Isaiah 3:10

3:10 Tell the innocent ¹  it will go well with them, ² 

for they will be rewarded for what they have done. ³ 

Isaiah 5:17

5:17 Lambs ⁴  will graze as if in their pastures,

amid the ruins the rich sojourners will graze. ⁵ 

Isaiah 30:24

30:24 The oxen and donkeys used in plowing ⁶ 

will eat seasoned feed winnowed with a shovel and pitchfork. ⁷ 

Isaiah 9:20

9:20 They devoured ⁸  on the right, but were still hungry,

they ate on the left, but were not satisfied.

People even ate ⁹  the flesh of their own arm! ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 65:13

65:13 So this is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry!

Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty!

Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!

[3:10]  ¹ tn Or “the righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, TEV); NLT “those who are godly.”

[3:10]  ² tn Heb “that it is good.”

[3:10]  ³ tn Heb “for the fruit of their deeds they will eat.”

[5:17]  ⁴ tn Or “young rams”; NIV, NCV “sheep”; NLT “flocks.”

[5:17]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and ruins, fatlings, resident aliens, will eat.” This part of the verse has occasioned various suggestions of emendation. The parallelism is tighter if the second line refers to animals grazing. The translation, “amid the ruins the fatlings and young sheep graze,” assumes an emendation of “resident aliens” (גָּרִים, garim) to “young goats/sheep” (גְּדַיִם, gÿdayim) – confusion of dalet and resh is quite common – and understands “fatlings” and “young sheep” taken as a compound subject or as in apposition as the subject of the verb. However, no emendations are necessary if the above translation is correct. The meaning of מֵחִים (mekhim) has a significant impact on one’s textual decision and translation. The noun can refer to a sacrificial (“fat”) animal as it does in its only other occurrence (Ps 66:15). However, it could signify the rich of the earth (“the fat ones of the earth”; Ps 22:29 [MT 30]) using a different word for “fatness” (דָּשֶׁן, dashen). If so, it serves a figurative reference to the rich. Consequently, the above translation coheres with the first half of the verse. Just as the sheep are out of place grazing in these places (“as in their pasture”), the sojourners would not have expected to have the chance to eat in these locations. Both animals and itinerant foreigners would eat in places not normal for them.

[30:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground.”

[30:24]  ⁸ sn Crops will be so abundant that even the work animals will eat well.

[9:20]  ¹⁰ tn Or “cut.” The verb גָּזַר (gazar) means “to cut.” If it is understood here, then one might paraphrase, “They slice off meat on the right.” However, HALOT 187 s.v. I גזר, proposes here a rare homonym meaning “to devour.”

[9:20]  ¹¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite without vav consecutive or an imperfect used in a customary sense, describing continual or repeated behavior in past time.

[9:20]  ¹² tn Some suggest that זְרֹעוֹ (zÿro’o, “his arm”) be repointed זַרְעוֹ (zar’o, “his offspring”). In either case, the metaphor is that of a desperately hungry man who resorts to an almost unthinkable act to satisfy his appetite. He eats everything he can find to his right, but still being unsatisfied, then turns to his left and eats everything he can find there. Still being desperate for food, he then resorts to eating his own flesh (or offspring, as this phrase is metaphorically understood by some English versions, e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT). The reality behind the metaphor is the political turmoil of the period, as the next verse explains. There was civil strife within the northern kingdom; even the descendants of Joseph were at each other’s throats. Then the northern kingdom turned on their southern brother, Judah.