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 

Isaiah 29:7

29:7 It will be like a dream, a night vision.

There will be a horde from all the nations that fight against Ariel,

those who attack her and her stronghold and besiege her.

Isaiah 34:10

34:10 Night and day it will burn; ⁸ 

its smoke will ascend continually.

Generation after generation it will be a wasteland

and no one will ever pass through it again.

Isaiah 38:12

38:12 My dwelling place ⁹  is removed and taken away ¹⁰  from me

like a shepherd’s tent.

I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; ¹¹ 

from the loom he cuts me off. ¹² 

You turn day into night and end my life. ¹³ 

Isaiah 4:5

4:5 Then the Lord will create

over all of Mount Zion ¹⁴ 

and over its convocations

a cloud and smoke by day

and a bright flame of fire by night; ¹⁵ 

indeed a canopy will accompany the Lord’s glorious presence. ¹⁶ 

[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.”

[34:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “it will not be extinguished.”

[38:12]  ⁹ tn According to HALOT 217 s.v. דּוֹר this noun is a hapax legomenon meaning “dwelling place,” derived from a verbal root meaning “live” (see Ps 84:10). For an interpretation that understands the form as the well-attested noun meaning “generation,” see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:679, n. 4.

[38:12]  ¹⁰ tn The verb form appears to be a Niphal from גָּלָה (galah), which normally means “uncovered, revealed” in the Niphal. Because of the following reference to a shepherd’s tent, some prefer to emend the form to וְנָגַל, a Niphal from גָלָל (galal, “roll”) and translate “is rolled [or “folded”] up.”

[38:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I rolled up, like a weaver, my life” (so ASV).

[38:12]  ¹² sn For a discussion of the imagery employed here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:684.

[38:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”

[4:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “over all the place, Mount Zion.” Cf. NLT “Jerusalem”; CEV “the whole city.”

[4:5]  ¹² tn Heb “a cloud by day, and smoke, and brightness of fire, a flame by night.” Though the accents in the Hebrew text suggest otherwise, it might be preferable to take “smoke” with what follows, since one would expect smoke to accompany fire.

[4:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “indeed (or “for”) over all the glory, a canopy.” This may allude to Exod 40:34-35, where a cloud overshadows the meeting tent as it is filled with God’s glory.