Isaiah 5:19

5:19 They say, “Let him hurry, let him act quickly, ¹ 

so we can see;

let the plan of the Holy One of Israel ²  take shape ³  and come to pass,

then we will know it!”

Isaiah 5:26

5:26 He lifts a signal flag for a distant nation, ⁴ 

he whistles for it to come from the far regions of the earth.

Look, they ⁵  come quickly and swiftly.

[5:19]  ¹ tn Heb “let his work hurry, let it hasten.” The pronoun “his” refers to God, as the parallel line makes clear. The reference to his “work” alludes back to v. 12, which refers to his ‘work” of judgment. With these words the people challenged the prophet’s warning of approaching judgment. They were in essence saying that they saw no evidence that God was about to work in such a way.

[5:19]  ² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[5:19]  ³ tn Heb “draw near” (so NASB); NRSV “hasten to fulfillment.”

[5:26]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew text has literally, “for nations from a distance.” The following verses use singular forms to describe this nation, so the final mem (ם) on לְגּוֹיִם (lÿgoyim) may be enclitic or dittographic. In the latter case one could read לְגוֹי מֵרָחוֹק (lÿgoy merakhoq, “for a nation from a distance”; see Deut 28:49; Joel 3:8). Another possibility is to emend the text from לַגּוֹיִם מֵרָחוֹק (laggoyim merakhoq) to לְגוֹי מִמֶּרְחָק (lÿgoy mimmerkhaq, “for a nation from a distant place”) a phrase which occurs in Jer 5:15. In this case an error of misdivision has occurred in MT, the mem of the prefixed preposition being accidentally taken as a plural ending on the preceding word.

[5:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “he.” Singular forms are used throughout vv. 26-30 to describe this nation, but for stylistic reasons the translation uses the plural for these collective singulars.