Isaiah 28:18-20

28:18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; ¹ 

your agreement ²  with Sheol will not last. ³ 

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, ⁴ 

you will be overrun by it. ⁵ 

28:19 Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you;

indeed, ⁶  every morning it will sweep by,

it will come through during the day and the night.” ⁷ 

When this announcement is understood,

it will cause nothing but terror.

28:20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,

and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself. ⁸ 

Isaiah 30:12-14

30:12 For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“You have rejected this message; ⁹ 

you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick, ¹⁰ 

and rely on that kind of behavior. ¹¹ 

30:13 So this sin will become your downfall.

You will be like a high wall

that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse;

it crumbles suddenly, in a flash. ¹² 

30:14 It shatters in pieces like a clay jar,

so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. ¹³ 

Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough ¹⁴ 

to scoop a hot coal from a fire ¹⁵ 

or to skim off water from a cistern.” ¹⁶ 

Job 8:14-15

8:14 whose ¹⁷  trust ¹⁸  is in something futile, ¹⁹ 

whose security is a spider’s web. ²⁰ 

8:15 He leans against his house but it does not hold up, ²¹ 

he takes hold ²²  of it but it does not stand.

[28:18]  ¹ tn On the meaning of כָּפַר (kafar) in this context, see HALOT 494 s.v. I כפר and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:515, n. 9.

[28:18]  ² tn Normally the noun חָזוּת (khazut) means “vision.” See the note at v. 15.

[28:18]  ³ tn Or “will not stand” (NIV, NRSV).

[28:18]  ⁴ tn See the note at v. 15.

[28:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “you will become a trampling place for it.”

[28:19]  ⁶ tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[28:19]  ⁷ tn The words “it will come through” are supplied in the translation. The verb “will sweep by” does double duty in the parallel structure.

[28:20]  ⁸ sn The bed and blanket probably symbolize their false sense of security. A bed that is too short and a blanket that is too narrow may promise rest and protection from the cold, but in the end they are useless and disappointing. In the same way, their supposed treaty with death will prove useless and disappointing.

[30:12]  ⁹ tn The sentence actually begins with the word “because.” In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.

[30:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and you trust in oppression and cunning.”

[30:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and you lean on it”; NAB “and depend on it.”

[30:13]  ¹² tn The verse reads literally, “So this sin will become for you like a breach ready to fall, bulging on a high wall, the breaking of which comes suddenly, in a flash.” Their sin produces guilt and will result in judgment. Like a wall that collapses their fall will be swift and sudden.

[30:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “Its shattering is like the shattering of a jug of [i.e., “made by”] potters, [so] shattered one cannot save [any of it].”

[30:14]  ¹⁴ tn The words “large enough” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[30:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to remove fire from the place of kindling.”

[30:14]  ¹⁶ tn On the meaning of גֶבֶא (geveh, “cistern”) see HALOT 170 s.v.

[8:14]  ¹⁷ tn The relative pronoun introduces the verse as a relative clause, working with the “godless person” of the preceding verse. The relative pronoun is joined to the resumptive pronoun in the translation: “who + his trust” = “whose trust.”

[8:14]  ¹⁸ tn The noun כֶּסֶל (kesel) in this half of the verse must correspond to “his security” in the second half. The meaning must be “his trust” (see 4:6). The two words will again be parallel in 31:24.

[8:14]  ¹⁹ tn The word יָקוֹט (yaqot) is not known anywhere else; here it looks like it should be a noun to parallel “spider’s house” in the next colon. But scholars have tried to identify it as a verb, perhaps an imperfect of קוֹט (qot, BDB 876 s.v.), or related to an Arabic qatta, “to cut.” Some versions have “break in sunder” (KJV, RV); others “cut off” (RSV). Apart from verbs, some commentators follow Sa`adia’s Arabic translation “sun cords,” meaning “gossamer.” Accordingly, there are emendations like “threads,” “threads of summer,” “spider threads,” and the like. D. J. A. Clines agrees with those who conclude that emendations based on Sa`adia’s translation lack a sound philological basis. E. Dhorme “somewhat timidly” suggests יַלְקוּט (yalqut), the shepherd’s bag or scrip (1 Sam 17:40). He suggests that an empty bag would be a symbol of something unstable and futile. It seems impossible to determine exactly what the word meant. One can only conclude that it means something like “fragile” or “futile.” The LXX is of no help: “for his house shall be without inhabitants.”

[8:14]  ²⁰ sn The second half of the verse is very clear. What the godless person relies on for security is as fragile as a spider’s web – he may as well have nothing. The people of the Middle East view the spider’s web as the frailest of all “houses.”

[8:15]  ²¹ tn The verb עָמַד (’amad, “to stand”) is almost synonymous with the parallel קוּם (qum, “to rise; to stand”). The distinction is that the former means “to remain standing” (so it is translated here “hold up”), and the latter “rise, stand up.”

[8:15]  ²² sn The idea is that he grabs hold of the house, not to hold it up, but to hold himself up or support himself. But it cannot support him. This idea applies to both the spider’s web and the false security of the pagan.