Isaiah 42:15

42:15 I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up; ¹ 

I will dry up all their vegetation.

I will turn streams into islands, ² 

and dry up pools of water. ³ 

Isaiah 19:5

19:5 The water of the sea will be dried up,

and the river will dry up and be empty. ⁴ 

Isaiah 44:27

44:27 who says to the deep sea, ‘Be dry!

I will dry up your sea currents,’

Isaiah 40:8

40:8 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

but the decree of our God is forever reliable.” ⁵ 

Isaiah 19:7

19:7 along with the plants by the mouth of the river. ⁶ 

All the cultivated land near the river

will turn to dust and be blown away. ⁷ 

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 15:6

15:6 For the waters of Nimrim are gone; ¹⁰ 

the grass is dried up,

the vegetation has disappeared,

and there are no plants.

Isaiah 40:24

40:24 Indeed, they are barely planted;

yes, they are barely sown;

yes, they barely take root in the earth,

and then he blows on them, causing them to dry up,

and the wind carries them away like straw.

Isaiah 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ¹¹  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ¹² 

For these people lack understanding, ¹³ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

[42:15]  ¹ tn Heb “I will dry up the mountains and hills.” The “mountains and hills” stand by synecdoche for the trees that grow on them. Some prefer to derive the verb from a homonymic root and translate, “I will lay waste.”

[42:15]  ² tc The Hebrew text reads, “I will turn streams into coastlands [or “islands”].” Scholars who believe that this reading makes little sense have proposed an emendation of אִיִּים (’iyyim, “islands”) to צִיּוֹת (tsiyyot, “dry places”; cf. NCV, NLT, TEV). However, since all the versions support the MT reading, there is insufficient grounds for an emendation here. Although the imagery of changing rivers into islands is somewhat strange, J. N. Oswalt describes this imagery against the backdrop of rivers of the Near East. The receding of these rivers at times occasioned the appearance of previously submerged islands (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:126).

[42:15]  ³ sn The imagery of this verse, which depicts the Lord bringing a curse of infertility to the earth, metaphorically describes how the Lord will destroy his enemies.

[19:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “will dry up and be dry.” Two synonyms are joined for emphasis.

[40:8]  ⁷ 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).

[19:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the plants by the river, by the mouth of the river.”

[19:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “will dry up, [being] scattered, and it will vanish.”

[40:7]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the people” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[15:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “are waste places”; cf. NRSV “are a desolation.”

[27:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”