Isaiah 18:4

18:4 For this is what the Lord has told me:

“I will wait ¹  and watch from my place,

like scorching heat produced by the sunlight, ² 

like a cloud of mist ³  in the heat ⁴  of harvest.” ⁵ 

Isaiah 21:2

21:2 I have received a distressing message: ⁶ 

“The deceiver deceives,

the destroyer destroys.

Attack, you Elamites!

Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all the groaning!” ⁷ 

[18:4]  ¹ tn Or “be quiet, inactive”; NIV “will remain quiet.”

[18:4]  ² tn Heb “like the glowing heat because of light.” The precise meaning of the line is uncertain.

[18:4]  ³ tn Heb “a cloud of dew,” or “a cloud of light rain.”

[18:4]  ⁴ tc Some medieval Hebrew mss, with support from the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Latin Vulgate, read “the day.”

[18:4]  ⁵ sn It is unclear how the comparisons in v. 4b relate to the preceding statement. How is waiting and watching similar to heat or a cloud? For a discussion of interpretive options, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:362.

[21:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “a severe revelation has been related to me.”

[21:2]  ⁷ sn This is often interpreted to mean “all the groaning” that Babylon has caused others.