Discovery BoxIsaiah 47:9-15
Context47:9 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
47:10 You were complacent in your evil deeds; 5
you thought, 6 ‘No one sees me.’
Your self-professed 7 wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,
when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’ 8
47:11 Disaster will overtake you;
you will not know how to charm it away. 9
Destruction will fall on you;
you will not be able to appease it.
Calamity will strike you suddenly,
before you recognize it. 10
47:12 Persist 11 in trusting 12 your amulets
and your many incantations,
which you have faithfully recited 13 since your youth!
Maybe you will be successful 14 –
maybe you will scare away disaster. 15
47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. 16
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! 17
47:14 Look, they are like straw,
which the fire burns up;
they cannot rescue themselves
from the heat 18 of the flames.
There are no coals to warm them,
no firelight to enjoy. 19
47:15 They will disappoint you, 20
those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. 21
Each strays off in his own direction, 22
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.
[47:10] 5 tn Heb “you trusted in your evil”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “wickedness.”
[47:10] 6 tn Or “said”; NAB “said to yourself”’ NASB “said in your heart.”
[47:10] 7 tn The words “self-professed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[47:10] 8 tn See the note at v. 8.
[47:11] 9 tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.
[47:11] 10 tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”
[47:12] 11 tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”
[47:12] 12 tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.
[47:12] 13 tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”
[47:12] 14 tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”
[47:12] 15 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] 16 tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”
[47:13] 17 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] 18 tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.
[47:14] 19 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] 20 tn Heb “So they will be to you”; NIV “That is all they can do for you.”
[47:15] 21 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.
