Isaiah 21:1

The Lord Will Judge Babylon

21:1 Here is a message about the Desert by the Sea: ¹ 

Like strong winds blowing in the south, ² 

one invades from the desert,

from a land that is feared.

Isaiah 22:12

22:12 At that time the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning,

for shaved heads and sackcloth. ³ 

Isaiah 26:5

26:5 Indeed, ⁴  the Lord knocks down those who live in a high place,

he brings down an elevated town;

he brings it down to the ground, ⁵ 

he throws it down to the dust.

Isaiah 27:4

27:4 I am not angry.

I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!

Then I would march against them ⁶  for battle;

I would set them ⁷  all on fire,

Isaiah 38:11

38:11 “I thought,

‘I will no longer see the Lord ⁸  in the land of the living,

I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. ⁹ 

Isaiah 54:3

54:3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;

your children will conquer ¹⁰  nations

and will resettle desolate cities.

[21:1]  ¹ sn The phrase is quite cryptic, at least to the modern reader. Verse 9 seems to indicate that this message pertains to Babylon. Southern Mesopotamia was known as the Sealand in ancient times, because of its proximity to the Persian Gulf. Perhaps the reference to Babylon as a “desert” foreshadows the destruction that would overtake the city, making it like a desolate desert.

[21:1]  ² tn Or “in the Negev” (NASB).

[22:12]  ³ tn Heb “for baldness and the wearing of sackcloth.” See the note at 15:2.

[26:5]  ⁵ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[26:5]  ⁶ tn The translation assumes that יַשְׁפִּילֶנָּה (yashpilennah) goes with the preceding words “an elevated town,” and that יַשְׁפִּילָהּ (yashpilah) belongs with the following words, “to the ground.” See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:469, n. 7.

[27:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense. For other examples of a cohortative expressing resolve after a hypothetical statement introduced by נָתַן with מִי (miwith natan), see Judg 9:29; Jer 9:1-2; Ps 55:6.

[27:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense.

[38:11]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text has יָהּ יָהּ (yah yah, the abbreviated form of יְהוָה [yÿhvah] repeated), but this is probably a corruption of יְהוָה.

[38:11]  ¹⁰ tc The Hebrew text has חָדֶל (khadel), which appears to be derived from a verbal root meaning “to cease, refrain.” But the form has probably suffered an error of transmission; the original form (attested in a few medieval Hebrew mss) was likely חֶלֶד (kheled, “world”).

[54:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “take possession of”; NAB “shall dispossess.”