Isaiah 27:10-11

Context

27:10 For the fortified city¹ is left alone;

it is a deserted settlement

and abandoned like the desert.

Calves² graze there;

they lie down there

and eat its branches bare.³

27:11 When its branches get brittle,⁴ they break;

women come and use them for kindling.⁵

For these people lack understanding,⁶

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Isaiah 32:14

Context

32:14 For the fortress is neglected;

the once-crowded⁷ city is abandoned.

Hill⁸ and watchtower

are permanently uninhabited.⁹

Wild donkeys love to go there,

and flocks graze there.¹⁰

[27:10] ¹sn The identity of this city is uncertain. The context suggests that an Israelite city, perhaps Samaria or Jerusalem, is in view. For discussions of interpretive options see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:496-97, and Paul L. Redditt, “Once Again, the City in Isaiah 24-27,” HAR 10 (1986), 332.

[27:10] ²tn The singular form in the text is probably collective.

[27:10] ³tn Heb “and destroy her branches.” The city is the antecedent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix. Apparently the city is here compared to a tree. See also v. 11.

[27:11] ⁴tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11] ⁵tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11] ⁶tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[32:14] ⁷tn Or “noisy” (NAB, NIV, NCV).

[32:14] ⁸tn Hebrew עֹפֶל (’ofel), probably refers here to a specific area within the city of Jerusalem. See HALOT 861 s.v. II עֹפֶל.

[32:14] ⁹tn The Hebrew text has בְעַד מְעָרוֹת (vÿ’ad mÿ’arot). The force of בְעַד, which usually means “behind, through, round about,” or “for the benefit of,” is uncertain here. HALOT 616 s.v. *מְעָרָה takes מְעָרוֹת (mÿ’arot) as a homonym of “cave” and define it here as “cleared field.” Despite these lexical problems, the general point of the statement seems clear – the city will be uninhabited.

[32:14] ¹⁰tn Heb “the joy of wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks.”