Isaiah 34:11

34:11 Owls and wild animals ¹  will live there, ² 

all kinds of wild birds ³  will settle in it.

The Lord ⁴  will stretch out over her

the measuring line of ruin

and the plumb line ⁵  of destruction. ⁶ 

Isaiah 34:17

34:17 He assigns them their allotment; ⁷ 

he measures out their assigned place. ⁸ 

They will live there ⁹  permanently;

they will settle in it through successive generations.

Isaiah 44:13

44:13 A carpenter takes measurements; ¹⁰ 

he marks out an outline of its form; ¹¹ 

he scrapes ¹²  it with chisels,

and marks it with a compass.

He patterns it after the human form, ¹³ 

like a well-built human being,

and puts it in a shrine. ¹⁴ 

[34:11]  ¹ tn קָאַת (qa’at) refers to some type of bird (cf. Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). קִפּוֹד (qippod) may also refer to a type of bird (NAB “hoot owl”; NIV “screech owl”; TEV “ravens”), but some have suggested a rodent may be in view (cf. NCV “small animals”; ASV “porcupine”; NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”).

[34:11]  ² tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV).

[34:11]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has יַנְשׁוֹף וְעֹרֵב (yanshof vÿ’orev). Both the יַנְשׁוֹף (“owl”; see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16) and עֹרֵב (“raven”; Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14) were types of wild birds.

[34:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “stones,” i.e., the stones used in a plumb bob.

[34:11]  ⁶ sn The metaphor in v. 11b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.

[34:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he causes the lot to fall for them.” Once again the pronominal suffix (“them”) is feminine plural, referring to the birds mentioned in v. 15b or to all of the creatures listed in vv. 14b-15 (all of which are identified with feminine nouns).

[34:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “and his hand divides for them with a measuring line.” The pronominal suffix (“them”) now switches to masculine plural, referring to all the animals and birds mentioned in vv. 11-15, some of which were identified with masculine nouns. This signals closure for this portion of the speech, which began in v. 11. The following couplet (v. 17b) forms an inclusio with v. 11a through verbal repetition.

[34:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV); NCV “they will own that land forever.”

[44:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”

[44:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. KJV “with a line”; ASV “with a pencil”; NAB, NRSV “with a stylus”; NASB “with red chalk”; NIV “with a marker.”

[44:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”

[44:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”

[44:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”