Isaiah 28:19

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

indeed, ¹  every morning it will sweep by,

it will come through during the day and the night.” ² 

When this announcement is understood,

it will cause nothing but terror.

Isaiah 5:11

5:11 Those who get up early to drink beer are as good as dead, ³ 

those who keep drinking long after dark

until they are intoxicated with wine. ⁴ 

Isaiah 17:11

17:11 The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow; ⁵ 

the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout.

Yet the harvest will disappear ⁶  in the day of disease

and incurable pain.

Isaiah 17:14

17:14 In the evening there is sudden terror; ⁷ 

by morning they vanish. ⁸ 

This is the fate of those who try to plunder us,

the destiny of those who try to loot us! ⁹ 

Isaiah 21:12

21:12 The watchman replies,

“Morning is coming, but then night. ¹⁰ 

If you want to ask, ask;

come back again.” ¹¹ 

Isaiah 33:2

33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.

Give us strength each morning! ¹² 

Deliver us when distress comes. ¹³ 

Isaiah 38:13

38:13 I cry out ¹⁴  until morning;

like a lion he shatters all my bones;

you turn day into night and end my life. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 50:4

The Servant Perseveres

50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, ¹⁶ 

so that I know how to help the weary. ¹⁷ 

He wakes me up every morning;

he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 37:36

37:36 The Lord’s messenger ¹⁹  went out and killed 185,000 troops ²⁰  in the Assyrian camp. When they ²¹  got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses! ²² 

[28:19]  ¹ tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[28:19]  ² tn The words “it will come through” are supplied in the translation. The verb “will sweep by” does double duty in the parallel structure.

[5:11]  ³ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who arise early in the morning, [who] chase beer.”

[5:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “[who] delay until dark, [until] wine enflames them.”

[17:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the day of your planting you [?].” The precise meaning of the verb תְּשַׂגְשֵׂגִי (tÿsagsegi) is unclear. It is sometimes derived from שׂוּג/סוּג (sug, “to fence in”; see BDB 691 s.v. II סוּג). In this case one could translate “you build a protective fence.” However, the parallelism is tighter if one derives the form from שָׂגָא/שָׂגָה (saga’/sagah, “to grow”); see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:351, n. 4. For this verb, see BDB 960 s.v. שָׂגָא.

[17:11]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text has, “a heap of harvest.” However, better sense is achieved if נֵד (ned, “heap”) is emended to a verb. Options include נַד (nad, Qal perfect third masculine singular from נָדַד [nadad, “flee, depart”]), נָדַד (Qal perfect third masculine singular from נָדַד), נֹדֵד (noded, Qal active participle from נָדַד), and נָד (nad, Qal perfect third masculine singular, or participle masculine singular, from נוּד [nud, “wander, flutter”]). See BDB 626 s.v. נוּד and HALOT 672 s.v. I נדד. One could translate literally: “[the harvest] departs,” or “[the harvest] flies away.”

[17:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “at the time of evening, look, sudden terror.”

[17:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “before morning he is not.”

[17:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “this is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who loot us.”

[21:12]  ⁹ sn Dumah will experience some relief, but it will be short-lived as night returns.

[21:12]  ¹⁰ sn The point of the watchman’s final instructions (“if you want to ask, ask; come again”) is unclear. Perhaps they are included to add realism to the dramatic portrayal. The watchman sends the questioner away with the words, “Feel free to come back and ask again.”

[33:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem (מ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.

[33:2]  ¹² tn Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”

[38:13]  ¹³ tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Piel from שָׁוַה (shavah). There are two homonyms שָׁוַה, one meaning in the Piel “level, smooth out,” the other “set, place.” Neither fits in v. 13. It is likely that the original reading was שִׁוַּעְתִּי (shivva’ti, “I cry out”) from the verbal root שָׁוַע (shava’), which occurs exclusively in the Piel.

[38:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”

[50:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “has given to me a tongue of disciples.”

[50:4]  ¹⁶ tc Heb “to know [?] the weary with a word.” Comparing it with Arabic and Aramaic cognates yields the meaning of “help, sustain.” Nevertheless, the meaning of עוּת (’ut) is uncertain. The word occurs only here in the OT (see BDB 736 s.v.). Various scholars have suggested an emendation to עָנוֹת (’anot) from עָנָה (’anah, “answer”): “so that I know how to respond kindly to the weary.” Since the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and the Vulgate support the MT reading, that reading is retained.

[50:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he arouses for me an ear, to hear like disciples.”

[37:36]  ¹⁷ tn Traditionally, “the angel of the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[37:36]  ¹⁸ tn The word “troops” is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

[37:36]  ¹⁹ tn This refers to the Israelites and/or the rest of the Assyrian army.

[37:36]  ²⁰ tn Heb “look, all of them were dead bodies”; NLT “they found corpses everywhere.”