Isaiah 19:7

19:7 along with the plants by the mouth of the river. ¹ 

All the cultivated land near the river

will turn to dust and be blown away. ² 

Isaiah 23:10

23:10 Daughter Tarshish, travel back to your land, as one crosses the Nile;

there is no longer any marketplace in Tyre. ³ 

Isaiah 19:6

19:6 The canals ⁴  will stink; ⁵ 

the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up;

the bulrushes and reeds will decay,

Isaiah 23:3

23:3 the deep waters! ⁶ 

Grain from the Shihor region, ⁷ 

crops grown near the Nile ⁸  she receives; ⁹ 

she is the trade center ¹⁰  of the nations.

Isaiah 37:25

37:25 I dug wells

and drank water. ¹¹ 

With the soles of my feet I dried up

all the rivers of Egypt.’

Isaiah 7:18

7:18 At that time ¹²  the Lord will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. ¹³ 

Isaiah 19:8

19:8 The fishermen will mourn and lament,

all those who cast a fishhook into the river,

and those who spread out a net on the water’s surface will grieve. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 33:21

33:21 Instead the Lord will rule there as our mighty king. ¹⁵ 

Rivers and wide streams will flow through it; ¹⁶ 

no war galley will enter; ¹⁷ 

no large ships will sail through. ¹⁸ 

[19:7]  ¹ tn Heb “the plants by the river, by the mouth of the river.”

[19:7]  ² tn Heb “will dry up, [being] scattered, and it will vanish.”

[23:10]  ³ tc This meaning of this verse is unclear. The Hebrew text reads literally, “Cross over your land, like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish, there is no more waistband.” The translation assumes an emendation of מֵזַח (mezakh, “waistband”) to מָחֹז (makhoz, “harbor, marketplace”; see Ps 107:30). The term עָבַר (’avar, “cross over”) is probably used here of traveling over the water (as in v. 6). The command is addressed to personified Tarshish, who here represents her merchants. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has עבדי (“work, cultivate”) instead of עִבְרִי (’ivri, “cross over”). In this case one might translate “Cultivate your land, like they do the Nile region” (cf. NIV, CEV). The point would be that the people of Tarshish should turn to agriculture because they will no longer be able to get what they need through the marketplace in Tyre.

[19:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “rivers” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, CEV “streams”; TEV “channels.”

[19:6]  ⁶ tn The verb form appears as a Hiphil in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a; the form in MT may be a so-called “mixed form,” reflecting the Hebrew Hiphil stem and the functionally corresponding Aramaic Aphel stem. See HALOT 276 s.v. I זנח.

[23:3]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text (23:2b-3a) reads literally, “merchant of Sidon, the one who crosses the sea, they filled you, and on the deep waters.” Instead of מִלְאוּךְ (mil’ukh, “they filled you”) the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads מלאכיך (“your messengers”). The translation assumes an emendation of מִלְאוּךְ to מַלְאָכָו (mal’akhav, “his messengers”), taking the vav (ו) on וּבְמַיִם (uvÿmayim) as improperly placed; instead it should be the final letter of the preceding word.

[23:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “seed of Shihor.” “Shihor” probably refers to the east branch of the Nile. See Jer 2:18 and BDB 1009 s.v. שִׁיחוֹר.

[23:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “the harvest of the Nile.”

[23:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[is] her revenue.”

[23:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “merchandise”; KJV, ASV “a mart of nations”; NLT “the merchandise mart of the world.”

[37:25]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew text has simply, “I dug and drank water.” But the parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:24 has “foreign waters.” זָרִים (zarim, “foreign”) may have accidentally dropped out of the Isaianic text by homoioteleuton (cf. NCV, NIV, NLT). Note that the preceding word, מַיִם (mayim, “water) also ends in mem (ם). The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has “foreign waters” for this line. However, in several other passages the 1QIsa^a scroll harmonizes with 2 Kgs 19 against the MT (Isa 36:5; 37:9, 20). Since the addition of “foreign” to this text in Isaiah by a later scribe would be more likely than its deletion, the MT reading should be accepted.

[7:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[7:18]  ¹² sn Swarming flies are irritating; bees are irritating and especially dangerous because of the pain they inflict with their sting (see Deut 1:44; Ps 118:12). The metaphors are well chosen, for the Assyrians (symbolized by the bees) were much more powerful and dangerous than the Egyptians (symbolized by the flies). Nevertheless both would put pressure on Judah, for Egypt wanted Judah as a buffer state against Assyrian aggression, while Assyrian wanted it as a base for operations against Egypt. Following the reference to sour milk and honey, the metaphor is especially apt, for flies are attracted to dairy products and bees can be found in the vicinity of honey.

[19:8]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps, “will disappear”; cf. TEV “will be useless.”

[33:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “But there [as] a mighty one [will be] the Lord for us.”

[33:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a place of rivers, streams wide of hands [i.e., on both sides].”

[33:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a ship of rowing will not go into it.”

[33:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and a mighty ship will not pass through it.”