Isaiah 5:17

5:17 Lambs ¹  will graze as if in their pastures,

amid the ruins the rich sojourners will graze. ² 

Isaiah 35:1

The Land and Its People Are Transformed

35:1 Let the desert and dry region be happy; ³ 

let the wilderness ⁴  rejoice and bloom like a lily!

Isaiah 38:22

38:22 Hezekiah said, “What is the confirming sign that I will go up to the Lord’s temple?”

Isaiah 56:4

56:4 For this is what the Lord says:

“For the eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths

and choose what pleases me

and are faithful to ⁵  my covenant,

Isaiah 65:21

65:21 They will build houses and live in them;

they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

[5:17]  ¹ tn Or “young rams”; NIV, NCV “sheep”; NLT “flocks.”

[5:17]  ² tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and ruins, fatlings, resident aliens, will eat.” This part of the verse has occasioned various suggestions of emendation. The parallelism is tighter if the second line refers to animals grazing. The translation, “amid the ruins the fatlings and young sheep graze,” assumes an emendation of “resident aliens” (גָּרִים, garim) to “young goats/sheep” (גְּדַיִם, gÿdayim) – confusion of dalet and resh is quite common – and understands “fatlings” and “young sheep” taken as a compound subject or as in apposition as the subject of the verb. However, no emendations are necessary if the above translation is correct. The meaning of מֵחִים (mekhim) has a significant impact on one’s textual decision and translation. The noun can refer to a sacrificial (“fat”) animal as it does in its only other occurrence (Ps 66:15). However, it could signify the rich of the earth (“the fat ones of the earth”; Ps 22:29 [MT 30]) using a different word for “fatness” (דָּשֶׁן, dashen). If so, it serves a figurative reference to the rich. Consequently, the above translation coheres with the first half of the verse. Just as the sheep are out of place grazing in these places (“as in their pasture”), the sojourners would not have expected to have the chance to eat in these locations. Both animals and itinerant foreigners would eat in places not normal for them.

[35:1]  ³ tn The final mem (ם) on the verb יְשֻׂשׂוּם (yÿsusum) is dittographic (note the initial mem on the following noun מִדְבָּר [midbar]). The ambiguous verbal form is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel). The jussive is used rhetorically here, not as a literal command or prayer.

[35:1]  ⁴ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); NAB, NIV, TEV “desert.”

[56:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and take hold of” (so KJV); NASB “hold fast.”