Isaiah 41:3

41:3 He pursues them and passes by unharmed; ¹ 

he advances with great speed. ² 

Joshua 3:4

3:4 But stay about three thousand feet behind it. ³  Keep your distance ⁴  so you can see ⁵  which way you should go, for you have not traveled this way before.”

Hosea 2:6

The Lord’s Discipline Will Bring Israel Back

2:6 Therefore, I will soon ⁶  fence her in ⁷  with thorns;

I will wall her in ⁸  so that ⁹  she cannot find her way. ¹⁰ 

[41:3]  ¹ tn Heb “[in] peace”; KJV, ASV “safely”; NASB “in safety”; NIV “unscathed.”

[41:3]  ² tn Heb “a way with his feet he does not come [or “enter”].” One could translate, “by a way he was not [previously] entering with his feet.” This would mean that he is advancing into new territory and expanding his conquests. The present translation assumes this is a hyperbolic description to his speedy advance. He moves so quickly he does not enter the way with his feet, i.e., his feet don’t even touch the ground. See C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 94.

[3:4]  ³ tn Heb “But there should be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits in measurement.”

[3:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “do not approach it.”

[3:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “know.”

[2:6]  ⁶ tn The deictic particle הִנְנִי (hinni, “Behold!”) introduces a future-time reference participle that refers to imminent future action: “I am about to” (TEV “I am going to”).

[2:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will hedge up her way”; NIV “block her path.”

[2:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will wall in her wall.” The cognate accusative construction וְגָדַרְתִּי אֶת־גְּדֵרָהּ (vÿgadarti ’et-gÿderah, “I will wall in her wall”) is an emphatic literary device. The 3rd person feminine singular suffix on the noun functions as a dative of disadvantage: “as a wall against her” (A. B. Davidson, Hebrew Syntax, 3, remark 2). The expression means “I will build a wall to bar her way.” Cf. KJV “I will make a wall”; TEV “I will build a wall”; RSV, NASB, NRSV “I will build a wall against her”; NLT “I will fence her in.”

[2:6]  ⁹ tn The disjunctive clause (object followed by negated verb) introduces a clause which can be understood as either purpose or result.

[2:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “her paths” (so NAB, NRSV).