Discovery BoxIsaiah 42:15
Context42:15 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 37:27
Context37:27 Their residents are powerless; 4
they are terrified and ashamed.
They are as short-lived as plants in the field
or green vegetation. 5
They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops 6
when it is scorched by the east wind. 7
[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.
[37:27] 4 tn Heb “short of hand”; KJV, ASV “of small power”; NASB “short of strength.”
[37:27] 5 tn Heb “they are plants in the field and green vegetation.” The metaphor emphasizes how short-lived these seemingly powerful cities really were. See Ps 90:5-6; Isa 40:6-8, 24.
[37:27] 6 tn Heb “[they are] grass on the rooftops.” See the preceding note.
[37:27] 7 tc The Hebrew text has “scorched before the standing grain” (perhaps meaning “before it reaches maturity”), but it is preferable to emend קָמָה (qamah, “standing grain”) to קָדִים (qadim, “east wind”) with the support of 1Q Isaa; cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:657, n. 8.
