Isaiah 3:16

Washing Away Impurity

3:16 The Lord says,

“The women ¹  of Zion are proud.

They walk with their heads high ² 

and flirt with their eyes.

They skip along ³ 

and the jewelry on their ankles jingles. ⁴ 

Isaiah 11:15

11:15 The Lord will divide ⁵  the gulf ⁶  of the Egyptian Sea; ⁷ 

he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River ⁸  and send a strong wind, ⁹ 

he will turn it into seven dried-up streams, ¹⁰ 

and enable them to walk across in their sandals.

Isaiah 14:19

14:19 But you have been thrown out of your grave

like a shoot that is thrown away. ¹¹ 

You lie among ¹²  the slain,

among those who have been slashed by the sword,

among those headed for ¹³  the stones of the pit, ¹⁴ 

as if you were a mangled corpse. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 20:2

20:2 At that time the Lord announced through ¹⁶  Isaiah son of Amoz: “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet.” He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments ¹⁷  and barefoot.

Isaiah 33:23

33:23 Though at this time your ropes are slack, ¹⁸ 

the mast is not secured, ¹⁹ 

and the sail ²⁰  is not unfurled,

at that time you will divide up a great quantity of loot; ²¹ 

even the lame will drag off plunder. ²² 

[3:16]  ¹ tn Heb “daughters” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV).

[3:16]  ² tn Heb “with an outstretched neck.” They proudly hold their heads high so that others can see the jewelry around their necks.

[3:16]  ³ tn Heb “walking and skipping, they walk.”

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and with their feet they jingle.”

[11:15]  ⁵ tn The verb is usually understood as “put under the ban, destroy,” or emended to חָרָב (kharav, “dry up”). However, HALOT 354 s.v. II חרם proposes a homonymic root meaning “divide.”

[11:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “tongue” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[11:15]  ⁷ sn That is, the Red Sea.

[11:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “the river”; capitalized in some English versions (e.g., ASV, NASB, NRSV) as a reference to the Euphrates River.

[11:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “with the [?] of his wind” [or “breath”]. The Hebrew term עַיָם (’ayam) occurs only here. Some attempt to relate the word to an Arabic root and translate, “scorching [or “hot”] wind.” This interpretation fits especially well if one reads “dry up” in the previous line. Others prefer to emend the form to עֹצֶם (’otsem, “strong”). See HALOT 817 s.v. עֲצַם.

[11:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “seven streams.” The Hebrew term נַחַל (nakhal, “stream”) refers to a wadi, or seasonal stream, which runs during the rainy season, but is otherwise dry. The context (see v. 15b) here favors the translation, “dried up streams.” The number seven suggests totality and completeness. Here it indicates that God’s provision for escape will be thorough and more than capable of accommodating the returning exiles.

[14:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “like a shoot that is abhorred.” The simile seems a bit odd; apparently it refers to a small shoot that is trimmed from a plant and tossed away. Some prefer to emend נֵצֶר (netser, “shoot”); some propose נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”). In this case one might paraphrase: “like a horrible-looking fetus that is delivered when a woman miscarries.”

[14:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “are clothed with.”

[14:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “those going down to.”

[14:19]  ¹² tn בּוֹר (bor) literally means “cistern”; cisterns were constructed from stones. On the metaphorical use of “cistern” for the underworld, see the note at v. 15.

[14:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “like a trampled corpse.” Some take this line with what follows.

[20:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “spoke by the hand of.”

[20:2]  ¹⁴ tn The word used here (עָרוֹם, ’arom) sometimes means “naked,” but here it appears to mean simply “lightly dressed,” i.e., stripped to one’s undergarments. See HALOT 883 s.v. עָרוֹם. The term also occurs in vv. 3, 4.

[33:23]  ¹⁷ tn The words “though at this time” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first half of the verse is addressed to Judah and contrasts the nation’s present weakness with its future prosperity. Judah is compared to a ship that is incapable of sailing.

[33:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they do not fasten the base of their mast.” On כֵּן (ken, “base”) see BDB 487 s.v. III כֵּן and HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן.

[33:23]  ¹⁹ tn Or perhaps, “flag.”

[33:23]  ²⁰ tn Heb “then there will be divided up loot of plunder [in] abundance.”

[33:23]  ²¹ sn Judah’s victory over its enemies will be so thorough there will be more than enough plunder for everyone, even slow-moving lame men who would normally get left out in the rush to gather the loot.