Isaiah 21:12

21:12 The watchman replies,

“Morning is coming, but then night. ¹ 

If you want to ask, ask;

come back again.” ² 

Isaiah 27:3

27:3 I, the Lord, protect it; ³ 

I water it regularly. ⁴ 

I guard it night and day,

so no one can harm it. ⁵ 

Isaiah 38:13

38:13 I cry out ⁶  until morning;

like a lion he shatters all my bones;

you turn day into night and end my life. ⁷ 

[21:12]  ¹ sn Dumah will experience some relief, but it will be short-lived as night returns.

[21:12]  ² sn The point of the watchman’s final instructions (“if you want to ask, ask; come again”) is unclear. Perhaps they are included to add realism to the dramatic portrayal. The watchman sends the questioner away with the words, “Feel free to come back and ask again.”

[27:3]  ³ tn Heb “her.” Apparently “vineyard” is the antecedent, though normally this noun is understood as masculine (see Lev 25:3, however).

[27:3]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps, “constantly.” Heb “by moments.”

[27:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “lest [someone] visit [harm] upon it, night and day I guard it.”

[38:13]  ⁵ tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Piel from שָׁוַה (shavah). There are two homonyms שָׁוַה, one meaning in the Piel “level, smooth out,” the other “set, place.” Neither fits in v. 13. It is likely that the original reading was שִׁוַּעְתִּי (shivva’ti, “I cry out”) from the verbal root שָׁוַע (shava’), which occurs exclusively in the Piel.

[38:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”