Discovery BoxIsaiah 22:8-11
Context22:8 They 1 removed the defenses 2 of Judah.
At that time 3 you looked
for the weapons in the House of the Forest. 4
22:9 You saw the many breaks
in the walls of the city of David; 5
you stored up water in the lower pool.
22:10 You counted the houses in Jerusalem, 6
and demolished houses so you could have material to reinforce the wall. 7
22:11 You made a reservoir between the two walls
for the water of the old pool –
but you did not trust in 8 the one who made it; 9
you did not depend on 10 the one who formed it long ago!
[22:8] 1 tn Heb “he,” i.e., the enemy invader. NASB, by its capitalization of the pronoun, takes this to refer to the Lord.
[22:8] 3 tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of v. 12.
[22:8] 4 sn Perhaps this refers to a royal armory, or to Solomon’s “House of the Forest of Lebanon,” where weapons may have been kept (see 1 Kgs 10:16-17).
[22:9] 5 tn Heb “the breaks of the city of David, you saw that they were many.”
[22:10] 6 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[22:10] 7 tn Heb “you demolished the houses to fortify the wall.”
[22:11] 8 tn Heb “look at”; NAB, NRSV “did not look to.”
[22:11] 9 tn The antecedent of the third feminine singular suffix here and in the next line is unclear. The closest feminine noun is “pool” in the first half of the verse. Perhaps this “old pool” symbolizes the entire city, which had prospered because of God’s provision and protection through the years.
