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 15:2

15:2 They went up to the temple, ⁵ 

the people of Dibon went up to the high places to lament. ⁶ 

Because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba, ⁷  Moab wails.

Every head is shaved bare,

every beard is trimmed off. ⁸ 

Isaiah 17:11

17:11 The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow; ⁹ 

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

Yet the harvest will disappear ¹⁰  in the day of disease

and incurable pain.

Isaiah 22:21

22:21 I will put your robe on him, tie your belt around him, and transfer your authority to him. ¹¹  He will become a protector of ¹²  the residents of Jerusalem and of the people ¹³  of Judah.

Isaiah 30:32

30:32 Every blow from his punishing cudgel, ¹⁴ 

with which the Lord will beat them, ¹⁵ 

will be accompanied by music from the ¹⁶  tambourine and harp,

and he will attack them with his weapons. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 47:9

47:9 Both of these will come upon you

suddenly, in one day!

You will lose your children and be widowed. ¹⁸ 

You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, ¹⁹ 

despite ²⁰  your many incantations

and your numerous amulets. ²¹ 

Isaiah 63:3

63:3 “I have stomped grapes in the winepress all by myself;

no one from the nations joined me.

I stomped on them ²²  in my anger;

I trampled them down in my rage.

Their juice splashed on my garments,

and stained ²³  all my clothes.

[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.”

[15:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[15:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “even Dibon [to] the high places to weep.” The verb “went up” does double duty in the parallel structure.

[15:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “over [or “for”] Nebo and over [or “for”] Medeba.”

[15:2]  ⁸ sn Shaving the head and beard were outward signs of mourning and grief.

[17:11]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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.”

[22:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “and your dominion I will place in his hand.”

[22:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a father to.” The Hebrew term אָב (’av, “father”) is here used metaphorically of one who protects and supports those under his care and authority, like a father does his family. For another example of this metaphorical use of the word, see Job 29:16.

[22:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[30:32]  ¹⁷ tc The Hebrew text has “every blow from a founded [i.e., “appointed”?] cudgel.” The translation above, with support from a few medieval Hebrew mss, assumes an emendation of מוּסָדָה (musadah, “founded”) to מוּסָרֹה (musaroh, “his discipline”).

[30:32]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “which the Lord lays on him.”

[30:32]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “will be with” (KJV similar).

[30:32]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “and with battles of brandishing [weapons?] he will fight against him.” Some prefer to emend וּבְמִלְחֲמוֹת (uvÿmilkhamot, “and with battles of”) to וּבִמְחֹלוֹת (uvimkholot, “and with dancing”). Note the immediately preceding references to musical instruments.

[47:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.

[47:9]  ²² tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”

[47:9]  ²³ tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.

[47:9]  ²⁴ sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.

[63:3]  ²⁵ sn Nations, headed by Edom, are the object of the Lord’s anger (see v. 6). He compares military slaughter to stomping on grapes in a vat.

[63:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and I stained.” For discussion of the difficult verb form, see HALOT 170 s.v. II גאל. Perhaps the form is mixed, combining the first person forms of the imperfect (note the alef prefix) and perfect (note the תי- ending).