Isaiah 27:10-11

27:10 For the fortified city ¹  is left alone;

it is a deserted settlement

and abandoned like the desert.

Calves ²  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.

[27:10]  ¹ sn 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]  ² tn The singular form in the text is probably collective.

[27:10]  ³ tn 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ⁵ tn 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”