Isaiah 32:19

32:19 Even if the forest is destroyed ¹ 

and the city is annihilated, ² 

Isaiah 10:19

10:19 There will be so few trees left in his forest,

a child will be able to count them. ³ 

Isaiah 10:34

10:34 The thickets of the forest will be chopped down with an ax,

and mighty Lebanon will fall. ⁴ 

Isaiah 21:13

The Lord Will Judge Arabia

21:13 Here is a message about Arabia:

In the thicket of Arabia you spend the night,

you Dedanite caravans.

Isaiah 56:9

The Lord Denounces Israel’s Paganism

56:9 All you wild animals in the fields, come and devour,

all you wild animals in the forest!

Isaiah 10:18

10:18 The splendor of his forest and his orchard

will be completely destroyed, ⁵ 

as when a sick man’s life ebbs away. ⁶ 

Isaiah 22:8

22:8 They ⁷  removed the defenses ⁸  of Judah.

At that time ⁹  you looked

for the weapons in the House of the Forest. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 29:17

Changes are Coming

29:17 In just a very short time ¹¹ 

Lebanon will turn into an orchard,

and the orchard will be considered a forest. ¹² 

Isaiah 32:15

32:15 This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven. ¹³ 

Then the desert will become an orchard

and the orchard will be considered a forest. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 7:2

7:2 It was reported to the family ¹⁵  of David, “Syria has allied with ¹⁶  Ephraim.” They and their people were emotionally shaken, just as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 9:18

9:18 For ¹⁸  evil burned like a fire, ¹⁹ 

it consumed thorns and briers;

it burned up the thickets of the forest,

and they went up in smoke. ²⁰ 

Isaiah 44:14

44:14 He cuts down cedars

and acquires a cypress ²¹  or an oak.

He gets ²²  trees from the forest;

he plants a cedar ²³  and the rain makes it grow.

Isaiah 37:24

37:24 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ²⁴ 

‘With my many chariots I climbed up

the high mountains,

the slopes of Lebanon.

I cut down its tall cedars

and its best evergreens.

I invaded its most remote regions, ²⁵ 

its thickest woods.

Isaiah 44:23

44:23 Shout for joy, O sky, for the Lord intervenes; ²⁶ 

shout out, you subterranean regions ²⁷  of the earth.

O mountains, give a joyful shout;

you too, O forest and all your trees! ²⁸ 

For the Lord protects ²⁹  Jacob;

he reveals his splendor through Israel. ³⁰ 

[32:19]  ¹ tn Heb “and [?] when the forest descends.” The form וּבָרַד (uvarad) is often understood as an otherwise unattested denominative verb meaning “to hail” (HALOT 154 s.v. I ברד). In this case one might translate, “and it hails when the forest is destroyed” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV). Perhaps the text alludes to a powerful wind and hail storm that knocks down limbs and trees. Some prefer to emend the form to וְיָרַד (vÿyarad), “and it descends,” which provides better, though not perfect, symmetry with the parallel line (cf. NAB). Perhaps וּבָרַד should be dismissed as dittographic. In this case the statement (“when the forest descends”) lacks a finite verb and seems incomplete, but perhaps it is subordinate to v. 20.

[32:19]  ² tn Heb “and in humiliation the city is laid low.”

[10:19]  ³ tn Heb “and the rest of the trees of his forest will be counted, and a child will record them.”

[10:34]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text has, “and Lebanon, by/as [?] a mighty one, will fall.” The translation above takes the preposition בְּ (bet) prefixed to “mighty one” as indicating identity, “Lebanon, as a mighty one, will fall.” In this case “mighty one” describes Lebanon. (In Ezek 17:23 and Zech 11:2 the adjective is used of Lebanon’s cedars.) Another option is to take the preposition as indicating agency and interpret “mighty one” as a divine title (see Isa 33:21). One could then translate, “and Lebanon will fall by [the agency of] the Mighty One.”

[10:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “from breath to flesh it will destroy.” The expression “from breath to flesh” refers to the two basic components of a person, the immaterial (life’s breath) and the material (flesh). Here the phrase is used idiomatically to indicate totality.

[10:18]  ⁸ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. מָסַס (masas), which is used elsewhere of substances dissolving or melting, may here mean “waste away” or “despair.” נָסַס (nasas), which appears only here, may mean “be sick” or “stagger, despair.” See BDB 651 s.v. I נָסַס and HALOT 703 s.v. I נסס. One might translate the line literally, “like the wasting away of one who is sick” (cf. NRSV “as when an invalid wastes away”).

[22:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “he,” i.e., the enemy invader. NASB, by its capitalization of the pronoun, takes this to refer to the Lord.

[22:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “covering.”

[22:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of v. 12.

[22:8]  ¹² sn Perhaps this refers to a royal armory, or to Solomon’s “House of the Forest of Lebanon,” where weapons may have been kept (see 1 Kgs 10:16-17).

[29:17]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text phrases this as a rhetorical question, “Is it not yet a little, a short [time]?”

[29:17]  ¹² sn The meaning of this verse is debated, but it seems to depict a reversal in fortunes. The mighty forest of Lebanon (symbolic of the proud and powerful, see 2:13; 10:34) will be changed into a common orchard, while the common orchard (symbolic of the oppressed and lowly) will grow into a great forest. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:538.

[32:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “until a spirit is emptied out on us from on high.” The words “this desolation will continue” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic purposes. The verb עָרָה (’arah), used here in the Niphal, normally means “lay bare, expose.” The term רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) is often understood here as a reference to the divine spirit (cf. 44:3 and NASB, NIV, CEV, NLT), but it appears here without an article (cf. NRSV “a spirit”), pronominal suffix, or a genitive (such as “of the Lord”). The translation assumes that it carries an impersonal nuance “vivacity, vigor” in this context.

[32:15]  ¹⁴ sn The same statement appears in 29:17b, where, in conjunction with the preceding line, it appears to picture a reversal. Here it seems to depict supernatural growth. The desert will blossom into an orchard, and the trees of the orchard will multiply and grow tall, becoming a forest.

[7:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “house.” In this context the “house of David” includes King Ahaz, his family, and the royal court. See also Jer 21:12; Zech 12:7-8, 10, 12, for a similar use of the phrase.

[7:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “rests upon.” Most understand the verb as נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”), but HALOT 685 s.v. II נחה proposes that this is a hapax legomenon which means “stand by.”

[7:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and his heart shook and the heart of his people shook, like the shaking of the trees of the forest before the wind.” The singular pronoun “his” is collective, referring to the Davidic house/family. לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) here refers to the seat of the emotions.

[9:18]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Indeed” (cf. NIV “Surely”). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[9:18]  ¹⁸ sn Evil was uncontrollable and destructive, and so can be compared to a forest fire.

[9:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and they swirled [with] the rising of the smoke” (cf. NRSV).

[44:14]  ¹⁹ tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).

[44:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).

[44:14]  ²¹ tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”

[37:24]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[37:24]  ²² tn Heb “the height of its extremity”; ASV “its farthest height.”

[44:23]  ²³ tn Heb “acts”; NASB, NRSV “has done it”; NLT “has done this wondrous thing.”

[44:23]  ²⁴ tn Heb “lower regions.” This refers to Sheol and forms a merism with “sky” in the previous line. See Pss 63:9; 71:20.

[44:23]  ²⁵ tn Heb “O forest and all the trees in it”; NASB, NRSV “and every tree in it.”

[44:23]  ²⁶ tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

[44:23]  ²⁷ tn That is, by delivering Israel. Cf. NCV “showed his glory when he saved Israel”; TEV “has shown his greatness by saving his people Israel.”