Isaiah 23:9

23:9 The Lord who commands armies planned it –

to dishonor the pride that comes from all her beauty, ¹ 

to humiliate all the dignitaries of the earth.

Isaiah 28:5

28:5 At that time ²  the Lord who commands armies will become a beautiful crown

and a splendid diadem for the remnant of his people.

Isaiah 13:19

13:19 Babylon, the most admired ³  of kingdoms,

the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, ⁴ 

will be destroyed by God

just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. ⁵ 

Isaiah 24:16

24:16 From the ends of the earth we ⁶  hear songs –

the Just One is majestic. ⁷ 

But I ⁸  say, “I’m wasting away! I’m wasting away! I’m doomed!

Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!” ⁹ 

Isaiah 28:1

The Lord Will Judge Samaria

28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed, ¹⁰ 

the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, ¹¹ 

situated ¹²  at the head of a rich valley,

the crown of those overcome with wine. ¹³ 

Isaiah 28:4

28:4 The withering flower, its beautiful splendor,

situated at the head of a rich valley,

will be like an early fig before harvest –

as soon as someone notices it,

he grabs it and swallows it. ¹⁴ 

[23:9]  ¹ tn Heb “the pride of all the beauty.”

[28:5]  ² tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[13:19]  ³ tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).

[13:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”

[13:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “and Babylon…will be like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” On מַהְפֵּכַת (mahpekhat, “overthrow”) see the note on the word “destruction” in 1:7.

[24:16]  ⁴ sn The identity of the subject is unclear. Apparently in vv. 15-16a an unidentified group responds to the praise they hear in the west by exhorting others to participate.

[24:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “Beauty belongs to the just one.” These words may summarize the main theme of the songs mentioned in the preceding line.

[24:16]  ⁶ sn The prophet seems to contradict what he hears the group saying. Their words are premature because more destruction is coming.

[24:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “and [with] deception deceivers deceive.”

[28:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Woe [to] the crown [or “wreath”] of the splendor [or “pride”] of the drunkards of Ephraim.” The “crown” is Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom (Ephraim). Priests and prophets are included among these drunkards in v. 7.

[28:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “the beauty of his splendor.” In the translation the masculine pronoun (“his”) has been replaced by “its” because the referent (the “crown”) is the city of Samaria.

[28:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “which [is].”

[28:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “ones overcome with wine.” The words “the crown of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The syntactical relationship of the final phrase to what precedes is uncertain. הֲלוּמֵי יָיִן (halume yayin, “ones overcome with wine”) seems to correspond to שִׁכֹּרֵי אֶפְרַיִם (shikkore ’efrayim, “drunkards of Ephraim”) in line 1. The translation assumes that the phrase “the splendid crown” is to be understood in the final line as well.

[28:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “which the one seeing sees, while still it is in his hand he swallows it.”