Isaiah 17:9-10

17:9 At that time ¹  their fortified cities will be

like the abandoned summits of the Amorites, ² 

which they abandoned because of the Israelites;

there will be desolation.

17:10 For you ignore ³  the God who rescues you;

you pay no attention to your strong protector. ⁴ 

So this is what happens:

You cultivate beautiful plants

and plant exotic vines. ⁵ 

Isaiah 23:4

23:4 Be ashamed, O Sidon,

for the sea ⁶  says this, O fortress of the sea:

“I have not gone into labor

or given birth;

I have not raised young men

or brought up young women.” ⁷ 

[17:9]  ¹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[17:9]  ² tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “like the abandonment of the wooded height and the top one.” The following relative clause appears to allude back to the Israelite conquest of the land, so it seems preferable to emend הַחֹרֶשׁ וְהָאָמִיר (hakhoresh vÿha’amir, “the wooded height and the top one”) to חֹרֵשֵׁי הָאֱמֹרִי (khoreshe ha’emori, “[like the abandonment] of the wooded heights of the Amorites”).

[17:10]  ³ tn Heb “you have forgotten” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[17:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the rocky cliff of your strength you do not remember.”

[17:10]  ⁵ 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.

[23:4]  ⁵ tn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:430-31) sees here a reference to Yam, the Canaanite god of the sea. He interprets the phrase מָעוֹז הַיָּם (ma’oz hayyam, “fortress of the sea”) as a title of Yam, translating “Mighty One of the Sea.” A more traditional view is that the phrase refers to Sidon.

[23:4]  ⁶ tn Or “virgins” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).