Isaiah 29:3

29:3 I will lay siege to you on all sides; ¹ 

I will besiege you with troops; ² 

I will raise siege works against you.

Isaiah 21:2

21:2 I have received a distressing message: ³ 

“The deceiver deceives,

the destroyer destroys.

Attack, you Elamites!

Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all the groaning!” ⁴ 

[29:3]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text has כַדּוּר (khadur, “like a circle”), i.e., “like an encircling wall.” Some emend this phrase to כְּדָוִד (kÿdavid, “like David”), which is supported by the LXX (see v. 1). However, the rendering in the LXX could have arisen from a confusion of the dalet (ד) and resh (ר).

[29:3]  ² tn The meaning of מֻצָּב (mutsav) is not certain. Because of the parallelism (note “siege works”), some translate “towers.” The noun is derived from נָצַב (natsav, “take one’s stand”) and may refer to the troops stationed outside the city to prevent entrance or departure.

[21:2]  ³ tn Heb “a severe revelation has been related to me.”

[21:2]  ⁴ sn This is often interpreted to mean “all the groaning” that Babylon has caused others.