Isaiah 21:8

21:8 Then the guard ¹  cries out:

“On the watchtower, O sovereign master, ² 

I stand all day long;

at my post

I am stationed every night.

Isaiah 21:10

21:10 O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor, ³ 

what I have heard

from the Lord who commands armies,

the God of Israel,

I have reported to you.

[21:8]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has, “the lion,” but this makes little sense here. אַרְיֵה (’aryeh, “lion”) is probably a corruption of an original הָרֹאֶה (haro’eh, “the one who sees”), i.e., the guard mentioned previously in v. 6.

[21:8]  ² tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay). Some translations take this to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV), while others take it to refer to the guard’s human master (“my lord”; cf. NIV, NLT).

[21:10]  ³ tn Heb “My trampled one, and the son of the threshing floor.”