Isaiah 24:6

24:6 So a treaty curse ¹  devours the earth;

its inhabitants pay for their guilt. ² 

This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, ³ 

and are reduced to just a handful of people. ⁴ 

Isaiah 47:8

47:8 So now, listen to this,

O one who lives so lavishly, ⁵ 

who lives securely,

who says to herself, ⁶ 

‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! ⁷ 

I will never have to live as a widow;

I will never lose my children.’ ⁸ 

[24:6]  ¹ sn Ancient Near Eastern treaties often had “curses,” or threatened judgments, attached to them. (See Deut 28 for a biblical example of such curses.) The party or parties taking an oath of allegiance acknowledged that disobedience would activate these curses, which typically threatened loss of agricultural fertility as depicted in the following verses.

[24:6]  ² tn The verb אָשַׁם (’asham, “be guilty”) is here used metonymically to mean “pay, suffer for one’s guilt” (see HALOT 95 s.v. אשׁם).

[24:6]  ³ tn BDB 359 s.v. חָרַר derives the verb חָרוּ (kharu) from חָרַר (kharar, “burn”), but HALOT 351 s.v. II חרה understands a hapax legomenon חָרָה (kharah, “to diminish in number,” a homonym of חָרָה) here, relating it to an alleged Arabic cognate meaning “to decrease.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has חורו, perhaps understanding the root as חָוַר (khavar, “grow pale”; see Isa 29:22 and HALOT 299 s.v. I חור).

[24:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “and mankind is left small [in number].”

[47:8]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps, “voluptuous one” (NAB); NAB “you sensual one”; NLT “You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom.”

[47:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[47:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.” See Zeph 2:15.

[47:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will not live [as] a widow, and I will not know loss of children.”