Isaiah 34:4

34:4 All the stars in the sky will fade away, ¹ 

the sky will roll up like a scroll;

all its stars will wither,

like a leaf withers and falls from a vine

or a fig withers and falls from a tree. ² 

Isaiah 24:4

24:4 The earth ³  dries up ⁴  and withers,

the world shrivels up and withers;

the prominent people of the earth ⁵  fade away.

Isaiah 40:8

40:8 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

but the decree of our God is forever reliable.” ⁶ 

Isaiah 1:30

1:30 For you will be like a tree whose leaves wither,

like an orchard ⁷  that is unwatered.

Isaiah 40:7

40:7 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

when the wind sent by the Lord ⁸  blows on them.

Surely humanity ⁹  is like grass.

Isaiah 28:1

The Lord Will Judge Samaria

28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed, ¹⁰ 

the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, ¹¹ 

situated ¹²  at the head of a rich valley,

the crown of those overcome with wine. ¹³ 

Isaiah 64:6

64:6 We are all like one who is unclean,

all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ¹⁴ 

We all wither like a leaf;

our sins carry us away like the wind.

Isaiah 28:4

28:4 The withering flower, its beautiful splendor,

situated at the head of a rich valley,

will be like an early fig before harvest –

as soon as someone notices it,

he grabs it and swallows it. ¹⁵ 

[34:4]  ¹ tc Heb “and all the host of heaven will rot.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a inserts “and the valleys will be split open,” but this reading may be influenced by Mic 1:4. On the other hand, the statement, if original, could have been omitted by homoioarcton, a scribe’s eye jumping from the conjunction prefixed to “the valleys” to the conjunction prefixed to the verb “rot.”

[34:4]  ² tn Heb “like the withering of a leaf from a vine, and like the withering from a fig tree.”

[24:4]  ³ tn Some prefer to read “land” here, but the word pair אֶרֶץ/תֵּבֵל (erets/tevel [see the corresponding term in the parallel line]) elsewhere clearly designates the earth/world (see 1 Sam 2:8; 1 Chr 16:30; Job 37;12; Pss 19:4; 24:1; 33:8; 89:11; 90:2; 96:13; 98:9; Prov 8:26, 31; Isa 14:16-17; 34:1; Jer 10:12; 51:15; Lam 4:12). According to L. Stadelmann, תבל designates “the habitable part of the world” (The Hebrew Conception of the World [AnBib], 130).

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

[24:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “the height of the people of the earth.” The translation assumes an emendation of the singular form מְרוֹם (mÿrom, “height of”) to the plural construct מְרֹמֵי (mÿrome, “high ones of”; note the plural verb at the beginning of the line), and understands the latter as referring to the prominent people of human society.

[40:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “but the word of our God stands forever.” In this context the divine “word” specifically refers to his decreed promise assuring Jerusalem that her suffering is over and his glorious return imminent (vv. 1-5).

[1:30]  ⁷ tn Or “a garden” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:7]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text has רוּחַ יְהוָה (ruakh yehvah), which in this context probably does not refer to the Lord’s personal Spirit. The phrase is better translated “the breath of the Lord,” or “the wind of [i.e., sent by] the Lord.” The Lord’s sovereign control over nature, including the hot desert winds that dry up vegetation, is in view here (cf. Ps 147:18; Isa 59:19).

[40:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the people” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[28:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the crown [or “wreath”] of the splendor [or “pride”] of the drunkards of Ephraim.” The “crown” is Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom (Ephraim). Priests and prophets are included among these drunkards in v. 7.

[28:1]  ¹² tn Heb “the beauty of his splendor.” In the translation the masculine pronoun (“his”) has been replaced by “its” because the referent (the “crown”) is the city of Samaria.

[28:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “which [is].”

[28:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “ones overcome with wine.” The words “the crown of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The syntactical relationship of the final phrase to what precedes is uncertain. הֲלוּמֵי יָיִן (halume yayin, “ones overcome with wine”) seems to correspond to שִׁכֹּרֵי אֶפְרַיִם (shikkore ’efrayim, “drunkards of Ephraim”) in line 1. The translation assumes that the phrase “the splendid crown” is to be understood in the final line as well.

[64:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “and like a garment of menstruation [are] all our righteous acts”; KJV, NIV “filthy rags”; ASV “a polluted garment.”

[28:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “which the one seeing sees, while still it is in his hand he swallows it.”