Isaiah 47:9

47:9 Both of these will come upon you

suddenly, in one day!

You will lose your children and be widowed. ¹ 

You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, ² 

despite ³  your many incantations

and your numerous amulets. ⁴ 

Isaiah 47:12-15

47:12 Persist ⁵  in trusting ⁶  your amulets

and your many incantations,

which you have faithfully recited ⁷  since your youth!

Maybe you will be successful ⁸  –

maybe you will scare away disaster. ⁹ 

47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. ¹⁰ 

Let them take their stand –

the ones who see omens in the sky,

who gaze at the stars,

who make monthly predictions –

let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ¹¹ 

47:14 Look, they are like straw,

which the fire burns up;

they cannot rescue themselves

from the heat ¹²  of the flames.

There are no coals to warm them,

no firelight to enjoy. ¹³ 

47:15 They will disappoint you, ¹⁴ 

those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. ¹⁵ 

Each strays off in his own direction, ¹⁶ 

leaving no one to rescue you.”

[47:9]  ¹ tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.

[47:9]  ² tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”

[47:9]  ³ tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.

[47:9]  ⁴ sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.

[47:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

[47:12]  ⁶ tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

[47:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

[47:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

[47:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.

[47:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”

[47:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”

[47:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.

[47:14]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “So they will be to you”; NIV “That is all they can do for you.”

[47:15]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “each to his own side, they err.”