Isaiah 47:14-15

47:14 Look, they are like straw,

which the fire burns up;

they cannot rescue themselves

from the heat ¹  of the flames.

There are no coals to warm them,

no firelight to enjoy. ² 

47:15 They will disappoint you, ³ 

those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. ⁴ 

Each strays off in his own direction, ⁵ 

leaving no one to rescue you.”

[47:14]  ¹ tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.

[47:14]  ² tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.

[47:15]  ³ tn Heb “So they will be to you”; NIV “That is all they can do for you.”

[47:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “that for which you toiled, your traders from your youth.” The omen readers and star gazers are likened to merchants with whom Babylon has had an ongoing economic relationship.

[47:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “each to his own side, they err.”