Isaiah 22:6

22:6 The Elamites picked up the quiver,

and came with chariots and horsemen; ¹ 

the men of Kir ²  prepared ³  the shield. ⁴ 

Isaiah 16:7

16:7 So Moab wails over its demise ⁵  –

they all wail!

Completely devastated, they moan

about what has happened to the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth. ⁶ 

[22:6]  ¹ tn Heb “[with] the chariots of men, horsemen.”

[22:6]  ² sn A distant region in the direction of Mesopotamia; see Amos 1:5; 9:7.

[22:6]  ³ tn Heb “Kir uncovers” (so NAB, NIV).

[22:6]  ⁴ sn The Elamites and men of Kir may here symbolize a fierce army from a distant land. If this oracle anticipates a Babylonian conquest of the city (see 39:5-7), then the Elamites and men of Kir are perhaps viewed here as mercenaries in the Babylonian army. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:410.

[16:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “So Moab wails for Moab.”

[16:7]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text has, “for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth you [masculine plural] moan, surely destroyed.” The “raisin cakes” could have cultic significance (see Hos 3:1), but the next verse focuses on agricultural disaster, so here the raisin cakes are mentioned as an example of the fine foods that are no longer available (see 2 Sam 6:19; Song 2:5) because the vines have been destroyed by the invader (see v. 8). Some prefer to take אֲשִׁישֵׁי (’ashishe, “raisin cakes of”) as “men of” (see HALOT 95 s.v. *אָשִׁישׁ; cf. NIV). The verb form תֶהְגּוּ (tehgu, “you moan”) is probably the result of dittography (note that the preceding word ends in tav [ת]) and should be emended to הגו (a perfect, third plural form), “they moan.”