harvest] flies away.”

[5:7]  ³ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[5:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “the house of Israel” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[5:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “but, look, disobedience.” The precise meaning of מִשְׂפָּח (mishpakh), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Some have suggested a meaning “bloodshed.” The term is obviously chosen for its wordplay value; it sounds very much like מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “justice”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[5:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “but, look, a cry for help.” The verb (“he waited”) does double duty in the parallelism. צְעָקָה (tsa’qah) refers to the cries for help made by the oppressed. It sounds very much like צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “fairness”). The sound play draws attention to the point being made; the people have not met the Lord’s expectations.

[17:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “you have forgotten” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[17:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the rocky cliff of your strength you do not remember.”

[17:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “a vine, a strange one.” The substantival adjective זָר (zar) functions here as an appositional genitive. It could refer to a cultic plant of some type, associated with a pagan rite. But it is more likely that it refers to an exotic, or imported, type of vine, one that is foreign (i.e., “strange”) to Israel.