Isaiah 33:8-9

33:8 Highways are empty, ¹ 

there are no travelers. ² 

Treaties are broken, ³ 

witnesses are despised, ⁴ 

human life is treated with disrespect. ⁵ 

33:9 The land ⁶  dries up ⁷  and withers away;

the forest of Lebanon shrivels up ⁸  and decays.

Sharon ⁹  is like the desert; ¹⁰ 

Bashan and Carmel ¹¹  are parched. ¹² 

[33:8]  ¹ tn Or “desolate” (NAB, NASB); NIV, NRSV, NLT “deserted.”

[33:8]  ² tn Heb “the one passing by on the road ceases.”

[33:8]  ³ tn Heb “one breaks a treaty”; NAB “Covenants are broken.”

[33:8]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “he despises cities.” The term עָרִים (’arim, “cities”) is probably a corruption of an original עֵדִים (’edim, “[legal] witnesses”), a reading that is preserved in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a. Confusion of dalet (ד) and resh (ר) is a well-attested scribal error.

[33:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “he does not regard human beings.”

[33:9]  ⁶ tn Or “earth” (KJV); NAB “the country.”

[33:9]  ⁷ tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. I אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism. See 24:4.

[33:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “Lebanon is ashamed.” The Hiphil is exhibitive, expressing the idea, “exhibits shame.” In this context the statement alludes to the withering of vegetation.

[33:9]  ⁹ sn Sharon was a fertile plain along the Mediterranean coast. See 35:2.

[33:9]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the Arabah” (NIV). See 35:1.

[33:9]  ¹¹ sn Both of these areas were known for their trees and vegetation. See 2:13; 35:2.

[33:9]  ¹² tn Heb “shake off [their leaves]” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB “are stripped bare.”