Isaiah 17:12

17:12 The many nations massing together are as good as dead, ¹ 

those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves. ² 

The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, ³ 

those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. ⁴ 

Isaiah 24:8

24:8 The happy sound ⁵  of the tambourines stops,

the revelry of those who celebrate comes to a halt,

the happy sound of the harp ceases.

Isaiah 25:5

25:5 like heat ⁶  in a dry land,

you humble the boasting foreigners. ⁷ 

Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, ⁸ 

so he causes the song of tyrants to cease. ⁹ 

Isaiah 66:6

66:6 The sound of battle comes from the city;

the sound comes from the temple!

It is the sound of the Lord paying back his enemies.

Isaiah 5:14

5:14 So Death ¹⁰  will open up its throat,

and open wide its mouth; ¹¹ 

Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it,

including those who revel and celebrate within her. ¹² 

Isaiah 13:4

13:4 ¹³ There is a loud noise on the mountains –

it sounds like a large army! ¹⁴ 

There is great commotion among the kingdoms ¹⁵  –

nations are being assembled!

The Lord who commands armies is mustering

forces for battle.

Isaiah 17:13

17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, ¹⁶ 

when he shouts at ¹⁷  them, they will flee to a distant land,

driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,

or like dead thistles ¹⁸  before a strong gale.

[17:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the massing of the many nations.” The word הוֹי (hoy) could be translated as a simple interjection here (“ah!”), but since the following verses announce the demise of these nations, it is preferable to take הוֹי as a funeral cry. See the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[17:12]  ² tn Heb “like the loud noise of the seas, they make a loud noise.”

[17:12]  ³ tn Heb “the uproar of the peoples.” The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse; the words “are as good as dead” are supplied in the translation to reflect this.

[17:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “like the uproar of mighty waters they are in an uproar.”

[24:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “the joy” (again later in this verse).

[25:5]  ⁹ tn Or “drought” (TEV).

[25:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the tumult of foreigners.”

[25:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[like] heat in the shadow of a cloud.”

[25:5]  ¹² tn The translation assumes that the verb יַעֲנֶה (ya’aneh) is a Hiphil imperfect from עָנָה (’anah, “be afflicted, humiliated”). In this context with “song” as object it means to “quiet” (see HALOT 853-54 s.v. II ענה). Some prefer to emend the form to the second person singular, so that it will agree with the second person verb earlier in the verse. BDB 776 s.v. III עָנָה Qal.1 understands the form as Qal, with “song” as subject, in which case one might translate “the song of tyrants will be silent.” An emendation of the form to a Niphal (יֵעָנֶה, ye’aneh) would yield the same translation.

[5:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV); the underworld, the land of the dead, according to the OT world view. Cf. NAB “the nether world”; TEV, CEV “the world of the dead”; NLT “the grave.”

[5:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “so Sheol will make wide its throat, and open its mouth without limit.”

[5:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and her splendor and her masses will go down, and her tumult and the one who exults in her.” The antecedent of the four feminine singular pronominal suffixes used in v. 14b is unclear. The likely referent is personified Zion/Jerusalem (see 3:25-26; 4:4-5).

[13:4]  ¹⁷ sn In vv. 4-10 the prophet appears to be speaking, since the Lord is referred to in the third person. However, since the Lord refers to himself in the third person later in this chapter (see v. 13), it is possible that he speaks throughout the chapter.

[13:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a sound, a roar [is] on the mountains, like many people.”

[13:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a sound, tumult of kingdoms.”

[17:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”

[17:13]  ²² tn Or “rebukes.” The verb and related noun are used in theophanies of God’s battle cry which terrifies his enemies. See, for example, Pss 18:15; 76:7; 106:9; Isa 50:2; Nah 1:4, and A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53.

[17:13]  ²³ tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.”